They broke their huddle and faced me. “You got guts girl!” Kat said.
“Yes, I do!” I said.
“She does!” Sebastian said, walking up to my side.
Lance and Art bounced to my side. “I have just met this Gwen and I am so impressed,” Lance chimed.
“I back the leader,” Art said.
Gail and Mika came forward. “What they said!” Mika said.
“Ditto!” Gail said, pounding her fist into her hand.
Fern flew onto my shoulder. “I can make things quite hot for you fairies.”
Mom and Dad walked up beside us. They didn’t say anything; they didn’t need to.
“So ladies? Do we work together?” I asked.
The two fairies exchanged another glance. They smiled. “You make good sense, Gwen. If you think these two weaklings are helpful, then so be it.” Celia told me.
“We’ll consider this the final test and that you have passed,” Kat said. She waved her arm at Bart, who was still crawling around on the floor. Instantly, he transformed from a little baby in a diaper to his regular self. She ignored his confused expression and walked to the door. “See you in school. Gwen. And don’t forget the pep rally this week. We have to beat those blue dragons!”
“You have a lovely home!” one of the giant pompoms said to Mom and Dad.
“Ah, thanks,” Dad said, “We think so!”
We watched as the two pompom monsters bounced out of the house and shrank back into normal pompoms.
“Man! We may need a bigger house if this keeps up!” Dad threw his arms in the air and trudged to the kitchen. I think he’d had enough for one day.
My Notes:
This is it! I have my knights together. Well, not all of them but certainly enough to make a run for the holy grail. Man, my heart, head, and stomach all felt funny being in the same room with Art, Lance, and Sebastian. I have such a history with Art of course. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Lance. And there is much about Sebastian that I find, oh so appealing. But here’s the kicker. Right now I have to keep my mind on the goal and that goal is to defeat Morgana. I can’t let myself be distracted. Not yet. There will be more time for my love life once Morgana is in her place.
Of course, at times I think part of life is loving. Shouldn’t I make time for myself and my love life? But I guess I will figure that out in time.
I have to admit it felt so good standing up to the fairies. Nothing feels better than putting a mean girl or two in their place!
Chapter 15
We had a simple plan. We would go to see the fisherman prince on Saturday. That would give Lance the week to get somewhat used to our world and also get in some training with the rest of us. Merlin would tutor Lance during the day, then after school, we would all meet in our basement and work on fighting moves and practicing with our stun staffs. Bart and Brett also started to use some slingshots and blowguns to give us more long-ranged options. Coach Locke would stop by and give us all hints as well as work on grappling techniques.
The training went pretty smoothly. I felt good that we had clicked as a team. Lance had a few problems getting used to the modern world. We had to convince him that automatic doors weren’t evil monster mouths waiting to eat him. He first thought cars to be stinky noisy beasts that needed to be slain. He also had a crazy time with running water, not at the sink or in the toilet, but in the shower. Finally, he accepted it and called it man-made rain.
The things he really liked about this modern world were Netflix, electric lights, tacos, pizza, fried chicken, pretty much every other food that he tried, and cell phones. Though he called them cell communication devices.
All in all, things were going quite smoothly. Even Kat and Celia were giving me space at school. When I arrived home on Friday though, instead of finding Lance studying in his room with Merlin and Fern, I found Merlin and Fern asleep and snoring.
“You guys had one job!” I shouted, waking them up.
“Say what?” Merlin asked.
“Where’s Lance?” Fern asked, rubbing his eyes with his wings.
We heard a chuckle from outside. Looking out the guest room window, I saw Lance standing next to our white picket fence. Lance and Ms. Harris, our neighbor, were laughing and chatting together.
“Oh Lance, you say the funniest things!” Ms. Harris said.
“Oh, not good!” I said, rushing downstairs and out of the house.
I sprinted over to Lance and Ms. Harris, who were talking away like old friends.
