My Merlin Awakening (10 page)

I scooted along behind him. “
You said it was to convince me to go back.”

“I didn’t need it to do that. I would have made you see reason without it.”

In the dark, I stuck out my tongue at his back.

“I saw that
.” He stepped out into the hallway.

A fireball flew straight at him.

“Matt!” I cried and threw myself in front of him. There was barely enough room for the two of us in the tight space. Matt let out a stream of blue magic to deflect it, but part of the fireball slammed into my side. My skin burned. I let out a scream and dropped Excalibur.

“Ryan!” Matt caught me as I fell backwards.

Another fireball whizzed down the hallway at us. Matt deflected this one back to whoever shot it. Three shadowy figures stood at the end of the hallway, just past the door leading out of it. They sidestepped the fireball and let it hit a wall behind them. The whole house shook from the impact. Flames spread, greedily devouring the delicate, hundred-year old paneling. One of the figures let loose a wave of purple magic that hit the fire-laden wall and the flames doused. Two figures ran forward. One stayed behind at the door, protecting their back.

Matt raised his hand with a spinning fireball in it.

“You’ll set this whole tinderbox on fire and bring it down on us,” one of figures said. He stepped into the light.

“Oliver,” Matt said grimly.

“Merlin.” Oliver glanced at me. His lips curled with cruel satisfaction. “If nothing else, it will be worth my while to see her suffer.”

Pain threatened to blind me, but I forced my eyes to focus. Matt held me close to him. Excalibur lay between the gargoyles and us.

“What will you choose, Merlin?” Oliver taunted. “Save the girl or save the sword?”

The other gargoyle took a step toward the sword. Matt tried to grab Excalibur, floating it in the air. Oliver held up an amulet and battled him for it. The sword zigzagged back and forth between us. The burn at my side intensified and I gasped. Matt’s hold on the sword slipped.

The other gargoyle beside Oliver grabbed Excalibur. “We got it!”

In a blink, Matt put me on the ground and stepped over me. I barely felt it. I barely felt anything. The burning pain on my side obliterated any other sensation. He raised both hands at the gargoyle. A brilliant blue light emanated from Matt and focused like a laser at the gargoyle. The gargoyle exploded into a million little bits.

Excalibur flew back into Matt’s hands. With a drained sigh, Matt sank to his knees.

Oliver’s face transformed. His beast came out. Forehead and fangs extended. He held up a sword and pulled back to take a swing. “Your turn, Merlin.”

A gurgle came from the other gargoyle further down the hallway. Oliver turned his head to see a sword go through the other gargoyle’s stomach. Matt waved his palm. Oliver’s sword flew out of his hand. Matt sank down further until he sat on the ground. Oliver cursed.

“Looking for some help, gargoyle? Because I’m afraid it has been delayed… permanently.” Vane’s voice traveled down the tight hallway. He whispered a word and low lights flared on inside the hallway. Even partially hidden behind Matt, I could see Vane’s sword dripping with blood. “I believe I counted six. No seven, including this one.” With his foot, he shoved the third gargoyle, now lying headless on the floor, into a corner of the hallway.

Oliver made a sound of frustration. With a final look at Excalibur, he ran into the kitchen right past us. Vane started to run after him.

“Vane!” Matt said. “Ryan’s hurt.”

Through bleary eyes, I saw his face peer over Matt. He said, “Dammit, Merlin, you were supposed to take care of her.”

From beyond the kitchen, we heard a blast somewhere in the shop. The other guardians burst into the hallway.

“Go after the gargoyle,” Vane yelled at the guardians, pointing at the kitchen. The guardians thundered past him. Vane crossed Matt to kneel beside me. In the dim light, the grave lines of his face deepened. His fingers shook as he checked my pulse. “Still strong. Let’s see what kind of trouble you’ve gotten into, Dorothy.”

“It’s just a scratch, Toto,” I rasped. I cried out when he touched the edge of the giant hole of melted skin and meat that now made up my side.

