Eric grinned. “Don’t sell yourself short. You could convince me to do anything.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “You’re an impossible flirt.”
Deciding to quit while he was ahead, Eric rose, bowed, and added, “Your faithful servant,” before stepping away as Ryan joined him, sword sheathed again. The knight nodded at her.
As they stepped away, Eric cried a loud protest to those in line, “She said I have no future, that I’ll be imprisoned this very night!”
“No surprise there,” remarked a passerby.
They went in search of Matt Sorenson, whom they found beside the nearby Lyric Stage, ready to assist another performer doing magic tricks for kids. Eric had taught him some sleight of hand that he still struggled with, but Eric knew that this wasn’t the reason Matt looked nervous. He had stage fright and had joked that if he could do magic for real, the first spell he’d cast would be something to cure him of this condition.
Eric saw Matt’s green eyes spot him and Ryan. Matt made a sign with his hand. Hi, the fingers said.
Eric made his own gesture. Hey. You’ll be fine. Picture them naked.
No thanks.
Suit yourself. There’s a hot redhead at your one o’clock. Eric saw Matt look that way and waited for the reaction.
Dick.
Made you look. Remember, tonight at Anna’s.
Ok.
See ya.
Right.
Matt watched them turn away in search of bored people to entertain, wishing he could do the same. Just then the other illusionist called to him for help, and he steeled his nerves to step on stage. A sea of faces and applause greeted him. Everywhere he looked eyes met his. They were inescapable. His heart fluttered and suddenly his stomach churned, and he fell to his knees, vomiting all over the floor. Thinking it was part of the act, the kids cheered while shame over-came him and he retched again and again. Kneeling over the mess he’d made, he realized making his lunch reappear was the closest to a magic trick he’d done before an audience.
Chapter 2 – The Pendant
Ryan plowed down River Road in the wealthy suburb of Potomac, Maryland at twenty over the limit, the radar detector silently watching for cops. He’d gotten enough speeding tickets to earn a suspended license before, but now instead of slowing down, he just drove prepared. As he made an illegal pass around a Sunday driver, the Dodge Charger roared like his pulse, but the questioning look Anna shot him made them go quiet again.
“What?” he asked defensively, feeling guilty. He knew he shouldn’t do it with her in the car, at least, but he couldn’t help it. “I did it safely. No one was coming.” When she didn’t say anything, he added lamely, “C’mon, I made that pass in two seconds, and there wasn’t even another car in sight.”
“Yeah, I know,” she admitted, playing with a pendant around her neck. He’d never seen her without it; it was some sort of fairly heirloom, a square-cut diamond surrounded by a rectangular silver frame. “I’m just surprised you keep doing it. You’re always so careful about everything else, but then you drive like a maniac. It doesn’t make any sense. I thought you were afraid to get hurt.”
He stifled a frown. It was his own fault people believed that, since he let them, but it frustrated him anyway.
“What’s the rush?” Anna asked.
He shrugged. “I need to get home to Daniel.”
She sighed. “Didn’t you just talk to him? Your brother will be fine until you get there. You don’t have to get us killed on the way.”
He looked sideways at her and eased up, so they were going all of two miles per hour slower. It was a gesture of conciliation without really ceding the point and he sensed more than saw her wry look. They finally turned off the road, having passed many mansions that paled in comparison to the LaRue estate. He noticed Anna gawking like she’d never seen it before, especially when they pulled up by the six car garage, where a red ‘77 Lamborghini Countach, a silver 2020 Aston Martin convertible, and a yellow ‘79 Ferrari 308 GTS were just some of the mint condition cars sitting idle. Ryan ignored them as he thrust open the car door and put a foot out before the Charger even stopped.
“C’mon,” he said, exiting agilely despite his height and physique.
As she struggled to keep up, Anna looked back at the black car with the huge dent in the driver’s side door. “Why don’t you drive one of these other cars?”
“Because I don’t deserve them,” he muttered.
“What? Why?”
He opened his mouth to explain but realized it might lead to a subject he didn’t want to discuss. “Long story.”
