Squaring my shoulders, I finally step inside the cave, pausing only long enough to let my eyes adjust to the darkness.
“Go find Caim in jail!” Nibs shouts as I hurry up to join the others, the banshee a half-step behind. “If anyone knows Carman’s weakness, it’s him.”
◆◆◆
Down, down we go, the darkness so deep I can’t see the others in front of me nor the banshee behind. We move slowly through the narrow tunnel, our progress punctuated by grunts and heavy breathing, giving me way too much time to spin a thousand death and doom scenarios in my head: The tunnel caving in, my tainted blood not working so we’re all shredded to bits when we try to cross into Avalon, Dark Sidhe waiting for our arrival to enslave us again, Carman’s dragon burning us down before we can warn anyone of her plans…
Keva lets out a surprised bleat, and I pull away from my dark thoughts as my center of gravity suddenly shifts. I slam my arms out against the tunnel’s rough walls before I can fall face first down the hole, feel the banshee do the same behind me.
“You’re good,” I hear Gale tell Keva, “I’ve got you.”
“W-What happened?” I ask, disoriented.
Up isn’t up anymore, but down. Am I supposed to backtrack? Keep climbing down? Or change tracks instead? I wipe the sweat off my forehead on my shoulder, afraid to make the wrong decision.
“Here, mistresssss,” the banshee hisses behind me, which is now ahead.
“O-OK,” I say.
The jagged edges of the rock walls scraping roughly against my hands and feet, I carefully turn around to follow the banshee back the other way. I take another shuddering breath, then, after making sure everyone else is safe too, we resume our slow progress.
“We’re close,” Kaede says after a long while, her clipped voice floating up from the tunnel shaft.
I peer around the banshee’s cowled figure, and my heart skips a beat at the soft light filtering down to us through a small, circular hole, suffusing our cramped tunnel with an eerie blue glow. I pause, tension working its way to my shoulders and calves, making my muscles bunch in painful cramps. But not as painful as being torn to pieces if Nibs and Lugh are wrong about this.
“Why are we stopping?” Keva asks, sounding exhausted.
“Because it’s dangerous,” Gale says, sounding as tense as I feel.
“Well, not moving from here isn’t going to accomplish much either!” Keva snaps.
“Right,” I say, forcing myself to start moving again. “Just…don’t follow until I’m out. You never know…”
With the banshee’s help, I manage to climb the last few meters separating us from the exit, and pause only when the tunnel’s mouth is within reach.
Beyond it, I glimpse the rafters’ wooden beams and caved-in ceiling, bright stars twinkling down benevolently at us from above. I prick up my ears apprehensively, but apart from the soughing of the wind, I cannot hear anything ahead. I hope it means Mordred’s crumbling fort has truly been abandoned.
“Well, here goes,” I murmur, squeezing around the banshee and reaching up.
My scraped fingers find purchase around the hole’s edge, and I pause expectantly. Nothing. I expel a relieved breath and start pulling myself out.
There’s a sudden flash of red, and I nearly let go. But the banshee’s strong hand shoves me the rest of the way up, and then I’m through.
“We’re out!” I exclaim, as the banshee rolls in after me with another red flash. All in one piece.
I laugh, feeling winter’s cold touch dry my damp face. It’s the type of weather to freeze one’s balls off, and I love it! I breathe in the crispy air, relishing the way it burns down my lungs.
Freedom has never tasted so wonderful, and I’m going to make damn sure Hell’s foulness never tarnishes it.
“Morgan?” Keva calls out, sounding on the verge of panic.
I crawl back to the hole’s edge, grinning widely. “Coast is clear!” I shout down.
Keva’s face appears next, a worried frown creasing her pale brow. “How sure are you about this?” she asks through cracked lips.
“Not at all,” I say, reaching for her, “but the banshee got out just fine.”
The old sigil painted on the side of the tunnel’s entrance flashes harmlessly as I pull Keva up to safety, and she tumbles into me. For a long moment, we hang onto each other, shaking, unable to fathom the fact that we’re both free at last, and in one piece.
Finally, Keva rolls away from me. “The others,” she whispers.