Ms. Harris saw me and grinned. “Oh, Gwen, your third cousin twice removed, is so funny! I love our daily chats!”
“Daily chats?” I asked.
Ms. Harris nodded. “Yes, he comes by every day after his lessons. I love the company. I think homeschooling is so interesting.”
“Yes,” Lance said proudly. “Homeschooling is fun. I am learning about the future; I mean the present. Plus, when you are alone studying, nobody minds if you fart.”
Ms. Harris laughed. “Oh, I baked another apple pie for you! I’ll go get it!” She turned and rushed towards her house.
“Another pie?” I asked Lance.
“I really like pie!” Lance said. “And I like her. She reminds me of my old nanny. Besides, it’s nice for me to meet new people.”
“I get it, I do, but we can’t have her figuring out you’re from another time,” I said.
“But you’re from another time too, as is Art, Bart, Gail, Brett, Merlin, Fern…”
“Yes, yes, but we’ve all been magically brought to this time a while ago. And the spell that brought us, granted us knowledge of this time,” I insisted.
“True, but I am quite smart!” Lance argued. “Like, I know KFC is where you get chicken. Subway is where you get enormous sandwiches. McDonald's gets you special Hamburgers. Netflix lets you binge watch. Cars are NOT evil beasts. The moon is not made of cheese. Sneakers feel better and smell better than boots. Monsters are called Pokémon and you need to catch them. OMG means Oh My Goodness. LOL means Laugh Out Loud because that was a joke. BRB means Be Right Back. Yet, the sun still rises in the east and Sets in the west.”
“Yep, you’re good at covering up,” I said.
Ms. Harris came back holding an apple pie.
“Thanks, Ms. H!” Lance beamed.
“The pleasure is mine, dear boy. I’ve loved having somebody to talk to each day. It brings me happiness.”
I led Lance back into the house.
“Dude, you have to be careful!”
“I am careful. I don’t talk about the past. I don’t mention dragons or wizards or having to poo outside…dude!”
“I’m not a dude!” I told him, as I led him back into the house. But actually, thinking about it, his chats with Ms. Harris might have been a really good thing.
My Notes:
I really can’t blame Lance for waiting to connect with other people. He’s always been a people person. It would drive almost anybody crazy spending the day with Merlin!
Chapter 16
Saturday came along and Mom and Dad used the van to take us to meet Fisherman Juan Prince. No sooner had we parked in front of Juan’s shack, and he came out to greet us.
“Well, it’s about time you arrived!” he scolded. “The fairies told me you have had their approval for days now!”
I nodded. “Yes, we have. But we wanted to prepare.”
“A good fisherman always prepares as best he or she can,” Paulie told Juan.
Juan grinned. “Yes, I suppose, but you can’t prepare for the unknown.”
“We can prepare by being prepared,” Gail said.
Juan nodded. “Good point.” He started walking towards the dock. He waved for us to follow and called, “Come! The place you seek won’t go to you.”
I gave Mom and Dad a big squeeze. “We’ll be back with the grail!” I assured them.
Dad called to Juan. “Mr. Juan, how long with this take?”
“As long as needed!
” Juan called back over his shoulder.
I smiled at Dad and followed after Juan.
He took us to a big, old, blue fishing boat called: Fish and Chips.
“Why is it called that?” Art asked Juan.
“I like fish and chips!” Juan said. “They are great with a little vinegar but Fish, Chips and Vinegar seemed too long.”
He used his cane to pole vault onto the boat. He kicked a little wooden ramp. The ramp slid from the boat to the dock. “Cross carefully,” he warned. “My lawyer makes me say that.”
We crossed into the boat. It smelled of fish. “Yum, mackerel!” Merlin said, rubbing his tummy.
“Yes, you have a good nose, ex-wiz!” Juan said. He climbed up a small ladder into the captain’s cabin. He turned a key next to the steering wheel and the boat coughed to life, spurting out smoke.
“Ah, I love the smell of oil in the morning!” Juan shouted.
