My Merlin Awakening (15 page)

Nothing happened. Vane grabbed the trident.

“What?” Matt protested.

“My turn.” Vane blew on the trident. The blow turned into wind. An aura of green surrounded the trident. Vane released the trident and it floated in space. For a moment, I smelled warm, salty air. Then, the trident dropped.

Matt handed me the knife… Excalibur, I realized. Matt called the trident and it floated into his hand. He ran a hand down the trident’s spear. “Symbols. I don’t recognize them.”

Sylvia stepped forward. “Those are Chimeran letters.”

“Gargoyle tongue?” Vane asked.

Rourke stood up. He peered at the symbols and spoke them out loud in gargoyle tongue.

Vane translated, “Lost City of Thera.”

“You speak Chimeran?” Rourke asked, surprised.

Vane shrugged. “I am skilled at speech.”

Rourke’s gaze sharpened. “Yes, I had heard that.”

“Thera.” Matt said. “The underwater volcano.”

A shiver went down my spine. I met his gaze. His vision sat between us.

Grey turned to Vane. “The eruption of Thera was one of the biggest events in the ancient world. The city of Akrotiri was destroyed.”

“Yes.” I cleared my throat. “We learned about it in history.” I gave Grey a pointed look. Vane had us studying Thera and now the trident was leading us straight to it. It couldn’t be a coincidence, but whatever his explanation, I didn’t want to bring it up in front of the gargoyles.

“It is enough to convince me.” Rourke walked to the edge of the room with an unsteady gait. “I plan to leave right away. I am sure you will want to book your own passage. I will set up a safe house for us there. Only a few of you should come. Too many will arouse suspicion. Oliver does not suspect I have turned to you. Thera is now called Santorini. The archeological site for Akrotiri is there. It is not a big place and I would rather not attract any attention.” His gaze found Sylvia, who sat silently on the sofa. “Sylvia, you are, of course, welcome anytime.”

“What makes you think we intend to go at all?” Vane said.

Rourke glanced at Matt. “It is the only lead you have. You found the trident.” He glanced at me, then at the fresh wound on my arm. “You were meant to find it. I mean to stow along.”

“Why should we include you?” I asked.

“Besides allowing me to save my life?” Rourke laughed. “You know we can help you. Oliver will know you have found the trident. He will not be far behind. My son can be very single-minded. It makes him dangerous. We will guard you.”

Vane raised a brow. “We can protect ourselves.”

“Let me be clear.” Rourke straightened to the full height of his frame. “You have the trident, but Greece is gargoyle territory. Without us, you will never set foot on those islands. It will take you months to try to find a way around us, if you ever do. You know it is time you cannot afford to waste. A war is upon us, although we do not know its purpose. It began as soon as Excalibur appeared.” He lifted a regal brow at Matt. “What is your choice, Merlin?”

Matt hesitated.

In my hand, Excalibur pulsed. I almost yelped and dropped it. No one else noticed, but to me, the message was clear. I thought to Matt,
“Say yes.”

He didn’t look at me, but his eyes flickered. He nodded. “We work together.”

***

“Wizards working with those beasts,” Blake said as soon they left. “What have we come to?”

“Have you been hanging out with Mark?” I asked.

Mark, one of the Candidates and Gia’s ex-boyfriend, was one of the most obnoxious and thug-like persons I’d ever met. He reverently believed that wizards were superior to everyone else. A sentiment instilled by Vane—not that Vane was paying attention to Blake.

Vane rounded on Matt. “What do you think you’re going to find at Thera?”

Matt blinked. “As Rourke said, knowledge of the Guides.”

“Rubbish,” Vane retorted. “ You’re looking for the Lady. You’re not going to find her. She is long gone. She
abandoned
us.”

Matt sat down on the sofa. “No, I don’t believe that.”

