by E. G. Foley
Jake craned his neck to see it. It was just like the one Tex had.
The device was what allowed Lightriders—and Lightriders only—to open portals in the Earth’s energy Grid of ley lines and vortexes, through which the Order had long ago figured out a magical means of nearly instantaneous travel.
With the moment of departure upon them, Maddox stepped toward the vampire. “Janos,” he forced out awkwardly, “I-I know we haven’t always got along very well. But would you please…that is, could you look out for my mother during the fight?”
Janos quirked a brow. “How touching! You do realize, of course, that if our dear Guardian Vambrace figures out that I’m trying in any way to protect her, she will most certainly punch me in the nose.”
Maddox conceded this with a rueful nod. The female Guardian did seem to go out of her way to show she was just as tough as the men.
“But! Hardened as the lady is, I daresay she’ll be quite touched if I tell her it’s only due to your concern for her safety. Her son can do no wrong in her eyes, after all.”
Maddox scowled at him. “Is that a yes or a no?”
“So charmingly literal, my lad! Learn to joke a bit, won’t you? Of course I will look out for her. I was looking out for Ravyn before you were born.”
Maddox managed a grim half-smile. “Thank you.”
“Buck up now, lad.” Janos clapped him on the shoulder, nodding at Jake. “You have your work cut out for you, looking after this one. And you,” he added, waving a finger at Jake. “Stay out of trouble—for Derek’s sake, if not your own.”
Jake heaved a sigh. “I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Then with any luck, I’ll have the big lug back to you all in a trice.” He nodded respectfully to Aunt Ramona, winked at the rest of them, but bowed theatrically to Isabelle. “My lady.”
“Oh, go away,” she teased him drily in return.
“Ah!” Janos clutched his heart as though she’d stabbed him, and, laughing, fell backward into the portal on purpose. Before their eyes, he whooshed off in a bright stream of dissolving molecules.
“Next?” asked Finnderool.
“Caw!” Red leaped off the ground, wings pumping. The kids craned their necks watching him circle once overhead in a gesture of farewell, then Red swooped into the portal after Janos.
Jake swallowed hard as the tufted tip of Red’s lion tail vanished last through the wide, watery-looking circle.
Dani, standing beside him, reached over and gripped Jake’s hand discreetly. He met her reassuring glance for a heartbeat, then dropped his gaze to the ground, blinking away a brief mist of tears at the thought of anything happening to his pet.
Truth be told, that would be even worse than losing Derek, though both were unthinkable.
When Miss Helena marched out, Isabelle and Archie ran to hug her goodbye. She had been with their family for more years than even Henry, after all. But it wasn’t long before the Bradford siblings reluctantly had to let her go. The rest waved somber farewells to her.
“Good luck out there,” Jake called.
“Give Henry our best,” Dani added.
Clutching a small valise in her hand, the governess sent them a resolute nod, then marched toward the portal.
“I am sorry, Helena,” Aunt Ramona said in a low tone before she left them. “I should have told you.”
“Yes, ma’am. You should have,” she said coolly, her head high, but she accepted her employer’s apology with a stiff nod. “Don’t worry, children,” she added, glancing around at their distressed faces. “Good will always win in the end, and the fight itself makes us stronger.”
With that, Miss Helena stepped into the portal and disappeared.
Isabelle turned away and started crying; Maddox gazed mournfully at her, but Archie handed her his handkerchief with a dazed, automatic gesture.
Finnderool had been keeping the portal open for all his passengers, but after they had gone, he let out a sigh. “You know, I always said that mad cowboy would eventually do something rash. But who ever listens to me?”
He bowed to Her Ladyship, barely glanced at the rest of them, then punched a few more buttons in his arm and stepped through the portal.
It closed instantly behind him, winking out of sight.
Where its shimmering brilliance had stood in the middle of the terrace, now there was only darkness. Everyone was silent, except for a few low sniffles from Isabelle.
The shadows seemed to press in on them from all sides. Jake gripped the hilt of the darkling blade Janos had left with him.
