My Merlin Awakening (39 page)

“Good,” Colin said.

“She was just scared,” I defended her.

My amulet warmed and Matt stirred on the floor. He sat up slowly. His eyes fixed on the broken statue. “The Lady is gone.”

“So is our way out,” Colin muttered.

Leonidas stepped forward from the floor. “You heard what the goddess said. You must wake the Earth-Shaker. He will save us.”

Matt shook his head. “Absolutely not. We know waking the Earth-Shaker will cause massive devastation. I have foreseen it. We are not going to pay in blood. I will not allow it.”

“If a sacrifice is asked, it is what will be paid,” Theras said. He nodded at Leonidas and marched forward with his sword. Theras declared, “If you are too weak too stomach it, wizard, we have no more need of you.”

The other two wizards put their palms out at Theras. One said, “Back away from him.”

“You’ll have to deal with me too.” I stood up to face Leonidas. Blood rushed to my head. I swayed, suddenly dizzy.

Vane’s eyes narrowed, watching me closely. He floated the trident to him. “Merlin’s magic is weak. He’s still feeding off you.

My fingers tightened on Excalibur. “Vane, you can’t use that.”

“I’m afraid I may not have been entirely truthful about that little detail.” The tiger stirred in his eyes. They showed teeth. He blasted me with the trident.

I reacted instinctively by raising Excalibur. Vane’s shot hit the blade and somehow got absorbed. Excalibur burned in my hand. A spark of light charged through the metal. Vane shot at me again.

“Ryan, drop the sword now!” yelled Matt. He shot a small blue fireball at Vane. Vane deflected it easily.

I couldn’t drop Excalibur. The hilt had become glued to my hand. The sword became heavy. Heavier than if a million souls pressed down on it. I fell to my knees.

“I’m sorry, Dorothy. Someone must do what is needed.” Vane shot me with the trident again. It hit Excalibur. The sword burned even brighter, taking the energy and storing it. A charged battery, it spilled over onto my body. I screamed without making any sound. My ears pounded. My eyes burned. My body had been set aflame.

I saw Grey, Colin, and the gargoyle attack Vane. Leonidas shouted and the mermaids surrounded the gargoyles to defend Vane. Matt, Blake, and the wizards sent a wave of magic at Excalibur, but it only served to make the energy pouring out of the blade burn with more force. A rainbow of light covered me. Vane ran at me.

“I knew it would take all three of us,” he whispered in my ear, before he yanked me into the watery pit.

We plunged into its depths, sinking fast. This time, I saw clearly through the water. Vane drew us to the Minotaur. He pushed my hands down and Excalibur sank into the belly of the Minotaur like a knife through butter.

I still couldn’t let go. Light radiated out from the sword. The ring of columns surrounding the pit stirred with life. They started spinning. My lungs cried for air. I struggled to stay conscious. The rings spun faster. I was in the middle of a centrifuge. The picture of the Minotaur cracked. The floor cracked. I thought I glimpsed lava underneath. The rings stopped.

Lake water receded into the crack.

From the floor, the Minotaur’s golden head floated up. It hung in the air between me and Vane. It waited.

It was a mask. Vane took it. He winced as if it burned. The mask shimmered green in his hand.

I tugged at Excalibur with desperate hope, but it held me fast. My hands remained glued to its hilt. I was stuck. Paralyzed.

“Vane, no,” I croaked out.

Vane touched my face, his eyes dark with hunger.

“This is for us,” he whispered.

“No,” I said again.

He dropped his hand. “Yes, champion. It’s time to seize my destiny.”

Vane put on the bull’s mask.

The earth rumbled and came to life.

CHAPTER 20 - AWAKENING

CHAPTER 20
AWAKENING

Vane fell to his knees. His silent scream sounded in my head.

The whole building shook. The walls thundered as if the whole world were shaking.

Vane’s entire body glowed green for a few seconds. I tried to reach for him, but I couldn’t because Excalibur still held me. He stood up and the shadow of the Minotaur stood up with him. Emeralds no longer filled the mask’s sockets. Instead, Vane’s eyes stared back at me. But they weren’t his eyes anymore. The irises now glowed green.

“We meet.”
A new voice filled my head, Vane’s voice, but different. Deeper. Less human.

My eyes widened. I’d heard him clearly in my head. He had overpowered Matt’s block. I stared at him, mesmerized.

“Ryan,” Matt said from the top. “Get out.”

Green monster eyes smiled. “
Stay.”

Vane took a step forward. His hand clamped on my forearm.

My hand still on Excalibur, I tugged again. This time, it released. But I didn’t pull the sword from the ground. Instead, my fingers tightened on the hilt. One swing and I could slay the Minotaur. I could slice through Vane. I had this one chance.

As if he read my thoughts, Vane’s grip on me became crushing. I cried out as my bone fractured. I let go of Excalibur.

The pit rumbled again. A sinkhole formed in the spot where Excalibur was. It ran along a line to the crack in the floor. The crack widened. Red fire bubbled underneath. It started to pull me in. The columns that made up the ring’s circumference started to collapse inward. Next to me, a column crashed heavily from behind.

The mask wobbled on Vane. The green in his irises receded.

“Vane?” I queried.

“Go,” he said aloud. He released my hand.

I hesitated.

Green flashed in his eyes. He tried to tamp it back down, but it fought back. Vane fell to his knees, clutching the mask with his hands. Words tore into my head.
“Leave now while I am able to let you.”

The mantle of the bull, a shadow, rose out of the earth and fell like a shroud over his shoulders. Every instinct told me to run, but I remained where I was. How could I leave him?