I’d seen Vane act cold. I’d seen him be cruel. I knew he could be completely selfish, but I’d never seen him so angry. He spat out, “We couldn’t find her in Arthur’s time. What makes you think she’s still around? The cave was empty. We should know. We were the last ones in it.”

Matt’s face darkened. Any mention of the cave he and Vane had been imprisoned in for fifteen hundred years made him understandably moody. His cotton blue button-down shirt clung to lean muscles as he ran his hands through his hair. “The Lake water still exists.”

I said slowly, “The Lady of the Lake is a Guide?”

“Guides. Gods. It’s easy to confuse the two. She and her kind have been around since life began on this world, I think. There are many creatures who roam this earth, but keep to themselves,” Matt said. “Long ago, I did not send Galahad on a quest to find the Grail, but to follow the Fisher King to the Lady. Whether or not the cup is real. This certainly is.” Matt held up the trident. “Can’t you see it’s made of the same magic as Excalibur? They are both her instruments.”

“You’re pinning our futures on a dream,” Vane muttered.

“It’s the only lead we have,” Matt snapped. “Even if we don’t find her, we have to look.” He turned to us. “Do you remember when you were in the trial?”

Blake, Gia, Grey and I all nodded. As if the mark the trial had left on the Candidates could ever be erased or forgotten.

Matt lifted a hand and started drawing in the air. A stream of blue light came out of his finger like liquid paint. He made a picture of tall, black pillars and curved arches. “You told me there were pillars all around the place you were in.”

“That looks like typical Roman construction,” said Vane. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“You’re not looking closely enough,” Matt said. “I doubt Ryan even noticed this while she was going through it. Since then, I have reviewed her memories—”

“You let him review your memories?” Gia asked, aghast.

I made a face. It’s not as if I could help it. Even if I’d been able to block Matt at all, the trial was too intense for me to hide while our minds were connected.

“What did you find out?” Vane inquired impatiently.

Matt pulled back on the floating picture with his hand. It zoomed in on the arches. A small carving stood out in the stone. “The trident. It was there at the trial.”

Vane squinted at the image. “There’s more. There’s an eye on the other side and a… crescent moon? What do they mean?”

“I’m not sure, but I am certain we shall find out,” Matt said. He waved a hand and the images disappeared. I was only too happy.

The trial was not something I cared to relive.

Grey faced Vane. “What I don’t understand is how you knew. You made us study Thera just this week.”

“I didn’t.” Vane rubbed his chest. “However, I have been having some strange dreams—about water. I thought it related to the witch trials. I keep dreaming I am being drowned. I wonder if it’s my mind making connections…”

Matt picked up the trident and handed it to Vane. “What do you feel when you touch this?”

Vane took it without expression. With a wave of his hand, he pushed back the coffee table to create space in the middle of the room. He twirled an awkward figure-eight in the air. Then, the movements became smoother, more practiced. I took a breath. The faint scent of salty sea air—the same scent I smelled in the attic of the Seven Gables—grew more potent in the living room. He continued for a few minutes, but nothing else happened.

Vane stopped. “It’s a nice enough lance, but I don’t sense anything special.”

Under my hand, Excalibur pulsed again. A trace of sea air tickled my nose.

I walked up to Vane and took the trident from him. Vane let me have it without comment. Soon I was twirling the trident like a familiar lance. When I first started training with Vane, he drilled all of the Candidates with lance-fighting forms before allowing us to advance to swords. I saw Vane move one so fast I could barely see its outline. I, however, was never particularly good at the lance.

Yet now, I realized, I was moving the trident with tremendous speed. Instinct made me halt suddenly. Its tip pointed at the center of the fireplace… and Blake. A shot of fire burst from the trident.Blake jumped out of the way with a yelp and fell to the floor with force. The shot of fire blasted through an iron grate and the stack of wood inside the hearth exploded into flames.

“Ryan!” Gia ran to help Blake get back up.

Matt took the trident from me. “I think we’ve seen enough.”

I blinked and shook the cobwebs from my eyes. “I don’t know what happened. It overtook me.”

