Bad Habit's Arc

Chapter 9 of 10

The fighting was done, so Bad Habit took his kids home. His house sat at the edge of the water, all fangs and spikes, its yellow window-eyes watching the road. It looked like a monster, and that was the point. Inside, it kept them safe. "We rest here," he told them. "Nobody moves fast on us out here. We fish. We breathe." Koul carried his little pop-up house under one arm. Emmy carried nothing but her boredom. Morning came quiet. They sat on the dock with lines in the water. NIKO, the family's black puppy, paced the boards, gold teeth bared at every ripple. Koul's line went tight first. He braced his small feet and pulled. Whatever he'd hooked was big. It dragged him a foot across the wood before Bad Habit grabbed his son's belt. "Hold it, boy." Koul laughed. His gold eyes glowed. He reeled, all his focus on the water. NIKO stopped pacing. The puppy faced the trees behind them and growled low. Bad Habit turned. He'd been watching the fish. They all had. That was the trick. A figure stood at the tree line. Half man, half shark, with flat black eyes and a jacket of skull patches. Tricky Dayz ran the north side. He liked his food to run first, and he counted while it did. He had come alone, smiling with rows of razor teeth. "Big fish," Tricky said. He nodded at Koul's straining line. "You're all looking the wrong way." His black eyes moved over the children. "Word says these two are gold. I came to see the bait for myself." Bad Habit stepped between Tricky and his kids. "You came to my door." "I came to play." Tricky spread his hands. "Run. I'll count. Nobody makes it far." "No games." Bad Habit's eyes went red. Emmy was already moving. She left the dock feet-first and hit Tricky in the chest before he finished his grin. He flew back into a tree. He came up fast, jaws snapping, and lunged for her. Koul dropped his fishing pole. He flung one hand out. Tricky froze in the air, held by nothing, feet kicking. "You wanted to see us," Emmy said. Flat. She landed beside her brother. "Now you see us." Bad Habit walked up to the pinned shark. Heat rose off his stare. Tricky's black eyes went wide for the first time. "Wait," Tricky said. "Count for me. Let me run." "You never let anybody run," Bad Habit said. His gaze burned into Tricky's face. The north side boss dropped, smoking, and did not move. Koul picked his pole back up. The big fish was gone. "It got away," he said. "Let it," Bad Habit said. He looked at his children on the dock, whole and unafraid. Tricky Dayz had thought his family was bait. Now the north side had no boss. One more throne stood empty, and one more crew would soon know his name.