Body Surfing

circuit board himself. He backed toward the car, keeping his eyes on the tree. Just then he spotted movement higher up the trunk. It was so dark that even he had to squint to see that it was a raccoon.
    Psych! Michaela said.
    Not helping , Jasper said.
    “But what about the Baghdad Batteries?” he said to Q. “If those really were Solomon jars, then people have been able to trap Mogran since biblical times.”
    “Well, how come no one in the Legion ever managed to make one? I mean, these people are obsessed with the Mogran, and I’ve only known about them for a week.”
    “For all you know, they tried to make one, but never had a Mogran to test it on. Or maybe, you know, they’re all like Ileana. Fanatics who want us dead at any cost.”
    They were at the car by then. Q. switched on his light andshone it into the ruined interior. There were tattered bits of clothing scattered around the cab, broken CDs and shards of glass, and of course blood. So much blood, staining the seats, matting the carpets.
    Q.’s light flashed over something on the floor. He bent over—the doors had been ripped off—and picked it up. It was his phone.
    “Aw, hells.” It seemed as though he was about to throw it into the night when he stopped. Looked at the little plastic case in his hand.
    “What?” Jasper said.
    Q. held up the phone. “We’ve got our circuit.”
    “You sure that’s safe?” Jasper said. “I mean, we won’t accidentally beam him out into the world if someone calls?”
    Q. started to laugh, then stopped. “I’ll take out the SIM card just in case.”
     
    An hour later, Q. had assembled his makeshift Solomon jar. Although what part the jar played was a little unclear to Jasper.
    “It’s pretty simple. Basically, we attach the electrode to the person’s head. The wire runs into the phone, here, and we just use its on-off switch to close the circuit.”
    The “electrode” was a platinum tiara Q. had filched from a safe in the library. Q. had taken off the back of the phone. A length of wire with an alligator clip at the ends connected the tiara to a loose wire in the phone’s innards.
    Jasper picked it up now.
    “This adds a whole new meaning the term smart phone.”
    Q. forced a laugh, then got back to business. “Judging from what you’ve told me, it takes you a minute to assume control unless you slam right into your host. I’m hoping the moment of disorientation is long enough for me to turn the phone off.”
    Jasper nudged the clay jar. “And what’s this for?”
    Q. shrugged. “We don’t really know what state Leo will be in once we trap him in the phone. Will he just dissipate? Fade away, like a dying battery? Or will he remain intact until the circuit’s reopenedand he can get out again? I’d bash the phone to pieces, but for all we know exposure to loose ions in the atmosphere will be enough to release him. So I’m going to put the phone in a jar and coat it with about two inches of wax, and stick it in my safety deposit box, where no one ever touches it again.”
    Jasper’s eyebrows went up. “Just make sure you don’t forget to pay the bill.”
    “Are you kidding? I’m gonna pony up for the next couple hundred years. All right,” Q. went on. “We’ve got two jobs ahead of us. One, we’ve got to get Leo to jump out of Dr. Thomas, and keep our fingers crossed that he goes for your dad this time. And two, we’ve got to convince your dad to wear this.”
    Jasper laughed grimly. “That part’s easy. Get him drunk enough and he’ll do anything.”
    “Jasper—”
    “I’m serious, Q. I mean, he doesn’t have to be conscious, right? Can’t we get him blind drunk until he passes out, then put the tiara on him?”
    “Actually…” Q. reached into his pocket. “I was thinking of these.” He put a medicine bottle on the counter.
    “Sleeping pills?”
    “My dad’s. He uses them for flights to Asia. Says two’ll put you out for twelve hours. You’d sleep through a plane crash.”
    “That just leaves part one.”
    Q. nodded. “Are you guys ready?”
    Jasper wasn’t sure if he shrugged Michaela’s shoulders, or she did. “We’re ready. Ready as we’ll ever be.”
    Q. nodded. He pulled his phone—his new phone—from his pocket and retrieved the doctor’s number.
    Jasper cocked his ears. The voice that answered the phone was wide awake. Expectant.
    “Q.,” J.D. Thomas said, “where are you?”
    “I’m home,” Q. said, “and I think I know where Leo