by J. M. Briggs
“Well… she got a rather… edited version shall we say,” Bran admitted sheepishly. “I told her about being a mage, but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her about the Sídhe or Arthur.”
“Bran! The whole point of telling them was so that-”
“I know,” Bran cut in. “In case we were killed or injured so that they’d at least have the truth, but Alex I just couldn’t.” He sighed; his smile was gone and he looked exhausted. His fingers went around his neck and pulled a long chain out from beneath his shirt revealing a set of dog tags. “We lost my dad to a war. I don’t think my mother could cope with the knowledge that I’m part of one too. I’m sorry, but she’s not ready for that.”
“So what… she just thinks that you have magical powers?” Nicki asked carefully.
“I tried to explain it more like tides; that magic comes and goes over the centuries. I explained a little bit about Merlin and Morgana and let her make some inferences there. I just did my best to leave out anything about threats. She knows that magic healed my leg and cried in relief.” He paused and looked at the others. “Uh, how about you?”
“Honestly… I pretty much did the same thing,” Aiden admitted, looking uneasy. “I told them a bit about Arthur who wants to use his powers for evil but decided against telling them about the potential army that could invade. They know that a magical artifact that you three went to retrieve healed me.”
“Do they know uh…” Alex trailed off for a moment before gathering her courage. “That you were hurt saving me?”
“No,” Aiden replied. “I didn’t want to risk them being angry at you. I was the one who chose to save you. We haven’t got time to break in another Iron Soul.” Aiden grimaced at his own words. “Uh, that didn’t sound good. Sorry, Alex. You aren’t replaceable.”
“Except I sort of am.” Shifting uneasily, Alex crossed her arms over her chest. “When I die, be it now or of old age, I’ll just be reborn. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that, given that we actually handled the remains of my first life less than a month ago.”
“But it wouldn’t be you.” Nicki’s stern expression and tone didn’t leave much room for argument.
“Speaking of reincarnations,” Bran interrupted before things could get any stranger. “Has anyone spoken with Lance or Jenny since they left for break?”
“I got a text from Jenny that she got back to California safely,” Alex said. “But nothing since then.”
“I still can’t believe that they went with you guys to find the Holy Grail.” Shaking his head, Aiden sighed loudly. “I can’t believe that I missed the Quest for the Holy Grail! That is going to haunt me for the rest of my life! All the references, the jokes and you actually saw a dragon! Jenny and Lance got to see the dragon and do a special magical funeral at Stonehenge and I was stuck in a coma! And I didn’t even get a t-shirt!”
Alex glanced towards Nicki, who looked rather bored with the outburst. Clearly, she’d heard it before. Bran mildly patted Aiden’s shoulder in false sympathy. Pressing her lips together, Alex felt a laugh trying to escape her. Nicki caught her eye and the redhead began to crack up. Bran’s soft chuckled began to fill the room even as Aiden made a noise of protest. The laugh escaped Alex and she shook her head at the utter insanity of her friends and fellow mages. Aiden got put into a coma from using too much magic to save her life, and it was missing the adventure he’d missed that he was worried about. Maybe they’d get through the semester at least in one piece.
2
Dinner with Mages
It was hard not to run. Hell, it was hard not to fidget as she waited by the entrance of Michaels Cafeteria for the others. Jenny shifted her feet and licked her lips, wondering not for the first time if this was even a good idea. Reaching up one hand, she pushed a long black hair out of her face before tugging at the hem of her dark blue tunic shirt. Jenny pulled out her cell phone to check for any messages, but all there was one text from her father, Carlo Sanchez, that she responded to quickly. Nothing from the mages.
The main doors swung open and a blast of cold air hit her face as a group of students came walking in. They were chatting happily and headed into the student cafeteria after only a moment, leaving Jenny alone again. She checked her phone again and sighed softly at the lack of messages from her friends. Well… after the last semester maybe it was time to acknowledge that she didn’t have that many friends. Nibbling at her lip, Jenny wondered if maybe that wasn’t entirely true.
Everything was more than a little unsettled right now. She’d only come to Ravenslake for college because Arthur had wanted to. Granted she’d really liked the school and town when they’d checked it out, but she would never have looked twice at it if Arthur hadn’t pushed. Jenny leaned against the cold wall and kicked the floor, trying not to look depressed and pathetic. The doors opened again and a blast of cold air hit her in the face, making Jenny close her eyes tightly.
“Jenny,” a warm and very familiar voice called.
She opened her eyes in a flash. Lance towered over her, dwarfing her with his tall athletic build and broad shoulders, but smiling so sweetly at her that Jenny had to fight back a blush. She hadn’t anticipated how good it would feel to see him again. His smile was hesitant, but his brown eyes were gleaming with genuine pleasure to see her.
“Hi, Lance.” She gave him a small smile of her own. “How was your break?”
“Normal, which was really something after… well, Wales and England.” Lance shrugged a little, glancing around and rubbing his hands together nervously.