With a nod, I return to the tunnel’s edge, praying that whatever luck I’ve had thus far doesn’t suddenly run out. But as I reach down, Gale pulls back.
“Stop,” he says.
Sweat drips down my nose, sizzling as it hits the net drawn tightly over the exit, the red threads no longer letting anything through.
“No, no, no, no,” I say, punching the side of the hole in desperation. This can’t be happening. I need to get Gale and Kaede out! I need to—
“It’s all right, no need to panic,” Gale says soothingly. “Let’s think about this for a moment. You got the others out, so you can do it again. The key is figuring out what’s changed since then.”
“I don’t…I don’t know,” I say, choking back a sob.
Then the banshee’s at my side, and her skeletal hand gently grabs mine. Her cowled face turns to me as she places her obsidian knife over the palm of my hand, and though I cannot see her face, I know she’s asking for my permission. Releasing a shaky breath, I nod.
The blade slides across my flesh, black against black, and blood pools in my hand, before spilling over. And when it hits the net, the light flickers out, harmless once again.
“Now,” Gale says.
Without another hesitation, I pull both knights to safety, arms shaking from the strain, fingers slick with blood.
“Thanks,” Gale says, patting my shoulder. “You did well.”
Only then do I finally release my breath, and sag against the wall, feeling wrung out.
“I can’t believe we’re not dead,” Keva says in the silence that follows. She’s lying on her back in the middle of the room, staring up at the starry sky.
“Neither can I,” I say, staring at my hands in wonder, heart still beating frantically against my ribs. The cut is already healing, Hell’s corrupting influence on me no longer in effect.
“I can’t believe we could’ve left anytime we wanted,” Keva adds, and I hear the anger in her tone.
“Carman wouldn’t have let Morgan go,” Gale says, “and you know it.”
A strange, scurrying sound from the other side of the wall punctuates his words, and Kaede’s twin swords come out of their sheaths with a soft hiss.
“Seems we were expected,” Gale says.
Despite our exhaustion, we all jump to our feet, senses alert. But as excited grunts erupt from the hallway leading to the front door, I take an unsteady step forward.
“Wait,” I tell the others, holding my hand up. “I recognize that sound…”
And a second later, Puck’s chubby form appears from around the corner, running as fast as his little hooves can carry him. At my sight, the hobgoblin snorts in joy, and, holding his chubby arms out, throws himself at my legs to hug me with all his might.
“Hello, you silly boy,” I say, picking the hobgoblin up before he can slobber all over my bare feet. “How did you get all the way over here?”
“Ugh, keep that thing away from me,” Keva says, quickly moving away. “I’m already filthy enough as it is, I don’t need to smell like old cheese on top of it.”
I let out a delighted laugh as Puck grabs something from my jacket and starts munching on it.
“What have you got there?” I say, trying to pull the piece of paper from his grubby hands without tearing it apart.
But when I see what’s on it, I freeze. Smiling shily back at me across the span of half a decade is fifteen-year-old me.
“A picture?” Keva says, curiosity
overcoming her disgust for Puck to take a look at what I’m holding. “Were you carrying it on you this whole time? Did you think you’d be signing autographs?”
“It wasn’t in my pockets,” I say, stunned.
I let Keva pluck the picture from my numb fingers, remembering very well the day I decided to send it, along with a Christmas card, to the one I’d once called mom. Another letter that went unanswered, another tender hope of spending the holidays with my family crushed. Funny how close innocence is to sheer stupidity.
But it still doesn’t explain why the picture’s here.
“Maybe it was in the lining, then,” Keva says, giggling at my school portrait. “Some knights used to keep pics of their girlfriends like that, instead of the traditional Lady’s favor.” Her smile widens. “And if I recall correctly, that jacket you’re wearing is—”
“Mine,” a deep voice says.
I nearly drop Puck as a shadow detaches itself from the collapsed wall and slinks into view, moonlight glinting off the iron-threaded uniform.
Although taller and broader in the shoulders, he looks thinner now, his hair no longer well-combed, and his clothes shows the wear and tear of many a battle. But the shy smile and the glint of his hazel eyes as he looks at me haven’t changed.
