Chapter Fifteen

As Phelps gazed at the group with cool eyes and a smug little smile, Daria and Quinn felt a chill run through them. Though he remained where he stood, somehow he seemed to grow closer to them.

"Why so frightened?" he asked calmly. "You look as though you've seen a ghost. Happy cheeks, people!"

His words bounced off the walls of the silent parking garage and echoed ceaselessly. Helen unconsciously shielded her daughters. Amy muttered something under her breath, then instantly felt Phelps's eyes boring into her.

"What was that, my wild-haired vixen?"

Amy tensed up, and her own eyes widened slightly. "I said," she whispered, a cold feeling reaching all the way into the pit of her stomach, "is that a comb-over, or did your brain just develop lint from lack of use?"

Phelps probed her carefully. Then his smile widened. "That isn't what you said," he told her in a low tone, "but I'll let it go. For now. Just be thankful that I'm not using my powers."

Amy smirked shakily. Suddenly -

"It's okay, everyone! It's all right!"

Jake bound down the stairs, past Phelps, stopping just short of the bottom. He hovered there, near his family, but not far from his pursuer.

"Jakey, be careful!" Helen cried.

"Honey, it's all right!" Jake held up a hand to calm her down, though he looked as though it were taking all he had to stay calm himself. "He knows I went looking for him. He has me - he won't hurt you."

Phelps smiled to himself. Jake gazed beseechingly at his family, who remained rooted in their places, as though an invisible barrier kept them separate from him.

"So it's true," Daria said tonelessly. "You were just going to let him take you?"

"It was the only sure way I could keep you from getting hurt," said Jake with equal parts melancholy and resolve. He glanced at DeMartino standing behind her, unable to hide the disappointment on his face. "Gob, I was hoping they -"

"I couldn't, Norlek," DeMartino muttered. "I COULDN'T keep them away."

"If you're just going to fly off into outer space," said Helen with an angry chuckle. "Couldn't you at least say 'good-bye'? Do we get any say in the matter?"

"No," said Jake.

Helen gasped softly. Hurt overwhelmed her face. Jake looked away, as this was exactly what he had hoped not to see. Daria and Quinn were stunned by his curtness as well, though Daria understood. She was just disappointed. She looked at Quinn, wishing she knew if her sister felt the same way.

Quinn gazed at her father, than at Phelps, wide-eyed. She couldn't believe that Phelps was there in the flesh, like a boogeyman that had burst out of her nightmares. For the past twenty-four hours, the thought of him had fueled her fear, yet now that they were together, all she could do was wait to see what he would do.

She saw Daria look at her, then take the rim of her glasses and tip them down slightly, indicating a desire to take them off. Quinn knew what she wanted, but veered her head away to avoid looking. Daria wanted them to use their magic powers on Phelps - after their father had told them it would do no good. What the hell was Daria thinking? The first time they had stunned him was a fluke; if they tried again, it might not work, or it might not be enough and then Mr. Phelps would kill their father!

Or it might be too much and we'd... kill...

Anyway, Phelps was right there, totally unharmed, and their father had made his choice. Quinn tried to block out the pain she was feeling, but she still felt a dull sadness. And something else.

No. This isn't happiness. There's no reason I should be happy.

"Now Jakey, you shouldn't be so dismissive of your wife's feelings," Phelps said in a mock tone of concern. "Let's consider what she has to say. Maybe we can make a different arrangement."

"We have an agreement," Jake said in a dead-serious tone. "There's no reason for you to have anything to do with them!"

"I don't know about that," Phelps said. His hand found the back of Jake's neck and pressed hard. Instantly, Jake collapsed and lay there in pain, barely conscious.

"Jake!" "Dad!"

"Vulcan neck pinch? No," said Phelps with a smirk. "Japanese martial arts technique, yes."

Helen tried to go to him, but Phelps's eyes expanded and glowed, paralyzing her where she stood. "Forget it, earth woman. If you want him to live."

With Helen unable to move, Amy stood protectively in front of her daughters. DeMartino came forward, his face tense and angry. Phelps, with one eye turned toward Jake while the other kept glowing, regarded his captive with mixture of disdain and pity.

"You can't fight anymore, Norlek. This was the secret you hoped that I would never learn. Back in your prime, you could have roused yourself from this stupor easily. But earth living has made you weak. When you made your choice to live with the humans, you chose to give up your powers, so they faded year after year... until poof. No more."

Gasping for breath and sweating, Jake looked at Phelps with wide, frightened eyes. If he had been able to look at Daria and Quinn, he would have seen their anxiety quadruple.

"One wonders why you didn't mention this sooner, because then I could have begun to chart the way home. I would have had no more reason to take you. After all, what are the Xulfanex salt mines to living on earth? Being a human is more than enough punishment for what you've done."

Phelps chuckled. "You didn't tell me because you had another secret, which I've just found out. Only first, I'll tell you my secret."

The mirth dropped unexpectedly from his face. He spoke in a more subdued tone. "I may be in the employ of Nebbolez, the greatest of warlords... but like you, I am a slave. My family was enslaved, our homes destroyed, my father and my uncles tortured and killed." The glow in Phelps's eye intensified with anger. "Thirty earth years is a long time to think about one's lot in life. I started out with a grim desire to do my duty, and lurched toward the present with a desire to go back and settle the score. You would have helped me... but now it's too late."

"Leave him ALONE," DeMartino said with soft intensity. "You said you wouldn't HURT him."

Quickly Phelps's arms encircled Jake's middle, as he kept his eyes on his targets. "And so I won't," he said blithely. "I am an honorable man, my dear Gob. I stick to my agreements, provided you stick to yours."

DeMartino's eyes bulged with fear.

"Norlek of the House of Madadogg will stay safe and sound on earth, where you can always love him, if never have him. And you give me his two secrets."

Phelps then turned his gaze toward Daria and Quinn.