by Lori Bond
“And you named it Galahad.” At this point Will stood in front of the knight staring at it in open awe. He ran his hand down the front of the smooth armor.
“Yes, I did.”
Will turned and looked at Arthur, and Arthur stared back with no expression on his face. The name Galahad meant nothing to me. I assumed it was another of the mythical Arthur’s never-ending Knights of the Round Table. However, something of significance seemed to pass between Arthur and Will. Will gave a small bow of his head almost like a knight of old pledging his allegiance to the king. Little goosebumps broke out up and down my arms as if the atmosphere of the room was noting some kind of momentous change.
The Defender cleared his throat, breaking the mood. “Isn’t this matter time-sensitive?” he asked.
“Yep,” Arthur said, turning away to his own armor. He tossed me my headset and threw on his own. Will didn’t have one yet, but the armor worked fine without it. The headsets were better for communication but not required.
I held out my arms, and my suit flowed around me. Next to me, Pendragon and Galahad were doing the same. As soon as Percival had initialized, I checked in with Will and Arthur. Will was listing out all the flight control movements to Arthur. Clearly, he’d been paying attention to my training. When the hole in the ceiling opened into the training room, Will shot up as if he’d been born in the suit. I muttered about the unfairness of natural born spies.
Arthur laughed at me. “You aren’t so bad yourself,” he said. “But Will has spent the last eleven years undergoing rigorous physical training. You spent it practicing ballet.”
“Ballet is incredibly rigorous.” I turned on my boosters and shot up after Will.
“True, but not when you only do it one hour a week.”
Pendragon and the Defender followed me. Before we reached the top of the training room, Percival opened the door to outside. The four of us shot into the sky. Behind us, a troop of knights followed.
According to Percival, a commercial flight takes over six hours to get between New York City and San Diego. We did it in just over one hour. To my surprise, the Defender had no trouble keeping up with us. Super flying speeds must be another of his superpowers.
Arthur and I spent most of the flight arguing. He wanted me to stay a mile back in case we weren’t in time.
“These are my parents,” I finally shouted at him. “You can’t keep me away.”
“I know, Princess,” Arthur’s voice stayed calm, but the slight strain in his tone showed his patience was wearing thin. “The knights and I will bring them right to you as soon as we have them.”
“You don’t understand.” I gritted my teeth trying to figure out how to get my point across to Arthur. He was a world-class genius. He had to know what I meant. “You don’t know what it feels like to be this worried.”
“Of course, I do, Princess.” Arthur’s voice sort of choked for a minute before coming back on as clear as ever. “You feel the way I feel right now when I think about you being in that house when the missile hits. It’s an unbearable fear, almost paralyzing, but instead of freezing you up, it pushes you to act, sometimes without thinking.”
That shut me up.
We were almost to the house on Ginny’s map when alarms went off in all the knights. I could hear my alarms, but also the ones in Will’s and Arthur’s suits.
“Defender, we have incoming,” Arthur said over the headsets.
“On it,” said the Defender. He shot back the way we had come, outdistancing the seven knights that turned to follow him. I tried not to give him a second glance, but I hadn’t realized that our supersonic flight had been slowing him down.
Arthur sent thirty knights on ahead so we would come at the house from all sides. They put on a small burst of speed, but at that rate, they could only hold that speed for ten seconds. After that, they would have to drop to regular, sonic speeds. They would be slow getting back to Keep Tower, but they disappeared across the horizon now.
“Got it.” The Defender’s voice came in over my headset, startling me. “It’s a Hellfire all right, like in Elaine’s vision. I’m sending it into space. Ginny calculated a nice little trajectory for me that will take out one of the Dreki’s primary satellites. Since they were piggy-backing off a cable satellite, we might lose TV tonight.”
Arthur groaned. “And I was looking forward to the new episode of Danger Road.”
The Defender sounded surprised. “I can tell you what happens. We only filmed it four months ago. It’s not like I’ve forgotten.”