Jenny nodded her understanding. After going to another country with a group of people who could use magic in order to find a magical cup that could heal a person in a coma, and then having to find the remains of your husband from a previous life, and taking part in some sort of magical funeral, all the while being under attack by crazy fairy tale rejects, almost anything would be normal. Just the passing thought of the funeral sent a chill down Jenny’s spine. It had been so weird, but there was also a strange, lingering sense of relief that she hadn’t been brave enough to look at too closely just yet.
“How about you?” Lance asked, pulling her out of the strange thoughts. “Everything go alright with your father?”
“Well Morgana fulfilled her promise and paid me back the cost of the plane tickets and everything else, but Dad is still a bit confused as to why I went in the first place.” Jenny forced a little laugh and shrugged. “It was hard to explain… in the end, I just told him that it wasn’t my story to tell.”
“He accepted that?”
“Strangely enough yeah; he didn’t like it by any means, but Daddy is a lawyer. He does understand that sometimes you just can’t talk about something.”
“Weird, I was lucky on the family front. I didn’t have to try to come up with any explanations,” Lance said. He shifted a little and rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh… you haven’t heard from Arthur have you?”
“No.” Jenny’s whole body tensed at just hearing his name. She felt sick just thinking about him. “And I doubt I will. I was just a means to an end; a way to help convince everyone that he was really the reincarnation.”
“Good,” Lance sighed in relief. “Hopefully he won’t pay too much attention to you now.”
Part of Jenny felt a little offended by the insinuation that she couldn’t take care of herself even as another part of her agreed with Lance. Arthur was apparently a mage and the reincarnation of Mordred, but he was allied with the Queen of the Sídhe, which didn’t make much sense to Jenny. She’d thought that magical powers came from protecting the Earth, but then again she wasn’t a mage. The last part of her couldn’t help but turn a bit floaty at the expression of Lance’s concern.
“I hope he leaves you alone too,” Jenny told him gently, meeting his big brown eyes with her own and giving him a smile. She was going to say something more and Lance licked his lips and swallowed, telling her that he wanted to say something as well.
The
door opening sent another blast of cold air swirling through the entryway, and Jenny grimaced at the temperature drop. Lance shifted in front of her and his body heat suddenly seemed to surround her. Fighting back her embarrassment, Jenny peeked around Lance’s arm towards the door. A small squeak escaped her as Alex and the others rushed inside and began to shake the snow off of their coats.
“Jenny!” Alex’s wide smile was so happy and welcoming that Jenny instantly relaxed.
“Hi, Alex!” Jenny stepped out from behind Lance and returned the smile. She was tempted to hug Alex but held back that impulse. “Welcome back.”
“Thanks.” Alex pulled her hood back and shook out her long blonde hair. “How are you guys?” Her eyes darted between Jenny and Lance, almost glowing with curiosity and eagerness.
There was a sudden urge to say something about Lance and herself but held back. She still needed to better understand what was happening. Their relationship had caused a lot of heartache over the lifetimes, and wow that was a strange thing to have to think about. Jenny shifted around Lance and turned her attention to the others. Nicki looked relaxed and content standing next to Aiden, and was giving Jenny what was the probably the warmest look she’d ever received from the redhead. Bran was standing neutrally with a cane in his hands that made her frown in confusion, but he gave her a quick wink and smile. Aiden, on the other hand, was looking between her and Lance before he shifted his attention to look at Alex’s face. The blonde merely raised an eyebrow at him which made Aiden chuckle.
“Hello Jenny,” Aiden greeted with a wide smile. “Hey, Lance!”
He stepped forward and slapped Lance on the shoulder and then to her surprise he kissed her cheek quickly. As she stared at him in shock, Aiden shifted back and grinned at them impossibly wider. He gestured towards the doors to the cafeteria.
“Shall we?” He questioned, with a glance around at everyone. “I’m not sure about you but I’m hungry.”
“Even if they only have lousy Italian?” Nicki asked. She smirked and walked forward to link her arm through Aiden’s.
“Oh god, no more Italian,” Aiden groaned. He pulled open the door with a shudder.
“Aiden! Did I really just hear that?” Nicki gasped, giving him a shocked and curious look.
“I was in a coma: Dad’s been cooking Italian nonstop since I woke up to ‘help me recover’, so yeah, no more Italian please,” Aiden explained. He was pouting a little and Jenny had to hold back a giggle.
“Alright you two,” Alex chided. She stepped up behind them and pushed them forward. “Pause the comedy routine so we can eat.”
Entering Michaels Cafeteria suddenly seemed to reset her world in a way that not even her dorm room had. She followed the others and took a tray from Alex with a smile. Her former roommate gave her a small nod and as the others moved past them lingered for a moment. Suddenly she was back at school, and it was strangely easy to imagine that at any moment Arthur was going to come strolling in to join them.
“It’s still a bit weird,” Alex said with a helpless shrug. Jenny wondered if Alex had read her mind. “But I still mean what I said about wanting my friend to stay.”
