Midnight Law

by Geanna Culbertson

  The words hung in the air. I could not have said them any better myself.

  Another lengthy quiet passed. When it became clear that Alex was not going to tell us the truth, I sighed and leaned back against the black leather seat.

  My thoughts wandered. Pine trees and large patches of snow flew by. I had nothing to do but stress about my imprisoned friend and worry about the time. How was it possible that less than twenty-four hours in our home world had passed since we started this quest? We had changed a great deal since then, as individuals and as a team. My eyes wandered to Daniel and my heart swelled with concern. While Mauvrey and I had only increased in strength on this journey, Daniel had taken a huge, heartbreaking hit. The fact that he could continue to focus on our mission was impressive and admirable.

  “Hey,” I whispered, nudging his shoulder. “How are you doing?”

  He gave me a small, sad smile. “As good as I’m sure you imagine I am doing. But I’m trying not to let it consume me. I want to move forward. It helps to focus on the perseverance thing we just learned.”

  “That is good to hear . . .” I paused, then put my hand over his. “Daniel,” I said softly. “I am sorry. I did not want any of it to be true.”

  He sighed. “Part of me still can’t believe that it is.”

  “If you ever need to talk about it . . .”

  He put his other hand over mine and gave me an appreciative look. “I know.”

  I nodded and moved my hand away once he withdrew his. I could not fix this for him. All I could do was let him know I was there. That, and protect him if (or more likely when) Kai came back. She was out there somewhere, and people that methodical and manipulative did not stay down for long. I felt certain that it was only a matter of time before we saw her again.

  The traffic thinned as we ascended the mountain and eventually it felt like we were the only people for miles. Eventually, Alex turned off the road and we continued through the snow-covered woodlands for a bit longer before he parked under the cover of some pine trees.

  Daniel checked his pocket watch. “Fifty-nine minutes.”

  I nodded. Fifty-nine Earth minutes before the Midnight Law clock struck twelve in Book and turned both Daniel and Chance to stone.

  “We’ll make the rest of the journey on foot,” Alex said, turning off the engine. “Otherwise they’ll hear us coming. According to my intel, the antagonists have a main base here, and a few small outposts nearby with reinforcements. We don’t want the latter to be alerted or we’ll get surrounded on all sides.”

  “Lovely pep talk, Alex,” Mauvrey said dryly as she unbuckled herself.

  I noticed Daniel flexing his fingers before pulling his door handle and stepping out of the truck. I disembarked from my own side and landed with a crunch in the snow.

  Goodness it was cold!

  While Alex went to the covered bed of his truck, I decided to test my portable potions. I took out one of my ice potions and fired it at a tree. A large burst of water splashed into the trunk. I tested a couple more. The tornado potion barely created a gust of wind and the explosion potion simply produced a puff of smoke.

  “No luck,” I said to Daniel as he came over to me. “I had hoped otherwise, but the magic restrictions on Earth apply to potions too.” I pivoted. “Alex? I do not suppose you have any spare weapons back there?”

  “I have a sword I got a hold of after I escaped Fairy Godmother Headquarters, but it’s mine.” He attached a sheath to his belt before digging around under the tarp of his truck bed. “Other than that . . . You can have a large hammer, a frying pan, or a small portable fire extinguisher. I also have a spare backpack.”

  “I will take the hammer and the fire extinguisher,” I said.

  He shoved both items into the backpack, which he then tossed to me and I slung over my shoulders. How these tools would help I did not know, but I was strong, resourceful, adaptable, and brilliant. Our various Midnight Law adventures had finally cemented my confidence in everything I was and could be.

  The Godmother Supreme may not have anything left to teach me when we get back.

  Sense of self, leadership, respect, perseverance, and so many other elements of powerful character pumped through me as if they had always been there. I did not know if they had, but I would ensure they always would be going forward.

  “FYI,” Mauvrey said. “My swan cloak does not work here, but my metallic gloves do. The latter are a creation of science, not magic.”

  Alex raised an eyebrow. “You still know how to use those?”

  “Yes, Alex,” she replied. “Tara may have been in control of me, but my mind was still present. And over the past few weeks, most of my memories have come back. For example, I recall what your face looks like when you are nervous.” She put her hands on her hips and squared off with him. “Sure you do not want to share anything more with the group?”

  Alex seemed put-off by the familiarity and he ignored the question. He pressed a button on his key ring that locked the truck with a beep-beep, then shoved the key ring in his pocket and took out a map.

  “Just stay vigilant,” Alex said as we began our hike, checking the map as he talked. “Most active antagonist bases have a lot of guards. I’ve seen what happens when unsuspecting people get too close. There’s no mercy. Like I remember this one time back when I was, uh . . .”

