The League of Skull & Bones

by MJ Fletcher

  A portal flared open and closed as I approached and I slid to a halt and bent over, grabbing my legs as I gasped for breath.

  I wanted to scream, but I didn’t have time. I reached out and quickly found a path and opened a portal. I wasn’t going to quit no matter how many portals I had to run through.

  Day changed to night and a myriad of other things as I ran till my legs felt weak. They kept jumping through portals. I found residual energy at each location, at least enough to track and keep up the hunt.

  I knew how tired I was, I couldn’t imagine how bad it was for DeAndre. A running battle was one of the hardest to fight for Old Kind. You had to keep your abilities at peak every moment or you could lose control of a portal. The last glance I had gotten of him, he had already been in bad shape.

  A golden moon shined brightly on a beach as I closed the latest portal behind me. Further down the red sand beach the outlines of people fighting cast long shadows.

  I ran toward them and quickly discerned DeAndre was surrounded by several people. One other shadow stood out, a woman with a Mohawk was attacking DeAndre.

  The muscles in my legs burned as I pushed myself as hard as I could. I needed to get to him. Powerful energy was being expanded and the shadows danced and disappeared in flashes of red as the fight raged onward.

  Then suddenly silence, a portal opened and as I got closer I could see most of the people walk through it. But one remained standing over someone lying on the sand.

  It was Nyla kneeling over DeAndre and placing something on his chest. She stood and waved in my direction with a smile as she casually walked to the portal and slammed it closed behind her.

  “DeAndre,” I called out as I slid up next to him sending sand flying in all directions.

  “I’m here,” I said.

  I pulled myself to a sitting position and slipped my hand over his bloody chest and found the foxglove flower Nyla had left on him. I tossed it aside and slid my other hand under his dreadlocks and lifted his head, placing it on my lap. His face was battered and bruised, and I wiped the blood away from his cheeks.

  “DeAndre, we’ll have you back playing with Maya in no time.”

  He didn’t open his eyes, and I tilted my head as I looked at him. I fought though my weakness and exhaustion. I needed to stay alert to help him, but why the hell wasn’t he moving?

  “DeAndre, do you hear me?” I whispered

  He wasn’t moving, and his chest wasn’t rising and falling with breath. The wound in his stomach was bloody, but no new blood flowed from it. I shook my head and felt hot tears run down my cheeks.

  “No, no, no. You need to fight. You have a wife and daughter who need you,” I rocked him back and forth and hot tears rolled from my eyes “I need you, please.”

  I grabbed his face and shook it, my mentor, my friend. The man who had begun my training and was a friend of my family, this isn’t the way this was supposed to happen.

  “I came to save you,” I said softly.

  I dropped my head to his and held him close, rocking us both back and forth. Tears rolled off my face and I sobbed uncontrollably as I realized I was too late.

  “Please don’t leave me,” I whispered.

  Chapter 38

  Rain poured down on me and I didn’t care. The black dress that I had bought with the thought of going out on some hot date was wet and my normally wavy blonde hair hung pin straight and drenched.

  Plenty of people had offered for me to stand under their umbrellas, but I hadn’t bothered to answer them. I stood silently watching as my grandmother spoke over DeAndre’s casket. She was speaking about how loyal and strong he had been.

  But all I could do was watch his daughter Maya. She sat next to her mother crying and holding her hand. Every few minutes she would bury her face in her mom’s lap and weep uncontrollably.

  I knew how she felt. When I’d been told as a child, about her age, that my parents were dead all I wanted to do was cry. The only difference this time was that it was my fault DeAndre was dead. If I’d been quicker or had stopped Nyla sooner, he would still be alive and Maya would still have her dad, instead of a hole in her life she would never be able to fill.

  My friends had all come and I had spoken with them, but I wasn’t in the mood for a reunion at the moment. I was too angry. I wanted to find Nyla and make her pay for what she had done.

  Gran stopped talking and everyone began paying their respects to DeAndre’s family. A line formed quickly and I watched as people approached and said a few words to his wife who choked back tears. I had already spoken to her and didn’t think I could handle doing it again.

  I remained off in the background silently fuming.

  “Hello.” Ronan stepped up beside me.

  He held up his umbrella over both of us. His black suit was dry and perfect as usual, he always looked like he’d just stepped off a high-end magazine cover.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “We should talk.”

  “Not now.”

  “Jess, I want you to know I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks.”

  “If you need anything, I’m here.”

  “Okay,” was all I could manage to say.

  He reached out and took my hand, squeezing it. His touch felt good and I held his hand firmly and wished we could be somewhere else right now.

  Suddenly over Ronan’s shoulder I caught a glimpse of someone I didn’t expect to see here, Merric Vale.

  He lurked further away near a strand of trees. He stood on the edge of them, and like me he carried no umbrella. A long overcoat was slick with rain and his white hair hung in long, wet strands, some covering his face as he looked on solemnly.

  “I’m going to pay my respects,” Ronan said “but we do need to talk.”

  “Soon,” I nodded in agreement as he walked to join the line of mourners.

  I waited till he was out of sight, and then moved across the graveyard to confront Merric. He watched me as I approached, but didn’t make a move to leave.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Saying goodbye.”