“Scratch, my ass,” he said.

“I like your ass.” The words came out as barely a whisper.

Vane let out a forced laugh. “Hold on, Ry. This is going to hurt.”

He put a hand right over the charred area. This time I screamed. A faint red glow spread from his hand.

I blacked out.

I woke up in what must have been just a few minutes time. I still lay in the hallway. Dim light wavered from sconces. Matt sat next to me. I pushed myself up on my elbows. He helped me sit up. We sat side-by-side in the hallway alone.

“Where did everyone go?” I asked as I touched my burned side. My coat and shirt were beyond repair, but my skin felt smooth. Not even a burn or scar remained.

“They went to check the rest of the house. We did come here for a purpose.”

My head against the wall, I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes. “Killing the gargoyle drained you?”

I doubted another wizard would have been able to do it all. Making something that big explode was supposed to be impossible, unless you were…

His lips curved up into a small smile. “I am Merlin.”

“Stop reading my mind,” I snapped.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just that… your thoughts are loud.”

My cheeks puffed out. “I’ll work on that.”

“I’m sorry.”

I made a face. “You seem to be saying that a lot lately.”

Silence stretched between us. Finally, he said, “I had to save Excalibur.”

Oliver’s words rang in my head. “
Save the girl or save the sword.”
He’d chosen. “You knew I wasn’t hurt that badly. You knew you could heal me later.”

“Yes. But I still took a chance.”

“Luckily, I was there to clean up your mess.” Vane marched into the hallway. He dropped down beside me and cupped my face. “Ready to go home, Ryan?”

“What? You found… whatever it was?” I said.

Vane shrugged. “No, but we will. You’ve risked yourself enough. Grey can take you home.”

“Stop ordering me around.” I put my hand on his shoulders and hoisted myself up. For a second, I thought I would tip over and fall on top of him. Vane braced himself for just that, but I managed to stay upright.

“Good,” Vane said in a no-nonsense tone, but from the corner of my eye, I noticed a small smile.

“Nice play, Coach,” I muttered.

Behind me, Matt got up slowly. “Did you find anything?”

Vane shook his head. “We’ve searched every corner of this house. Other than the strange layout of the place, I haven’t seen anything remotely haunting. Do you think that dog of a gargoyle found it?”

“I don’t think so.” Matt rubbed his jaw. “Oliver wouldn’t have tried to get Excalibur if he had.”

“Or me,” I said.

Pulling me close to him, Vane squeezed my waist.

“Did you look in the secret staircase?” I said.

Vane frowned. “What secret staircase? I read that whole book,
House of the Seven Gables
, by what’s-his-name. It didn’t mention any such staircase.”

I rolled my eyes. “What a good researcher you are. Hawthorne didn’t know about it. They discovered it later. But it’s where all these cold drafts and odd feelings are supposed to have originated.”

Vane gave me a sheepish look. “I didn’t bother to read further, once I made the connections.”

I patted his shoulder and started down the hallway, toward the center of the house. “Still want Grey to take me home?”

“Don’t get smug, Swiss cheese,” he said at my back.

I winced, instinctively touching my side, but kept walking.

Vane and Matt followed.

“I would have known about the secret staircase,” Matt said.

“Yes, the Mighty Merlin, who just allowed the damsel to rescue him,” Vane mocked.

Grey and the other guardians stood gathered in the room past the hallway—a dining room. Porcelain dishes and plates had been set up on a long wooden table as if expecting dinner guests. Amazingly after all the ruckus, they remained intact—a reminder that the house had powers of its own.

Matt halted at the room’s threshold. “Do you feel the heat in here?”

“
Darzayati raga
,” Vane said.

A sheen of glimmering white blobs floated around in the room. Grey ducked as one flew straight at him.

Matt stepped right into one and let it pass through him. A tinge of blue covered his face. “Hot and cold. Residual energy from old magic.”

A circle of white light surrounded a portrait of a sad-faced girl. “Susan Ingersoll. She’s the one who supposedly haunts this place.”

