Girl to the Rescue!

by Katrina Kahler

  I heard Sebastian cough. I turned to him. I nodded. I started rubbing my stomach and groaning. Sebastian mimicked me. I mumbled, “Lat mu feca tyrn graan…”

  Mr. Locke walked over to us. “You two don’t sound good….” He looked at me. “Oh, you look green….”

  I held my stomach and bent over. “Coach Locke, we shared a tuna fish sandwich before we came. I think it was bad…” I groaned.

  Sebastian bent over and looked up at Coach Locke with sore eyes, “Oh, I second that…” His face was also green and he looked really ill.

  I looked at Mr. Locke, “Permission to rush rush rush to the bathroom…” I moaned.

  He pointed down the hall. “Yes, go!” He looked at Sebastian, “You too!”

  “Yes, sir,” he said holding his stomach.

  We both limped away. Once we were out of sight of the class we started walking normally. “Good acting,” I told Sebastian.

  He smiled at me. “Thanks, back at you.”

  I picked up my phone and looked at it. “Good, I have an email from Merlin!”

  “Email?”

  “He’s a super old cat, he doesn’t text,” I said.

  “Oh there’s an attachment,” I said. I popped open the attachment. A map of the museum appeared on my phone. I noticed a hand written arrow pointing to a stairwell. Merlin had scribbled a note. “I’m betting the armor is down there. I pointed to the left, “this way.”

  “You trust your cat’s directions?” Sebastian asked me.

  I shrugged. “Yeah, you got a better idea?”

  He shrugged back at me. “That direction it is.”

  We followed Merlin’s map through a few twists and turns until we came to a big black door.

  “Wow, you can read a map really well!” Sebastian told me.

  I grinned. “Comes from being born in a time way before everybody carried phones with an inbuilt GPS in their pockets.”

  “Oh right, I forgot that you’re old.”

  I looked at him. “I’m not old, I just have old memories,” I said, a little defensively.

  “Oops, sorry,” Sebastian said taking a step back.

  I tilted my head and took a breath. I tapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry…I shouldn’t be so sensitive.”

  He smiled. “I like that about you.”

  We shared a moment. Sebastian pointed to the doorknob. “Do you think you can use some cool magic to open the door?”

  I reached down, grabbed the handle and turned it. The door popped open. “Guess I don’t have to.” The door led to a long stairway. “Come on!” I said.

  We walked down the stairs into a long hallway. The hallway was lined with old pieces of armor with swords and spears bolted to the walls. At the end of the hallway stood two complete shining silver pieces of armor.

  My mind drifted. I was back in our courtyard with Arthur, he was dressed in his finest armor. “How do I look, my love?” Arthur asked me.

  “You look royal, as always,” I smiled. “But I am more concerned with your safety than your look.”

  Arthur pounded on the armor with a steel gloved fist. “Trust me, this armor is as sturdy as any ever made. And I do have Excalibur.”

  Sebastian snapped his fingers in my face. “Earth to Gwen.”

  I snapped back to now. “That armor. It’s real. I’ve seen it before.”

  “That’s good, right?” Sebastian asked.

  I nodded. “I think so.”

  The armor started to glow.

  “Now that’s different,” I said.

  “Good different or bad different?” Sebastian asked.

  The two pieces of armor started to creep towards us, arms extended.

  “I’m guessing a bit of both,” I said. I pulled my pencil from my pocket. “Steff cime!” I said. The pencil transformed into my staff. I drew the staff back and stood at the ready.

  “What’s going on here?” we heard a voice say. We saw a confused looking Art standing behind us.

  “Art? Why did you follow us?” I asked.

  “I have no idea,” Art answered. He pointed to the armor clanking toward us, arms extended. “But I’m sorry I did.” He gulped, looking at the approaching armor. “Are they robots?”

  “Nope,” I said drawing my staff. “I’m guessing they have been magically animated.”

  “That makes no sense!” Art yelled at me.

  I held my staff over my head at the ready. “It does in my world. And maybe yours,” I told him.

  “That makes no sense!” Art protested. “Should we run?”

