Modern Merlin

by Jason Paul Rice

  “I appreciate your opinion. Now let’s get back home.”

  “We crammed all that knowledge in your head and you still want to be a fool in love,” she mumbled.

  Mike shot her a nasty look. “What? What’d you say?”

  “Forget it. Get ready. I’m about to open the door.” Alayna removed her dress and hung it on a tree root. She moved off to the side and used the heel of her hand to pop open the golden rectangle. Dirty river water rushed in. Mike tried to push himself into the opening but the force of the water kept jostling him backward.

  Something hooked his belt loop and thrust him up into the dark water. Mike swam upward but still couldn’t see the light of day. A pocket of water containing the power of a tsunami grabbed Mike’s body and wouldn’t let him swim any higher. The powerful undertow thrashed Mike around until he stopped fighting and went with the current.

  Mike tried to conserve his energy but oxygen was running low and he couldn’t see anything. He swam upward at a forty-five-degree angle to try to get to the shore. Terror plucked at his nerves like an out-of-tune harp. His entire body convulsed, searching for air. Life was fading away. He didn’t know if he was anywhere near the riverbank as the undertow continued to wreak havoc.

  Oxygen became more and more elusive, and giving up and drowning seemed like the most sensible solution.

  Chapter 15

  A CHILD-SIZED HAND wrapped four fingers and a firm thumb around Mike’s wrist. He could feel someone pulling him up and out of the undertow. A few seconds later, he gasped for air as his head broke the surface.

  “GGGAAAAHHHHH,” Mike greedily sucked in some sweet air and went back under, swallowing some of the nasty river water. He came up quickly again and flapped his arms around like a crazy man trying to stay afloat.

  Alayna treaded water and held Mike up as he regained some strength. When he stopped panicking, they swam on their backs to the bank and found their clothes.

  Alayna squeezed some moisture out her braids and slid on her dress. One of the shoulders was misaligned, and Mike came over and adjusted it for her.

  “Thank you, kind sir.”

  Mike nodded. They finished getting dressed and walked back to Mike’s house. Alayna started brewing a pot of coffee as Mike searched around for his weed. The Plant of Knowledge was cool, but it didn’t take away any of his pain. His phone rang, and he pulled it from his T-shirt pocket.

  “Hello.”

  “Mike. I got the gun.” He recognized Emily’s voice, but not her message.

  “What?”

  “It’s Emily. I got the gun we talked about.”

  Mike held the mouthpiece against his chest and wracked his brain. He didn’t remember talking to her about getting a gun. He spoke into the phone, “I’m not certain we ever talked about that.”

  “Yeah, we did. We talked about getting a gun so that if we ran into anyone in Houlihan’s Square, we’ll be ready.”

  “I’m not opposed, don’t get me wrong. That’s a pretty good idea. I wish I had one last time.”

  “You wanna come over so we can plan this out?”

  Mike knew it had already been planned and hoped she was calling him over for a nooner.

  She said, “Maybe we should go into the Circle during the day and mark the spot so that we know exactly where to dig when we go back at night. That’s not cheating, right?”

  “That’s a good idea, too. Do you mind picking me up?”

  She groaned then giggled. “Just kidding. I’ll be over in, like, a half hour.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you then.” He hung up the phone and let his goofy smile develop.

  Alayna’s voice made Mike jump. “I thought I told you not to smile like that when thinking about that girl.” She put two scoops of ground beans into the coffee maker she had bought for Mike.

  “I forgot you shadow me everywhere. Don’t worry about my brass tax. I can keep the ladies under control.” He smirked.

  Alayna rolled her eyes. “I’d love to smack that stupid look off your face right now. So, now. Let’s review the facts. She calls you to tell you about getting a gun that she had never told you about initially. Then she rambles on to say that you two should take that gun into the woods. To a place where the police don’t even go. Hell’s bells, what’s the worst that could happen there?”

  “Don’t be eavesdropping on my phone conversations with those pointy, superpowered ears. I know what it must be. You’re just jealous. I see the way you’ve been looking at me. Gazing adoringly at me like I’m some sort of Adonis.”

