Fort Morgan (8 page)

“
Ting
!” The sound was louder and closer than before. Jill and
Heather stopped moving.

“
What is it?” Sandy
asked.

“
It’s the Sword of Truth,”
Perses said.

“
Ting
!”

The sound came from right above them. Jill
turned to look up.

“
Mommy!” Katy
yelled.

The serpent hit the boat so hard that the
small craft capsized. They fell toward the Sea of Amber.

Negotiating with a Serpent

As the boat tipped, Jill flew up into the
air. She felt more than saw her father’s bulk falling near her. She
tumbled head first toward the Sea of Amber. Caught up in her
despair, her entire being longed for the cool amber water to
swallow her whole.

“
Do it again!” Alex
Hargreaves yelled to Paddie.

“
Ting!”
The song of the Sword of Truth broke through all
enchantments and lies.

Inches from the sea, Jill expected to soon
be covered in thick, wet amber.

“
Ting!”

Jill’s body hit soft, red earth with a thud.
She was so surprised by the firm ground that she failed to roll.
Her father fell on top of her. Sandy rolled on the dirt and was on
her feet when Heather and Hera landed. Jill and Perses were
starting to get up when the boat landed on top of them.

“
Ow!” Perses said as he
threw the boat off them.

Jill laughed.

“
What happened?” Sandy
asked.

Heather still looked confused, so Sandy
hugged her. Jill looked up. They were standing at the bottom of a
steep earth bowl made out of rocky sand. The bowl sloped up a few
hundred feet until it became sheer, jagged rock that towered above
them. At the top, the round opening was made out of a black granite
shelf. A US military Black Hawk helicopter looked like a large fly
in the center of the clear starlit sky. Two long wires came down
from the helicopter and a military team began climbing down. When
they got inside the granite rim, they jumped from the wires. More
people came down the wires.

“
The Sword of Truth broke
through the enchantment,” Perses said.

“
What enchantment?” Sandy
asked.

Jill nudged Sandy. She stepped back from
Heather to look.

“
That’s Alex,” Heather
said and pointed to a woman climbing down the wire.

Alex jumped off the wire. The men who had
dropped first were landing with parachutes.

“
The Sea of Amber must be
a kind of enchantment,” Perses said.

“
But Jake!” Jill
started.

“
I was there, Jill.”
Perses touched her arm and nodded. “It sure seemed very real and
very wet to me.”

“
But you can still find
it, right?” Jill asked Heather. “Find Jake and
everyone?”

“
I hope so,” Heather
said.

Heather reached for Jill and hugged her.
Sandy joined in. Tanesha, in her fairy corps size, flew down to
them. She grew in size and joined in the hug. As they landed,
Alex’s team hiked down toward them. Paddie and Katy were strapped
onto two of Alex’s team members’ backs. Fin and Abi appeared beside
the hugging girlfriends.

“
Look,” Hera
said.

The women broke from their hug. Perses went
to Hera’s side. Hera pointed down to a spot of amber colored liquid
the size of a US quarter.

“
What’s that?” Jill
asked.

She leaned over to look. Perses dropped down
on one knee next to the amber dot.

“
Is that it?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Is that what?” Sandy
asked.

“
The Sea of Amber,”
Tanesha said.

“
We were just there!” Jill
said. “We almost fell in!”

“
Blane,” Heather
whispered.

They were so intent on the drop of amber
that they didn’t notice the military team had arrived. The team was
setting up a base camp with a satellite radio and telephones. In no
time, US Marine Sergeant Margaret Peaches was sitting at a table
working on a computer.

“
Mommy!” Katy yelled when
her feet hit the ground.

Katy ran to Jill with Paddie close behind.
Jill picked them both up and put them on each hip. After a moment,
they squirmed and wanted down.

“
Stay with me until we
figure out what has to happen,” Jill said.

Jill marveled that she could still hold them
in place until she saw Abi’s finger moving in her direction. She
smiled, and Abi grinned.

“
We brought something that
we’re told will help,” Alex said.

She walked over to the girlfriends with her
hand in her pocket. After a moment of digging around, she held up a
USB drive.

“
Is
that . . .?” Sandy reached her hand out for
it.

“
Your mother’s symphony,”
Alex said.

“
Why . . .?” Perses started.

Alex shrugged. As if on cue, a huge serpent
appeared. The serpent was dark olive green with a blue and red
tartan pattern down his side. His snout was snaggled with sharp
teeth and his eyes gleamed blue with red rims. Alex’s team
responded to his appearance by lighting flame throwers.

“
There is no need for
that,” the serpent said. “I come in peace. I come to
negotiate.”

“
Negotiate?” Alex asked at
the same time Fin said, “What is our guarantee?”

Both used to being in charge, Alex and Fin
stepped forward together. Alex glanced at him and he at her.
Neither one was willing to give the other control in this
situation. The serpent chuckled at their impasse.

“
We have no quarrel with
the fairy world, Prince Finegal,” the serpent said. “Quite the
opposite.”

“
The fairy world has a
quarrel with you,” Fin said.

He raised his hands over his head and the
fairy cavalry appeared. The serpent chuckled.

“
Have you spoken with your
queen?” the serpent asked. “Your queen has indulged you long
enough. It is time for you to take your place in the court
and . . .”

The fairy cavalry shifted and King Manannán
stepped out. He nodded to Alex in greeting.

“
You see,” the serpent
said. “This is no longer your army to lead.”

King Manannán looked at Fin.

“
Your father is here to
take you home,” the serpent said.

King Manannán glanced at Alex. For a moment,
their eyes locked. Alex tipped her head to the side and nodded.
When King Manannán stepped forward to Fin, Alex opened both of her
hands behind her back. Her team focused their entire attention onto
the transaction.

