My Boyfriend Merlin (10 page)

“I’m going to enjoy killing you, Mrs. D.” With one hand, Morgan clawed my mother across the chest with talon-like fingers. With his other hand, he drove the sword he held into my mother’s stomach.

My mother fell back onto hard marble tile. I screamed.

The back door of the kitchen burst open. A man entered wearing the dark blue uniform of a paramedic. Morgan ran at him with a yell. The paramedic extended a hand and blasted Morgan back against the kitchen wall. Pictures hanging on the wall crashed to the floor. Morgan grunted.

The paramedic moved quickly. He picked up the sword from the floor where Morgan had dropped it. Morgan got up from the wall with a snarl. His face extended into beast-like proportions. He moved with speed despite his bulk. In the blink of an eye, he stood inches from the paramedic. Morgan’s eyes blazed triumphantly.

The paramedic swung the sword. Morgan’s head fell to the floor.

Blood spurted all over the walls. It spurted all over me. It seeped across my mother’s pristine floor. Morgan’s body slumped and rolled. Covered in blood, I met the paramedic’s impassive eyes. I fainted.

The next thing I knew, the paramedic’s face hovered over me as he shook me awake. Piercing hazel eyes bore into mine.

“Who was he?” he asked.

I could do more than stare at him. Moonlight from the bay window highlighted the cold cut of his high cheekbones.

“Who was he?” This time his voice sounded oddly distorted as if were speaking through a filter. The voice washed over me with velvety softness. A sense of calm filled me.

“M-my boyfriend,” I whispered hoarsely. “Morgan.”

“The boyfriend,” he said. “They did spend an unusually long time on you.”

Another boy came in through the hallway. Despite his brutish size, he grimaced as he came up behind the paramedic. “What a mess. Do we take her with us?”

The handsome paramedic shook his head. “Mother and daughter obviously fought off the gargoyle without magic.”

“They had swords,” the boy pointed out. “There’s another one in the living room. Dead. No head. They knew what they were doing.”

“The mother did. Unusual, but still they are quite obviously Regulars. And Regulars are not our concern.” The paramedic drew together my torn shirt and started to get up.

“Come, the hunt continues,” he said. “We must follow.”

I grabbed his wrist with the last bit of remaining strength. “W-Wait. Y-you can’t leave. You need to help my mother—”

The paramedic looked at me for a long moment. “Yes, I will help. But you must let go.”

I released him.

He stretched his wrist. “Surprisingly strong grip for such a delicate girl.”

“H-help,” I said.

“I will.” He put a hand to my head and muttered, “Time to rest… and forget.”

As my eyes fluttered close, I noticed the nametag on his uniform.
Vane.

***

On the floor, in the foyer of Avalon Prep, I did throw up.

Matt rushed to me. “It’s all right, Ryan. You’re done. It’s all done.”

“I’d forgotten.” I sat back on the floor. My eyes snapped to Vane. “You made me forget.”

“Indeed, I did,” said Vane, without apology.

He’d saved me. But he didn’t want me to remember. I stared at him. “Why?”

“Yes, Vivane,” Aurelius commanded. “Why were you at the girl’s house?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Matt said. “He doesn’t have the sight. How do you think he rounded up his candidates? He’s been following the gargoyles about.”

“He’s rescuing candidates?” someone said.

“Hardly,” Matt scoffed. “The gargoyles don’t discriminate between Regulars and wizards, but Vane does.”

I looked at Vane with dawning horror. “You didn’t tell the kids they were being targeted?”

He gave an unemotional shrug. “You survived—”

“My mother didn’t!” I jumped up. I tried to lunge at Vane.

Matt caught me and held me still. “He’s not worth it.”

Vane continued without acknowledging my outburst, “—so might have the others. I don’t know.”

“Or care,” Matt added.

Aurelius cleared his throat. “What is done is done. We must look to the present.”

“Master Aurelius, look at the water,” Thornton interrupted in an awed tone.

