Her face is twisted in an ugly rage. I see her reach under her skirt, then something metallic gleams in her hand. I watch in horror as Jennifer aims her gun at me, Keva still oblivious to what’s going on.
“No!” I yell, shoving Keva to the side as the gun fires.
I feel my head snap back, glass exploding behind me as I fall backward, then agonizing pain blooms behind my eyes, and all goes black.
The whole earth is shaking. A man in a hazmat suit is drilling right next to me, the jackhammer bouncing up and down in rapid successions, the ambient red light reflecting off the machine’s dull surface.
I’m back inside the tent.
The light flickers and the man pauses. What is he trying to dig up? The red light goes back on for another long second before going out completely.
“What the heck, Arch?” the man calls out, his voice muffled by his mask. “I’m not done here!”
The man’s heavy footsteps move away from me, towards the exit. Suddenly, I hear him grunt, before two loud thumps tell me he’s fallen to the ground.
My eyes dart about the darkness frantically, my heart racing. I can feel something close by, reaching for me.
“Don’t touch me!” I scream, but no sound comes out.
A shower of sparks blazes in the air in front of me and I hear a sharp yelp. But in the brief light, I saw a familiar profile. Nibs?
“At last,” the clurichaun breathes, jubilant.
There’s a click as he flicks a lighter on, its tiny flame barely dispelling the shadows on his scarred face. Nibs’s long fingers reach out then, but stop a handspan away, as if fearful of touching me.
“Not quite done though,” Nibs says to himself, licking his lips in excitement. “But soon.”
His face draws nearer until his eyes look like golden crystal balls. He sniffs, pulls away, then lets out a high-pitched giggle.
“Oh, yes,” he says, “very soon! I can feel the power building.”
He releases his hold on the lighter and the ball of light winks out of existence, plunging me back into complete and utter darkness.
A startlingly white, bald, round face is staring at me. Boy do angels in heaven have a Humpty Dumpty look about them. Or is this hell?
“You’re awake.”
The gravelly voice makes me jump and I smack my head on a solid wall.
“Ouch!” I mutter, rubbing the back of my skull, only now taking in the infirmary’s antiseptic smells.
“Praise the Lord for your Fey blood, huh?” the albino guy asks me. “I don’t think anyone else around here would have managed to survive a bullet to the head.”
I shudder as I remember the agony that followed the gunshot. My fingers shake as I touch my forehead, only to find smooth and perfectly hole-less skin.
“What happened to Jennifer?” I ask.
The albino man sits back with a shrug. “What do you think would happen to the de Lyonesse heir?”
“Jail for a month or two,” I say, “with a dash of torture. It would only be fair to have her punished for what she’s done, for a change.”
“It would, wouldn’t it?” The albino man scratches his bald pate thoughtfully, his pale blue eyes lost in the distance. “But change has never been the Order’s forte. Humans like routine, they find it comforting. Especially when they’re not at the bottom of the food chain.”
“How come you’re here?” I ask.
I look about the room for a sign from the doctors or at least nurse Harry, but the whole infirmary seems deserted.
“I am your intermediary bodyguard,” the albino man says, “until the next one comes in.”
“Bodyguard?” I repeat. Then I recall the hissing, Sophie screaming. Keva mentioned a snake…. “Sameerah? Where is she? And what happened to Sophie?”
“Gone, and gone,” the albino man says. “Sameerah to Avalon with Lugh—she couldn’t readily stay here after what happened. She’ll probably thank you for that, by the way. As for Sophie, she was treated here for a couple of days then discharged. Unfortunately for her, her arm will never be the same.”
“But she’s alive?” I ask, my hands clutched around my covers.
The albino man nods and I breathe out in relief.
“Where is everyone, anyway?” I ask, swinging my legs off the bed. “I’ve never seen this place empty before.”