  “You can. I won’t!” I stood there holding my ground. Looking over my shoulder at him I said. “I can’t.”

  Sebastian took a boxing stance. “I won’t!”

  I smiled at him. He returned my smile with one of his own.

  “This is crazy!” Art said, looking at the door.

  I screamed and rushed at the armor, waving my staff over my head. Leaping into the air, I hit the armor on the left with my staff, smashing in its helmet. The armor crumpled into a heap on the ground. The second suit of armor swung at me with its right hand. I blocked it with my staff. It hit me on the jaw. The blow sent me flying to the ground.

  Okay, note to self, this set of armor was fast and strong. The armor clanked against the side of the room and pulled a big broadsword off the wall.

  I popped back to my feet. This thing was dangerous enough without a weapon. If I wasn’t careful it could split me in two. The dark black armor spun the broadsword overhead and increased its pace towards me.

  The armor lunged at me. I dodged to the side. I felt the rush of the blade just miss me. I heard the blade hit the ground. The blade popped back out and spun towards me. I blocked it at the last moment with my staff. The end of my staff glowed bright red. I hit the Armor in the helmet. It staggered back a step and quickly regained its balance.

  “Oh, you’re good!” I told it

  Sebastian screamed...he flew across the room ramming his shoulder into the armor’s backside. The armor lurched forward but somehow managed to keep its balance.

  I heard, “Hiya!” Art leaped at the Armor kicking it in the neck. Art fell to the ground. The armor turned towards Art and raised its sword. I used my staff like a baseball bat ramming the armor in its side.

  “Not polite to turn your back on a lady!” I told it.

  The armor started to spin towards me. I used my staff as a bat again, this time I focused on the armor’s helmet. My staff smashed into the helmet, denting it and knocking it flying across the room.

  The armor fell backward to the ground, just missing Art.

  “What in the name of all that’s crazy was that?” Art said.

  I held my staff out to him. He grabbed the tip of my staff. He looked at me. “Guinevere. Is it really you?” he asked. “I remember everything.”

  Sebastian came to my side. “Okay, we should get out of here now,” he said.

  I knew he was right. But I had Arthur back. My staff had worked. “Arthur, I’m so glad you are back! Now we can finally get the knights together and defeat Morgana.”

  Arthur shook his head. “Wait! So, Morgana is…Morgana, the mega rich super model and TV star?”

  “Yep,” I said. “And she has full use of her magic.”

  “Oh that’s not good,” Arthur said.

  “Being here isn’t great either,” Sebastian told us. “Let's talk about this far away from here.”

  “He has a great point,” I told Arthur. “This would be hard to explain. But now that you are here to lead our charge…”

  Arthur shook his head. “No.”

  “What do you mean, no?”

  Arthur looked me in the eyes. “Gwen, that was a different time and a different world.”

  “But you are the same person,” I pleaded.

  Arthur laughed. “Yes. Yes, I am. But now I finally have a choice. Back then, I pulled a sword from a stone and became king. My dear, that is no way to be a leader.” He lowered his head. “I neve
r chose to be king. There were no other choices. Well, no other good choices.” He paused to let his words sink in. “I like this life and this world. I will help your cause when needed. But I will not lead your cause.”

  I looked him in the eyes. “But the cause needs a leader,” I told him.

  Art took me by the hands. “It has a leader, an amazing leader. One that will bravely jump into battle and face a deadly foe. One that won’t let anything get in the way.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t even know where Lancelot is. I don’t have a clue…”

  Arthur laughed.

  “Why are you laughing?” I demanded.

  Sebastian put his hand gently on my shoulder. He looked me in the eyes. “He’s talking about you, Gwen.”

  Arthur nodded. “Our cause could not have a better leader.” He pointed to the door. “Now if you don’t mind, I really don’t want to get grounded over this.” He slipped away.

  “But…” I sputtered.

  Sebastian spun me towards him. “Gwen, this is great news. We have another ally and you know the staff works!”

  I nodded. “It is…just that I was counting on Arthur…”

  “You can still count on him, just in a different role,” Sebastian told me.