Aunt Ramona drew her robe closer around her shoulders, frowning at them. “Very well. The excitement’s over. Now who is going to explain why the lot of you are out of bed and running about in the middle of the night?”
Everyone stayed silent. Nobody volunteered a scintilla of information. For once, even Archie kept his mouth shut.
Aunt Ramona glanced around, realizing they were all upset with her. “I see. Mutiny—is that what we have here?”
“You lied to us,” Jake said as defiantly as he dared.
“And you always tell me the truth?” she retorted.
He held his ground despite his admitted double standard. “You promised that if you heard any news about Derek, you would tell us.”
“What would have been the point?” she countered rudely, looking startled that anyone would dare speak back to her. “I am not obliged to explain myself to a mere boy. However, I knew the rescue mission was underway. They will surely get him out—and the Lightrider, too. I was merely waiting until this crisis was resolved rather than upsetting you, since there is nothing you can do about it, anyway.”
“Right,” Jake growled. “Because we’re just kids. Is that it?”
“Obviously!” She huffed at his impertinence. “You may think yourself some great hero, Jacob, but you’re still just a child! Now do as you’re told for once and go to bed!”
The Elder witch just stood there pointing at the doorway and staring him down.
Utterly offended, Jake lowered his head in stunned humiliation.
Seething, he was too embarrassed by the way she’d cut him down to size to say a word or even look at the others. Instead, jaw clenched, eyes narrowed, he simply obeyed, pivoted, and stalked back into the house.
But as he went to his room, as ordered, he vowed that this wasn’t over between them. Aunt Ramona, one of the few adults he’d ever trusted, had lied to him. Broken a promise. And treated him like a foolish little baby in front of everyone.
In the darkness of the boys’ bedchamber, Jake glared into the mirror just for a heartbeat before Archie and Maddox trudged in.
Having enemies out there in the world was one thing; never before had he felt such hostility toward someone close to him.
Still dazed by her rebuke, Jake turned away from his reflection. He took off his jacket and pulled off his boots, leaving Risker on the table, but kept the darkling blade close as he returned to bed.
He lay down and stared at the ceiling, still furious. He could feel his old hard-scrabbling attitude from his pickpocket days coming to the surface, the survivor in him that had learned the hard way never to trust anyone. Especially adults.
Who do you think you are, you old prune? I don’t need you. I got along for years just fine before I ever met you. You never even told me exactly how we’re related, yet you think you can order me around?
He shut his eyes, aware that he was probably being stupid, but with the anger blazing through him, there was scant possibility of falling back asleep. His whole world had been turned upside down tonight.
Derek and Tex captured, maybe even Dr. Celestus.
Red gone on the mission, along with Miss Helena.
Not to mention the Dark Druids must have somehow caught a whiff of his whereabouts, since the spectral bounty hunters had tracked him to Taormina.
Great, thought Jake. And let’s not forget about Davy Jones.
The Lord of the Locker still wanted t
o get his clammy blue hands on the Atlantean orb to flood the Earth and drown humanity, and the one time a month when he and his shark-mates could come up onto land was at the full moon.
Tomorrow night.
Jake closed his eyes with a low growl. “This holiday just keeps getting better.”
PART IV
CHAPTER 23
Sunset
A painful day of waiting followed.
Everyone was out of sorts, even Archie. The others were outside, but the boy genius wandered aimlessly through the villa, restless and grumpy, unsure what to do with himself.
Questions swarmed his brain. Questions to which there were no answers.
At least not yet.
He was not used to being confused. In fact, in his tense, distracted state, he did not feel very much like himself at all. He was not even cheerful! Indeed, he rather felt like Jake, broody and guarded. Of course, Jake was acting weird himself these days.
It was clear that something had changed in his cousin’s relationship with Dani, and that confused Archie, too, though it probably shouldn’t have. After all, he was getting along quite happily with Nixie.
