My Boyfriend Merlin (15 page)

Unsurprisingly, all of Vane’s candidates made up most of the top ranks. Mark was first. Gia was second. Grey had performed so flawlessly Vane had no choice but to place him third. Oliver and Paul fell positions below Grey. I was surprised Vane had allowed
any
Regulars in the top ranks. I wondered if the Council had imposed a quota requirement on him.

In the dressing room, I yanked off my sweat-drenched uniform before I got into the stall still in a heightened state of agitation.  A stitch tore on the shirt. I cursed.

Gia smirked at me. “You should have listened to me earlier and snuck out.”

Another girl, one of Blake’s friends, came in behind us. “This is ridiculous. He’s punishing all the candidates he didn’t bring in.”

“No.” To my surprise, Gia looked at the younger girl protectively. “He wants you to succeed. You’re a trained wizard. Unfortunately, you’re just that bad.” She glanced at me. “You, on the other hand, if he didn’t have it in for you before, he does now.”

“As if you care,” I muttered.

Gia laughed. “Make your life easier, DuLac. When he says jump just ask how high. Or better yet, don’t—all the better for me. While you’re butting heads with him, I’ll be learning.”

My shoulders curled inward.

“Don’t look so defeated.” Gia ducked into her stall. “You surprised me, DuLac. I didn’t expect you to stand up to him. Vane scares the crap out of me.”

I turned to leave the dressing room, mulling over Gia’s words.

“Hey, where are my boots?” Gia yelled from the stall.

I smiled in satisfaction. It was short-lived. Almost immediately the weight of guilt bore down on me. Even though she totally deserved it, tossing her boots into the boys' dressing room seemed petty.

I rushed out of the arched door, back into the gym, and straight into Vane.

Strong arms caught me before I fell backwards. “DuLac, is your mind ever on this earth?”

I jerked away from him.

His expression shuttered. “Never mind.”

He gestured me towards another small opening on the opposite wall from the exit. “Let’s have a quick word in my office.”

“Er—” It was all I could think of saying. Gia was right. After that class, I didn’t feel like conversing with him anymore than absolutely necessary. “Grey is waiting for me.”

He pointed to my bag. “Text him that you’ll meet him later.”

Damn the digital age. Matt would have never thought to text—he only did it when he couldn’t avoid it—which should have clued me in to the fact that he had grown up in the fifth century. It seemed Vane was different.

“Uh, I’m really hungry. I don’t to miss dinner. How about later?” I tried.

Vane arched a gold-tipped brow. “How about now? You owe me.”

Calling that in already?
I muttered in head. Reluctantly, I shot off a text to Grey.

I followed behind Vane. He topped me by almost a foot. Between his height and broad shoulder, he took up most of my field of vision. Although I knew he and Matt were close in age, the purposeful way he walked made him seem much older.

Inside the small opening, another set of stairs spiraled downward. I took the narrow steps two at a time to keep up with Vane. When we reached the bottom, he opened a door that led to the most awesome office I’d ever seen. The room had little furniture, yet every inch of wall space had been covered either by a weapon or flat-screen TV. An RPG showed two knights paused in the middle of a joust.

“You’re playing video games down here?”

“Role-playing games. They are excellent for improving hand-eye coordination” Vane crossed over to a cushy leather chair, a video game nerd’s must-have accessory. “Something you could improve upon.”

I eyed the giant TV screen with skepticism. “You asked me here to play games?”

“No, but you’ll know when I do,” Vane said with a slight leer.

I felt my cheeks heat.

Vane leaned back in the chair and pulled out an attached keyboard like he was in a Western drawing out his gun. He punched a few keys. The TV screen flickered on with video footage of Matt and me at the food court at the mall back home.

I demanded, “What is this? How did you get this?”

Vane smirked. “Modern magic. Shall we watch? This is my favorite part.”

On the screen, Matt leaned over to wipe a dollop of mustard from my lips. I hadn’t noticed before but in the middle of a wipe, his face changed. His eyes became glazed and he froze.

