Metal Deep 3: Infinite and Forever (6 page)

FOREVER

The next morning we prepared to leave. Largo and the girls offered to take me back via the experimental
Skip
thing they had cooked up. I had something else I had to do.

That afternoon I said goodbye to the Falor villagers. There was only one whom I had gotten close with, but they were all amazingly kind and wonderful. I had two requests when they asked how they could repay me. First they handed over the shard that had killed my namesake. Nobody else was going to die using that thing. I ground it into powder and put in the silver cylinder which had been granted to me as the second part of my payment. -In it, rest the kid’s ashes.

I slung the wrapping that contained Maeve’s blade over MY shoulder. I strapped the cylinder onto the back of the seat, and I said goodbye to everyone, as I made good with the agreement to let him have a ride on Clutch. I drove around the Falor countryside for the better part of a day before I finally buried the kid and his Dragonstone shard beneath a large rock in the middle of a wide open field. There I inscribed:

HERE LIES THE INFINITE SCION

THE LAST AND GREATEST OF THE NOBLE HADES FAMILY.

-THANKFUL TO HAVE KNOWN HIM

*             *             *

The salty breeze of the Harbor House was so refreshing. As I came up the stairs of the pier that led to the house I noticed a rather large yacht had anchored up to the dock. It was odd that we had visitors, so I hurried to my room, dropped off my things, along with Maeve’s sword, and rushed around to see what was happening. I was excited. Not just because we had company, but because I would get to hear my girlfriend speak my new name for the very first time. It sounded like an odd thing, but it was the wind at my back and beat in my heart all the way home.

It was down on the girls’ floor where I found a team of people carrying things away. To my disbelief, they were coming from Maeve’s room. The final “mover” took the last of her belongings from a now-empty space. Kata greeted me with tears welling in her eyes, but I had total Maeve-inspired tunnel vision, again. I walked past her, and said nothing as I followed the last of the yacht toadies outside. Kata called out my name. It was nice to hear it when she said “
Scion
, wait,” but there was only one voice I was interested in hearing.

Outside, at the yacht, a large burly man with a woolen beard as red as Maeve’s hair stood on the dock and directed everyone to hurry using a booming voice that shook the very wood beneath my feet. They bowed and did as he instructed as though there were a whip in his hand, and any wrong movement or misstep would cause him to brandish his volatile ire in their sniveling directions.

I ignored him, walked past, and called out, “Maeve?”

His paw of a hand landed on my jacket and yanked me back before I could board his boat. I looked at him, took off my glasses, and leered, “Get your hand off of me.”

Someone from his crew gasped. The Red Bear thought I was amusing. He lumbered a sarcastic laugh, “I was hoping to be done before ye got home,
Machine
.”

There’s only one type of person who could look at me with the type of disgust that dripped from his every expression. Not even Corona, Cade, Drake, Meg, and the others on the laundry list of enemies I was building, could muster up the offense to pull off that sneer. There was no introduction necessary. This was Maeve’s father.

“As I understand it,” He pulled his hand away, “Ye’re new to this world, so I will forgive yer insolence this time, but do not test me, Machine, or I swear ye will not find ye-self well.”

His accent was even thicker than Maeve’s. It was hard to believe that someone as sweet as her could come from someone so detestable. He was singlehandedly the most arrogant ass I had ever met. Considering Drake Arkman was on the list,
that
was saying something.

“I want to see her.” I told him, “You’ll let me on board willingly, or I’ll go anyway, and then when I’m done, I’ll see
YE
pretty boat scattered across the bottom of the ocean.”

He laughed again, and leaned into my face. The smell of whiskey and fish burned in my nose, “I like yer spirit, Machine. I can see why she thinks she likes ye. But do not think that because ye have stood against those pretentious Street Viper thugs that ye could last against the might of the Celts and my Kingdom. I’d turn ye into a toaster and mount ye in my kitchen, before ye could say ‘scrap metal.’”

I took a step back and balled up a fist. Just then I heard Largo yell, “SCION!”

I stopped and turned. Largo looked worried. He shook his head for me to stop. It was all I could do to obey, but I did.

“I apologize, Lord Valera.” Largo said, “I had hoped to catch him as soon as he got home. This kind of misunderstanding won’t happen again.”

Lord Valera
bellowed a victorious “Ho-Ho” that would rival Santa’s, “Largo’s knows his place. See that ye learn it too, Machine.”

He got on the giant yacht. It pulled its anchor and slid back away. I felt as if someone had just flipped the volume switch of Life to
off
. I turned a questioning gaze to Largo. He looked as if he were choking back his own tearful misgivings. He said nothing more. He just left me there.

I fell to my knees as the yacht all-but disappeared over the horizon. The setting sun dulled into a pale yellow in front of the ship’s shrinking shadow until both ship and sun were gone. I sat there until the first handful of stars hovered overhead. I ignored everything, even Sway’s booted footsteps. She sat down beside me, put a hand on my back, and placed a letter in my hand. It was addressed to me, and written in Maeve’s handwriting.  On the envelope words in silver ink sparkled:

Scion H. Thantosa -- Forever

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

G.X. Knight: He is a single father from Montgomery, Alabama. If he were a Musketeer, he’d be Porthos (The Oliver Platt version). If he were a Power Ranger, he most definitely would be the very first green one (Play Dragonzord tune now). And if he were to pick only one superhero to spend a day at the amusement park with, it would be Iron Man (Stark’s paying). He enjoys showing his son who’s boss in Halo (the Sprinting Assassin forever rules!), he loves all types of music (please get back together, N*SYNC), and he hopes to one day live the Jimmy Buffett life of
margaritas
(Vodka/Red Bull) and cheeseburgers out on the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores. If you see him out-and-about you will know it’s him because he’ll likely be singing these wrong words:

“Did you ever know that I’m your hero? I’m everything you would like to be!”