by Jamie Hawke
We were swerving to get off the freeway, carnage in our wake as more cars crashed, then all of us holding on as we were off the freeway, turning down the ramp, and finally coming to a stop at the bottom of an underpass.
“Everyone alive?” Pucky asked, hopping out to help us down. “Shit, I feel like an anal dildo. Used and dirty.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Red said. “But… that analogy is disgusting. Come up with new material.”
Pucky rolled her eyes. “I was the one who ran in shouting about us needing to get out here. The attack was clearly an attempt to get the Protector out in the open, so they could launch an ambush. Dammit!”
“Pucky, stop,” Elisa said.
“No, it’s—”
“No, stop!” Elisa took her by the shoulders, staring at her intently. “You really think that’s all they would’ve sent if it was an ambush? No. Did they hope to get him and us? Of course, but even the attack on HQ wasn’t their objective. All of this was a distraction.”
“Wh—what?”
“I think she’s right,” Red said. “Hook, he said something about Excalibur, right?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Well then, we know where they’re going,” Elisa said, and tapped her necklace. “Mowgli.”
“Here,” he replied.
“Change of plans. The attack—”
“A distraction,” he said. “We figured it out when nobody else arrived from their side. The question is where they’ll really attack.”
“We have the answer,” she replied. “The convention center where we found Jack.”
“How can you be sure?”
“The sacrifice, if they’re really going to do this—today’s the last day of the convention. It makes sense for the numbers they’d need of both Normies and Myths, and with our focus on the attack here, they’d be able to make a move without us noticing. Or would have. Plus, Hook… he had a shadow on him, but when he finally broke free at the end he mentioned Excalibur.”
“Which will be at the con,” Red said at her side, finally catching on.
“It is?” I asked. “I mean, the Excalibur?”
“The essence of it we’d used to find you,” Pucky said, her eyes going wide as she too started putting all the pieces together. “They won’t be able to harness the real sword without it. But we can be certain, track it once it’s whole, with… this.” She reached into my pocket, pulling out the stone I’d been using for upgrades. “It was part of the original sword, taken from the stone that King Arthur pulled Excalibur from, imbued with magic by Merlin himself.”
“Well… fuck,” Elisa said, very uncharacteristically, while Pucky accessed a screen from the stone and then confirmed, “Nothing yet, meaning we still have a chance to beat them to it.”
“I’ll send teams,” Mowgli said. “And notify anyone near the booth to protect the essence.”
“We’ll go first,” Elisa replied, turning to see our car already pulling around toward us. “You’ll need to relocate HQ so send who you can, but we’ll take care of this.”
He paused, then said, “Agreed.”
Elisa closed her necklace, and gestured to the car door, which had just opened. We had our mission to get to, and it was taking us back to where it all started.
22
Driving past Disneyland, I was reminded of how innocent I’d once been. How some stories painted a much rosier version of the reality, and of the bastards we were going up against.
“Why there?” I asked, seeing the convention center rise before us. “So many people… what, just to hurt them?”
“Sacrifice,” Red said, scowling at the sight. “As Elisa told Mowgli… if they’re really trying to raise a Lost Soul, there’s a high price.”
Elisa nodded. “With so many of them in one place, of the exact type that will see this as a show and whoever they bring back as another part of the con… yes. But there’s more—where else could people look upon magic items and embrace the sight of them? Where else would people volunteer for the sacrifice, thinking it’s part of a show?”
We were let out of the car and then I was with the three ladies, walking back into LegendFest much like I had on the first day, only now everything had changed for me. When scantily-clad women walked past, my eyes didn’t even dart over for a second. Why look at apples when I was already full from apple pie? Apple pie with cinnamon, and maybe some vanilla ice cream on top.
“What’re we looking for?” I asked.
“First we go to the booth,” Red said, leading the way. “We found you, but the team stayed to see if they could find any soon-to-be Myths, others with power who might someday prove themselves worthy of the titles. The essence draws them.”