I turned my face up. I hadn’t noticed anything wrong, and our lips met. Tentatively, at first. Then, the kiss became hard and heavy. It went on for an excruciating long minute. Matt broke off the kiss first. He wore an odd expression of pleasure and pain. I opened my eyes on the video. My heart twisted as I watched myself smile shyly at Matt.

Matt jerked backwards.

Vane paused the video. “Did you see it?”

No. My heart was breaking a second time. Matt had not kissed me. I had kissed him.

I said hoarsely, “See that you’re a perv? Yes, I do.”

“He had a vision,” Vane said impatiently. “But when you kissed him, it stopped. That’s why he backed away. You blocked it.”

I said, “What?”

“Do you understand anything, little girl? I've figured out what's wrong with you,” said Vane. “The gargoyles are stronger. They are just as capable as any candidate we have. But we’ve got an advantage. Merlin’s visions… unless you cock it up.”

I blinked at him with incomprehension. “I haven’t done anything.”

“You don't have to. I saw him with you. He's not doing a good job of resisting you.”

I stared at Vane. After a pause, I turned to leave. “You’ve been down here in the creepy clubhouse too long, Vane. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Vane raised his hand. A breeze came out of nowhere. It tightened around me like an invisible hand. I couldn’t move.

“Let me go,” I gritted out.

“Stop being so difficult.” Vane stood up, a hulking form with broad shoulders and a solid chest. He strode up to me. He walked past me to go to a wall filled with various swords, scimitars, and bows. He took down an antique wooden bow and arrow. He notched the arrow.

He said, “Let me connect the dots. Merlin has visions. It's what he does. If he doesn't have visions, we can kiss this little contest for the sword goodbye.”

I eyed the weapon in his hand. The arrow pointed straight at me. And I couldn’t move.

“What are you doing, Vane?” I said.

His lips curved in a devastating smile.

CHAPTER 11
ROUND TABLE

Vane flicked his hand and I was jerked around to look at the giant TV again. The video of Matt and me at the food court switched to show a painting with a girl wearing a toga. She held her hands over her eyes.

“Did you know the Lady of the Lake also hung out with the Greeks? Her people went by different names in different cultures but they were the same beings. Most of our powers come from them.”

“So…?” I drew out.

Vane pointed to toga-girl. “Her name was Cassandra. She was a daughter of Troy. She was cursed by Apollo to see the future—”

“But no one would believe her. Yes, I know.”

“The curse is not just a story.” Vane stood up. “Cassandra survived the fall of Troy. She passed down the curse.”

“You think I’m cursed like Cassandra?”

Vane laughed. “No. I think you’re a descendant of Apollo. You render the curse neutral. In my life, I’ve only ever known one other who was a descendant of the Sun God.”

“Apollo wasn’t real,” I scoffed.

Vane raised a brow. “I wouldn’t insult them. They may not be visible but reality is in the mind.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Apollo isn’t real. Arthur isn’t real. Merlin isn’t real,” he mimicked. “How many times have you said that?”

I shut up.

Vane lifted the bow.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Relax.” He walked up behind me.

I felt the heat of his body on my back as he reached around me to put the bow in my left hand.

“Take it.” His voice tickled the curve of my ear.

My fingers closed around the roughly textured wood bow. “How did you know I’m left-handed?”

“I know a great deal about you.” Taking my right hand, he positioned my fingers on the string. I clenched my teeth when he turned me to face a target on the wall behind his desk.

“Now, shoot,” he demanded.

My teeth clenched, I imagined his smug face in front of the target. I shot. The arrow flew off the bow, slicing a bit of skin off the inside of my elbow as it went. I yelped. The arrow went wild and bounced off one of Vane’s ultra-thin monitors.

Vane made a sound of impatience. “Stop thinking. Just shoot.”

Blood dripped from my arm. My eyes stung with tears from the sudden pain. I blinked rapidly to clear them.