“Ryan, let’s go.” Matt grabbed my arm from behind. I turned to find him balanced on the fallen column.

“V-Vane,” I croaked.

“Is gone,” Matt said harshly.

On the floor, Vane’s head jerked up. His eyes glowed green and he started to rise off his knees.

“Now!” Matt yanked me away. Excalibur in my hand, we ran down the fallen column. Matt boosted me out of the pit and I helped him up despite my throbbing arm.

“Look.” He pointed to the red doors. “They opened as soon as you pulled Excalibur.”

“Where does it lead?” The doors showed a thick grey mist and nothing else.

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “Anywhere else is preferable.”

I looked behind me. Vane stood by the column I’d been on. He floated up in the air. The mermaids watched with awe. He rose above the pit. With the trident in his hand, and the nearly blinding power radiating from his body, he declared himself a god.

“The Fisher King rises,” a mermaid cried.

Vane floated toward them.

“Hurry.” Matt pulled me around the pit. Grey, Blake, Colin, and the others all took the cue. They weaved through the kneeling mermaids and made their way to the door. Blake carried an unconscious Gia.

On the other side of the pit, Vane landed on the floor with a thud. The temple shook under the impact. With a small cry, one mermaid dropped to his knees. In a wave, the other mermaids followed.

All, except Leonidas and Theras.

“Blake.” Matt stopped him and the other two wizards. He took Gia from Blake’s arms and handed her to Grey. “The gargoyles go through first. This time, we will close the doors once we cross.”

Behind us, in a cone of deathly silence, I saw Theras and Leonidas open their mouths and let out a war cry. They ran at Vane. Vane caught Theras’s blade with one hand and yanked it away from the older man. With his other hand, he let out a near blinding green light of magic and Leonidas froze in place.

Vane’s hand dripped with blood, where he gripped Theras’s blade, yet the injury didn’t faze him. Without pausing, he twirled the sword around in one smooth move until he held the hilt. Theras gaped at him. Vane swung the blade at the old soldier, the last of Lelex’s defenders. Theras’s head fell to the floor, severed from his body.

Vane turned to face Leonidas. Leonidas stumbled as he found himself suddenly released from the freeze spell. Vane arched a brow. A resigned expression fell over the mermaid prince’s face. Leonidas kneeled. Vane crooked a finger. The crown on Leonidas’s head flew to him. Vane placed it on himself.

And just like that, the mermaid kingdom changed hands.

“Ryan, time to go!” Grey and the gargoyles rushed through the doors.

Vane’s attention shifted to us. He commanded, “Capture them!

The mermaids scrambled up. One, wielding a bow, shot an arrow across the pit. It sailed through the air and struck the door mere inches from my head with a crack. More arrows started to fly. Matt, Blake, and the wizards shot fireballs at the columns next to the doors. The columns wobbled and started to breakdown, falling inward.

Blake and the wizards jumped into the doors. Matt tugged at my hand, urging me forward. I looked one last time at Vane. Arrows zinged by me. I barely noticed. Sound seemed to mute as I met Vane’s hungry gaze. Behind a horde of mermaids, he watched me from a distance that felt much further away than simply the other end of the pit. The shadow of the Minotaur hovered behind him. The gold mask sat on his face, a barrier that couldn’t be breached.

Between us, columns fell as the temple collapsed.

“Ryan.”
Vane’s voice traveled the distance. A connection— hot, vibrant, and very much alive—stretched taut. A tether, it urged me back.

The Fisher King’s eyes glittered. “
You belong to me.”

Pain, an ache, filled me and I did the hardest thing I’d ever done. I mustered the remaining tatters of my will and I broke away from Vane. I turned and followed Matt into the mist.

***

A bright-eyed reporter spoke from behind a desk. “A few days ago, the entire earth shook. A third Total Tremor. Last time this happened, we had a few accidents and minor property damage. This time, it has been a catastrophe. Due to the earthquakes, seven volcanoes—yes, you heard me correctly—seven underwater volcanoes have erupted. Three of the volcanoes are off Sumatra on the western coast of Indonesia. Tsunami alarms have gone off in the area. If you recall, most of that region is still recovering from the last deadly tsunami that caused devastation across Southern Asia. That tsunami formed waves that reached over a hundred feet high.”

Images of flooded villages, dated from a few years ago, flashed across a flat screen TV.

“The other volcanoes are at Loihi, Hawaii. Hunga Tonga near New Zealand, Yasur volcano in the South Pacific. All have erupted at the same time. Geologists and vulcanologists were caught completely off guard as none of the seismic monitoring systems sounded any alerts. Yet, it is not the eruptions that are the biggest concern on the hotspots. The real fear comes from the inevitability of rising tsunamis. Already, high waves have been spotted making their way to coastal cities around these hotspots.”

The picture switched back to the reporter. “Towns are being evacuated, but we have seen it before. Devastation. Unimaginable destruction on these spots and their surrounding areas. And across the globe—” The picture shifted to show protestors at Trafalgar Square around the broken fountain where the sword and the stone had originally dropped. “Many wonder, are we seeing the beginning of the end? Protests such as these are no longer limited to Britain. Around the world, many gather in churches, temples, mosques to pray…”

I muted the news broadcast. Silent pictures of panic and chaos kept streaming. Panic I’d helped bring about. Chaos I had not been able to prevent.

Matt watched me from a seat behind Rourke’s desk. He held a cellphone against one ear. He’d been talking to various people all day. This time, he was on the phone with the head of the Wizard Council, the First Member.