“So whoever wields Arthur’s sword, once connected to the essence, can also attract them?”
“Correct.”
We kept walking, turning past a large statue of Thor that caused Pucky to scoff.
“They have it all wrong,” she said.
But when I looked back, it wasn’t the statue I was paying attention to, but my buddy Chris. He was staring at me in confusion, one arm around a woman dressed as She-Ra, and when we made eye contact he let her go, coming for me with a smile spreading across his face.
Pucky noticed and leaned in, speaking quickly. “If they see he’s connected to you, his life will be at risk.”
“Shit,” I said, glancing around and then said, “Find me on the other side,” before ducking into a Minecraft maze. It was complete with people dressed as creepers and coming for me, saying “Boom” whenever they got too close. I supposed it was like a weird version of a haunted house.
“Jack, buddy?” Chris called out. “You in here?”
I kept going, no answer.
“Jack!” he called again, running now as evidenced by his heavy breathing, so I ran too. “Come on, I thought you were dead or something, then I see you walking in here with three super-hotties. What’s the deal, bro?”
Even if I made it out of here now, he’d be asking around. Calling out my name. I needed to think smart. At the end of the maze there were several blocky trees, so I darted into them, ignoring the little kid who stared up at me as if I was part of the attraction, and was glad to see him leave.
“Here,” I hissed when Chris nearly ran by. “Quickly.”
“Bro.” Chris glanced around, furrowing his brow in confusion.
“Come on, we need to chat.”
He came over, and I pulled him into the trees. “There’s been an incident…”
“The shooting, yeah, they shut this place down for a day. Since nobody heard from you, I—I mean, I assumed you were either hit or ran off to hide or something. But… here you are.”
“And here you are.” I glared at him, cocked my head, and said, “What the hell, actually? You thought I might’ve been dead, but came back to get with She-Ra?”
“That’s not fair,” he said, frowning. “I had no idea what happened to you. For all I knew, you’d said screw it and abandoned me.”
“Not at all, but… listen. I need to go away for a bit. Don’t ask questions, please, but…”
His hand was moving in his pocket in a weird way, and I froze, then took a step away. “You motherfucker. You’re supposed to be my friend.”
“It’s not like… not like I had a choice,” he said, pulling out a phone, as I’d suspected. “My family… they saw me and you together, then got to my family. I’m—”
Whether he meant to say ‘sorry’ or not, I never got a chance to find out, because the wall to our right came crashing down. Sharon the Big Bad Wolf was standing there with her crazed eyes, a tracking device in her hand that she quickly pocketed before leering at me.
I prepared for a fight, noticing Red and the other two among a crowd who had just turned to see what the commotion was.
“You still have time,” Sharon said, growling.
“What?” I looked from her to Chris, but he seemed just as confused.
“
They’re coming,” she said. “Your friend did his part, his family will be safe. Now you… you need to run.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I replied. “Not without the sword.”
She grimaced, a shudder running through her and darkness clouding her eyes. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
“Jack!” Pucky shouted, catching sight of me at last, and the three of them running back my way.
“Get to the booth!” I replied, ignoring the shouts of bystanders as Sharon transformed into a massive wolf on its hind legs.
“Fuck this,” Chris said and took off. I’d never seen him so terrified. As mad as I was at him, it wasn’t like I could fault him—yes, he’d betrayed me, but I’d seen what we were up against, and if they had any way of getting to my parents, I’d be equally freaking out. I had to trust Pucky though, that at least some level of magic was protecting them.
Sharon was on me, clawing and gnashing her teeth, but oddly, holding back. There was something about the way her claws hit, enough to hurt, but like it was a warning. She would lunge, strike me to the floor, then look around for others to attack in a way that made me think she was giving me an out, a moment to catch my breath. The third time this happened, she pinned me down, teeth bared with wolf-saliva dripping next to my head.
