The Gatekeeper Trilogy

by Scott Ferrell

  “Oh, I’m not?”

  “No, you’re not.” She grabbed my wrist hard. “So, what if they suck all the magic out of Earth. Most of the population didn’t even know it was there. No harm, no foul.”

  “That’s not necessarily true,” Mr. Minor intoned.

  “Stay out of it,” Aoife hissed.

  “True, most don’t know it’s there, but it affects people,” he went on, ignoring Aoife. “It changes the way humanity acts as a whole. The last time the earth drained, people were burned as witches. Diseases ran rampant. Very bad people rose to power. We’ve been through this.”

  “You’re talking about something that happened 1000 years ago.” Aoife whirled on the old man. “I know you were around for it and all, but things have changed since then. Humanity has changed.”

  “Has it?” he asked, ignoring the gibe. “You keep saying that but do you really believe it?”

  “He’s right,” I said. “It’s something we can’t risk. I started this, I have to finish it.”

  “Don’t use those stupid movie lines,” she said. “You don’t have to do anything.”

  “It’s my fault Daresh gained the ability to open the gate.”

  “I don’t care. You’re fifteen, Gaige! What are you supposed to do, huh? Are you going back to your rush in there and somehow close the gate plan?”

  “Yeah,” I admitted.

  “I’m not letting you get yourself killed.”

  “You’re not letting me do anything,” I shot back. “I’m going whether you like it or not. I’m the only one who can close that gate.”

  “They opened it without you, right? They did something to you down in that dungeon. Somehow took your ability to open it.”

  “That’s true,” Mr. Minor said, “but I don’t think it’s as simple as that. I’ve been thinking about it and I think Yannick did the same thing to your mother, Mr. Porter. He took some of her power and opened the gateway, but he was unprepared for the amount of energy it takes to open it. He did just a bit, but not enough to get his magic sucking machine through.”

  “Magic sucking machine? Is that a technical term?” Dylan asked.

  “That doesn’t make sense. Seanna came through the same day as the earthquake,” Aoife said.

  “Plus, there was one of Daresh things here. I saw it when he was, uh, you know,” I said.

  “I see. It must have snuck in at some point when the gateway was open,” Mr. Minor said a bit absently. “Perhaps Daresh and Yannick had the forethought to plan ahead. If they had an agent here, they might have known you were the new Gatekeeper. They had our Ashling friend ready just in case something went wrong at the gate. And so, it did.”

  “Whatever,” Aoife said. “It doesn’t matter what, when, or why. If you’re going back, then I’m going with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “No!” Dylan and I said at the same time.

  “Try to stop me,” she dared.

  “Fine,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her. “Let’s go.”

  “What?” Her hard stance shifted.

  “You’re going? Let’s go.”

  “Now?”

  “Now.”

  “Let’s not rush anything,” Mr. Minor said.

  “Why wait?” I asked. “Nothing’s going to swoop in to save the day with that thing around the city.” I pointed up, indicating the shield on the other side of the crumbling ceiling. “No Army. No Superman. No Hawkeye with his bow and arrows.”

  “I can’t let Aoife go,” Dylan said.

  “You stop her then,” I said.

  “If she goes, I go.”

  “Fine,” I said again. “Whatever. Let’s go.”

  We stood in our little circle for a long moment. Maybe they thought I wasn’t serious. I was. I wanted to end this for good. I was willing to put my neck on the line and I had no more energy to waste arguing with them. If they wanted to stretch their necks across the chopping block, too, then so be it.

  Finally, Aoife turned on her heel and marched for the front door. Dylan hesitated, then followed.

  Mr. Minor grabbed my arm before I could move. “If you can’t close the gate, you’re going to have to destroy their machines.”

  “How?”

  He breathed a sigh and turned away. “There’s a little know ability Gatekeepers have.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “They can create new gates.”

  I wondered if I imagined the note of sadness in his voice. “I don’t know how to do that.”