“You are the sword-bearer.” Matt said. “Vane defeated the Fisher King. He broke the trident’s allegiance and left it open for anyone to master it.” He gave me a meaningful look. “A sword’s allegiance only extends as far as its master’s ability to command it.”

As could Excalibur’s allegiance change and be taken from me
, he meant. I was getting tired of hearing the same thing.
I had not gotten weak, dammit!
And if I had, it was my right. It was still my life wasn’t it?

“Not anymore,”
Matt thought to me.

My irritation must have shown on my face, because Blake interjected hastily, “Can I try the trident?”

“There’s no need for you—” Matt started.

“There is every need,” Vane interjected. “He is a Candidate. Let’s see if it works for him.”

Blake twirled the trident in the same manner as Vane and I had done. Within minutes, the trident whirled faster than I could see. Blake stopped. A shot fired from the trident, and the flames in the hearth exploded.

Grey jumped up from the sofa. “I’m next.”

“Me too,” Gia chimed in.

“Please.” Sylvia stood up from where she’d been sitting beside Grey. “Don’t burn my house down.” Her eyes traveled over to the broken window. “Once was enough.”

Vane muttered a word and the shards of the window stirred. They came back together in a symphony of movement. Vane blew on it and the glass melded together. It created a beautiful spiderweb-like pattern.

“Oh, it’s gorgeous,” Sylvia said happily.

Thank you.
I mouthed to Vane.

He raised a brow. Vane-speak for, “I will collect later.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “The trident has spoken. I suggest you contact the Council, Clarence. Merlin isn’t going to be traveling alone to Thera.”

Sylvia said quickly, “I think I should come too.”

“Because of Rourke?” I asked.

Grey scowled at the mention of the gargoyle. “Since when are you friends with them?”

Sylvia’s finely arched brows raised. “Ragnar Bank deals in magic. They’re one of our biggest customers.”

“They killed Alexa!” Grey shouted.

Sylvia’s shoulders drooped.

“Grey, she didn’t know,” I stepped in. “And it wasn’t Rourke. It was Oliver.”

“What’s the difference? One gargoyle is the same as another.”

I mostly agreed with him, but the generalization bothered me.

Sylvia sighed. “The blame lays on Marla. To think I hired her because she could speak Chimeran.”

“So can you,” Matt added.

Sylvia nodded. “I am not saying you should trust him, but I can confirm what he says is true.” She looked at Grey. “It’s time for me to stop taking a back seat in this.”

“No,” Grey shook his head.

Sylvia’s lips curved up into a smile. “You can risk your life for us, but I can’t? I am a witch, son. I am not helpless.” Her brow crinkled. “Although I haven’t been away from the bank in a long time. I’ll have to make arrangements for someone to take over—”

“You haven’t ever been away,” Grey corrected. “Put one of the twenty vice presidents you have to work. They’re hungry for it.”

Sylvia looked at him in surprise. “How do you know?”

He shrugged. “I’ve been at the bank this whole semester. You passed me all the memos. Did you think I couldn’t read?”

“I-I…” Sylvia stammered. Her eyes sought mine.

I suppressed a smile.
Miracles could happen.

“We shall see.”
Matt thought to me.

I glanced at him. His eyes were fixed on Vane. Not realizing we watched, Vane held the trident. It wasn’t the fact that he held it that was worrisome. It was the way he held it—longingly—not the way someone who saw it as “nothing special” would do.

***

A limo drove us all to Boston Logan later that day. We would make a stop in London to drop off most of the guardian wizards. Ten of us, along with Sylvia, would continue to Athens. The other guardians were to return to Avalon Prep and the Council, a train ride’s distance over the English countryside.

Instead of going to the terminals, we turned off to a private strip used by chartered flights. Soon we were all sitting inside the plush interior of a private plane. My seat could have been a small bed. I leaned it all the way back, elevating my feet and closed my eyes.