“It’s afternoon!” Lance corrected.
“It’s an OLD movie reference!” Bart told Lance.
“Very good, young man!” Juan told Bart. “You’ve passed my first test. I love old movies!” He pointed to the chain on the back of the boat that was keeping the boat secure on the dock.
“Why is everybody always testing us?” Gail asked.
“Life is a big test!” Juan answered. “You are always being tested and you are always learning. Now, for my final task for you…remove the chain that binds us!”
We all looked at the thick metal chain. It seemed to be bolted to the boat and to the dock. I couldn’t really tell how. This had to be some sort of magical chain.
Art bent down and lifted the chain with great effort. “This sucker is heavy!” he said.
“Yes, my boat is heavy, hence the need for a heavy chain,” Juan told us.
The air filled with smoke from the engine.
“Any ideas?” I asked my knights.
Gail held out a hand. “Gwen, may I have your staff.”
“Sure,” I said, handing it to her.
Gail took the staff and calmly yet powerfully smashed it down on the chain. The chain cracked open. The boat pulled away from the dock.
“Actually, you were just to supposed to ask me to release the chain!” Juan said. He shrugged. “But that works too! I give you extra credits for listening to your knights and being innovative. Test passed. Prepare to reach the island of knowledge.”
The boat pulled farther away from the dock. After a few minutes, the dock disappeared from sight. All we could see was clear blue water. Until a strange mist surrounded us.
“This mist isn’t natural,” Lance said.
“Nope,” Merlin said, “but that’s a good thing. It means we’re passing into another realm.”
“What kind of realm?” I asked.
The ship crashed to a halt. “Land Ho!” Juan yelled.
The mist cleared. We had run aground on a palm tree covered island.
“I’d say an island realm!” Merlin said.
Juan jumped down from the captain’s cabin and pointed to a clump of palm trees up by the beach. “Go there! And thank you for traveling Fisherman Prince’s Express. I hope you prove worthy of the cup!”
We hopped down from the boat and headed toward the trees. The second we reached the trees, a long thick vine grabbed hold of my ankle. The vine began wrapping around my entire leg.
Looking at my knights I saw each of them also trapped in thick greenish gray vines. Fern tried to dart into the air but a vine shot up and grabbed him.
The vines drew us all up into the air.
“Merlin, what is this?” I shouted.
“You’ve heard of a Venus fly trap?” he asked.
“Yes!” I shouted.
“Well, this is a Neptune human trap! Very rare. Very deadly. They eat humans!”
“Yeah, I kind of got that from the name!” Art shouted at Merlin.
The vine drew us all up into the air, holding us over its yellow center. A pink center that was filled with teeth.
“It will drop us into its mouth and devour us one by one!” Merlin said.
“Yes, yes I will! So yummy!” the plant cackled.
Glancing around at all my knights, I saw that Brett had his arms free and his slingshot loaded. He fired a pellet into the mouth of the Neptune human trap. The monster didn’t even seem to notice.
“Drat! It’s going to take more than that to hurt this thing!” I sighed.
Mika called over to me. “Gwen, I think this would be a good time for magic!”
My mind raced, grasping for a spell. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Meanwhile, Brett continued to pelt the creature with pellets but the creature simply laughed.
“Ha! Those little pebbles cannot harm me!” it cried.
I had it!
Brett loaded another pellet. Brett fired.
“Pallat frim Brat bacuma goent!!!” I shouted.
The pellet flew through the air, growing and expanding as it neared the mouth of the beast. The pellet stretched to the size of a very large boulder and smashed into the mouth!
The beast plant went limp, dropping us all to the ground.
“Is everybody all right?” I asked.
“I can fly, so I’m fine!” Fern said. He flew over and breathed fire on the plant just to make sure it wouldn’t give us any more trouble.
The plant burst into flame.
Sebastian came over and helped me up, a split second before Lance reached me. “I’d rather be sore than eaten,” he told me.