“I suppose they went to see the Board members off,” the albino man says, playing with a strange, bulging pouch hanging from his neck, “or perhaps to see the Sangraal one last time. I suppose some may be sad at its departure, but methinks it’ll be safer locked away at Camaaloth than here.”
“I thought the Board members were going to stay here for a while,” I say, shivering as my feet hit the cold tile floor.
“They have. You’ve been out for four days already.”
Another shiver runs down my back, raising goose pimples along my arms.
“You had your knight quite in a fright,” the man adds.
Arthur. “Yeah, I bet he wasn’t too happy,” I mumble, taking a quick look outside at the sound of a rising clamor.
Unfortunately, the infirmary’s windows give out onto the training arena and not the landing docks. I turn away then do a double take as an explosion makes the school rock on its foundations.
“What was that?” I ask, catching myself on the edge of my bed before I can fall.
The albino man gets up quickly to scan our surroundings. He ducks as a comet of sizzling blue flames whizzes over our window and hits the school, shaking its walls.
“Looks like we’ve got ourselves another invasion,” he says.
I feel my innards drop. “Again?” I whisper, feeling sick to my stomach.
“Maybe they left something here the last time,” the albino man says with a sardonic smile.
“Or maybe they’ve decided they need something else,” I say.
“That would make more sense.”
I just hope it isn’t me, I silently add.
Someone screams in the distance, a long, desperate yell. My body reacts immediately and before I know it, I’m pelting out the door, down the hallway, then out into the open air, my feet pounding the packed earth towards a group of fleeing students and the horde of Fey after them.
“Over here!” I yell at the terrified pages.
“I think they’ve got the gist of that,” the albino says, easily keeping pace with me.
“Why are you following me?” I ask him.
“I told you,” he answers, “I’m your intermediary bodyguard.”
I glance up quickly, expecting to see clouds of Fomori darkening the dome of the sky-lake, but find it strangely clear. One of the Fey creatures bounds ahead of the children, cutting off their escape route.
“S-stay back,” one of the pages yells, and I recognize Elias as he shuffles the younger students towards the arena’s outer wall as six half-human, half-tapir-like Feys surround them. One of the creature’s long, blue tongue flicks out, displaying a series of sharp brown teeth, before it lets out a loud bellow.
“Can you fight?” I ask the albino man.
“I’ve got my ways,” he replies, fiddling with his strange pouch again.
I point to the side, away from the group of Fey. “I’ll try to draw them away,” I say, “then you can take the pages to the school.”
“Sorry, that’s not possible,” he says.
“I really don’t have time for arguments!” I exclaim.
One of the tapir Fey notices us and swings around in our direction eagerly.
“Like I said—” the albino man says in a calm voice that really doesn’t match our situation.
“—you’re my bodyguard, I know,” I reply through clenched teeth.
If he’s going to be like that, I’ve got no room for error or we’re all cooked. I swallow the bile rising to my mouth. I just hope my powers aren’t going to go completely bonkers on me or, worse, not work at all.
“That’s right, you big sack of flees,” I shout to t
he Fey watching us with a pair of beady eyes. “I’m the one you want! Didn’t I tell you I killed your cousin?”
I flinch as the lie makes my innards shrivel up, but who cares? All I need is to keep these pea-sized creatures from eating up those terrified kids and focus instead on terrified old me.
I skid to a stop twenty feet away from the pack of Fey, trying to feel for this temperamental power of mine.
“Blessed be the Lord my rock,” I pray under my breath, “who trains my hands for battle…”
I raise my hands, willing whatever it is inside me to come forth. But this time, there is no answering warmth in the pit of my stomach.
The long snout of the creature facing me rises in a strange, snorting laugh, tepid saliva dribbling down its brown and white fur. The Fey flexes its hands and long, black talons spring forth. Then, with a loud grunt, it lunges forward, surprisingly fast, tearing at the ground with its claws.
The albino man whips his arm, throwing a small pebble at the creature, and I repress a groan, only now remembering that he was one of the asylum’s occupants.
