My Boyfriend Merlin (27 page)

I held my breath, praying that this wasn’t going to be a massacre.

Vane held up a hand. He walked in front of the candidates and looked at Marla and Aurelius. “Stop. Think about this for a moment. We both want to get to the Sword.” He strode over to the Queen and took her crown. “Protection spell or not, I know how to open the vault. Do we have a truce or do you want to keep wasting time?”

Marla and Aurelius glanced at each other.

“Vane, don’t do this,” I pleaded.

Vane looked at me with an insincere smile. “I am sorry, Ryan. The Sword is the most important thing.” He pointed to a dark window. The pink had deepened into red. “Time to play.”

“Hurry, wizard,” Marla commanded.

Vane’s gaze met mine. My amulet warmed.

Vane took out a vial from his pocket.  “Lake-water.”

“Trust me.”
The words in Vane’s voice whispered at the edges of my hearing.

My gaze jerked to his. He gave the barest hint of a nod of acknowledgement. I had no idea how he was talking to me. Vane turned his head and looked deliberately at Grey.

Grey stood slightly behind me. I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He stood exactly in the spot from where he could support me best. Beside him stood Blake, Gia, Mark, and all of the candidates. They all stared at Vane, set to strike.

I glanced at Matt. He lay on the floor, his body still but his chest rising and falling.

I realized what Vane wanted. It was up to me. Straightening, I faced the candidates. “Let Vane finish.”

Surprise filled Grey’s eyes. The expression echoed in Gia’s, Blake’s, Mark’s, and the rest of the candidates.

“Are you sure?” said Blake.

Grey’s lips thinned. He stared at Marla. “Do you understand what you’re asking? She had to be behind the dragon.”

“We were promised a chance at the Sword. That’s what I’m asking for.” I glanced pointedly at Oliver, then, turned to Marla. “That’s how this stops. Once and for all.“

I looked at Vane. He walked to the Queen.

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

Vane put a hand against the Queen’s head. He opened the vial of Lake-water. “If she’s the lock, this is the master key.”

“But she’s unconscious!” I said.

“That just makes it easier.” Vane poured the vial down the Queen’s throat.

***

The square vault unwrapped as neatly as a Christmas present. It revealed the stone sitting silently inside. Light from the chandeliers caught the hilt of the sword, and for a second, the stone shone like a beacon in a storm. Half of the gargoyles jumped down into the pit. They rushed to the Stone.

Lights flickered. The Stone shot into the air. It crashed into the ceiling.

“What happened?” Aurelius shouted.

In a blink, Marla stood in front of Aurelius. She grabbed a guardian standing on Aurelius’s right. She snapped his neck and dropped him at Aurelius’s feet. She grabbed another guardian from his left. “Figure it out, Aurelius. You don’t want to see me angry.”

Vane ran to Matt. He poured the remaining Lake-water down Matt’s throat.

Matt stirred.

Aurelius put out a hand to blast the Stone.

“Stop,” Matt said. “It’s seeking a power source.”

“The moon,” Vane said.

The Stone tore through the ceiling.

“Get to the roof,” Marla commanded the gargoyles. Like spiders, they started climbing the walls. They went up into the hole.

“Matt, what do we do?” I said. 

Vane arched a brow at Matt. Matt gave a grim nod.

Together, they said, “
Upari
.”

We all floated in the air. Matt and Vane levitated the candidates up through the hole onto the roof. We got up at the same time as the gargoyles. Vane and Matt set us to the side. The stone spun like a top just above the hole. It glowed softly beneath the hauntingly dark sky.

All the gargoyles reverted back from beast form into regular human. One gargoyle climbed up the hole almost to the top, slipped and started falling back down. His other friends caught him and pulled him back up.

“What’s happening to us?” Marla said.

The sky darkened into a black blanket of nothingness.

“The eclipse,” someone said.

The stone spun faster. A wave of light shot out from it. It hit us like a tsunami. I stumbled. The buzz rounded my lobes and stabbed into my eardrums. I fell to my knees. Everyone around me—including the gargoyles—went down too.

A soft ooze of liquid dripped down my ear canal onto my cheeks. Sticky and wet it coated my skin. I touched it and then, held up my hands. It was blood.

“Ryan!” I heard Matt cry out from a distance before I blacked out.