“Why can’t you turn and run away?” she said, eyes returning to normal within that wolf face of hers. “Go, I won’t chase you. But if you stay for the sword, I’m compelled—”
A strike hit her and the shadows returned as she snarled and swung back to face her attacker. It was Red, who’d thrown her magic blade and buried it in the wolf’s shoulder. Sharon lunged at her, the strike knocking Red back. Now Sharon turned to intercept Pucky, knocking her on her ass and preparing to go after Elisa as she approached. I wasn’t going to let this monster hurt my team, so I scrambled to my feet and charged in with a series of punches and kicks.
Although I’d gotten my magic knife back, it wouldn’t do shit against something like this other than anger her, so when she turned on me her eyes actually had red mixed with the black. She inhaled a giant breath, then blew it out, flinging me back into a pillar behind me. I slumped to the ground.
Red was back in for the attack, this time with Elisa using her swans to affect the wolf’s sight, and together they managed to get her to the ground. Red helped me up and was already moving on.
“Leave her!” Red shouted.
I glanced back to see Sharon’s eyes turn normal for a moment as she looked up at me and then away, as if trying to not see me go, trying to fight whatever was going on in her head. As much as I wanted to understand the wolf, this wasn’t the time or place. Right now we had a mission to accomplish, lives to save.
So I took off, joining my team to make for the booth. We were running, Sharon starting to get back up behind us, while the Normie conference-goers were running to get out of our way. I had no idea what they thought was happening, but if they knew the truth they’d be running even faster.
“Let’s hope Mowgli was able to—oh, shit.” Elisa gripped my arm as she froze mid-stride. I stopped too as I saw why—a crowd gathered around the booth as several figures herded everyone back. There was a woman who looked very much like a female version of Dracula—young but immaculately dressed, fangs exposed, black hair pulled back to better show off her very white, pale face. Beside her, Peter Pan noticed us and grinned as he held up a rifle in the air, shouting for everyone to stay back or he would shoot.
Then Pucky’s half-sister stepped up onto a table behind them.
“Riak?” Pucky said. “What’s she doing here… up there?”
“Apparently, about to reunite Excalibur with its essence,” I said, pointing to the stone I’d pulled out of my pocket and the display that showed Excalibur’s location as right where Riak stood.
Sure enough, she held the most beautiful sword in the air, laughing hysterically as a purple fog started to roll in, scaring the bystanders as it floated around to form a circle around the three Legends. Then she lowered the sword, running her hand along the blade as she sprinkled something over it, something that caused a new, bright blue gleam to appear.
Before we could do a damn thing to stop her, she leaped down from the table, swinging the blade on her descent, cutting through the first line of bystanders. My first thought was Oh, shit, and then I pulled myself together, drew my blade, and prepared to charge in there… against Excalibur.
23
Screams filled the conference hall, more people running and trampling each other, more swings of the sword and laughing as the purple fog intensified.
Pucky was shooting, but the blade blocked the shots. Then Red and Elisa were fighting against the vampire lady and Peter Pan as they moved in to engage us.
“You’ve brought us just what we need,” Pan said with a boyish laugh. “The ritual calls for sacrifice, the magical kind as well. I imagine your friends will do.”
He lowered the rifle and took aim, but Pucky grabbed hold of me and transported us to the other side of him, so that he was left without a target as Red darted left and then came back at him. A spray of bullets hit the wall as she knocked the rifle from his hands, and the two went at each other in a display of knife-fighting that put everything I’d been shown in training to shame. She’d block and strike, he’d move her arms around in a twisting motion, stepping to the outside and coming back at her, which she’d block in a motion that almost cut him. Each time there was a counter, each time another block.