“You could be driving one of these and yet you bought that car with a dent already in it. And you won’t fix it. C’mon. Level with me.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “You’re a strange one, Charlie Brown.”
He nodded to himself. Maybe it was true. That was the problem with secrets. They made you do things but not explain them, leaving people to invent a new truth and a new you along with it. It made him keeps friends like Anna at arm’s length. He suddenly felt lonely as the mansion’s shadow swallowed him.
The main house had two wings where Ryan’s rich parents entertained senators, foreign dignitaries, and “old money” like the LaRues or business owners who sought their favors. Those who hadn’t been here were seldom aware of his family’s wealth. Part of him resented the money and he knew perfectly well why – all the money in the world wasn’t saving his brother.
The three-story foyer had a massive chandelier and polished, decorative tiles like a public government building or fancy hotel. Crystal figurines and marble busts stood on elegant cherry furniture in the halls, and Ryan tried to ignore them as he strode by. He always felt like he wasn’t supposed to touch anything, which was one reason he liked the dented car; it was already screwed up. On some level he knew he and it were the same and had felt drawn to it the moment he saw it, the same way this house repulsed him the second he turned into the driveway. Urgency brought him here at a clip, but something deep inside him made him want to get away just as soon as he arrived.
They found Ryan’s brother in the large, gourmet kitchen, where he sat tilted way back in his custom, powered wheelchair so that he faced the ceiling. It let him take the pressure off his legs and butt to avoid sores, though Ryan knew that wasn’t why he liked it. His long black hair was pulled back to reveal two pierced ears. On his left forearm lay a tattoo of a snake coiled around a knife. Such displays went against their un-cool parents, but they’d always let Daniel get away with certain things due to his injury, a fact his brother took advantage of and resented at the same time. Ryan did, too, because he saw them as signs of his brother’s unhappiness and wanted Daniel to be at peace.
Daniel flashed a grin at Anna while flicking a raisin at Ryan’s head and joked, “I knew it was you from the screeching tires. You should be careful. You don’t want to end up like me.”
Ryan got down on one knee beside him and squeezed a hand. “If I could trade places with you, I would.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I know. I should know better than to joke with you about it. How’d RenFest go?”
“Where’s Susan?” Ryan asked, looking around for the live-in nurse and ignoring the attempt at changing the subject.
His brother nodded to another room where a TV could be heard. “Watching the tube.”
“Susan!” Ryan called, rising. “Come in here!”
Daniel shot him a look of annoyance. “She doesn’t have to be with me every second, you know. I told you to stop that. I don’t even need her. Or at least not for that anyway,” he added suggestively.
Ryan squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t get so worked up. I just wanted to talk to her about how you’re doing.”
“Yeah right,” muttered Daniel, using the joystick to reposition the chair upright. While he was a quadriplegic, he had full use of his right arm and hand, but his grip with the left was too weak to do much with. He still had control over his bladder and r
elated areas, but he’d never walk again and really had no need for the 24/7 nurse Ryan had insisted on hiring. He was in no danger of respiratory failure or similar life threatening complications, but Ryan was deaf to guidance on these matters, even from world renowned doctors, for once he’d gotten it into his head that some quadriplegics could die suddenly, he’d never forgotten it. Not all quads were the same, but telling that to Ryan was pointless.
Anna leaned over to kiss Daniel. “Hello. How have you been?”
“As heartbroken as always that you won’t kiss more than my cheek.”
She shot back, “Isn’t that why Ryan got you the nurse?”
While Ryan cocked an eyebrow, Daniel said, “I wish,” and rolled out of the room as the nurse arrived.
Patting Ryan’s arm, Anna said, “I’ll watch him,” and hurried after Daniel, who she found doing donuts in his wheelchair on the hardwood floor. “Don’t run me over, please,” she said.
He stopped and sighed. “Only if you were Ryan.”
“He drives you crazy, doesn’t he? Would you like a long break from him?”
He looked surprised. “Are you kidding? I’d love that. Planning to kidnap him? It’s the only way.”