  “Good point!” I told him. I looked on the bright side. I had my staff charged and activated. I knew who Arthur was. Things were looking up.

  Sebastian pointed to the shattered suits of armor. “Ah, can you fix these?”

  “Yeah, this might be hard to explain,” I admitted. I pointed at the armor and said, “Ermir rapeor.” The armor snapped back into shape. I pointed to the end of the hall and ordered, “Ermir gi thara!” The armor walked back to where it had originally been. I smiled.

  “OH NO!” Mr. Moon cried. He walked into the room followed by Ms. Vivian and a number of security guards dressed in blue uniforms.

  “What happened here?” Mr. Moon demanded.

  “Ah, just needed to get a sneak peek of this amazing armor!” I said.

  Mr. Moon walked past us still totally fixated on the armor. He reached the armor. He touched one of the helmets. “This helmet was perfect but now it has a dent.” He gazed at the other suit of armor. He touched its side. “This one also has a big dent in the side.” He turned to me. His eyes locked on my staff. “Where in world did you get that?” he barked, rushing towards me.

  “It’s mine,” I said defensively.

  “Young lady!”

  “Her name is Gwen Smith,” Ms. Vivian told Mr. Moon.

  Mr. Moon ignored her. “Young lady. There is no way you could have brought something like that into our museum. I can only guess you found it somewhere in the museum and decided to use it to pound on some very precious armor…with your friend.” He pointed to Sebastian.

  “No, it was just me,” I told him. “Sebastian just got here. He has no idea what happened.”

  Two guards came down beside me. One of them took my staff from me. I tried to think of a spell to use but I was too nervous. I was also angry at myself for being sloppy. I should have shrunk my staff immediately. I shot Ms. Vivian a pleading look.

  Ms. Vivian moved close to Mr. Moon. “I’m sure Sebastian here is innocent.” She pointed at me, “But this one, I don’t know her that well, although I do know she’s tricky.”

  I heard Ms. Vivian’s voice in my mind, “Gwen, just play along. It’s the only way to keep your friend out of big trouble. You don’t want him in serious trouble. Do you?”

  Mr. Moon stood there, arms crossed and glaring at me. I fought back the urge to glare back. Instead, I tried to act sorry. Mr. Moon’s pocket started to vibrate. He pulled out his phone. “Who could be calling me now?” He put the phone to his ear. “Yes.” He listened for a couple of seconds. “Of course, I’ll take the call.” He listened for a few more seconds. He smiled. “It’s an honor.” He listened a bit more. His smile grew wider. “Thank you!” he said. He put his phone back in his pocket. He pointed at me. “The damage to the armor has been paid ten times over.”

  “Say what?” I said.

  “By whom?” Ms. Vivian demanded.

  Mr. Moon shook his head. “I am not at liberty to say. Miss, you have rich and powerful friends who just want to help you to be a better you.”

  I had a pretty fair idea who that rich and powerful friend was. I had hoped this was a trick from Merlin but feared it wasn’t. “Great, I’ll take the staff and be on my way.”

  Mr. Moon waved a finger at me. “No. The staff is ours. There is no way you could have brought that rare staff in here. Therefore, we know it is ours. I mean...it was ours.”

  “Explain!” Vivian ordered.

  “Yes, please explain?” I asked.

  Mr. Moon smiled. “Somebody else just bought it and the entire building.” He motioned to the guards. “Guards, please take these fine people out of our museum. Oh, and if we see either of you in our building in the next 24 hours, you will be arrested on sight.”

  “Wait, why me?” Ms. Vivian asked, pointing to herself.

  Mr. Moon shrugged. “No idea. The buyer just mentioned you and said you were an underpaid teacher and not to be trusted.”

  The big burly guards grabbed us by our arms and led us out of the room and up the stairs.

  Everything froze in place.

  “Now what, Morgana? Come to gloat?” I sighed.

  Morgana’s face appeared in front of me. It felt creepy.

  “Wait, you can’t even show up with your entire body?” I asked.

  Morgana’s face snickered. “No need for this. I just want to thank you for hand delivering the staff to my museum.”