The pebble hits the ground and explodes as the Fey creature runs over it, and the tapir-like creature squeals in pain, its body torn apart, then falls heavily back down in a shower of dirt.
“That’s a nifty trick,” I say, coughing on the billowing cloud of dust.
I blink, trying to see where the pages are, when a large, dark paw swings at me.
I duck out of the way, but lose my balance and fall. I gasp as the Fey’s long tongue wraps itself around my throat, squeezing till my eyes are about to pop out. I grab the tongue, trying to pull it off me, but my hands keep slipping on the slimy organ. Then my stomach does a backflip and I feel a familiar tingling sensation wipe through me, increasing as it hurtles through my arms.
Finally!
A ripple of energy blasts through the creature, making him sizzle and smoke, and the Fey finally lets go of me with a squeal of pain.
“Look, I really don’t want to hurt you,” I wheeze, as the creature rounds on me again, its beady eyes glaring furiously. “If you could just leave without hurt—”
The Fey charges, its claws flinging upturned earth in its wake.
I slam my foot on the ground. Just like during my practice session with Lugh, I feel a bouncy resistance meet me, but this time I don’t hold myself back and I’m propelled into the sky. The Fey rears on its hind legs as I surge overhead, its talons barely missing me. I turn in the air, instinctively trying to keep my opponent in my line of vision, only to find myself suspended thirty feet in the air, unable to get back down.
“Uh, help,” I say, trying to swim my way down to the ground.
Below me, the albino guy is still holding his own, using those little pebbles from the pouch at his neck to keep the Fey at bay, the pages cowering behind him.
“Don’t have much left!” he yells at me. “Update?”
“Update?” I repeat, looking about my dangling feet. “We’ve still got five Fey here, and they’re all grouped around you.”
“I meant, is any help coming?” the man yells back.
I look around, and find myself rising further up into the air like a hot air balloon, until I can see over the school’s tall building and all the way down to the landing docks.
I squint in the sunny glare and bite back a cry of shock when as waves of dark figures swarm all over the newly reconstructed pier, knights trying to push them back while dousing the fires all around them.
“No help’s about to come,” I yell at the albino man, looking down at him.
I see one of the tapir-men’s tongue lash out, and a girl screams as it wraps around her leg and pulls her up. The albino man tosses another of his rocks, this time straight at the Fey, and its head disappears in a loud explosion.
The page’s cry of fear turns to one of shock and pain as she drops back down and a brown liquid oozes onto her from the now-severed tongue, burning through her uniform. I hear the albino man swear as he rushes to her side, and the other Fey creatures take that opportunity to bear down on the remaining three children.
“Morgan!” Elias squeaks, a small knife shaking in his hands.
Heart beating wildly, I dive.
“Stay away from them!” I yell.
But as I draw closer, the tapir-men suddenly part in a circle and lash out at me together. I jerk to a stop a couple of feet from the ground, both my wrists caught in their slimy tongues.
“Let me go, you driveling beasts!” I cry out.
“Not poosssssible.”
I shudder at the strange voice coming from behind my captors.
Without a sound, a large, stooped shadow glides over to us. I feel my innards drop, cold sweat slicking my forehead, and watch, helpless, as the Shade stops before the frightened children.
“Run!” I try to yell, but another tongue wraps itself around my neck and the word gets choked off.
The albino man throws his last couple of rocks at the Shade, but the shadows around it seem to pulse and the projectiles bounce harmlessly off its veil of darkness.
Slowly, a long, pale hand emerges from the black mists and latches onto Elias’s skull. The boy’s mouth drops open in a silent scream, the knife falling from his hands. I see his eyes roll back inside his skull as his veins blacken, turning his face into an inky spider web.
Rage wells up inside me and the tapir-man to my left gives a whimper before exploding, his charred carcass crumpling to the ground.
“We need to get you out of here!” the albino man says, rushing to my aid.
He brings down another of the tapir-men and I yank on my other arm, fury lending me the strength to finally wrench myself free.