  Alayna snorted in laughter and shot coffee out of her nose and onto Mike’s kitchen table. She wiped her nose with the fabric of her dress, struggling to control her laughing.

  She tried to speak through it. “You got to see me shoot something out of my nose this time. Oh, honey, don’t flatter yourself. I’m happy as can be helping you out. No hanky-panky. And by the way, don’t act like you weren’t gawping at my magnificent body back there at the river.”

  Mike’s face turned burgundy, and he stared at the ground.

  Alayna chuckled. “You might want to change that tell sign now that you have a bit more knowledge, which, by the way, was apparent when you said ‘gazing adoringly’ and ‘Adonis’. Brings a tear to my eye. Back to your obvious tell. It’s a dead giveaway that you’re lying. We should play poker some time.”

  “This talk has been a pleasure, it really has, but I need to get out of these wet clothes. A girl that I’m not going to let you scare me away from is coming to get me. The door is over there, if you wouldn’t mind.”

  Alayna grabbed her coffee, and Mike went into his bedroom. He rooted through dirty clothes to find an outfit, and finally decided on a gray V-neck T-shirt with streaks of white stains on the belly and an old pair of army green cargo shorts. As he dressed, he wondered why Emily wanted anything to do with a broke, unhygienic guy like him.

  Pulling up the sleeve on his right arm, Mike flexed. Oh yeah, that was why. He questioned whether she would notice his new intelligence. He hadn’t felt smarter but the words he intended to say were changing in his mouth before they were released.

  Suddenly, Mike started hacking and coughing. He spat a wad of blood into his hand and kept coughing. It lasted for about a minute and finished up with Mike expelling another mouthful of salty blood. While he worked on stopping himself from gagging, he imagined the big C was getting closer to claiming another victim.

  Mike paced back and forth in his room until the honking horn of a vehicle grabbed his attention. He shook away the haze, scraped a pizza sauce stain off the side pocket of his pants, and ran toward the front door. Mike stopped and rinsed his mouth out with some Mountain Dew before heading outside.

  MIKE AND EMILY WALKED through the woods of Houlihan’s Square. Mike shifted the shovel in his right hand, and used the back of his left to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

  The couple had been walking in silence since they crossed the official line of Houlihan’s Square, but now Mike perceived a change in Emily’s demeanor as they continued toward the center of the haunted area. After being all smiles back at her house and on the ride over, she was now twitchy and frowning.

  A pungent stench of rotten eggs and sour urine permeated the forest. Mike noticed Emily fighting away the urge to vomit. The Glock 43 hung in its holster against her hip. Despite the retching, she looked pretty badass carrying the firearm.

  Conversely, her face painted a picture of terror. Mike tried to remain calm, but the familiar feeling started to creep in. The gravity of the situation weighed on him more now that he knew how stupid it was to be in these woods.

  Hysteria streaked through certain parts of his body before connecting like a web. His legs told him to turn back, and his mind agreed.

  Despite the crippling fear, he continued toward the place where he had witnessed his best friend being torn to shreds by the beast. The sunlight didn’t make the anxiety any better. There was some undefinable pressure in the air.
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br />   A humid rolling fog seemed to stick to Mike’s skin, causing a scratchy sensation. His feet burned and an unnerving chill ran up and down his spine. He forged ahead and peeked over at Emily.

  Mike wanted to say something to break the tension, but he didn’t want to be heard by George. He tried to think about the sex from earlier that day but he kept jerking his head around, reacting to every little sound. He wondered if Emily was using him to get the money and then toss him aside.

  The circular pattern of boulders appeared twenty feet ahead and Mike’s chest tightened even more. As he neared Houlihan’s Circle with Emily right behind, he peered around the muddy pit in search of his best friend’s bloodstains.

  A loud grunt broke his concentration as his eyes shifted around, trying to look everywhere at once. He spun around in circles, making himself dizzy.

  Mike stared at Emily, her image going in and out of focus. He staggered back and forth for a few moments and finally regained his equilibrium. Emily pulled the index card out of her pocket.