In his current mood, she was the only person who made any sense to him a’tall. He drifted from room to room through the villa, restless and grumpy, longing for some way to distract himself from thinking about Derek and Tex and the coming battle—not to mention his latest nightmare.
The same vision as before had recurred last night again at that dreadfully late hour after they’d all finally gone to bed. The huge, dark cave with its alcoves full of glass coffins. The big, pulsating, columnar device in the center, bristling with wires and pumping some strange liquid through tubes.
This time, the vision had expanded a bit, and he had seen burly guards of some strange, tusked species posted by the doors.
Very odd.
He still had no idea what it all meant, but it frightened the daylights out of him. Wishing in vain that he could just turn off his overactive brain for a while, he considered calling Jake and Dani into the classroom for a math lesson. That might restore some sense of normality…but he doubted anyone would be able to concentrate on equations right now with all that was happening.
Perhaps he could make some adjustments to the Turtle that he had been thinking about. He’d already rigged the foot pedals together so that now the sub could be driven by two people rather than the full crew of six. It had been a simple matter of joining them by rods.
In truth, he could’ve easily done it before, but he had wanted an excuse to force everybody to come along on the maiden voyage. Of course, he hadn’t expected Isabelle and Maddox to squabble the whole time. Why couldn’t everybody just get along? He especially hated this quarrel between Jake and Aunt Ramona.
He leaned on the terrace balustrade, staring into space and waiting for the listless afternoon breeze. He didn’t want to have to choose sides between two people so dear to him. He knew better than most how stubborn his cousin could be, and Jake’s mood had turned even darker now that Red had gone on the rescue mission to save Derek.
For his part, Archie wasn’t overly concerned about the likes of Derek Stone. The master Guardian was as tough a man as had ever been born, and the Order would no doubt rescue him quickly.
No, if Archie was going to worry about anyone, it would be Miss Helena and Henry. The twins were like family. The thought of anything truly awful happening to them was so far beyond his ability to imagine that he did not even let his mind wander down that path.
He moved on, returning to the quiet, empty house. He was shuffling morosely down the hallway, hands in pockets, wondering if he should go and eat some olives when Nixie appeared ahead of him, hands propped on her waist.
She tilted her head in amusement. “It’s that bad, eh?”
Archie furrowed his brow. “Am I so obvious?”
She nodded. “Afraid so, my friend.”
“I suppose I’m not in a very good mood,” he admitted.
“You don’t say.” She fell into step beside him. “Talk to me, Arch.”
“Well, it’s just—everything!” he burst out. “Jake and Aunt Ramona; the twins gone off with Red. Even these horrid dreams I’ve been having!” He had told her all about it weeks ago. “No offense, but I never wanted any magical abilities. I was perfectly satisfied with science. Science you can at least predict, and when it’s boring, frankly, I don’t mind that. But this? I honestly don’t know what’s happening to me.”
“I do,” said Nixie, unflappable as ever. “The Kinderveil’s lifted and, ta-daaa, you seem to have a touch of clairvoyance. So: congratulations.”
“I don’t want to be clairvoyant! Not even in my sleep! I’m sure it’s just a phase. A growth spurt or something. It’ll probably just wear off.”
“Maybe. But Arch, it’s not smart to ignore real prophetic dreams.”
“Don’t say prophetic,” he groaned, dropping his head. “That makes it even worse!”
“Pardon?”
“People always say prophets are crazy,” he whispered. “Being thought a mere eccentric genius is bad enough. I don’t want to be a prophet or a visionary or—anything like that. I just want to be my old self again!”
Nixie gazed at him in sympathy. “I know it’s strange getting used to your gifts when they first emerge, but don’t forget, you’ve benefited as a scientist from these dreams of yours. Leonardo da Vinci himself appeared to you in one of them and gave you that insight that helped you finish the Turtle.”
“Yes, but I never wanted to be given the answers, Nix—not even by the Renaissance man himself. I want to figure things out for myself. That’s the whole point of inventing anything! And besides,” he added in a darker tone, confessing his deeper fears, “just because that figure in my dream claimed to be Leonardo, that doesn’t mean that’s who it really was.”