“I remember,” Jenny breathed with a softening smile. She glanced down at her feet feeling a bit silly. “Sorry about the weirdness.”
“It was a little easier while we were on a grand, urgent adventure to save Aiden.” Alex nodded towards the others. “Real life… little harder.”
“Well for what’s worth, I’m still not sure what the reincarnation of Guinevere-”
“Gwenyvar,” Alex corrected. Grimacing, Alex froze and started to turn red. “Sorry.”
“Okay; I’m not sure what my role will be here. I don’t have magical powers, but I’d like to help.”
“Well, if nothing else you give me someone sane to talk to,” Alex offered, still blushing a little at her earlier interruption. “Because let’s face it, Nicki is not totally sane.”
Jenny looked at the girl in question to find her flirting with the dark haired girl working at the hot food counter. Nicki was leaning on the counter with a wide smile and fluttering her blue eyes. Holding back a snort, Jenny glanced towards Alex and found the other girl chuckling.
“She’s not… completely insane,” Jenny offered with an uncontrollable smile. “She’s very spirited.”
“No, she’s insane,” Aiden said. He joined them, grabbed a plate for the salad bar and grinned. “But we like her that way.”
Shaking her head, Alex nodded towards the salad bar and gave Jenny a smile. She nodded in return and stepped away from Alex to start getting her own meal as more students began to pour into the cafeteria. Jenny focused on making herself a large salad and got a piece of grilled chicken from the hot food counter. Meeting up with Lance at the drinks counter, Jenny poured herself an iced tea and fell into step with the others.
“What’s with the cane?” Jenny asked Bran in a low voice as he moved alongside her. “Is your leg- I mean-”
“It’s just a cover,” he assured her quickly. “I’m fine.”
It was strange to be so close to the group back at school. She’d certainly been close to Alex during last year when they’d been roommates, but Jenny had never spent much time with the others. From their time in Wales, she knew a little bit about all of them, but wouldn’t consider them friends and yet now she was sitting at the large table in the back corner of the dining area with them. A round table, her mind unhelpfully added. Lance sat down to her left and then to her relief Alex sat down at her right.
Her eyes were drawn instantly to Alex and she took in the blond young woman carefully. She looked a little tired, but happy at the same time as her gaze flickered over to Aiden as he sat down. Jenny felt a wave of fondness for Alex wash over her before remembering the awkward truth that in another life, several in fact, that woman had been male and her husband. Jenny shook her head; this was a real head trip, but she really needed to get past it. Besides, wasn’t it still better than Arthur really being the reincarnation of King Arthur- uh Arto? She’d have to get used to the real history she was dealing with now rather just the far removed mythology.
Alex being the real Iron Soul and Arthur being a traitor deceiving them all meant that she hadn’t actually betrayed someone who was good. Sure she’d cheated with Lance on her boyfriend, but given that he was lying the whole time, surely that wasn’t such a horrible thing. She almost snorted; now rather than being former husband and wife she and Alex had a potentially much more distressing connection: the women that Arthur had used and betrayed.
“So…” Alex’s fork was poised over a bowl of some sort of pasta on her tray. “Where should we start? I’m sure that the Professors will be contacting us tomorrow for information on what is going on and getting back to training.”
“Well, some good news on my front,” Aiden offered as he sliced his burger in half. “I used an ice spell against Chernobog’s shadows.”
“You did?” Nicki reached over to smack his arm, grinning widely. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“I wanted to tell the group,” Aiden defended quickly. “But that really shows that it’s time for us to pull out the RPG books again and start trying new things again.”
“RPG books?” Jenny asked weakly. Biting her lower lip, she struggled not to burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, actually.” Bran chuckled fondly. “Our magic is based on our will and an ability to visualize, so movies, tv, literature and yeah RPG books are a good source of ideas.”
“I hate to bring it up,” Lance said carefully. “But have you learned anything new about all those creatures that attacked us?”
“No,” Bran admitted. His smile vanished and he shook his head. “Merlin and Morgana said that they were going to start working on it, but they haven’t told us anything yet.”
“To be fair though Alex just got back,” Nicki added hopefully. “So maybe they’ll have something for us soon.”
“But this queen
?” Jenny looked between the four mages, wishing one of them would say something helpful. “What do you know about her? I mean, if she’s really Arthur’s mother then where are they? How is she communicating with the Sídhe?”
“Actually that’s the thing,” Bran said. “The Queen isn’t actually the current ruler of the Sídhe world. She was… well, killed in theory, but was actually trapped in our world somehow three thousand years ago.”
“Okay….” Jenny was actually afraid of asking for more details on that madness. “So why do those things obey her if she isn’t the queen?”
“That’s one of the big questions,” Alex admitted. “Most of them don’t really have a reason to want to hurt us. The creatures living in our world were all born here at this point, so they certainly aren’t loyal to her.”
“We think there is something more going on,” Nicki added quickly. “Some sort of controlling magic that she’s using on them. We just don’t know what.”