She laughed but not without concern at the truth of it. She knew Ryan frequently called or texted to check on him and that the well-meaning attention caused tension and arguments. “Me, Matt, and Eric are going on that trip to England that we’ve been planning for forever. Ryan’s been planning, too, but never committing to it.”
“On account of me.”
“Yeah. He doesn’t want to leave you despite all of this.” She gestured at the luxury around them. “Has he ever gone on a trip without you?”
“No. I haven’t gone more than eight hours without seeing him since I was a little kid, so I don’t know how you’ll pull that off.”
She played with the pendant around her neck. “We have an idea, but you might find it intrusive.”
He laughed. “Not more than his hovering. Let’s hear it.”
“We thought to install web cams here in the house. Matt’s a techie and good with that sort of thing. If Ryan can see you in the cameras when he wants, maybe he won’t bug you so much when he’s away. And he might just agree to come with us.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea. He can check on me without me knowing it. And I can randomly give the cameras the finger when I feel like it, just in case he’s watching. And it sorta fits this whole thing.”
Failing to hide a smile, she asked, “How do you mean?”
“It’s a nanny cam, basically, like I’m a frigging baby.” He seemed amused, at least. “That’s how he treats me.”
“We don’t mean it that way, of course.”
He waved that off. “But Ryan would. I’m all for it. Shit, you should’ve done it sooner.”
“No objections from your parents?”
“Nah. I know Matt’s good with security.”
“Do you think Ryan will go for it?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’d love it, too. But as for him going to England with you because of it, I don’t know.”
“Me either.
“Seriously though. It would do him more good than me to find out I’ll be fine without him.”
Anna nodded. “Wish me luck.”
“You’re gonna need it.”
A fortnight later, Ryan, Anna, Matt, and Eric stood in the English countryside, the giant stone monoliths of Stonehenge looming nearby in the dark. The place was deserted. It had closed hours earlier when they’d been here for a private tour that allowed them to walk among the stones, and Anna had lost her pendant in the grass during this tour, or so they surmised. They hadn’t been anywhere else but the big SUV Ryan had rented, and a search of that had turned up nothing.
Ryan sighed, staring at the little glowing screen of his iPhone in the dark. He still had no connection to check on Daniel. It had taken a week of enjoying the web cams back in the U.S. before Ryan had finally, and very reluctantly, agreed to make the trip. So far it had worked, and he was just starting to relax a bit, but out in the middle of nowhere, a flaw became apparent.
Suddenly a hand closed over the screen and he looked up, startled. Matt was frowning at him. “C’mon,” Matt whispered. “Put it away. You can check on him later. Anna needs our help. At least make a show of looking even if you don’t really care.”
“Of course I care,” Ryan muttered, putting the iPhone into a pocket with an effort. He knew the pendant was more precious to Anna than even his golden cross was to him. It was a family heirloom that her aunt had given her, and she’d confided that inside the diamond were strange letters that only a jeweler’s glass let you see, but no one could read them. Losing it had been bound to happen sooner or later, as she was always pulling the pendant back and forth on the chain, stressing the fragile lock. His eyes went over to where Eric was leading her by the hand toward the monument, a large flashlight he’d found in the car sweeping back and forth.
Matt turned toward them. “Then let’s go.”
“Right.” Ryan fell in beside him as they marched up the gravel path, passing the circular earthen bank and ditch and a ring of holes in the ground to enter Stonehenge. Few of the center stones remained and most of the larger sarsen stones that he recognized from pictures were gone, too. “So what did they say this place was for?”
“Solstice rituals or something.”
“It’s a lot of trouble to go through just for a ritual, isn’t it?” Ryan asked, laying a palm on a cold stone. It was huge, ponderous, and formidable. Someone had put a lot of work into this. “They must weigh a ton.”
“Twenty-five tons, to be exact,” corrected Matt. “The big ones came from twenty miles away. It makes you wonder what they really did here. It does seem like a lot of work for just a ritual.”
“How long ago was this built?” the big guy asked.
Matt smirked. “You weren’t listening at all earlier, were you? Something like 3000 to 1600 BC.”