  “Did you know how to do any of your abilities before you used them?” He turned back to me and patted my shoulder. I couldn’t help but notice how pleased he looked. “You’ll figure it out when it’s needed. If it comes down to it, open a gate beneath those machines and banish them from this world.”

  He turned and shuffled toward the front of the store. I ran a hand through my greasy hair. What did I just get myself into?

  33

  MORE DISGUISES

  For the second time that day, I found myself hunkered behind a nearby car and staring up at the dark hole that was the gateway. There were a lot of impressive things that deserved my attention at that moment, but my eyes were constantly drawn to the gate. Seeing it yanked open like that made me feel exposed like a dream of going to school in nothing but my underwear. Forget the conical-shaped machine that held the gateway open. Forget the massive cylinder that glowed purple from the magic it ripped from the Earth. All I could think about was the violated gateway.

  “So, what now?” Aoife asked.

  “There are so many of them,” Dylan breathed.

  “We must get to that machine and disable it somehow.” Mr. Minor pointed to the glowing cylinder. “That is job one. Then close the gateway.”

  I disagreed wholeheartedly. I wanted to get the gate closed. I needed to. I didn’t care about the machine sucking the Earth dry of its magic. The gateway. That’s what I cared about.

  “Yeah, sounds easy,” Aoife said.

  “Hey guys.”

  The four of us nearly jumped out of our pants at the sudden appearance of Brian.

  “What the hell, Brian?” Aoife hissed.

  He waved his three-fingered wave. “What?”

  “What happened to you?” I asked.

  “I ran away.”

  “No, really?”

  “Really,” he said, full of innocence. “When those things attacked us, I ran. I thought you were behind me. I swear.”

  “Whatever,” I growled. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was hiding over there.” He waved a hand vaguely in the direction of a small building that housed a local drive-thru restaurant. “How did you guys get loose? I was going to come back to help, but I couldn’t find you. I thought you guys were goners.”

  “Not yet,” Aoife said. “There’s still time.”

  “I saw you guys run over here like a bunch of hunchbacked old ladies,” Brian went on like he hadn’t heard her. “I’m really surprised they didn’t see you, too.”

  I peeked over the bed of the truck. It wasn’t a huge surprise we weren’t spotted. The Getharey stared at their magic sucking machine like it was some kind of god come down to preach the virtues of draining worlds dry.

  “Mr. Wallner, maybe this isn’t the place for you?” Mr. Minor said.

  Brian looked the former dentist up and down. If we weren’t hunkering behind a pickup truck, I’m sure he would have towered over Mr. Minor like a giant out of a bedtime story. “And it is for you?”

  “I know what I’m getting myself into,” the smaller man said.

  “So, do I. So, piss off,” Brian said.

  “What are we going to do?” Aoife cut in the argument.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted.

  “Why are we even here?” Dylan wondered out loud.

  “Getting ourselves killed, of course,” Aoife said.

  “Not yet, Ms. Connelly,” Mr. Minor said.

  “Anybody have any th
oughts?” I asked.

  We were all quiet. None of us would look the others in the eye.

  “Do you know how to disable that thing?” I asked Mr. Minor.

  “I can’t say I’m a hundred percent certain, but I am at least somewhat sure I could figure it out if I were to get a closer look. I do have some experience with Getharey machinery.”

  “Somewhat doesn’t sound all that inspiring,” Dylan said.

  “It’s the best we have,” I said. “We just have to get him close enough. Somehow.”

  We fell quiet again. I turned to look over the truck again. Brian pushed up to join me.

  “Maybe we can get to it while they’re distracted,” I suggested.

  “That sounds great,” Aoife said as she joined us. “Especially since the thing distracting them is the thing we need to get to.”

  I grunted but said nothing. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Couldn’t anything be easy? Would it be out of the realm of possibility that we could just waltz in, save the day, and be heroes? Good job, everyone. Let’s go home.

  “I might have some things at my house that might help?” Mr. Minor said.

