The Serpent's Ring (Relics of Mysticus) (25 page)

“How am I supposed to know where to hide it?” said Evan anxiously.

“Dunkle will be there to help. Do not worry. You will know what to do,” reassured Dr. Irving.

Lazonia rested her hand on Evan’s shoulder. “Evan, you
will
know what to do.”

“Lazonia, you really helped. Thanks,” said Evan.

“I would do it all again,” said Lazonia, and a tear slowly cascaded down her beautiful face.

“Take care,” he whispered, wrapping his arms tightly around the mermaid.

“You too,” she said, and he loosened his hug.

“Claire, are you ready?” Evan asked.

Claire nodded her head and wiped away a falling tear. She approached Evan, leaving Sigurd behind. She was almost to Evan, when she turned and rushed back to Sigurd, throwing her arms around his neck. Evan was relieved that he couldn’t hear what she whispered. With her head hanging down and her hair shielding her face, she eventually joined Evan.

“Goodbye to you all!” announced Evan to the large group of onlookers. “Thanks for seeing us off. And fear not, we will see you again. It’s been real.” He waved goodbye and turned toward his sister.

“Do you think maybe you overdid that a little? You are such a nerd,” she said to him and laughed.

Chapter Thirty

LOOP-THE-LOOPS

DUNKLE AND BARFEL WERE FIRST to take to the air. They flapped their little wings eagerly and did a few loop-the-loops. Evan stretched his long jet-black wings and with a mighty force, brought them down. At once, he shot straight up. He didn’t look back to those he had just left. His sinking heart wouldn’t allow it.

“How are we supposed to know which way to go? We don’t exactly have a map,” Evan hollered toward his sister.

“Leave it to me. I know the way,” yelled Dunkle, doing another loop.

Evan peered over at Claire. She smiled awkwardly and shrugged. “I guess we follow Dunkle.”

“All right, but don’t expect me to fly in circles,” said Evan.

“Why not? Come on, live a little,” said Claire. Surprisingly, she zoomed straight up before diving down toward the sea. Just before touching water, she arched back up, ending her acrobatic stunt in a graceful loop.

“Whoa,” said Evan, and his mouth dropped open. “I can’t do that.”

“Come on, you big wimp. Try it!” she cried out while circling around a few more times.

Evan watched his sister, as she joined the imps in their frolicking. He turned back and noticed the island of Hlesey was a mere speck now. Looking down, he realized they were really high, and in the water below, colorful bull sharks followed along his path. He had a funny feeling they weren’t there to give him a friendly send-off.

“Hey guys, we need to move a little faster; we have company,” said Evan, pointing toward the sharks.

“Eek, what are they doing?” said Claire, wincing at the sight below. “Aegir said they wouldn’t bother us.”

“I doubt they’re here to say goodbye and thank you. They probably didn’t get Aegir’s latest message,” said Evan.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Barfel yelled and
zip
!—off he raced.

It didn’t take long to lose the sharks, and Evan could finally relax and concentrate on flying in a straight, horizontal line. Hours went by like this. After a while, Evan started to wonder if maybe he could have a little fun to pass the time. He added a little more power to his wings and
whoosh
!—he shot straight up before diving toward the ocean. Just before hitting the water, he curved into an arch and finished the loop.

“There you go. How did that feel?” asked Claire.

“Exhilarating, but I won’t do it again anytime soon,” said Evan, still catching his breath.

“Well, it’s good to see you loosen up, little brother,” said Claire appraisingly.

Moments later, Barfel announced, “There it is! There it is!”

Evan looked to where the red imp was pointing. Up ahead, the lavender mist gateway came into view. He remembered how on their voyage into Asgard, the mist had shot their boat through the winding tunnel. It was frightening, to say the least. He wondered what it would do to them on their return home.

“When we approach, dive straight into the mist. Hold your wings in tight, and allow it to take you through,” advised Dunkle.

“Don’t worry, Evan. I’m sure we’ll be fine,” said Claire. “I’ll go through first, okay?”

“Are you sure?” Evan asked, and Claire nodded.

She sped toward the glistening mist, and Evan watched as she increased her speed. Suddenly, she was pulled in and disappeared! Dunkle and Barfel also raced toward the gateway. Then they too were gone.

Evan hesitated briefly and then inched his way toward the looming mist. After taking in a deep breath, he dove. He pulled in his wings, allowing the mist to push him through. To Evan’s amazement, his body wasn’t rattled by wind. He soared through with relative ease, looping around and through the glass tunnel. In a matter of seconds, he reached the other side.

“See, we made it,” said Claire, flying over to him.

“Yeah, we’re back,” said Evan, looking around. “Hey, wait a minute. The sky is still that strange tangerine color. What’s up?”

“You’re right; it is,” agreed Claire.

“We may have left Asgard, but we’re still in Sagaas. Now, we need to hop over to Terra,” explained Dunkle, as if it were something you’d say every day.

“How are we going to manage that?” Evan asked.

“Trust me, you will see,” said Dunkle, flying toward shore.

Dunkle took the lead, heading in the direction of Greenfield Village. Evan didn’t ask; he just followed along, hoping the imp’s plan was a good one. At long last, they approached Dr. Irving’s house.

“We need to kick-start your world back into motion,” said Dunkle, striding toward the front door.

“What does kick-start mean, anyway?” Evan asked, following the determined imp.

Dunkle sighed, “While you were away, time stood still. Now, we need to start it up again.” Anxiously, he rushed through the door and into the study.