  “A Shadow Guardian?” I suggested.

  “An evil jackwagon?” Daniel offered.

  Alex glowered. “Forget it. Look, we’ll get close to the base, recon our way in, then make a plan of attack from there. The best thing would be to get in and out unnoticed because if even one of those guns goes off and alerts the antagonists of danger . . . You said you understand how guns work, how loud and destructive they are?”

  “We’re familiar with the concept,” Daniel said.

  “Good,” Alex replied. “Try not to get familiar with the concept of being shot. I won’t be able to help you.”

  “Shocker.”

  Daniel checked his pocket watch and told us there were thirty-six minutes until our Midnight Law time expired. I grimaced. Crisa’s life was not the only one in imminent danger anymore. If Daniel or Chance did not make physical contact with her soon, they would both be doomed.

  At least our team was inbound. I had no idea where Chance’s team was. Even if Earth’s magic restrictions were not an issue, we had no time to call them on our compacts and find out. I tried not to worry about them as we hiked.

  The cold burned my cheeks with the kiss of winter. I wished I had a seasonal jacket like Alex . . . or the men guarding the compound directly ahead.

  Oh my goodness, there it is!

  We darted behind thick bushes for cover. Nestled in this secluded pine forest stood a multistory wooden cabin. Metallic ducts ran along the outside of the compound—ventilation shafts? A dark stone chimney at the back produced smoke, and a patchy blanket of snow covered the whole building.

  Thin silver railings lined the roof like a wraparound balcony. Guards in black turtlenecks, pants, and parkas patrolled the balcony and the ground floor. These men were armed with both blade—either a sword or knife sheath at their sides—and a gun, as Alex had warned. Most of the guns were of the smaller, handheld variety. Several men on the roof, however, had long-nosed machine guns in hand—noisy, scary weapons I recognized from Blue’s Die Hard movies.

  “So what is the plan now, Alex?” I whispered from my crouched position.

  “Remember how I told you that all our antagonist bases have a Jacobee stone prison? Those cells are always on the bottom floor.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Our antagonist bases?”

  “You know what I mean.” He scowled. “The point is that Crisa will be in the basement.”

  “He’s right,” Daniel chimed in. “Crisa told me in a later dream that her prison was beneath a big log cabin. This has to be the place.”

  Alex nodded. “I imagine there are probably only two ways to get down there—stairs insi
de the building or the air ducts outside the building.”

  “What would you suggest?” Mauvrey asked.

  The screen door of the cabin opened and a platinum blonde in white pants and a white ski jacket stepped out. Mauvrey’s face elongated with shock. “Tara.”

  “Perfect, just what we need,” Daniel said. He was flexing his hands again. I was about to inquire about it when I heard a snap behind me—like a twig breaking underfoot. I turned my head and scanned the area. Then my eyes widened with surprise.

  About fifty feet back, taking cover behind their own trees and bushes, were our friends. I smacked Daniel on the arm and pointed. I could see Girtha and Jason and Chance. I could not see Blue, but I assumed she was somewhere around here too.

  My heart filled with gladness. Then a spine-shattering shriek pierced the air from the direction of the cabin. I whipped my head toward the sound. Birds took off. Tara halted in her tracks. Even the guards appeared unsettled.

  My stomach lurched. I had been in enough life-or-death situations with my friends to recognize Crisa’s scream. Daniel clearly recognized it as well. His face turned as white as the snow surrounding us. We froze, crouched there, for a long minute after the scream ended as we absorbed the horror that still hung in the air. Then Arian came out of the cabin.

  I felt burning anger inside me. I did not believe in murder as a means to solve problems, or killing people as a form of justice. But as I gazed at Arian—the cause of all this, of Crisa’s pain, of that scream—I had never felt so enraged and tempted to break my morals.

  Arian spoke to Tara for a moment. Then suddenly he turned toward the woods, looking straight in our direction. I ducked my head. Maybe he did not see us.

  The unmistakable sound of footsteps stomping through the snow came toward our hiding place and I knew my hope was pointless. Daniel and Alex drew their weapons carefully and I took the hammer out of my backpack. Mauvrey—

  Wait, where is Mauvrey?

  ara, Arian, and three handgun-wielding guards marched toward the bushes that our friends were hiding behind. I could see SJ, Daniel, and—to my surprise—Alex.

  What the heck is he doing here?

  And where is Kai?