“Now you’re sounding paranoid.”
Archie shuddered. “I don’t know—I hate the thought of anybody, good or evil, being able to just waltz into my brain and say hello whenever they feel like it.”
“Are you done venting yet?”
“Not nearly!” Archie grumbled. “I haven’t even touched upon the threat from Davy Jones, or this Wyvern person seeking Atlantean artifacts— Hey!” he interrupted himself suddenly as inspiration dawned. “That’s it! Yes! I need to work.”
Nixie cocked a brow.
He turned to her in desperation. “Please, Nix, take the orb out of hiding. Let me tinker with it again for a while. I know the demonstration was a bit of a disaster and that we said none of us would touch it anymore. But maybe I can still fix it. Fine-tune a few things.”
She frowned. “I don’t know, Archie. We hid it for a reason.”
“Please?! I just need something to keep my hands busy for a while. Working on it would make me feel so much better. Otherwise all I’m going to do is ruminate and brood. You can see I’m all at sixes and sevens. Please, Nix? For me?”
She tilted her head, frowning, but he could see it was hard for her to deny him.
“You know as well as I do this artifact needs more study,” he urged in a low tone. “Don’t worry; I won’t let the others see it. Nobody needs to know. Don’t you trust me, Nixella?”
“Of course I do, more than anybody in the world.”
“Well then?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes, but relented with a sigh. “Fine. Anything for you, Arch. But don’t tell Maddox I let you have it.”
“You’re a peach!” He gave her a brief bear hug. “Mum’s the word, my dear.”
She shoved him away with a halfhearted scowl, but Archie grinned, relief flooding into him. He felt better already just thinking about having some grand mystery to tackle for a while.
“So, where’d you hide it?” he asked eagerly.
“Come on.” She nodded toward the stairs, and he followed her up to one of the villa’s unused bedrooms, where they crossed to the closet.
She had not told anyone whe
re she had hidden the orb, but he knew the girls had concealed it in Dani’s hatbox, which was hidden somewhere under a cloak of invisibility.
With a furtive glance over her shoulder, Nixie opened the closet door and took out her wand. Murmuring a command, she flicked her wand and made the hatbox visible. When it appeared in the back of the closet, she reached down and picked it up.
Archie watched in relief. He knew he would never have found it on his own, but she’d taken pity on him.
“You know, Arch, I’ve been thinking.”
“You do that a lot,” he said as she carried the hatbox over to the bed and opened the lid. As far as he could see, there was nothing inside. But that was part of the trick.
Nixie turned to him. “Prince Janos said the djinni came back from their mission claiming the Dark Druids had captured a Light Being, right?”
“Righty-ho.”
“But Her Ladyship specifically told Jake back at Merlin Hall that that technology had been lost a long time ago, which he told the rest of us.”
“Yes?” Archie prompted, nodding in agreement, and trying to be patient as he eyed the seemingly empty hatbox.
“Hold on…let me get your toy for you.” Absently, Nixie waved her wand once again over the hatbox. With a flick of her wrist and another mumbled command, she caused the orb to shimmer into view.
She picked it up and handed it to him with a rueful smile, but her dark eyes were troubled.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He took it gratefully. “As you were saying?”
“Well, I just wonder if the Dark Druids’ newfound ability to capture an angel could have anything to do with this treasure trove of Atlantean devices that greasy little archaeologist told us about. After all, if Atlantean science is based on fallen angel technology, it would certainly seem to be related.”
“Hmm,” said Archie.
Nixie gazed at him intently. “And Dr. Giannopoulos said his patron took a few pieces of the treasure trove back to England with him. Who knows what those other gadgets can do? I can’t help wondering after hearing this news from Janos about the angel being captured if Wyvern could be one of the Dark Druids, or working for them. I wish we would’ve thought to ask him, but everyone was out of sorts after hearing about Derek Stone’s capture.”