  “DeAndre couldn’t stand you,” I said not in any mood to have a scene at my mentor’s funeral.

  “We had our differences, but when you have as few friends as I do. You’ll find that sometimes you mourn your enemies more. I respected DeAndre, besides, he mattered to you.”

  “Yes, he did, but what does that matter?”

  “I wanted to be sure you were okay,” he said.

  “Oh,” was all that came out of my mouth.

  “Are you, okay?”

  “No,” I said quietly, shaking my head.

  He stepped forward and slipped his arms around my waist and hugged me. I instantly felt the warm glow I experienced whenever he was near me. A serene feeling descended over me and I rested my head against his chest and let it overwhelm me. I wrapped my arms around his hard body and squeezed him tightly.

  “It’ll get better,” he whispered.

  “You sure about that?” I asked.

  He shifted his arm and touched my chin, turning me to face him, and his grey eyes looked down at me. At that moment all I wanted to do was get lost in them.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “You’re welcome.”

  He let go of me and stepped back and the warm glow slowly faded, but I was left with a feeling of peace that I hadn’t had moments earlier. It seemed so strange that this man who could calm me with a touch was the same man I’d seen lose control and become something wild and untamed.

  “Merric,” I began ready to ask him what had happened the last time I had seen him.

  “What are you doing here?” Ronan walked toward us, his eyes fixed on Merric.

  “Paying my respects,” Merric said.

  “You’re not a Guilder,” Ronan said.

  “I see plenty of non-Guilders here.”

  Merric motioned toward the crowd and he was correct. Every Society of the
Old Kind was represented.

  “At least they are Old Kind. I don’t know what the bloody hell you are.”

  “Ronan,” I said sharply.

  “You’re right, Ronan, I’m not Old Kind, and I’m sure that matters to someone like you.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you’re the type of person who cares about labels.”

  “Maybe I do, but at least I’m not a monster pretending to be a man.”

  “Monster.” Merric said with a smirk.

  “I don’t know what the hell you are Merric, but you should be in a cage.”

  “Ronan, knock it off, he helped me,” I said annoyed with the way he was acting.

  “You saw what he did, Jess, he can’t be trusted. He’s only ever out to help himself.”

  “You’re right, Ronan, I am a monster, and remember that.” Merric said as he walked away.

  “Merric, you don’t have to leave,” I called out after him.

  “I know when I’m not wanted, Old Kind,” he said and disappeared behind a cluster of trees.

  “Damn it, Ronan,” I said louder than I wanted to.

  “Jess, he’s dangerous.”

  “I can handle dangerous, don’t ever think I can’t.”

  “I don’t trust him,” Ronan said.

  “That’s your choice.”

  “I’m only looking out for you.”

  “Next time, don’t” I said as I opened a portal and left Ronan standing in the rain.

  Chapter 39

  I fell in total darkness, my body hitting the cold stone. The pain exploded in my side. But I couldn’t worry about that, since there was something much worse in the darkness around me. I dragged myself to my feet and used my crimson blade to light the area all around me. The sound of breathing was everywhere, claws scratching against stone and growls of anger or hunger, I couldn’t tell which.

  The first monster came out of the black void, its teeth and claws flashing as it attacked. I felt the warm flow of my blood drip down my shoulder as it sliced me. But I had drawn blood as well, and it howled in pain. I spun and drove my blade into the Gremlin’s chest. It tried to howl, but a gurgle was all it could manage.

  I heard someone calling my name, screaming for me. But I couldn’t look up. If I did, I would lose my nerve and realize how hopeless my situation had become.

  The darkness was broken by the shapes of Gremlins coming at me from all sides. This was it, my final moment. I knew it with such clarity that I felt a sense of peace come over me. If I was to die, I was going to go out fighting. I ran forward to meet my fate, my blades flashing in my hand as I cut into the beast’s flesh.

  My chest exploded in agony as claws and teeth tore into me. Blood splattered across my face, and I didn’t know if it was mine or my enemies. Darkness engulfed me and I kept swinging my swords, fighting until my last breath, and hoping against hope that somehow I’d be granted one last miracle and be saved me. But nothing happened, and the lights of my katanas began to slowly fade in the dark.

  No one was coming; I was going to die alone.

  Then suddenly in the distance, a white light glowed, though I had to strain to see it. A man emerged from the shadows and walked toward me, and I trembled at the mere thought of someone who could walk unharmed among the Gremlins. I didn’t know who he was, but I knew he could save me.

  I shot upright, my body trembling, to realize that it had only been a dream.

  “Jess.” Edgar reached out, grabbing my hand and squeezing it, and I let him. Edgar Magnus was one of the few people I completely trusted. His brown hair was a mass of tangles with his goggles pushed up high on his head. His satchel was hanging over his shoulder as he sat on the floor cross-legged beside my bed.

  “You were snoring and yelling, so it was kind of weird,” he said.

  Edgar was the most intelligent person I knew, but his social skills sucked.

  “Edgar, what are you doing here?” I looked around my loft and took a deep breath.

  “You didn’t stay after the funeral.”