The other Councilmembers circled the pedestal.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” a woman Councilmember declared. There was a chorus of agreements throughout the group.

“How is it possible?” another member said.

Reluctantly tearing my gaze from Vane’s. I looked at the pedestal.

The water was red with blood.

“Matt?” I said uncertainly.

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. The simple gesture calmed me.

“Where did you get the water?” Matt said to Aurelius.

Aurelius’s gaze didn’t move from the water. “We found it in your cave, of course. We’ve been monitoring it for almost a thousand years. How do think we knew when you woke?”

“Woke?” I said.

“Well, this has taken a most interesting turn,
Matt
,” Vane drawled.

“Don’t speak to me,” Matt snapped.

“We don’t have time for this,” Aurelius said. “Let us proceed with the test. Who is next?”

After a moment of hesitant silence, Grey stepped forward. “I will go.”

***

It took another two hours to get through the candidates. Unsurprisingly, Grey’s visions had been about the shadow-dragon and Alexa. I was still holding his hand—or he was holding mine—when Aurelius confirmed the last candidate. I ran my tongue across my teeth. Matt had magically cleaned my mouth and now it felt fresher than before I had thrown up.

Marilyn had cleaned up the floor while Matt was taking care of me. From the glare she gave me I was pretty sure she and I were not going to be friends anytime soon.

After the pedestal had been taken away and the rest Council dispersed as mysteriously as they had appeared, Aurelius gathered the candidates.

“Congratulations and welcome,” he intoned. “Your guardians and mentors have briefed me about you, but you do not know me. I am Aurelius Ambrose. As well as holding the title of Second Member of the Wizard’s Council, I also serve as the head of this school.”

“Today, you are in a remarkable position. Some of you are wizards and some of you are not. However, all of you are beginners. Many students start at Avalon Prep at a very young age. You will be among the first to enroll as part of our special program. For those of you still in school, your time will count towards your secondary school education, and thus allow you to graduate if that is your wish.”

Aurelius walked back and forth in front of us. “Dangerous times are upon us. Most of you have had encounters with the gargoyles already. If seeing them today in your fellow candidates’ visions was a first, I am here to tell you that the threat is very real. The gargoyles started hunting down candidates as soon as we did. They would see you dead to increase their chances of being the ones to pull the sword out of the stone.”

“You have taken a great step today by coming here.” Aurelius’s lips curved into a grandfatherly smile. His beard swung back and forth. “In the upcoming days, you will be pushed beyond what you think you can handle. Although it may not feel like it now—you are where you belong. You are part of a new family. Not since King Arthur’s time has the Sword come back to the land—”

“Who cares about King Arthur?” Mark said. “He’s like a million years old. What are we supposed to do now?”

Aurelius gave him a disgruntled look. He waved his hand and the glass doors opened behind him. “Now, Mr. Brown, I realize you are exhausted so I will excuse your outburst this once. Your objective is simple enough. You will train at Avalon Prep. For your survival as well as ours, we will prepare you for whatever Trial the Sword may throw at you. There have been deaths enough. It’s time for a smarter approach.” He paused to make sure he had everyone’s attention. He did.

“Vivane has volunteered to train you on swords. He is the finest swordsman alive today.”

“Vivane!” Matt burst out. “Aurelius, I would speak to you right now.”

Aurelius sighed. With a nod, he looked at Marilyn. “Candidates, you will get your welcome kits from Ms. Marilynn. Then, please follow her on the tour of the school. It will be most enlightening for you to see what we do here.”

The candidates shuffled off towards Marilyn.

I saw Vane trying to slink off out of the room. I marched over to him and cut him off before he reached the glass door leading outside.

“You could have saved my mother.” I thrust a finger hard into his unyielding chest.

Vane leaned down until his lips grazed my ear. “I debated coming in at all.”

I pushed him away. “Why did you?”