***

The world appeared to be an odd shade of oblivion when I woke. I saw no color anywhere, only black, white, and grey in between painted the world. We’d fallen into an alternate plane of existence.

The stone still spun on the roof. All around me everyone lay on the rooftop like they’d fallen asleep. I sat on black pavestones. A ring of black monuments, a replica of Stonehenge, surrounded the outer edge of the rooftop, penning us in. Only the light haze of sky appeared behind it.

People started getting up. I didn’t see Matt, Vane, Aurelius, Marla or the other guardians. Only the candidates.

A gargoyle got up and ran to the Stone. He pulled on the Sword. He let out a great scream, and caught on fire. He ran to the rooftop’s ledge and stumbled off.

I jumped up and ran after him. Others followed me. We stopped just beyond the stone circle.

Blake looked over a ledge. “What is this?”

The rooftop ended. And beyond it was… nothing. No street. No people. No building. Nothing at all. Only the rooftop existed. It floated in the air like a lost cloud.

“Limbo,” someone said.

Grey grabbed my arm. “This is the trial.”

A great rumble sounded. The edge of the rooftop started shaking. We backed away from it. The black monuments shuddered. As we watched wide-eyed, the monolithic replicas of Stonehenge broke and fell backwards into limbo. We all jumped back towards the center.

“I guess there’s a time limit,” Mark said from somewhere behind me.

It was my worst nightmare. We were completely alone.

We all turned back to the stone. The Sword beckoned us.

“I still can’t change,” a gargoyle cried.

Oliver stood at the center of the gargoyles. He said, “The Sword is only way out of here. We have to get to it before this whole place collapses.”

The gargoyles rushed towards it.

“Candidates, get to the Sword first,” cried Mark.

Most of Vane’s candidates followed him to the stone.

The gargoyles and candidates, two battling teams, crashed into each other. Each time one tried to reach the Stone someone from the other team who was covering them would attack.

“What do we do?” Blake looked at me.

I spotted Paul. He didn’t look any worse for getting slammed hard against the wall.  He made his way toward me with a determined look. I picked up a fallen sword from the ground just before he charged me.

Locked into a macabre dance on the rooftop, we fought each other. At least with the gargoyles unable to use their strength, everyone was more or less on a level playing field. If Paul had had his full strength, I was pretty sure I would have been dead.

A candidate made it to the stone and tugged at the sword. He let out a scream and collapsed.

“He’s dead,” someone pronounced.

Paul’s attention wavered. With one quick move, I knocked the sword out of his hand. I put my blade at his neck. “Why is Marla after me?”

Paul laughed. “You won’t kill me.”

In my best impression of Vane, I cut into Paul’s shoulder. “I can hurt you much worse.”

Somewhere in the fight, I heard Grey yell in pain. With a curse, I hit Paul across the head. I ran to help Grey. He was trying to hold back two gargoyles from the stone. One stabbed him in the shoulder and ran past him to the stone. The other one was Oliver.

I stepped in front of Grey.

Oliver smiled. “I knew I would get my chance with you.”

Blake hurried to Grey to help him with his wound. As I fought Oliver, the other gargoyle reached the Sword and pulled at it. His body shuddered as a current seemed to go through him. He too screamed and collapsed.

 “One caught fire. Two collapsed,” Blake shouted. “What does it mean?”

I ducked as Oliver tried to take off my head. One of Vane’s candidates, a gargoyle, and a Regular made it to the Sword at the same time. They touched it. Light from the Sword reflected off the large amulet ring Oliver wore. The gemstone glowed for just a moment.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the trio with their hands on the Sword. In the next second, they all disappeared.

My eyes went wide. “That’s it.”

The rooftop shook as another layer of stone fell off the edge. Oliver stumbled.

I moved quickly. My sword caught Oliver by the neck. I held it just against his skin. “Stop. I have the way out.”

Oliver faced me warily.

“Can you stop the gargoyles?” I said.

Oliver nodded. “What have you figured out?”

“Matt told me the Sword is a bridge between all races. Did you see the two candidates and gargoyle? They touched the Sword together and they didn’t collapse or catch fire. They disappeared. That is the doorway out of here.”

His lips curled. “You want to kill me.”

“You betrayed us,” I said, not disagreeing.