  “I couldn’t handle it,” I said.

  “I’m sorry about DeAndre,” he said.

  “Thanks, so am I.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Jess.”

  “I know that bitch Nyla is responsible. She is using attacks on my friends as distractions, she murdered him to get to me, and I won’t let her get away with that.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Well, for starts, get the hell out of my room while I get dressed.”

  “Okay,” Edgar agreed without a fight. He strolled around the apartment, examining the loft as if it was something to be inspected and understood. Edgar might have the biggest brain, but it also came with what some people might call quirks.

  “Did you file a report with the Council?” he asked.

  “Not yet, I needed a few days to deal with everything,” I said as I walked downstairs to join him.

  “How do you like Paris? Did you know it has one of the highest levels of portal activity of any city?” He leaned his face near the floor to ceiling windows and glanced down at the street below.

  “Edgar, has there been any word on Nyla?” I asked again hoping to break through his ever changing mental landscape.

  “Jess, I’m not sure I can talk to you about that,” he said.

  “What? Why?”

  “I got word from the Council that you would need to be debriefed first.” He lowered his eyes and looked away, knowing I wasn’t happy about it.

  “When?”

  “Today. I thought you knew.”

  “Apparently not,” I said.

  My forearms tingled with anticipation as I sensed a portal activating nearby. The crimson glow appeared over my shoulder, and I glanced back in time to see the doorway open and a man step out into my loft.

  “Ms. Grimm.” Winslow my handler looked around my loft, and then back to me with contempt.

  “We need to talk,” he said.

  “So talk,” I said.

  Winslow looked at Edgar like he was something he wanted to scrap off his boot. “Privately.”

  “I don’t think he likes me, Jess,” Edgar commented as if Winslow wasn’t in the room.

  “That’s okay, Edgar, I don’t like him.”

  “Ms. Grimm.” His voice took on an authoritative tone.

  “You want to talk to me, Edgar stays.”

  “These matters aren’t for non-Guilders.”

  “Winslow, I’ve got little patience today. If I were you, I’d take what I could get.”

  “Very well, you need to be debriefed. Please explain to me everything that occurred from the time you and your new partner found Mr. Slade.”

  I quickly explained everything from the Dimensional Diner to contacting Edgar to hunt down a trail on DeAndre, and the fight I had found myself in. I did, however, leave out the parts about Merric, and how he had helped me and what had happened when he fought against Nyla’s henchmen.

  “Does the Guild know where Nyla Foxglove is?” I asked.

  Winslow glanced at Edgar sitting with his legs crossed on the wooden floor looking over one of his Maps, and then back to me. “Unfortunately not.”

  “He’s lying,” Edgar commented offhandedly.

  “Excuse me?” Winslow cleared his throat and glared in Edgar’s direction.

  “What? You’re lying. It’s obvious. You don’t want to tell her what you know in front of me because you assume I’ll run back and tell the Mapmakers, and the Guild doesn’t want us knowing anything.” Edgar shrugged and I placed my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing.

  “You have no manners, young man.” Winslow straightened his tie and cast a disdainful eye toward him.

  Edgar stopped scribbling on his Map and looked up at Winslow, tilting his head. “Do you honestly think the Mapmakers don’t know the rumors about Nyla Foxglove? Either you tell her or I will.”

  “How?” Winslow’s face turned ashen.
>
  “Tell her.” Edgar’s voice changed. It was stronger with an edge to it that I hadn’t heard before.

  “You heard him,” I said.

  “Nyla Foxglove has been gathering followers since she so boldly began attacking you. And there is another problem.” Winslow pulled at the collar around his neck as if it were a noose tightening. “It would appear someone in the Guild is running interference for her. Whenever we learn her location, she is gone by the time we get there.”

  I didn’t bother to mention that Gran and I had already figured that out. Now it had become obvious to everyone else. All that meant was I should have more resources at my disposal.

  “Perfect,” I said, “give me all the information you have on her. I’ll start searching on my own.”

  “I can’t,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  “You are to report to LaReina as soon as possible.”

  “Where?”

  “The League headquarters in the Hollow.”

  “Good,” I said turning and walking away from Winslow. “You can leave now.”

  “What?”

  “We’re done. Leave.” I created a doorway, pushed it open, and shoved Winslow toward it.

  “But—” He looked back and forth between me and Edgar.

  Edgar rolled up his Map and slipped it into his satchel. He waved at Winslow as I pushed him into the portal.

  Edgar chuckled and added, “I’m sure you won’t get into too much trouble for totally messing this up.”

  Chapter 40

  The banging on the door echoed throughout my loft. I crossed the wood floor, my bathrobe wrapped tightly around me and my wet hair pulled back in a ponytail.

  Edgar had left shortly after Winslow, and I’d gotten to take a shower and make myself comfortable.

  “Who is it?” I called as I reached the door.

  “Ronan,” he called out.

  “What do you want?”

  “Would you open the door, please?”

  I swung the door open to find him leaning against the wall, a scowl on his face. Before I could say a word he stormed in, tossing his jacket over my sofa.

  “I get it, you’re angry with me,” he said as he spun to face me, crossing his arms over his chest.