  The two didn’t speak. Mike could read the signs of fear plastered all over Emily’s petite body. She walked over to the Northern Boulder and Mike followed before getting snagged by a web of magnetism.

  The strong force grabbed hold of his shoulders and spun him around like a cyclone.

  Fight it.

  Hold on.

  Too strong.

  He gave in.

  The dark energy tossed him four feet in the air, and he landed on his left side with a thud. As he got to his feet, he attempted to wipe away the mud from his forearms before becoming frustrated and giving up. He looked over at Emily, who was watching him with eyes so wide, they were about to pop out of her skull. Her wide-open mouth couldn’t produce words.

  Mike ran over to her, expecting to get snagged again, but the strange force had receded. The two followed the exact directions on the index card and Mike realized why Kyle had died. Their hole was about a foot off the mark.

  With a heavy heart, Mike started marking the spot in the middle of the Circle. A third smell permeated the air and he dropped the shovel. Mike recognized the odor.

  Rotten. Stinking. Malodor.

  George.

  He picked up the shovel again, and whispered, “Take the safety off the gun.”

  She nodded in scared silence, tears building up in her eyes.

  Mike hurriedly dug out a small circle, and whispered, “Good enough?”

  Emily nodded, tears threatening to break loose from her reddened eyes.

  Mike was about to take Emily’s hand and sneak out of Houlihan’s Circle when he felt a rumbling groan in his soul. He spun around. The legendary beast was casually standing in front of the Southern Stone. Mike flipped the shovel around to use it as a weapon.

  The memory of Kyle using the shovel on George flashed in his head. It hadn’t gone too well for his bigger and stronger friend. He frantically searched his mind for another plan of attack. Emily stood frozen in place as George took two steps forward. Mike suddenly remembered the gun.

  “Shoot him. Fucking shoot his ass,” Mike screamed, and backed away to remove himself from the line of fire.

  Two quaking hands slowly lifted the gun as a hissing reached Mike’s ears. George raised his index finger in the air and waved it around in a circle several times. A golden fog, almost like a mist, escaped from the ground.

  Was he sucking out the sulphur? The deep yellow, gaseous shield surrounded the snarling beast.

  Emily aimed and fired, and the sound of bullets clanging off metal followed. The bullets bounced off the shield of golden gas and ricocheted back toward them—narrowly missing them both. Emily emptied the magazine and kept pulling the trigger.

  Click. Click. Click. Click.

  Mike grabbed her by the wrist and started to drag her out of the Circle and back to safety. Hopefully. They sidestepped between two of the gray boulders and ran north. Mike was relatively certain he could navigate them out of there during the day.

  Their pace quickly slowed down to a jog and then a speed walk. Mike dragged Emily. He couldn’t muster the fortitude to look back and check whether George was on their heels. They both sounded like they were hyperventilating, and they downshifted to an even slower speed. Mike’s chest burned and his bones were sore.

  Suddenly, the ground ruptured right in front of Mike sending chunks of green grass and black soil flying in the air. Several long tree roots jumped out of the opening and wrapped themselves around Mike’s ankles.

  Emily danced around the emerging roots and made an epic long jump to conquer the wide fissure and make it to solid ground.

  Mike yelled, “Go. Leave me. I’ll be fine.” He used the dull tip of the shovel to chop away the entanglement around his feet and ankles. He bashed his own ankle several times, chipping off a few chunks of skin, and pain shot up his leg. Undaunted, he kept smashing away at the live roots.

  A thick green sap poured from the black tree roots as Mike wiggled his right foot out of the death grip. He didn’t have as much accuracy with his left side and ended up crushing his foot and shin countless times in his frantic effort to escape the natural bonds.

  Mike finally got his left foot free and jumped to his right, to solid ground. His battered left foot gave out on him, and he fell. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up to his knees and then to his feet. He took a deep breath, and played a painful game of hopscotch to get over to Emily.