  “What? Now you tell us?” Aoife blurted out. “What kind of things?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’re not going all the way back to the other side of town.”

  “What do you propose, Gatekeeper?” the former dentist asked.

  Propose? I didn’t have anything to propose. I had nothing and it frustrated me to no end. All I had was a desire to make a run for the gateway and hope for the best. It was hard to convince myself it wouldn’t work.

  “What do you think, Brian?” I asked. He didn’t answer. “Brian?”

  I turned to my friend. He stared out at the gathered Getharey and their magic sucking machine. There was an odd glint in his eyes.

  “Brian?”

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he murmured.

  “What are you taking about?” And then it hit me. I’d seen that same glassy-eyed look before. I glanced at the others, but they remained unaffected by the sight of magic pulsing from the ground.

  “We should get it,” he said.

  I was becoming quickly aware of what it he was talking about. I grabbed one of his shoulders, spun him around, and pushed his back against the truck with a loud thump. I pressed my forearm into his throat.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “Gaige,” Aoife said but I only pushed into Brian more.

  His eyes darted back and forth. There was something in them I couldn’t quite name. Fear? Sadness? Regret? It didn’t matter. I was sick of being betrayed. If Brian wasn’t who I thought he was, I had no doubt I’d kill him with my bare hands.

  “I had to,” he gasped. He didn’t struggle to break free.

  “Had to what?” I snarled.

  He didn’t answer, but his eyes finally stilled on me. There was definitely sorrow and regret in them.

  “I think we need to hear the young man out.” Mr. Minor put a hand on my shoulder.

  “I’ve had enough of this.” I pushed harder into his throat. I wondered if I did hard enough his windpipe would collapse.

  “Gaige.” It was Aoife again. She laid a hand on my other arm.

  I pushed hard one last time, not caring if I accomplished permanent damage, before I let Brian go.

  Aoife made sure I moved back a couple steps before she turned to Brian. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? What did you do with Brian?”

  The thing’s eyes refocused. “What? No, I am Brian.”

  Aoife’s own eyes flared to life. She stared hard at whatever he was.

  “You see me, right?” he said. “I am Brian, I swear.”

  “He has the same colors I usually see on Brian,” Aoife admitted.

  “You can recognize people by their color?” I asked.

  “Different people always carry certain colors around them, even if they’re trying to hide their true feelings.”

  “Remarkable.” Mr. Minor’s voice held fast awe.

  “It’s me,” Brian said again.

  “Then...” Aoife hesitated. “Then, you’re one of them and have been all along?”

  He opened his mouth but closed it before saying anything. I gripped the truck’s side view mirror to keep myself from throttling him again.

  “It’s me,” he said again, lamely. “Gaige, we met when you started jumping off the top of the slide in fifth grade. I told you that you were going to break your leg.”

  I stared at him. That was how I met Brian. I ended up convincing him to joining me in my daredevil jumping ways until a teacher put a stop to it.

  “Aoife, we danced at the eighth-grade dance. You punched me.” He dared to smile a half smirk. “It took me a long time to figure out why. It’s because you saw something else in me, right?”

  Aoife tensed.

  “Something out of the ordinary. I let my guard drop. I hadn’t even realized I had until you punched me.”

  “I thought you were thinking... Bad stuff,” she finished lamely.

  “No, not at all.” He actually looked horrified at the thought. “It was just a little bit of, er, my true self coming through.”

  “I should kill you,” I growled.

  “Now, let’s not be hasty.” Mr. Minor maneuvered his thin frame between the thing and me. “Why are you here?”

  Brian’s eyes shifted from Mr. Minor to me and back. He looked confused and at a loss for words.

  “Okay, let’s get the basics out of the way, then,” the former dentists said. “You’re a Getharey, correct.”

  Eye shift. Nod.

  “You were sent here?”

  Nod.

  “By Yannick?”

  Nod.

  “Why?”

  “I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he pleaded. “I was just recruited. It’s not like I could say no to a Getharey like Yannick.”

