My Merlin Awakening (11 page)

Vane glanced around the quiet room. “I smell it again—the ocean.”

“Call her,” Matt instructed me.

“How exactly am I supposed to do that?” I hissed.

Matt raised a brow. “Use the sword.”

There was a “
duh”
at the end of that statement that I resented. Feeling really dumb, I raised Excalibur in the air. “Susan. Susan. Hello, are you here?”

Matt whispered, “
Darzayati
.”

Cold wind wrapped around us. It pushed us all to the center of the room. My back lined up to Vane’s. Matt and Grey stood on either side of me in a circle. A brilliant white light winked in and out, moving within the shadows of the attic. I saw the hint of a girl in a gown in one. I pushed out at the wind with my hands and crossed to the girl. She peered out from behind a beam.

“Hello,” I said to the girl in white.

She smiled, and opened her mouth. The scream sounded again. This time, so shrill it threatened to break every window in the house… along with every bone in our bodies. My hands over my ears, I fell to my knees. Beside me, Matt, Vane and Grey were also on their knees. The wind intensified and tried to slam us down to the floor.

The girl floated in the air. No, I realized, she swam.

“She’s swimming,”
I thought to Matt, crossing my fingers that he could hear me. My amulet glowed weakly.

Beside me, Matt gave a small nod.

Out of nowhere, water flooded the attic. It filled the attic like one would fill a fish tank. I let the water carry me to the top where it stopped with only a foot of air remaining. I sank down into the water.

“Ryan!”
Matt thought to me. “
Wait!”

Under the water, the ghost girl swam straight into me. I forgot to breathe. Hot. Cold. Water. Air. It meant nothing. I peered beyond myself. Where I was no longer existed. Beyond the veil, between my world and hers, I saw the other side.

I crossed the veil. I wore a beautiful white gown, soft and filmy, fit for a princess.

“There is more here. So much more. As much as you can imagine.” The ghost girl told me as she appeared at my side. Except she no longer looked like a ghost. Her form was as solid as mine. Her hair, a lustrous brown, fell down to her waist. She also wore a diaphanous gown that flowed around to her ankles. Her eyes seemed an endless liquid blue.

“Susan?”

“No, I am not she. But we did play… for awhile. She got tired. She didn’t have much energy.” The girl’s wide gaze locked on me. “But you do.” She inhaled deeply. “So strong. We can have so much fun.”

“We’ve come for what belongs to us,” Matt said from behind me. He still wore his biker jacket and the same black pants. He held onto my wrist with a tight grip.

The girl’s face twisted into a livid expression. I thought I saw a hint of sharp fangs hiding underneath red lips. “What are you doing here? You should not be able to cross. I didn’t ask you here.” She turned to me, eyes softening. Her expression eased. “It’s her. She’s the one I’ve been waiting for. She sees me.”

“I’m not letting her go until you bring what is ours,” Matt said.

The girl sulked. “If I bring you the trident, you will leave.”

“Agreed,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed. “And you will let her stay.”

“Only if she wants to. If you can convince her.” It was a challenge.

The girl smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course.”

The trident?
I glanced at Matt. He didn’t look at me. Whatever he was up to had better work.

The girl nodded. “He told me never to tell, but I have been here so long. He promised I wouldn’t be alone forever.”

“No, you won’t be alone anymore,” said Matt. “You were told this day would come.”

“Yes,” the girl nodded eagerly. “But I’ve hidden it for so long. I’ve been waiting so long.”

“It’s in the attic,” Matt prompted.

The girl shivered. “I hate that ugly little place, but the portal was built there.” She sighed. “I suppose there is no help for it. We must go back.”

In a blink, we were in the attic again. Water still filled it. The girl appeared in her ghostly form. She pointed to some slats of wood in the wall. The slats had been placed in a neat pattern. Matt put his hand out. The slats of wood peeled out, like opening a cupboard.

An explosion of green light filled us. Water sank into the cupboard as if we’d opened a plugged drain. All the loose items in the attic, including us, started sinking into its vortex. Grey grabbed a beam to anchor himself. He put out his hand. Vane grabbed it and me.

Water swirled around us with fury. Matt let himself get pulled close to the vortex. Vane moved to go after him. I tightened my hold on him. Vane frowned questioningly. I pointed at Matt. He reached as close as he could to the apex of the vortex, and in a glimmer of blue magic, he floated out a part of a rusty, metal lance with three prongs—a trident. As soon as it was close enough, Matt grabbed it with his hand. He tugged at it, but it refused to come more than halfway out.

Vane secured my hand to Grey’s. He swam to Matt. They pulled out the trident together. The drain cleared, and the water receded quickly. The cupboard closed and the slats of wood replaced themselves.

We dropped to the floor of the attic, our clothes drenched. I shivered under its cold weight.

The ghost girl floated to a stop in front of me. “My turn.”

“Ryan!” Matt ran toward me.

She floated into me. Again, I passed through the veil. Cold fell away. The warm sun of a never-ending sky shone down on me. I stood at the edge of a rocky cliff.

The girl pointed below us. Warm blue water lapped against a sunny beach. “Forget your worries. Just watch the water. Do you see the beach? It’s where we play. All we have to do is jump down.”

I looked below me. It was a long way down.

She grabbed my hand. “I’ll be with you the whole way. We’ll go together.”