“No!” the albino man yells as I dash towards the Shade.
But I don’t listen. That creature of darkness has killed his last victim, I’m going to make sure of it!
I feel my anger bubble to the surface and, hands held out before me, ram into him, sending bolts of electricity into his ethereal shape.
The Fey hisses in surprise and drops Elias. I pull back and punch the Shade again, lightning bolts shooting from my fists with every blow.
With a growl, the Shade straightens up to its full height, grasping my hand into his vice-like fist. Slowly, I feel my feet raise off the ground as the putrid smell of decaying flesh reaches my nostrils.
I bite back a scream as all sensation in my hand dies out.
“Morgan!” the albino man yells.
“Get the pages out of here!” I gasp as the Shade pumps its poison into me.
I peer into the shadow’s depths, trying to see the face of the one who murdered my father. Slowly, the dull-white profile of an emaciated face comes into definition within the darkness.
“Release me, you anorexic bastard!” I say through gritted teeth.
The face disappears from view as the noxious fumes close back over it. “You coooooome with meeeeeee,” it breathes in a hoarse voice that sounds like it hasn’t been used in over a century.
There’s a loud, blood-curdling shriek and something bounds onto the Shade, a black blade flashing in the air before it imbeds itself into the Fey’s back.
The Shade shudders then releases me and I fall to the ground, clasping my numb arm to me. Another hair-raising howl pierces the dusky air and I see a bundle of dirty rags jump off the Shade.
“The banshee?” I gasp, shaking my head to clear it. What is she doing here?
The Shade lurches around, seeking its attacker, but the banshee moves out of its reach.
“Morgan!” Arthur shouts as he, Percy, and a tall woman run towards us, swords out.
At their sight, the banshee scrambles away, disappearing as the three knights fall upon the remaining tapir-men, quickly cutting them down. With a hiss, the Shade folds back on itself then vanishes in a gust of wind.
“Oh, no you won’t!” I shout at it.
I stomp my foot on the ground, propelling myself into the sky after the creature of darkness.
“Raido!” I hear Arthur shout, and I know he’s coming too.
I keep my eyes trained on the ground, following the dark Fey’s tracks—the patches of dead vegetation clear against the vibrant green of the grass surrounding it. Just like up on Island Park when Arthur and the others made Nibs take them to the abandoned house.
I pause as the trail ends abruptly and Arthur catches up with me, his sweaty face pale.
“I thought you were…,” he starts, his voice breaking. “But you’re alright?” His eyes travel down my face then widen when he sees the state of my arm. “Morgan, you need to go back,” he says. “We need to take care of your wound.”
“I’ll be fine,” I say distractedly.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a dark shape streak through the air, and jerk my face towards it.
“There!” I shout.
I instinctively strain towards it and my body responds right away, shooting straight for the fleeing Shade.
“Again?” I hear Percy say.
Arthur responds with a string of curses before flying after me. I brace myself as I near the edge of the sky, but I fly through the waters of Lake Winnebago without any trouble, my power surrounding me in a protective shell. Seconds later, we breach the surface of the lake, breaking through the icecap like bullets.
“Not too high,” Arthur starts.
“Or the laymen are gonna catch us on their radars and try to shoot us down,” Percy adds, appearing through the hole we’ve left behind in the ice sheet.
I nod, scanning the horizon for any sign of the Shade, the setting sun’s reflection off the snowy landscape stabbing at my eyes. My stomach clenches with the fear of losing the creature. This is my chance to make the black-vein murders stop, my chance to make him pay for what he did to my father.
“North,” says a feminine voice.
I look over my shoulder, expecting to see another knight, then drop a few feet in the air in surprise.
“Blanchefleur? What are you doing here?” I ask.
The wind whips the Fey warrior’s brown curls about her oval face. “I was sent as a replacement for my sister,” she says.
“Your sis…you mean Sameerah?”
Rise of the Fey Page 25