“Why should I trust you?”

“You’ll never figure it out without me,” I said bluntly. “You know it. And you also know well enough that while I might not care if you live or die—” My eyes flickered over Grey and the other candidates. “I care if they do.”

Oliver’s lips thinned. Another row of pavestones at the rooftop edge fell. The ground we stood on see-sawed.

I thrust my sword just a bit deeper against Oliver’s neck. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

Oliver glanced back and forth between the edge of the shrinking rooftop and the spinning Stone. He dropped his sword.

Oliver shouted, “Gargoyles, stand down.”

To my shock, the gargoyles all lowered their sword at once.

Mark and the other candidates blinked in surprise.

“I know the way out,” I told them.

Oliver pushed away the sword I held at his neck and stood up. “What next?”

“We do a test,” I said. “We need a gargoyle, a Regular, and a wizard. Only all three can pass. If they touch the Sword together.”

“It makes sense,” said Blake. “The energies of all three might open a doorway.”

Oliver crooked his finger at a gargoyle. The gargoyle came forward. Oliver looked at me. “This one goes first.”

I turned back to the candidates. “I can go for us.”

“No,” a Regular held up a hand. “I will. They will need you if this doesn’t work.”

“And I will,” a girl wizard stepped forward.

Blake grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

The three strode to the stone.

“Touch it together,” I said.

They did. They disappeared. Whoops of celebration sounded across the rooftop.

I raised a brow at Oliver in triumph.

Grey thumped my back.

“What are your terms?” Oliver asked.

I looked at the candidates. They all stared back at me. I felt the mantle of their trust come down to rest on my shoulders.

My chin rose. I faced down Oliver. “We can get out of this together. But what’s the point if we’re just going to kill each other on the other side? If you really are their leader, you will agree to stand down.”

Oliver’s lips curled. “Or what? You’ll sacrifice yourselves? I don’t believe it.”

Grey and Blake moved to stand behind in me in a visible show of support. Gia followed Grey. All the candidates except Vane’s moved to stand behind me.

Mark frowned at Gia. I could see the decision warring on his face.

“You need all three,” I told him. “Without the Regulars, you will all fall here.”

I held my breath. Mark gave a tight nod. His sword gleamed in the dull light as he moved to stand beside Gia. And just like that, I had the rest of Vane’s candidates.

The rooftop shook again. Another fat layer of stone tumbled off. The roof had become so narrow that we huddled together, barely fitting on the remaining stone. The candidates standing at the edges of the stone held hands, fearing a sudden movement.

I turned back to Oliver. “Do we have a deal?”

“I agree to stand down if you do the same,” Oliver said.

“Agreed,” I said.

“Do you have enough pairs to cover everyone?” Oliver asked in a lower tone.

My heart thumped. The rooftop shook as another layer of rock fell off. Cries went up in the air.

“We need to go,” I told him. “We’ll figure out if we don’t. Gather the gargoyles.”

I turned to Blake. “Group the wizards together.”

Between Grey, Blake, Oliver and I, the candidates grouped into loose sections. Oliver and I sent a trio pair one after the other. Finally we were down to the last three of each group.

Grey caught my hand. He hissed in my ear. “There are four Regulars left.”

“We draw straws,” a Regular said.

“We don’t have straws,” I said. “I will stay.”

Blake nodded at Mark. With one command, they turned the swords back into pens.

“Now we have straws.” He took out the ballpoint in one and threw it away. He held it up and pushed the top. Nothing happened. “The short straw.”

“Test the other pens,” Grey said.

Blake tested each one. The other ones’ ballpoint all worked. He held them out to us.

I reached for one first. Grey grabbed it from me. “I pick this one.”

“No,” I cried.

Grey pushed the pen’s top. No ballpoint came out. He stared at it with a half-smile.

“I knew you’d try this.” He held up the pen to the other two Regulars. “I stay.”

“Grey,” Gia sniffled. “I’ll stay too.”

“We had a deal,” Oliver reminded us. “No one else can stay.”

The roof rumbled. We all jumped. Only two rows remained on the roof. We all huddled next to the Stone.

Grey thrust Gia on the Stone. “Go, now.”

She went. So did the next pair.

Finally, Blake, Grey, Oliver and I remained.