“Agreed,” Lance said.
The smoke grew thick around us.
Fern flew over and landed on my shoulder. “Ah, I probably should have thought further before I set the plant on fire…”
“Reon nuw!” I shouted.
Rain clouds formed and rain started pouring down on us, putting out the fire.
“Reon stup!” I ordered.
The rain stopped.
We heard clapping from the trees around us. There, up in the trees, there had to be hundreds of gold chain wearing monkeys. Each of them was armed with spears.
“Nice job! That plant was so annoying!” a big monkey with a coconut crown on his head called to us. The crowned monkey grabbed a vine and swung down towards us. He landed a few feet from me. “Tarzan ain’t got nothing on me!” he said proudly.
He held out a foot. I shook his foot with my hand.
“You are polite. I like that! I am Davey, the elected leader of the Knights of Knowledge. Or the KoK if you wish.”
“Nice to meet you, Davey,” I said.
All my knights bowed.
“Now, in order to win the prize that you seek, all you need to do is
answer in the form of a question…the name of the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?”
“What is the riddle of the Sphinx!” Paulie answered.
All the animals in the trees clapped. Somehow, confetti fell from the sky.
“Very good!” Davey nodded. He turned and said. “Follow me!”
We followed Davey to a grassy area in the forest. In the middle of the flat area stood the tallest tree I had ever seen. Davey pointed to the spike-covered tree.
“The cup is up there!” He said. “It takes great strength to climb the tree to get to the grail.”
Lance walked forward. “I have great strength.”
Gail walked forward. “I have great strength.”
“I’m pretty strong too and great at climbing trees!” Sebastian said.
“I can handle this!” Art said.
“Hmm, truly a tough choice,” Davey said. “Oh, I might add that whoever climbs the tree to get the grail, will be stuck up there forever.”
“What?” I said. “That’s absurd!”
Davey shrugged. “Agreed. But I don’t make the rules, I just live by them.”
“I can fly up there!” Fern offered.
“Yes, you can, but this is the final test for the humans,” Davey said.
I looked up the trunk of the tree. I saw a shining cup but it had to be a good hundred feet up. I had an idea.
“Okay, future queen, who do you choose?” Davey asked. “Part of being a queen involves making tough choices.”
I pointed to Mika. She gulped.
“Mika, take my staff and knock off the spikes on the bottom of the tree.”
Mika looked a little relieved. She took my staff and headed towards the tree. I looked at Bart and Brett, “You guys go help her.”
“Right!” they said.
I looked at Art. “How are your math skills?”
“Top notch!” he said.
“Good!”
I went over to Lance and Gail. “You two are strong! So when they clear the spikes I want you both to rush the tree and throw your shoulders into it. Jar that cup lose.”
I smiled at Sebastian. “You told me once that you caught a ball dropped from a blimp.”
“Yeah, it was at a carnival back home!” he said.
“Good! You get to do it again. Only this time it will be a cup!”
Art pulled out his phone and with Paulie’s help, made a few calculations. They walked to a spot under the tree. They drew two arrows on the ground pointing at the tree and an X on the ground further away from the tree. “If Lance and Gail hit the tree from this angle, with the force we calculate they can generate, we think the cup will land here!” Art said, pointing to the X.
Without me telling him to, Sebastian moved to the X.
“Tree is clear!” Mika called.
I nodded. Gail and Lance took deep breaths. “Go!” I ordered.
Gail and Lance rushed at the tree from slightly different angles. They lowered their shoulders and crashed into the tree. The tree swayed back. The cup dropped from the top of the tree. All eyes turned to Sebastian. He had his attention locked onto the falling grail, tracking each shift with his eyes.
At the last second, he dove from the X. He landed stomach first on the ground. He flipped over onto his back. He had the cup in his hands!
“Well, looks like you folks found a loophole!” Davey said. “The cup is yours. Use it and the knowledge it holds wisely.
Good versus Evil! Page 8