Ryan glanced around at the open countryside, wondering if a passing cop car would see Eric’s flashlight and show up to arrest them for trespassing. Then he noticed something and went off to investigate, stepping around a toppled stone to discover that the air beyond it tingled strangely, like he’d walked into an electrical field. A faint light shone near a pair of giant stones with a third stone lying across the top. On the trilithon’s surface, a few feet above the ground, three oddly shaped lights were glowing blue. Had the moon shone brighter he might never have noticed. When he stopped beside them, he found Anna’s pendant lying there in the grass, reflecting the glow on its silver parts. He picked it up absently, staring at the trilithon.
After a moment, he realized they’d stopped here earlier to see an ancient carving of a dagger and axe on the stone. The glowing symbols were beneath these and seemed vaguely familiar, though they hadn’t been here before. He’d seen such symbols in fantasy role playing games.
“Norse runes,” he said to himself, trying to remember how to read them. They were a form of alphabet used for communication, divination, and magic. With every moment, more lines of text appeared on the once dark and silent stone surface, letters swirling around the monolith to cover all sides.
“Guys!” he called in amazement. They turned to see words of blue fire igniting their way up the stone surface, covering the lintel stone on top.
Eric called, “Get away from there, Ryan!”
He blinked at the suggestion and then realized Eric’s instincts about danger were infinitely better than anyone he knew. He backed away, but on seeing looks of fear on their faces, jogged toward them, meeting at the center of Stonehenge.
“What the hell is going on?” Matt asked.
“I think we should get out of here,” Anna said, taking the pendant from his hand.
Moments later, every monolith burst into blue flames. An arc of fire spread between them and to places where missing or fallen stones now reappeared like ghostly apparitions fr
om the past. The outer ring of sarsen stones encircled them as flames raced around the lintel stones on top, starting at the original entrance to the site and coming around again. They were the first ones in ages to see the full shape of Stonehenge as it was meant to be, but they didn’t have long to admire it. As the flame wave circled to where it started, everything disappeared in a blinding flash.
Ryan could hardly see for all the swirling and flashing lights surrounding them, a vortex of air drowning everything out. It looked like Anna was screaming. He tried to step toward her but couldn’t move his feet. He looked down and saw only blackness below him. The earth was gone, as were the huge stones and the sky.
While he watched, Matt’s jeans and shirt changed to a long, dark robe, a staff appearing in one hand. Startled, Ryan looked at Eric, who now wore leather from neck to toe, a bandoleer of knives across his chest and a short sword at one hip. Then this disappeared and for a moment he was naked before his Earth clothes returned. Ryan’s eyes went to Anna just as she switched from bare to her normal clothes, and a moment later she wore a long white robe. He glanced down at himself and saw a suit of golden armor, a big sword strapped to his waist and a golden lance in one hand. Then the noise, wind, and darkness abruptly stopped.
Squinting and shielding his eyes in the bright sunlight, Ryan tried to make out his surroundings. The air tingled and he felt invigorated and refreshed, as if awakening from a deep sleep. Words of blue fire were fading from the stone pillars around them, but it wasn’t Stonehenge. These were a foot in diameter and well kept. The tallest were at the back and they decreased in size to an inch high in the front. A raised dais lay underfoot, where more decorative markings faded from view. Above them in a towering hall of grey limestone, sunlight poured in from huge stained-glass windows depicting dragons, elves, knights, and other fantastic sights.
And there were people, standing at the far end of the room, staring in amazement. Dressed in finery befitting a royal medieval court, scores of them stood against the tapestry-covered walls, fur-lined or silken tunics and leggings as well-kept as their brushed hairs and trimmed beards on the men. In the room’s center stood a tall, robed figure, white hair and a matching beard flowing past his belted waist. A large book lay open on a podium before him. He lowered a staff similar to the one in Matt’s hand to the floor and looked every bit the wizard. Behind him stood a pair of thrones, one empty, the other bearing a regal woman in an elaborate gown, a golden crown upon her head. Nearby stood people that looked like they might be her advisors, one of whom rose and came toward them with an outstretched hand.
The Dragon Gate (The Dragon Gate Series Book 1) Page 2