Meanwhile, the vampire lady had moved for Elisa, and Pucky joined that fight. Each side was closing in. I kept my eye on them as I tried to work my way into a position to intercept Riak before she killed any more bystanders. The vampire was too fast for Elisa and Pucky, but then Elisa summoned her brothers. They moved in fast, white streaks of light becoming true warriors, like strong, holy paladins. They had the vampire surrounded but still this woman put up a fight. She would dart from one brother to the next, moving fast, striking and trying to bite them. But these three white knights moved together as if of one mind, striking and kicking her back fast enough to keep her at bay but not quite enough to defeat her.
Elisa cast blinding white bursts of light when she could, along with protection spells that threw invisible layers of shielding on us each time right before a powerful strike would hit, but she clearly wasn’t the hand-to-hand fighting type.
Finally, seeing that this was futile, the vampire burst free. I tried to go after her but Riak was pressing the attack. I dodged, blocked strikes, and pushed her back. A glance over showed the vampire and Elisa grappling, the swan brothers doing their best to protect their sister, a thud hit me—a good strike from Riak that left me on the floor, struggling to stand. Pucky came to my aid but then magic came from Riak’s outstretched hand, hitting Pucky in a way that made her face contort in pain, then forced her to her knees as if she were bowing.
“Riak!” Pucky called out. “This isn’t you!”
“I’m not sticking with that name,” her sister replied, holding Excalibur at the ready, purple fog swirling around her legs like a living beast ready to strike.
“What are you talking about? Come back to us, abandon the agents! Whatever they have you doing…”
“The agents?” Riak laughed, casting off her cloak to reveal a dark dress with silver and red cords woven through its belt, and a glowing mark of a dragon on her partially-exposed chest. “I was using them, you silly fool. Using them to connect with my mother through the Fae world, to become her and throw off this silly name for a better one.”
“But… we don’t know who your mother was, only that she was a Shade Master.”
Riak scowled at her sister and spat back, “Until recently that was true. As my mother was before me, now I take on the role. From now on, you will address me as Morgan le Fey, or Morganna. And you? You are no sister of mine.”
Hard on the heels of that declaration, I heard Red yell, “Jack! Watch out!” I spun just in time to meet Pan
’s rush as his shadow reached out to grapple with me as well.
I managed to see that Elisa and her brothers had the vampire lady subdued just as Pan and I clashed. She was taking their full attention, fighting and hissing as they used every trick and bit of power they had to keep her contained.
Morganna—as I now knew her to be—held out the sword, her purple mist wrapping around it and lighting up with a burst like lightning.
“No,” Pucky cried, taking aim with her magical rifle. “This can’t be…”
“One more sacrifice.” Morganna stepped toward Pucky’s kneeling form. “That’s all it takes, and he will be reborn.”
She was about to swing Excalibur and end Pucky. This amazing woman who I’d gotten to know in a brief amount of time would die if I didn’t do something, I realized. But I was the Protector! No way was I about to let any harm befall her or any of my team, so I abandoned my assault on Riak allowed the wolf in me to come out under my terms. Fuck all this bullshit—I was in control!
To my surprise, it actually worked. Focusing on the good while embracing the dark, I was able to let just enough of it in to give me the strength to toss Pan off of me. I staggered as I pushed up and regained my feet, watching and gathering myself for a brief moment as he seemingly flew before slamming face-first into the floor. Then I charged Morganna. She was of the Fae world, I figured, so I had to reach her level to stand a chance.
As I ran, I focused on every ounce of me that had any connection to my qi or this magical other dimension so that when we collided, we weren’t in the convention hall at all, but on top of a hill with a castle below us and spirits or fairies—glowing lights with humanoid shapes, was all I could see in the brief moment I had to take it in—and we were struggling as warmth took me over, light all around like the fairies were merging with my strength, fueling me on.
The sword went flying from her hands, clanking on rock. I managed to get one foot behind her and flip her over my hip, just as I’d been shown in my training exercises. A surge of fairies went for the blade, but I reached it at the same time as them. Now, instead of helping me it was like they were trying to take the blade, their power strong.