“No spoilers!” Arthur called out. “Ginny would kill me.”
I didn’t roll my eyes, but only because I worried Percival might think I wanted my knight to do something. “Can we please focus? Does that mean my parents are safe now?”
There was a pause as if Arthur was thinking or consulting his displays. “No. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dreki launch another kind of attack. The missile was just the easiest option.”
At that moment, my parents’ house came into view. Thirty knights hovered around it, high enough to be out of sight from someone on the ground, but low enough to swoop in and save the day. The street itself looked empty. Each house had a derelict look about it as if the neighborhood had been abandoned.
“According to Percival, the second housing crisis two years ago hit this neighborhood hard,” Will said. “It doesn’t seem to have recovered.”
The one- and two-story houses all had the same basic fronts. The house Ginny thought hid my mom and dad had the same look with the addition of a boarded-up window in the front.
Still, I knew we had the right place because my parents came tearing out of the house, like the place had caught on fire. Dad stuffed one last hard drive into his backpack before swinging it over his shoulders. They must have gotten the missile alert, but since Arthur’s knights didn’t register on anything, they didn’t realize we were here.
I began to fly down toward them when a minivan turned onto their street. It was moving so fast, I couldn’t believe it didn’t topple over. It barely stayed up on two wheels taking the turn. As it came zooming down the street, the side door opened. Men with guns sprayed the sidewalk with bullets, but they were too far away still to hit my parents.
My parents dropped to the ground behind those special cacti, but that wouldn’t offer much protection against bullets. Fortunately, the thirty knights hovering over their house dropped out of the sky to land in front of them. Half of them unsheathed their swords while the rest fired up the guns lining their arms.
I tried to join the knights defending my parents, but my knight seemed to have frozen in the sky. I hovered in mid-air, and nothing I did seemed to make the knight go.
“Percival!” I yelled. “Did you freeze up or something? Arthur, how do I reboot this thing?”
“I don’t freeze, my lady,” Percival said. “Lord Arthur has suspended all your flight controls.”
“He did what?” I shouted. “Did he freeze all my weapons, too? Because if not, aim a rocket at Pendragon’s head.” That would get his attention even though it wouldn’t hurt him.
“Percival won’t do that, Elaine,” Arthur said. “But if you want to be useful, instead of throwing a tantrum, you should target that minivan. It seems to be evading our efforts.”
I turned my attention back to the battle. The troops had spilled out of the car and were using anything around them as cover. A couple were squatting behind the community mailboxes, so I aimed a rocket at them. The mailboxes got blasted apart, and the goons were thrown from the fight.
“If it makes you feel any better, Arthur suspended my flight controls, too,” Will said.
“That does not help.” I continued to target Dreki, but from my distance, I couldn’t do much more than shoot rockets. My cameras zoomed in so close I could see the stitching on the Dreki patches on each soldier’s shoulder, but I couldn’t throw a punch or slice with the electric dirks I’d been training to use. Feeling helpless and useless so f
ar out of the way, it was like I was back in the school parking lot cowering under that truck with Will. I might be safer this time around, but I still had to wait while someone else saved the day.
Something flew between Will and me so fast they were nothing more than a brown blur. The sonic boom was so loud it reverberated through my armor, and the newcomer’s wake pushed us aside. In the next second, the battle was over. Pendragon had incapacitated the three remaining Dreki, and the Defender held the minivan in such a way that the driver couldn’t escape.
“Sorry I’m late,” the Defender said. “It took me longer to reach the satellite than I thought.”
My flight controls re-engaged, and I launched myself at the front of my parents’ house. Like everything else, bullet holes and scorch marks riddled the place. I was relieved when Percival’s scans showed no one else had been squatting in the other houses.
My parents’ front yard was empty with no trace of them.
I had Percival drop me out of my armor, my running shoes crunching on spent bullets and glass. “Mom! Dad!” I called.