I find myself holding my breath as he prowls forward, the hilt of a massive broadsword sticking up from behind his dirty blond head like a large cross.
I barely feel my lips move as I whisper his name.
“Arthur.”
Chapter 16
My muscles have locked into place. I can’t move an inch. I’ve dreamed of this moment and dreaded it at the same time for so long. A thousand excuses try to push their way past my clenched teeth, but what do you say to the one you tried to kill, or thinks you did?
Then Arthur’s arms are around me, gently cradling my head against his shoulder, and it feels like the whole world has stopped spinning.
“You’re back,” he whispers, his shaky breath tickling my ear. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
My throat’s too tight. My mind’s a mess. He should be screaming at me, fighting me, not…this.
With an annoyed grunt, Puck wriggles out of my arms, forcing Arthur to pull away. I stand motionless as he looks at my face, as if he, too, can’t believe any of this is real. This close, I notice more changes on him—a fuzzy beard has started to grow over his once smooth cheeks, barely covering a new series of pink scars. Even his eyes, which I thought had remained their gorgeous hazel selves, seem more luminous, the green-brown of their irises now flecked with ochre.
“How did you find us?” Kaede asks, ignoring Keva’s furious elbowing.
Her harsh voice is enough to break the spell. Feeling suddenly shy, I try to step further away from Arthur, but his hold on my arms only tightens.
“We couldn’t track you through the geas,” he says, never looking away from me, “not since we lost the school. And knowing Carman had pushed you through the Gates…” His voice cracks. He cups my cheek with his calloused hand. “We were able to get a report from Nibs during one of his rare outings. He’s the one who told us of this place, and Lugh then sent his cat through the portal to send the message. We didn’t know if it would work, but…”
Something inside me shifts, releasing its hold over my chest, and turning my legs to mush.
“Morgan!” Arthur shouts, catching me.
I giggle at his concern. I haven’t felt this light in ages, not even when that strange power healed me after the harpies’ attack. My heart is soaring, and it feels like I could too, right through the hole in the collapsed ceiling.
“What’s the matter?” Arthur asks. “Are you hurt?”
“She’s fine,” Keva says, “just absolutely disgusting. Any chance we could go home and get a shower?”
I giggle louder. “I want a bath with lots of bubbles!” I say.
“Ease her down,” a smooth, chocolaty voice says.
Lugh’s found his way inside the fort. Should’ve figured he’d be here too, this being his plan and all.
“She has been cut off from her power source for too long,” Lugh continues, his one golden eye assessing, “and the sudden reconnection must have shocked her system.”
“I like your patch,” I tell him, cooing. “Makes you look like a cuddly pirate.”
“So she’s drunk?” Arthur asks.
“In a way, yes,” Lugh says.
“I didn’t know it would make her glow,” Arthur says.
“Just like what happened in Hell,” Keva murmurs.
Lazily, I hook my arm around Arthur’s neck for support, and his cheeks turn flaming red. I laugh at his reaction. How did I never notice how cute he is? Or was it I never dared admit it to myself?
“Are you sure it isn’t because of Arthur that she’s lost her mind?” I hear Keva ask derisively.
“Think of it as having had too much ambrosia,” Lugh says, a frown now creasing his otherwise perfect brow.
I press my head more firmly into Arthur’s shoulder, looking up at him with what I hope to be the biggest puppy-eyed look I can muster despite my incessant laughter.
“I’m hungry,” I whisper-shout, letting Arthur pat me awkwardly like I’m a dog waiting for its biscuit.
There’s a bright blue flare, and a Fey boy appears in the middle of the room, flashing his pointy-toothed smile. “Welcome back, princess.”
“Pigfain!” I exclaim, letting go of Arthur so suddenly I nearly topple over. I let out another whoop of laughter as both Lugh’s and Arthur’s arms shoot out to steady me.
“I do hope this wears off soon,” Keva says with a grimace. “It’s getting annoying.”
“Didn’t I see you recently?” I ask the Fey boy. I snap my fingers together repeatedly, trying to jab my memory. “You know at my, I mean Arthur’s parents’ place?”