“Creepy,” Grey said.

I stared at the picture for a minute. Hidden secrets lurked behind the young girl’s mud-colored eyes. But all I could think about was how lonely she looked.

Matt came up beside me. “What do you see?”

“She lived here most of her life and even died here,” I said. “She never left. Do you think she gave up her whole life to protect this place?”

Matt squeezed my shoulder. “That will not be your fate.”

“Won’t it?” I said. Matt held Excalibur at his side. I hadn’t taken it back. Part of me yearned to have it. The part Matt and Vane kept trying to bring forward. The part that scared me like nothing else.

Vane came up beside us.

I pointed to a small door just to the side of the portrait. “The staircase is there.”

Vane opened the door. It creaked ajar to reveal a small closet. Pieces of cut wood decorated the sides and beyond stood an abyss lined in brick. Penetrating the abyss, a single ray of light shone from above. It highlighted the steep steps of the staircase that had barely enough room for one. The light sparkled with dusty glitter. It called us forward. I asked Matt, “How did you do that?”

“I didn’t,” he answered. “Do you feel a draft?”

Matt took a step into the closet.

***

A scream flew down the staircase with the strength of a banshee’s shrill cry and blasted us. Everyone slapped their hands to their ears. Matt stepped back. The scream faded.

“The ghost,” one of the guardians said.

“A warning,” Matt corrected him. He took a step forward. The scream blasted us again. The pressure on my eardrums threatened to make them bleed. The wind threw Matt back against Vane who stood directly behind him. As soon as Matt was out of the closet, the scream stopped.

“Emrys, dammit, come up with something better,” Grey said. He stood by the dining table rubbing his ears.

Vane watched Matt. “Did you smell water?”

“No.” Matt handed Excalibur to me.

“Your turn,” said Vane. Before I could protest, he shoved me into the closet.

The wind shifted. A gust blew against me. Excalibur warmed in my hand, but for once, my amulet remained cold on my neck. The wind sniffed at my covered ankles and swam over my clothes. It found the broken line of my coat where I’d gotten hurt. It seeped in through the hole and swam around inside my clothes until it had touched every bit of my skin. A faint scent of salty ocean air tickled my nostrils. Then, it winked and disappeared.

No scream sounded. The stairway lay open.

“She likes you,” Vane murmured, coming up behind me.

“I thought you said it was a spell, not a ghost,” I whispered.

Vane shrugged. “A trace of her essence may have mixed with the spell. You did say she spent most of her life here.” He took an oil lamp that sat in an open cubby in the closet and blew a tiny fireball into it. The oil lamp flared to life. He motioned for me to go first.

I took the lamp. It was heavier than it looked. “Next time, all ghost-busters carry flashlights.”

“Stop delaying, DuLac,” Vane said.

Swallowing, I took the first step onto the stairwell. Instantly the air changed. A breath straight from the mouth of the Arctic Ocean seemed to blow down the stairs. I shivered and wrapped my hands around myself. Keeping Excalibur close to my chest, I started climbing. Vane followed. Matt came after him. The stairs led to a small, neatly set-up bedroom. A quilt covered a narrow bed and a small window. I wondered if this were the room I thought I’d seen the wavering light in from outside.

“I don’t sense anything here,” Vane said as he stepped into the room.

Matt stood in the doorway. “The air does not invite us in. We’re in the right place.”

“There’s supposed to be an unfinished attic somewhere around here,” I said. Shadows covered the walls, making it hard to see anything.

Grey came in after Matt. He moved to the side and put out a hand to lean on the wall and almost fell through. “There’s a passageway here.”

Matt took the lamp from me. “Let’s go.”

Two other guardians had followed us up the stairs. Matt told them to remain in the room. Matt, Vane, Grey and I crossed a slanted passageway to a tiny, unfinished space with thick beams on the roof and slats of rough wood on the walls. Grey tripped over a rocker on one side. It squeaked as it swung back and forth. A miniature model of the house sat on the other side.