“Elaine, get back in your armor this moment,” Pendragon boomed. “We don’t know if the area is secured.” There was some grumbling between Arthur and Percival since Arthur hadn’t turned off his outer speakers. “Fine,” Pendragon said again. “It is secure, but you still shouldn’t be out of your armor. What if there was unexploded ordnance somewhere? Do you want to lose a foot?”
Will hovered in Galahad like he wanted to pick me up and swoop me out of there right that minute. I glared at him, just daring him to try. Will hung back.
The helm on the knight next to Pendragon swung up. “You should listen to your father, Elaine,” Mom said. “He is the expert at this sort of thing.”
I squealed and launched myself at my mom. Since carbon fiber titanium armor covered her, I sort of thudded into her chest, knocking the breath out of me.
“Oh my,” Dad said from Pendragon’s other side. That knight opened, and Raul stepped out. “These things take some getting used to. You wear this every day?”
“Yep.” Pendragon flew into a bunch of little pieces and reassembled behind Arthur. “Elaine too, and our new protégé, Will, will start training tomorrow.”
Galahad stood behind me and my mother. Will opened his helm, but he stayed in his armor. He seemed to be taking Arthur’s warning more seriously than the rest of us.
“It’s safe enough now,” Arthur said, noticing Will’s reluctance to step out. “Percival has scanned the area.”
“If you let go, I can get out of this metal death trap. I don’t know how you use them. I can see why Ginny has never approved.”
I stepped back, and my mom stepped out of her armor.
“They’re not so bad when custom-fitted,” I said, realizing I spoke the truth. I didn’t find my armor confining at all. In fact, I liked the flying around and the safety it provided. I wasn’t so big on the fighting part, but armor had become part of my new normal. It would seem weird not to wear it at least once a day.
“I don’t have as much experience with armor,” said Will. Galahad dissolved from around him and reformed over by Pendragon. “The custom-fit though makes all the difference.”
“Personalized armor too?” Mom said. She turned to Arthur. “Who is this beautiful young man hovering around our daughter? Don’t tell me you and Ginny adopted without telling me.”
Arthur snorted. “Wouldn’t be any of your business if we did.” He made a little motion at Will. “This is Agent Redding of LANCE. He’s under my protection. Leave him alone.”
Mom’s eyebrows went up, and Dad took a step back. “Not planning on taking us in, are you?” Raul said with a forced laugh.
Will studied the sky as if it contained the secrets of life written in the clouds. “Take who in? It is a shame I was busy sitting in my room writing up dull reports on Elaine’s training while all this excitement was taking place on the other side of the country.”
Arthur laughed, but Mom’s eyes narrowed. She pulled me a little off to the side. “So, that’s the LANCE handler.” She eyed him up and down. “What unearthly beauty. Promise me you are using him for more than training exercises. Those lips are simply made for kissing.”
My jaw about hit the ground. I didn’t get to answer because Arthur must have heard her over the headset. “Tori,” he yelled. He stomped over. “That’s massively inappropriate.”
Will and Raul glanced at him, and I thanked every deity from every pantheon that Will didn’t have a headset. I would no longer have to worry about the Dreki getting me if I thought Will had overheard. I’d drop dead from mortification.
“What?” Mom turned back. “I’m sure that Elaine would enjoy some lovely kisses from that young man. Between you and me, Arthur, I suspect she needs the practice. According to a post on that account she blocked me from, you know the one, Elaine,” Mom said to me. She turned back to a horrified Arthur. “Elaine had her first kiss a few years back, but she hasn’t dated anyone since then. I doubt there has been a second kiss. She might as well practice on her LANCE handler. He has to be good for something.”
My entire body caught on fire. I was wrong. I was going to spontaneously combust from embarrassment, and that would kill me. “Can we talk about me kissing people when we get home? Maybe in private? When I’m forty-five?”
Mom looked confused. “Home?” She glanced back at the damaged house. “I don’t think this place is fit for humans anymore.”
“Not here.” I made a vague motion at the knights. “Keep Tower. Arthur’s home. You’re coming home with us, aren’t you?”