I touched my head. It felt cloudy, but there was something important I knew I should remember. I glanced behind me. A faint blue light shimmered in the shape of a doorway.

The girl with brown hair took my chin. “You don’t belong there. You were afraid. Alone. Now you won’t be. Never again.”

“Ryan
.” My amulet whispered. A voice called. I struggled to place it. Matt. He called from what seemed to be a long way away.

The girl laughed. Her brown hair sparkled in the warm breeze. “Can you hear their call? They want us to come.”

“Who?” I said.

She pointed me to the beach. Several dolphins played in the shallow water. They jumped and sprayed each other. Chattering in soft chirps, they frolicked without a worry in the world.

“Ryan
.
Don’t listen to her. If you go, you’ll never be able to come back.”
A voice—familiar, though I couldn’t remember whose it was—pounded at the back of my head like a persistent mosquito. And who was Ryan?

I tried to focus, but beyond the smell of the water and warmth of the beach, I couldn’t form another thought. I turned back to the door to see the faint image of a young man with dark hair and broody too-old eyes, wearing a slim collarless jacket. He waved from the doorway.

The girl grabbed my wrist. “No, forget him. Look at the dolphins. That’s where we belong. Like them, we’ll never worry about anything.”

“Vane. I’m losing her.”

I took a step closer to the edge of the cliff.

CHAPTER 6 - CHOICES

CHAPTER 6
CHOICES

The girl beside me smiled. “We’re going to be so happy.”

“She’s happier with me.”
An arrogant voice said from the door.

I looked back. Beside Broody-Eyes, another slightly older boy with similar dark hair and compelling eyes gave me a cold glare.

“DuLac, get back here
,” he said.

At the precipice, I bit my lip. Water lapped in graceful waves on the soft-sand beach. The ocean called me home.

“Dorothy, it’s not home. Home is here,”
Arrogant-Voice said more softly. “
Grey needs you. Without you, he’ll end up a TV addict with a beer gut. Your brother needs you.”

Brother. I took a step off the precipice.

“Ryan
,” Broody-Eyes said. “
Come back and you’ll remember.”

I tugged at my wrist. The brown-haired girl tightened her grip until it dug into my skin. “No, you’re mine.”

“You’re not very nice.” I turned my wrist, moving it with surprising speed and skill, and freed myself. I started walking toward the door.

“Come back,” the girl cried. “You can’t leave me alone!”

“She’s made her choice,”
Broody-Eyes told the girl.

“You tricked me,” she screamed. Her face morphed. Behind the façade of a young girl, a hag with fangs hid. She snarled at us, “She’s mine. If I can’t have her, no one will.”

The serene blue sky changed into red. The world shook. Beneath me, the rocks that made up the cliff trembled. Behind me, the hag raised her hands. The pristine water changed to lava. It rose up in the air in one long column.

“Shoot her
,” Broody-Eyes commanded.

A bow and arrow appeared in my hand. The hag threw her arms forward, directing the wave at me. Lava, in the shape of a hand, shot forward. Without thinking, I aimed at the hag and let the arrow fly. The arrow pierced the creature. She let out a screeching wail.

The cliff started to crumble. The door winked in and out of existence on the open rock.

“Jump.”
Arrogant-Voice put a hand out. “
I’ll catch you.”

I leaped at the door.

***

I landed face down on the attic floor with a thud. I used my palms to sit up. My mind still clouded by the other world, I blinked at the three anxious faces watching me. Broody-Eyes put a sword in my hand. Immediately the fog clouding my mind lifted. A tremendous force pushed down on me as memories rushed back. I saw a laughing woman with kind eyes—my mother. My dead mother. My murdered mother. A sharp surge of pain overwhelmed me. Letting the sword drop, I grabbed my head to stop the images.
Why had I agreed to remember this?

I fought for air. Emotions threatened to suffocate me.

“Ryan?” A warm hand touched the top of my head.

I looked up.
Arrogant-Voice.
I cringed away from him.

The athletic boy knelt in front of me. He held out his hand. “Ryan, it’s Grey. Your brother.”

“Brother,” I repeated. My mind opened another crack and again, the rush of memories forced themselves through. I cried out.

Grey grabbed me in a tight hug. “It’ll be okay.”

My brother.
I repeated it over and over again in my head. Bit by bit the memory of him centered me. Minutes later, or seconds, or maybe an hour (I actually had no idea how long), my nerves slowly quieted. I forced myself to push away from Grey. “It’s alright. I’m alright. I remember you.”

“Do you?” another voice demanded.

I hadn’t heard it in his angry tone before, but I heard the worry now. And desire. I looked up at him. “Your name is Vane.”

Pulling me away from Grey, he picked me up in his arms. “What the hell did you bargain?” He barked at the remaining boy. “What was that thing?”

“A nymph,” Broody-Eyes—no, I remembered his name was Matt—replied. “Charged with protecting this.” He held up the trident. “She traded it for Ryan.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Not what, but whose,” Matt said.

“Poseidon?”

“Greek God of the Sea? It could be. The Lady had ties to the Greeks,” he said. “I’m not sure of the exact nature of those ties though. The time of the Greek Gods was much earlier than Camelot.”

“You have no idea what this means,” Vane said.

Matt frowned. “It’s the next piece of the puzzle. The answers lies with this, I can feel it.”