  “Wait, you own this place?”

  Morgana giggled. “Honey, I own a LOT of places. That staff is such a powerful item, I could not snatch it directly from you. I can’t even summon it. Truthfully, I’m not sure what would happen if I touch it.”

  “So, why do you want it?” I spat – literally.

  Morgana’s face shook off the spit. “Please dear, I don’t have hands here, say it don’t spray it…”

  “Sorry,” I told her. “But answer my question.”

  “My dear, I want it so you can’t have it. My envoy will arrive to pick it up soon.” Morgana said. She turned to Ms. Vivian. “Oh, I see you met the wanna be me…”

  “She’s my teacher,” I said, prouder than I probably should have been.

  Morgana frowned. “Be careful, wanna be’s are always dangerous. That one more so.” Morgana stuck out her tongue at Vivian.

  “How mature!” I said.

  Morgana disappeared.

  My notes

  Good news, bad news, I guess. My staff is finally activated. I now know who Arthur is and Arthur knows who he used to be. Of course, that’s where the good news ends. Arthur doesn’t want to be our leader. He never wanted to be king, he just couldn’t turn it down before. But now…now he can. He passed the torch to me, I guess. Maybe Lancelot will take the lead. But for the moment, it’s up to me. And do you know what? I like it. I like being the leader. The one in charge.

  Sure, I’ve been in charge for about ten minutes and I‘ve actually lost the staff. Now, I have around 24 hours to steal back my staff from the museum to keep it out of Morgana’s hands. How am I going to do that? I have no idea. But hopefully, my friends and my cat will help me come up with a great plan of action. After all, I know a leader is only as good as her team.

  Oh, I’m not sure what to make of Ms. Vivian. I’m pretty sure she led Mr. Moon down to me and tipped him off. I know she wants the staff too. But she’s also Morgana’s enemy, so that makes her - the enemy of my enemy of my friend? I guess I am going to find out soon enough.

  Chapter 13

  That evening Mika and Sebastian, Merlin, Fern, and Gail came around to my place. Arthur came too but grumbled about it. Mom and Dad were there as well, of course. They even replaced our dining room table with a nice big round table. It felt good, yet weird, sitting at a round table with Arthur.

/>   “So, what’s the plan now?” Gail asked.

  “Easy, Gwen breaks into the museum and takes her staff back before Morgana’s aide can arrive,” Merlin said.

  “But we don’t know where the staff is being kept. We know there will be guards and we don’t know how much time we have,” Arthur moaned.

  “I didn’t say it would be easy,” Merlin said.

  “Still can’t believe you’re a cat,” Arthur told him.

  “Still can’t believe you’re a wimp,” Merlin countered.

  Arthur’s face turned red. He looked away from Merlin.

  Fern shot Merlin a look and said, “Tweeeettt!!”

  Merlin shook his head. “He needed to hear that.”

  Fern considered Merlin’s words then put his beak on the table.

  There was a knock on the door. Mom stood up. “I’ll get it.”

  Dad jumped to his feet. “I’ll go with you, just in case.”

  I told Fern, “You go with them too, buddy, just in case.”

  Fern flew onto Dad’s shoulder. He nibbled Dad’s ear. Dad laughed.

  “So how much time do we have?” Sebastian asked. “After all, Morgana can get her aide across the country in no time.”

  “She can’t teleport near the staff,” Merlin snickered. “So they would have to fly here on a regular plane.”

  “Yeah, but she’s rich. That won’t take long.”

  Gail looked at her phone. “That’s not going to be happening for a while.” She showed us her phone. It read: Massive rain storm grounds all air travel for 24 hours. Gail looked at me. “That just seems weird.”

  “Not weird, it’s magic,” Merlin said.

  “Ms. Vivian?” Mika asked.

  “Nah, this is massive magic…only two people who could do this, besides me of course...when I’m not a cat. They are Morgana and Nina,” Merlin lectured.

  “Looks like Nina is trying to help,” I said with a smile.

  “Yeah, she’s never been a fan of Morgana’s,” Merlin said.