Mom looked stricken, but she didn’t answer.
“Of course, she is. Both of you are.” Arthur turned to Raul, and beside him Will nodded. “The more the merrier at the Rook.”
The Defender finished securing the last of the Dreki. He’d used his fire-breath to cauterize any wounds. “The Keep hospitality is unparalleled.”
“So, you’re there too?” Dad asked. He was looking more uncomfortable by the minute. I looked between my mom and my dad and my father. “So, many superheroes,” Raul murmured, but I still heard.
“You have to come.” I stared at Mom willing her to see how important this was, not just for their safety but for me.
“We can’t.” Mom looked at Will and Arthur. She glanced over her shoulder at the Defender.
Arthur came to stand behind me. He rested his hand on my shoulder. Will moved to stand next to him. He didn’t put his hand on my other shoulder, but I could still feel his presence, like I’d developed a new sense that tracked him through a room.
“It would be for the best,” Arthur said. His voice stayed calm and measured, not petulant, but there was still an undercurrent of steel beneath his words. I realized Arthur was angry. Very angry. Livid. I also realized that Mom couldn’t tell.
“It’s not just for safety. It’s best in every sense.” His voice lowered in tone but not intensity. “Twelve years is too long to be cut off from family.”
In that minute, I realized Arthur blamed Mom and Raul for missing all those years in my life. In that minute, I kind of blamed them too. They didn’t have to disappear twelve years ago. Arthur would have protected them then, just like he would protect them now. They had made their choice then. I wished and wished they would make a different choice now.
Raul, though, was shaking his head, and Mom was staring at the ground. “Arthur …” Her voice petered out. She took a deep breath and looked up. Even though she said Arthur’s name again, she was really talking to me. “Arthur, you have a LANCE agent and who knows how many superheroes living with you. And I love Ginny, and I love that the two of you found each other, but live with my best friend and my ex? No.”
“But, Mom.”
Mom shook her head, and Raul came and stood with her. “No, come with us, sweetie,” he said. “It was good of Arthur to rescue you that day, and we couldn’t think of a safe way for him to bring you back, but you’re here now.
Come with us. You’ll enjoy not having to pretend to be a boring, perfect suburban family anymore.”
Mom nodded. “We’ll make a new life, maybe somewhere further North. We can pose as a family from the Midwest. I’ll be your older sister this time. I think I can pass for older twenties, and you would enjoy being twenty-one a little early, don’t you think? You’re old enough you can pick out a new name this time around. You can finally dump that Elaine nonsense. I’ve always hated it. I can’t imagine why I let Arthur talk me into it. We’ll disappear, and the Dreki and LANCE will never find us.”
Arthur’s hand tightened on my shoulder, but otherwise, he didn’t show any sign he objected to the discussion. He didn’t tell me not to go. Even though I knew how important I was to him, he didn’t yell and scream at my parents like he had with Stormfield. He didn’t bring up the revised custody agreement Mom had signed. Arthur stood there in silence, and it had to be killing him. Arthur was letting me decide.
There wasn’t a decision though. “I can’t leave Arthur or Will. I’m not going another twelve years without my father.” Behind me Arthur shifted closer. He literally would have had my back no matter what I had chosen. “I like being Elaine. It wasn’t a pretend life before. It was my life.” My throat choked up, and I had to take a deep breath before getting it to work again.
Mom and Raul looked at each other for a second. It was a look I’d never seen before and didn’t know how to interpret.
“And you can’t keep me safe,” I added. “The Dreki found you just fine. You would have died now if I hadn’t Seen that missile coming. And I can’t See without Will, and I can’t survive the constant Dreki attacks without Arthur and Pendragon and the armor. You can’t go off and keep hacking the Dreki and think they won’t respond. You need to come with us.”
But my parents wouldn’t budge. The Defender left to take the Dreki into a LANCE detention center. He probably also left to give us some privacy. I was uncomfortable, and this was my family.