“I had to know about you.” His eyes slid over me. His gaze rested on the necklace Sylvia had given me. “You were hard to read. I should have realized it was purchased magic obscuring the truth.”

“You are unbelievable,” I said. “Matt was right about you.”

“Was he?” he drawled. “But really, you shouldn’t believe everything my brother says.”

“Matt—”

Vane laughed. “Is that what you think his name is?”

I frowned. “What?”

“If you’re going to make it as a candidate, you must figure out who you can trust,” Vane said. “Let me help you out. What do you know about Arthur? He pulled the sword from the stone. He founded a great kingdom. He became a legend. But someone else besides Arthur became just as famous. If Arthur was the puppet, he was the puppetmaster.”

“Yes,” I said steadily. “I know who you mean.”

Before I could blink, Vane grabbed me by the waist and turned me to face Matt. Matt pulled at his jacket in frustration as he argued with Aurelius. I noticed he wore skater-punk shoes.

Vane whispered, “
Vasana
.”

With a gimmicky zap, a costume appeared on Matt. He wore a blue-felt robe with white stars. On his head sat a matching pointed hat. His face had aged to look about a hundred years old. A long white beard extended from his jaw to his feet.

Vane said against my ear. “Now, let’s put it together. One, he was a wizard. That is true. Two, he was old. That is
false.
Actually he was about…oh, say, eighteen. During Arthur’s time, he would have been considered a mature adult, but not so much now. Three, he always thought he knew best for everyone. Know anyone like that? Four, he was considered the most powerful wizard of all time because…he could see the future. What is his real name?”

Matt broke off talking to Aurelius. Looking down at himself, he cursed.

Matt said, “
Vasana-apte.
”

It must have been a counter-spell because the cartoon-wizard disappeared. Matt returned to normal. Matt glared at Vane. “You’re an ass.”

“And you always make things hard for yourself.” Vane let go of me with a chuckle. I barely noticed him leave. My eyes were glued on Matt.

“Tell me it’s not possible,” I said.

“Ryan—”

“Oh, G-God.” I clutched my stomach. Even after the trauma of drinking the water, this new betrayal hit just as hard.

“I’m sorry,” Matt said beseechingly. The deep pools in his eyes stretched into infinity…or a thousand years or so.

I made a mewling sound. Hearing my distress, Grey left the other candidates and crossed the room. He grabbed me by the waist.

“What’s going on?” he demanded. “Matt?”

Bile bubbled inside me like bad stomach acid. It climbed up my throat and burnt through my nostrils. I had trusted Matt. We had all trusted Matt.

I turned to Grey. “His name is not Matt. His name is Merlin.”

CHAPTER 8
THE MOST FAMOUS WIZARD

The candidates, including Vane’s, realized something was going on and came over.

My voice rose hysterically. “He lied to us.”

Aurelius walked to us.

“It is past time to introduce myself properly,” Matt announced. “Things have been hard enough to explain, so I did not bother with this piece. However, I do hope after what you have seen today, you will believe me when I tell you the truth about myself.”

His eyes met those of the candidates without wavering.

“My true name
is
Emrys. Throughout history, though, the name has been known by a slightly different translation used by Arthur and his knights. I was known to them as Merlin.”

The red-haired girl with spiky hair asked, “Are you a vampire or something? Like an—” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “—
immortal
?”

“No, I’m not a vampire or immortal,” Matt—no, Merlin—said. “Vane and I fought a long time ago. We happened to be near the Lake of the Lady. Our fighting caused an explosion. We both became trapped. Entombed in a cave. Frozen in time. Until a disturbance woke us a few years ago.”

“A disturbance?” Oliver said.

“I’m not sure what it was. I have a feeling the Lake knew it was time. That the Sword would appear again.”

“So you’re not a vampire?” the red-haired girl repeated. She sounded disappointed.

“Not at all,” Matt quipped.

“Shouldn’t you be talking in medieval English or something?” Grey said skeptically.