him barking with blue-flaming fangs three inches from his face.
There was a woman with a bespectacled face of British ivory, long periwinkle hair in locks. She was in a white shawl over a blue crushed velvet dress that reached pointy-toed white stiletto boots. The woman yelled after the kids, “Nobody fucks with Chase! Fuck with Chase, you die!” The woman had a British accent.
Chase stopped and watched what was happening. This was a superhero sighting up closer he’d ever experienced. The blue dragon was a hypno-projection.
The woman looked down at Finley. She said to him, “Nobody fucks with Chase. You fuck with Chase, you die. Say it.”
Finley said, “Nobody fucks with Chase. You fuck with Chase, you die.”
“I didn’t hear you.”
“Nobody fucks with Chase. You fuck with Chase, you die,” he repeated.
“Say it like you mean it!”
“
Nobody fucks with Chase! You fuck with Chase, you die
!”
The blue dragon backed off from Finley. Finley sprang to his feet, bolted.
“My lawyer will fuck you up!” he yelled back.
The dragon took off, strafed him, the boy ran faster, the dragon above him. The blue dragon vanished. Finley kept running until he was out of sight.
The woman turned to Chase, said, “I apologize for the horrible language.”
Chase was speechless.
The woman said, “I am Her Blue Majesty.”
Chase said, “I am Chase Hayward Juniper.”
She ran a hand through Chase’s hair.
“You’re a beautiful boy,” she said. “With a beautiful name.”
“Thank you for the help,” he said about to cry. He was like the biggest girl but that couldn’t be helped. He was on an emotional seesaw somewhere between arousal and an anxiety attack.
She squatted before him, took him in her arms. He held onto her tightly. He got over the tears quickly and was enjoying the closeness and touch of a beautiful woman. He heard her voice behind him.
“I will always protect you from the OSD,” she said. “You have superpowers.”
“You know that? How?”
“We have a special connection. It’s a psychic connection. I have a psychic sense that led me to you. My psychic sense tells me much about you, Chase.”
“Really? Like what?”
She pulled back, gave him a deep gaze. She was so beautiful.
“This is weirdness but it’s good weirdness,” she said.
“Okay.”
“We need to heal your alienation. Agreed?”
“Yes,” he said.
“We need to be together to do this,” she said. “We have a special connection. Have you ever felt it? Have you ever felt me?”
Chase tried to think. Was she a stranger like they always warn you about? Strangers were men, though, not beautiful women. Beautiful women don’t hang around schools looking for little boys. They don’t rescue you from assholes. This was more like a dream.
“Is this like a dream to you?” she said.
Chase nodded.
“You’re inside our connection,” she said. “It’s only us now. All we have is each other. Please help me. Be with me. We have to heal the dark place together.”
“Dark place?”
“The source of our suffering. It is all psychic. It is like a storm over us. All of a sudden. We need more time together. Now. Come with me.”
She leaned forward, kissed his lips.
“Be with me?” she asked.
“But…I’m really gay.”
“Even a gay male has a mother he secretly wants to fuck. Yours died heroically in space. The universe provides.”
She kissed his lips, his forehead, ran her fingers through his smooth blonde bangs.
“I want to be here for you always,” she told him. “I want to protect you from the OSD who would target you. And laugh at you. And make you suffer. I want to make them all go away. And be with you forever.”
“Really?”
“You have many demons for a young boy. I want to exorcize your demons and make you free of them and free of fear. You spend your life unhappy. Your demons make you unhappy. They make you uncomfortable in your skin. They make you afraid of others and prefer to be