Pigfain’s smile turns into a confused look.
“Actually, you were there too,” I say, jabbing Lugh in the chest. “And you,” I continue, pointing at Arthur next. “It was like a big, boring party. Then again, nothing’s ever fun when your dad’s around, eh?” I say, with a wink for Arthur.
“Somebody please knock her out,” Keva says.
“Puck wasn’t there though,” I say, as an afterthought. “Oh, but that red pixie of yours was! Where is she, anyway?” I look around the ruined fort, feeling dizzy. “And then Gauvain came over, or was it Gareth? And he kept trying to impress Sameer—”
I stop as the rest of those awful dreams swim back to me, sobering me up. A shiver runs down my arms.
“What happened to them?” I ask. “Where are they?”
Lugh’s lips flatten out, the light in his eye dimmed.
“So it was real?” I ask. “All of it? And Sameerah’s…dead?”
“I am not entirely sure what you are speaking of,” Lugh says, “but yes, Sameerah is unfortunately gone.”
“I knew it,” I say, my insides crawling. “I mean…I was hoping it wouldn’t be…but—”
A loud hiss erupts from the furthest corner of the fort, and I turn towards the sound, only to see a black cat burst away from Puck’s reach, to jump into Lugh’s arms.
“Why are you not at Caamaloth then?” Gale asks Arthur, moving out of Puck’s way as the hobgoblin dives at Lugh’s feet. “They should have instated martial law.”
“They have,” Arthur says, frowning as he finally looks at Gale. “But the Order’s suffered a coup, and has only just begun to function normally again.”
“Yes, of course,” Gale says with a dismissive wave. “But why are you here? As a representative of Lake High, your knowledge of Fey activity in Avalon is crucial in terms of strategizing.”
“Maybe that’s ‘cause he got kicked out as KORT President.”
Keva and I both turn at the same time to find Daniel loitering by the entrance. Even in the dimness of the fort’s ruins, I can tell Arthur’s gone pale.
“If a bunch of students couldn’t trust him any
more, why should the rest of the Board?” Daniel finishes with evident relish.
“Sir Arthur is still a KORT knight, and thus fully deserving of your respect,” Gale snaps at the boy. “Another stray word from you, and I’ll tan your hide myself.”
Keva’s jaw drops open, and I find myself staring wide-eyed at the knight. Not once have I heard Gale raise his voice, not even when he faced Asheel. I clear my throat in the uncomfortable silence that follows.
“Forgot to mention Keva and I picked up a couple of hitchhikers along the way, in case you were wondering,” I say. “This here is Sir Gale, and—”
“Lance’s brother?” Arthur asks.
“In the flesh, so to speak,” Gale says, hand to heart as he makes a slight bow.
“And dumb-dumb still curtsies,” Daniel whispers loudly.
“Shut it, Daniel,” Keva says. “You may have grown taller since I last saw you, but evidently your brain hasn’t kept up.”
“I thought you looked familiar!” Arthur exclaims, grabbing Gale by the shoulders with a genuine smile. “I’m so glad to see you again, though you seem so short now. I can’t believe that after all this time, you’re actually back with us!” His face grows somber. “I do wish Lance were here to greet you too.”
“Is he…?” Gale asks, sounding uncertain.
Arthur shakes his head. “When our school fell to the Dark Sidhe, half of Lake High got trapped there as well. Lance was one of them. That is why, when Lugh told me of his plan to get Morgan out, I volunteered to do some reconnaissance work in Avalon.”
“And?” Keva asks intently.
“We lost all contact after those inside attempted a full jailbreak,” Arthur says softly. “Apart from a few escapees like Daniel, here”—he takes a deep, shuddering breath—“most didn’t make it.”
“You can thank Father Tristan for that stupid idea,” Daniel mutters.
“It got you out, though, didn’t it?” Keva says scornfully.
“There are rumors that Father Tristan has managed to keep the church protected against the Dark Sidhe,” Arthur continues before the two of them can get into a fight. “Though who knows how long that sanctuary will last, if it’s still there at all… It has been over two years.”
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