“Wait a minute! You’re telling me that it’s still Saturday?” Evan asked and Barfel nodded. Evan tried to understand, but it was just too weird. “But we’ve been away for almost an entire week.”

“Evan, it’s probably best if we just roll with it,” Claire said and wandered into the study.

The hidden door to the secret room was still open. Last time Evan was here, he had neglected to shut it. Who could blame him? After all, he
was
racing away from what he believed was a security guard. Wow, so much had happened since that day, Evan marveled.

Barfel scurried over to the bookshelf and bounded through the open door. Claire and Evan followed the imps back inside Dr. Irving’s secret lab. The room had remained just as Evan had left it. Claire’s mess of fallen rubble sat on the floor, untouched. The illustration of Jormundgand was still on the table. And there were still a ton of cobwebs.

“Evan, you need to place the Serpent’s Ring over your arm,” instructed Dunkle. “Claire, grab onto his arm.”

“Just like before,” whispered Claire.

“Right, just like before,” Dunkle said impatiently. “Evan! Now!”

Evan slid the Serpent’s Ring up his arm. His fingertips tingled, and the room took on a warm glow. Claire reached for Evan’s arm. He became blinded by white light, and both Claire and Evan were thrown back!

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to land on you,” said Evan, trying to stand.

“Let’s just find Mom and Dad,” she said, struggling to her feet.

“Did it work?” Evan asked Dunkle.

“We will have to go outside to know for sure,” Dunkle said as both imps sped toward the front door.

Claire and Evan hurried outside. The sky was now blue instead of tangerine, and from a short distance away the clock tower chimed.

“Claire, we’re still wearing the strange-looking clothes we got from Aegir. What are Mom and Dad going to think?” Evan asked.

“Well, Dr. Irving said they won’t be able to see them, right, Dunkle?” she asked.

“Only if you would like for them to,” reminded Dunkle.

“So, what are they going to see if we don’t allow them to see these clothes?” Evan asked.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” stated Dunkle.

“Whoa, you mean we won’t be wearing anything?” Evan asked.

“That is a good assumption,” said Dunkle.

“Won’t they see us in the clothes we were wearing before all of this?” Claire asked.

“Why would they? You left those behind,” said Dunkle.

“Great,” said Claire. “So, it’s either we’re without clothes or wearing these?”

“Correct,” said Dunkle.

“Why can’t you just change what they look like?” Evan asked.

“Why bother? They’ll still look different from what we were wearing this morning. Besides, I like this dress. I wouldn’t mind keeping it for the Homecoming Dance.”

“All right, fine. I won’t see anyone I know here, anyway. I don’t want to lie to Mom and Dad, but we’ll have to come up with a good reason for wearing these,” said Evan. “We should probably lose the wings. Don’t you think? They’re cool and all, but a little impractical.”

“I have grown rather fond of
my
wings,” said Dunkle. “I would like to keep them, if you do not mind.”

“Me too! Me too!” announced Barfel.

“Right, leave that one to me,” Claire said and removed Evan’s wings and then her own.

“So, I guess this is goodbye,” Evan said to Dunkle and Barfel. “I suppose Claire and I should hide the Serpent’s Ring?”

“No, we can manage,” said Dunkle. “You have helped enough, already.”

“Well then, here it is. Guard it well.”

“I shall,” said Dunkle, now clutching the golden ring. He stared down. “I will miss you Evan and Claire Jones.”

“Me too! Me too!” chimed Barfel.

“We can come and visit you,” said Evan.

“Sure, we’ll come back next weekend,” said Claire, lifting up Dunkle and hugging him tight.

With that, Barfel leapt into the arms of an unprepared Evan, who was slightly taken aback.

“I’ll miss you too,” Evan said and quickly placed him down.

Dunkle rushed to Evan and wrapped his arms around Evan’s legs. Evan lifted him and gave him a big squeeze.

“This isn’t goodbye. I’ll see you very soon,” Evan reassured the sobbing imp.

Claire and Evan backed away. Dunkle and Barfel waved and then slowly faded. They simply vanished.

“I didn’t know they could disappear,” said Evan. “The crazy thing is that I think I will really miss those guys.”

“I will too, but I really want to see Mom and Dad,” said Claire. “It’s time to run!”

They hurried over to the clock tower, where their parents were waiting for them.

“Look, there they are,” announced Evan, feeling a rush of relief.

Chapter Thirty-One

UNINVITED GUESTS

JUST AS EVAN WAS CLOSE enough to reach out and touch his mom, she turned. Her eyes narrowed and she asked, “Where have you two been?”

Evan didn’t respond, he simply ran around the bench and hugged her.

“Mom, Dad!” declared Evan, still embracing his Mom.

“This is unexpected. Nice, but unexpected,” said Mom.

“I’m not going to miss out on a rare hug from my son,” said Dad, joining them, too.

“It’s so good to see you,” said Claire, wedging her way into the family hug.

Their parents relaxed their posture, and Evan released them.

“We have so much to tell you,” Evan began, but was nudged by Claire.

“Where did you two find those clothes?” Mom asked.

“We have a great explanation for how we came by them,” stated Claire.

“Yeah, tell them Claire,” said Evan, not wanting to fabricate a story. After all, he was never very good at lying.

“Well, we stumbled upon a theatre group. The director needed two people to fill in for some sick actors. We volunteered,” Claire said sort of convincingly.

“Now, that’s the spirit,” said Dad enthusiastically. “When do we get to see the play?”