  Once by her side, he grabbed her hand, and they continued to hightail it north. The stench intensified, and Mike knew George was closing in. He spied the faint opening in the tree line, and in a herculean effort, he reached behind Emily’s knees and picked her up. His feet and ankles threatened to give out but he adjusted to the pain.

  Mike jogged admirably for the final hundred feet. They made it outside the official land line, and Mike tripped forward, depositing Emily in a heap on the ground in front of him. For some reason, he felt safe outside the official line of Houlihan’s Square even though many of the murders had reportedly taken place outside it.

  The two exhausted escapees rushed over to Emily’s car.

  It wouldn’t start. She tried again. No dice.

  Mike worried that he was going to have to make the over ten-mile trek home again when the engine fired up and smoke shot out of the exhaust pipe. A smile of relief crawled across his lips. He sat back and relaxed his tense shoulder muscles as Emily pulled out of dodge.

  “What in God’s name was that yellow fog that came out of the ground? How did it stop bullets?” Emily asked as her teeth chattered.

  Mike didn’t know what to say. It had to be magic of some sort. But what? He finally accepted that Alayna had been right and George was a two-hundred-year-old wizard.

  She asked, “Any ideas?”

  “Magic.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Why do you say that?” Mike grabbed the oh-shit bar as Emily took a bend a bit too fast. The underfilled tires screeched, and Mike slid closer to the driver’s side.

  “Because magic isn’t real. It’s in books and movies, but it’s not real.”

  “Okay, then how do you explain it?”

  A telling silence ensued. She jammed the gas pedal down as they entered the highway.

  Emily took her right hand off the wheel and tapped the dashboard nervously. “If it was magic, why would he try to use it against us? We are trying to dig up the amulet that he will use to get his wife back. He needs us to dig it up if the story is right.”

  “I never really thought about that. He never really attacked us. He defended himself, sure, but I don’t even know if he was chasing us. I thought I could smell and hear him on the way out of there, but I could be wrong. He’s not our friend, that’s for sure. Could you put my window down? It’s stuck.”

  Emily flipped the switch on her door, and Mike’s window opened almost to the bottom. She shook her head. “No. I wasn’t suggesting that. I don’t think I could get close to that thing. I just wish it never w
ould have shown up in the first place. At least we marked the spot. Now, when we go back, it will be easy to find.”

  Mike’s head swiveled to her. “Are you sure you want to go back? You did just see those bullets bouncing off that...that...thing, right?”

  She placed her right hand on Mike’s knee, unknowingly exploiting his weakness for attention from a pretty woman. “We have to go back to get that money. Plus, that stupid tarot card reader won’t stop blowing up my phone. I should report him to the terrorist hotline.” She giggled.

  Mike laughed halfheartedly, but he didn’t want to go back into the woods ever again. He also began wondering who the tarot card reader was and why he was willing to pay Emily good money to dig up the amulet. Maybe Alayna would know. Mike made a mental note to ask her later.

  Emily dropped Mike off at his house. Alayna was sitting in a lawn chair, sunbathing on his roof. Mike watched her fan herself off with a silver tanning reflector, set it down, then confidently jump down from the edge of the roof. She landed softly next to Mike and held her arms up like a gymnast.

  “Where have you been? Have a nice stroll through the forest? I prefer long walks on the beach.”

  Mike shook his head. “Don’t be spying on me. I told you about that.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m not going to harass you about continuing to see that succubus. It’s time for your first lesson.” Alayna sang the last sentence.

  “Where should we do it? Inside?” Mike pointed toward his front door.

  “No, no, no. We must go to a wonderful world. Today, you get to see how I live. The secret spot is actually really close to where you fish almost every day.”

  “Let’s get after it, then.”

  Alayna led Mike into the woods and to the riverbank. He followed her to a spot about one hundred yards from his fishing hole. Alayna stared at the grassy incline and approached the hill. She used her hands as shovels to dig into the earth and toss the dirt and grass over her shoulder.

  She dug out a rectangle, and wiped away more dirt to expose a light brown hidden door with a red triskele imprinted in the middle. A circular pattern of pink salmon images surrounded the triskele. Alayna brushed some more dirt away and exposed a silver handle.