King Manannán nodded to Fin in a solicitous
way. As if to calm his angry child, King Manannán patted Fin’s
shoulder.

“
We’ve never had trouble
with the serpents.” King Manannán seemed to be speaking to
Fin.

“
But sir!” Abi moved
forward.

“
Silence!” King Manannán
pointed to Abi.

“
They’re holding your son,
Keenan, in their amber prison of despair!” Abi said.

“
You will not question me,
General.” King Manannán’s voice was hard and dismissive.

Abi was so surprised her mouth fell open.
Stung, Abi changed into her tiny fairy corps size and flew to
Tanesha’s shoulder. Her actions indicated to everyone that Abi was
afraid the king had planned to turn Tanesha over to the
serpents.

“
The serpent is correct,”
King Manannán said. “It’s time for you to stop your nonsense
attachment to these humans.”

“
Without these
humans
, you would still
be wandering under the Irish Sea,” Jill said.

“
That was his choice and
his choice alone,” King Manannán said.

“
Jacob is as lost as you
were!” Jill said. “All because he tried to help your
son.”

King Manannán whipped around to Jill. He
raised his hand to throw an enchantment at her but Perses stepped
in the way.

“
You will not, little
fairy king,” Perses said.

King Manannán swallowed hard and stepped
back.

“
Let your elders take care
of this,” Perses said.

Perses inclined his head in Hera’s
direction, and she stepped forward to the serpent.

“
Hera,” the serpent said.
“Back again?”

“
I brought what you asked
for,” Hera said. She gestured to Heather.

Heather shook her head at the goddess. Hera
turned to look her full in the face.

“
Her father gave her his
power when he went on vacation,” Hera said.

The serpent’s mouth turned up in a terrible
grin. When Heather didn’t protest, her friends knew that this was
some kind of trick.

“
No!” Katy
yelled.

“
This is your chance to
destroy all of the love in the world,” Hera said.
“
And
to take over
the fairy world.”

Hera’s voice was soothing and filled with
enchantment. Paddie moved to tap the Sword of Truth, but Jill
stilled his hand. The magic began to fill the entire bowl. The
serpent weaved back and forth as if he were drunk.

King Manannán shifted closer to Fin. As if
to test their heft, the men bounced their swords in their hands. A
gorgeous, magically enhanced woman appeared next to the serpent.
The image of her large breasts and delicate features seemed hazy,
like heat waves rising off pavement in the desert.

“
Celeste,” Tanesha said
under her breath.

“
Sir!” one of Alex’s men
yelled.

He pointed to Alex’s feet. Alex was sinking
into the ground. Perses, Hera, and Heather were slowly being
absorbed by the earth as well. Sandy, Jill, and Tanesha were mired
in the amber sand up to their knees. The humans, the Olympians, and
the Titans were all slipping into this version of the Sea of Amber.
Only the fairies remained standing on top of the amber sand. Abi
touched Tanesha and she shrank to her fairy corps size. Tanesha and
Abi flew above the crowd.

Alex slipped the USB drive into Sandy’s
hand.

“
On guard,” Alex said in a
low voice. Her team seemed to respond.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.
The serpent was motionless. Even as she slipped into the earth,
Hera’s spell continued to swell. The military team and the fairy
army stood at the ready. No one seemed to breathe.

“
NO!” Celeste
screamed.

She pushed the serpent, who woke up from his
enchantment. He lurched forward toward Hera. King Manannán swung
his sword.

“
Don’t do it!” Jill and
Sandy screamed in unison.

“
No!” Heather and Tanesha
yelled.

King Manannán lopped off the head of the
serpent. The serpent’s head bashed against the jagged rock edges of
the bowl, and a high hysterical laugh came from Celeste. Thousands
of baby serpents streamed from the wound. Unlike the babies in
Sandy’s salon basement, these small serpents were immediately able
to fly. The tiny serpents immediately sought human hosts. They
bypassed the Olympians and Titans and flew at the humans. They
zoomed through the ranks of the fairy army looking for the human
fairy hybrids.

Alex’s team attacked with the flame
throwers. Soon, the entire area reeked of baked serpent. But the
baby serpents kept coming.

“
Sandy!” Alex
yelled.

“
How?” Sandy
yelled.

“
With Paddie!” Alex
yelled.

“
Paddie?” Sandy
asked.

Up to her knees in the amber sand, Sandy
turned to her right where Jill still held Paddie and Katy.

“
What does she want?” Jill
asked.

“
She was told that my
mother’s symphony would help,” Sandy said with a shrug.

“
It’s our only chance!”
Alex yelled.

“
How?” Sandy yelled to
Alex, who was caught up in a fight with a particularly aggressive
baby serpent. The serpents wanted inside Alex. She was fighting for
her life.

“
I know how,” Katy said in
Jill’s ear.

“
Go ahead,” Jill
said.

“
I want hairspray!”
Heather yelled. “Hera! Abi! Someone!”

A case of hairspray appeared at Heather’s
feet.

“
Hey Alex!” Heather
yelled.

She threw a can to Alex. She threw one to
Jill, which Katy caught. Hera picked up a can.

“
And this
will . . .” Hera asked.

“
Look!” Heather
said.

Alex Hargreaves had lit her hairspray and
was burning the tiny serpents that had surrounded her. The humans
were turning the tide against the baby serpents.

“
Go ahead, Katy-baby,”
Jill said.

“
Ok,” Katy said.
“Paddie?”

She gestured for Paddie to hold his sword
out.

“
Auntie Sandy?” Katy
asked.

Sandy was fighting the tiny serpents with
her hairspray flame thrower. She glanced at Katy.

“
Put that thing on
Paddie’s shiny sword,” Katy said.

“
But . . .”
Sandy burned the tiny serpent in front of her.

“
Do it,” Katy said with a
nod.