  “Why you?”

  “I have a talent for, er, shapeshifting.” Brian made a face like the talent was something disgusting. “I kinda wish I didn’t.”

  I’d had about enough of the whole magical disguise thing. That’s twice in a week or two I had discovered somebody wasn’t who they said they were. This one just happened to be my best friend. “Why don’t you show your real self?”

  Brian tried to ignore me, but I saw his eyes flick my direction before he gave his full attention to Mr. Minor.

  “Okay,” Mr. Minor said, “you were sent here by Yannick because you’re a shapeshifter. Why?”

  “To spy on the Gatekeeper.” His voice was small.

  “On me?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “Not at first. The Gatekeeper at that time.”

  “My mom?” Heat rolled up my spine and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I stood on the edge of completely losing it.

  “Yeah. Then on you after the accident.” He looked me full on that time. “I swear I didn’t know he would do it. I had no idea he’d attack the Gatekeeper. You have to believe me.”

  I couldn’t dig any words out of my brain.

  Mr. Minor pushed a little further between us. “Okay, so—”

  “Gaige, I’m so sorry.” He looked over Mr. Minor’s shoulder. “I really am. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

  “What exactly did you expect to happen?” I hissed. “You thought Yannick would just ask nicely for Mom to open the gateway so he could suck the magic out of the world? Do you even know what we went through on that world?” I pushed the little man out of the way. “Do you?”

  “Shh, Gaige,” Aoife said.

  I looked over the truck. Luckily the Getharey were too entranced by the pulsing magic flowing from Earth to have heard me.

  “Aoife and I nearly died, Brian.” I dowsed the name in sarcasm and hate. “My mom will never be the same because of you.”

  “No, no,” he pleaded. “Not because of me. Whether I came or not, he would have gotten what he wants. He won’t
ever stop until he does.”

  “That doesn’t let you off the hook.” I pushed past Mr. Minor and pushed him. He thumped back against the truck.

  “I know! I know!” The thing that used to be Brian looked around. I thought he might try to bolt, but he grabbed my shoulders instead. “I’ll make it up to you, though.”

  I shrugged off his hands. “You can’t.”

  “I’ll find a way. Really.” He peeked over the truck. It took a visible effort to pull his eyes from the magic sucking machine. “You’re trying to shut that down, right?”

  “That doesn’t matter to you,” I said.

  “And the machine holding the gateway open,” he added. He ran his palms down his thighs. “I’ll make it up to you. Get ready to go for the machines, okay?”

  “Why?” Aoife asked.

  “Just be ready.”

  Brian looked me dead in the eyes and his face started to melt. It was almost like watching ice cream melt. His skin stretched and sagged from the skeletal structure underneath. For just a moment, I thought I saw the shape of a Getharey skull, but the skin began to reform. It pulled back up to reform on the skull. The Getharey blinked and Brian’s once green eyes looked back at me except brown. The same color of brown my mom had. That I had.

  For a split second, I thought I had gone mad in an instant. Instead of the Getharey pretending to be a human named Brian, I looked at myself like I gazed in a mirror.

  “Whoa,” Dylan said.

  “Brian?” Aoife started.

  I watched my own head turn to look at her.

  “Get ready, okay? Take out those machines,” my mouth said, but with Brian’s voice.

  The Getharey stood and looked down at me. “We’re not all bad, just easily manipulated and intimidated. I’m sorry Gaige.”

  He ran around the truck and straight for the ruined park.

  34

  Attack on Gate City Park

  Although Brian looked like me, he still possessed his height, so it was more like a stretched version. It was surreal to watch my doppelganger run across what was left of the park like a streaker—slow enough to make sure he was seen but fast enough to have a good momentum built up if somebody went after him. I had mixed feelings about the whole thing. In one hand, he had been my best friend for years. In the other, he was a magic sucking alien who betrayed my family and me. I wanted to tell at him to come back, but I also hoped the Getharey tore him apart.