“Stop crying, DuLac,” Vane snapped. “Are you a candidate or not?”

My lips thinning, I focused on the target. This time when I pulled back on the arrow an odd out-of-body feeling came over me. They say you never forget how to ride a bike. This felt the same. My hand moved as if the muscles remembered how to shoot. Before I knew it the arrow zinged past my cheek straight towards the target.

It hit the small dartboard with a loud punch. The dartboard flew off the wall and smashed onto the floor.

“Not bad,” Vane said, taking the bow from my hands.

“Not bad?” I turned around. I realized I could move. I gave Vane a gloating smile. “I killed it.” I frowned. “I’m not sure why, but it felt as if I’d done it before. I’ve never shot a bow and arrow before.”

“Apollo’s twin sister Artemis was the Huntress. Their symbol was the bow and arrow. This isn’t a coincidence.”

“Or you just magicked it.”

Vane smiled. His eyes lightened with the genuineness of it. “I didn’t, but you’ll have to trust me.”

And oddly enough I believed him. Vane was a jerk, but he hadn’t lied so far.

Vane grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him

Before I could protest, he put his hand over the cut I’d gotten from the bow. He mumbled a magic word that made my ears ring. The cut closed. He slid a thumb over the healed skin. I bit my lip as he teased the sensitive area.

I pulled away from him. “Why did you tell me all this, Vane? Why not tell Matt?”

“He already knows.” Vane reached out to touch my amulet. “As I said, he’s not doing a good job of resisting you.”

My heart leapt into my throat. I forced it back down. “What do you want me to do? I can’t just stop seeing Matt.”

“You can see him. You just can’t… kiss him.” His eyes roved up and down my body. “Proximity is a factor, I think, but you haven’t crossed the line. I want to make sure you don’t.”

I’m sure my face must have turned a scorching scarlet. Did I have a letter on my shirt declaring ‘H’ for ho? I crossed my arms over my chest.

Vane looked at me from under hooded eyelids. “Merlin must think you’re special if he gave you the
Dragon’s Eye
amulet. Only one other has ever worn it.”

“Who?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

Vane hit a button on the TV and the RPG switched back onto the screen. Vane clicked ‘Save’ on the menu. A closing scene played of a beautiful maiden handing a ribbon to a knight in shining armor riding a white horse.

My heart twisted a little as I watched the romantic scene. “Is that how it really was?”

“For a handful of insanely fortunate nobles. However, the majority of people were poor and hungry. Life back then could be harsh on the best of days and perfectly brutal at other times.” He hit a key on the keyboard again—to a porn shot of a woman in a leather mask and little else gyrating against a guy in a business suit. He gave me an arch look. “I prefer this time period.”

The sad thing was that porn shot wasn’t even porn. It was on broadcast TV. That didn’t shock me, but watching the seedy scene with Vane made me squirm—just as he’d intended, I was sure. I made a sound of disgust. “Do you even have a soul?”

“I’m sure my brother would say I don’t, but then, there can only be one hero. And one heroine.”

“Who?”  I repeated.

“Can’t you guess?” Vane switched the TV back to the RPG. He paused it the picture on screen. The maiden sat next to a king, but she watched the knight. She wore a crown.

“Guinevere,” I said.

***

That evening I chewed on a fry—no, a chip. I made a face. It tasted too salty… and too soggy. Yet, it was still the only good thing about the traditional meal of fish and chips I had ordered. It had looked better on the crystal crisp iPad screen.
Blech
. Food in England had yet to impress.

The menu itself was genius.  The online school app let you order your meal before you walked into the dining hall and it would be ready as soon as the perky greeter showed you to a table. I sat with Grey, Oliver, and a few other Regulars. The dining hall was busy. Students crowded the other tables. I noticed that many of them would look over at us and then turn away giggling and whispering.

“Haven’t they seen a bunch of Regulars before?” I asked after the tenth time it happened in the span of five minutes.