  “All right, get up,” Arian ordered. He couldn’t see the trio be-hind the bushes, but somehow he knew they were there. The gang didn’t move. Arian nodded to one of the guards. The man raised his gun and shot a single bullet into the snow. The sound cracked through the air, causing any birds that had resettled in the trees following that terrible scream to take a hint and get out of here. SJ, Daniel, and Alex rose slowly.

  “I’ve been expecting you.” Arian said. “I assume there are more of your hero friends in the woods?” He snapped his fingers and signaled to the other men on ground patrol to search. Crud. Chance and I exchanged a look. We had a minute before they found us. Two at most.

  “Almost out of time, aren’t you, Daniel?” Arian remarked. He stepped closer to my friends, unafraid. “Kai called. At the time she said you only had one flame left. She begged me to let you reach Crisa if you made it here so that you wouldn’t petrify. But I don’t know . . . Now that her cover has been blown, keeping your girlfriend happy is not a priority. Maybe I should take you to Knight just so she can watch you turn to stone. I think I’d enjoy that.”

  Chance and I shared another glance. What was that about Kai?

  “Take him to the basement,” Arian said to the guards. “Kill the other two.”

  “Change of plans.”

  Mauvrey appeared behind the villains and shot electric wires at two of the gunmen, causing their bodies to seize. The men dropped their weapons. SJ hurled a hammer at the third gunman. It knocked him in the head and he stumbled back. Alex leapt forward and slammed the pommel of his sword against the third man’s face while Daniel rushed at Arian.

  Tara, wearing her own pair of metallic gloves, released wires aimed at SJ. They wrapped around my friend’s arm and delivered a powerful shock, sending SJ to the snow.

  “There they are!”

  Oh dang, one of the guards checking the forest had found us. I moved back a nanosecond before a bullet tore into the tree I’d been hiding behind. The sound of the gunshot was super loud; Blue’s Die Hard movies definitely did not do the real thing justice.

  Girtha, Chance, and I bolted. Shots went off around us as the guards gave chase. Girtha separated from the pack, but Chance and I continued to zigzag around trees as guards drew in from different parts of the forest, corralling us toward the cabin. When we raced into the slight clearing surrounding the front of the structure, we skidded to a halt.

  Three guards spread out on the roof balcony were pointing machine guns at us.

  My heart stopped.

  Then all three guards crumbled to their knees in quick succession. They shouted. Knives stuck out of various parts of their bodies.

  Blue rushed in to follow up on her assault. She’d broken off from our pack earlier to scale the side of the building and get a better vantage point. As a result, she’d been in the perfect and only position to save us.

  The guard closest to her had a knife in his neck. Dead. Blue sprinted toward him and scooped up the machine gun he’d dropped. The other two guards had only gotten nailed in the thigh and leg though. So the second she had the weapon, she bolted behind a ventilation shaft for cover as the gunmen recovered and started raining heavy fire in her direction.

  The front door of the cabin suddenly banged open and four guards spilled out. Thankfully they only wielded swords. Book natives, I guess.

  The men raced toward us. Chance intersected them with his blade and courted the attack of three guards, trying to draw the majority of the assault to protect me, as I didn’t have a weapon. I squared off with the remaining guard. This I could handle. He took a swing at me with his sword. I sidestepped, dodged, and spun out of the way of his strikes until I had an opening to punch the man in the throat. It felt like I crushed his windpipe. He staggered back and I finished off with a kick to his chest that sent him down to the snow. He lay there unmoving and did not protest when I took his sword.

  As I whirled around to help Chance with the remaining men, Tara ran past with Mauvrey on her heels. “Jason, up high!” the latter shouted, pointing as she ran.

  I looked up. One of the guards on the roof had lost interest in Blue and was aiming his machine gun at me again.

  “Oh sh—”

  Girtha appeared out of nowhere and rammed the gunman from behind. He went flailing over the balcony and crashed into the snow nearby, out for the count. The remaining roof guard spun to shoot at Girtha, but Blue popped out from her hiding place and shot him in the leg first. Girtha dashed forward, grabbed the guard by the neck, and threw him over the railing too.

  Chance jumped out of the way to avoid the falling body. Then he spun and struck down the last of the men attacking us.

  I glanced back at our friends on the roof. “Thanks!” I shouted.

  Blue opened her mouth to respond, but then curtly looked up. She raised her gun and started firing in short bursts. I followed her aim and realized she was covering us—keeping the dozen or so guys in black I spotted in the woods from coming any closer. My brow furrowed with concern. There hadn’t been that many guards before. Maybe Arian called for reinforcements.

  Even with Blue providing cover, we were too exposed out here. I was inclined to rush inside like Mauvrey when Chance unexpectedly crumbled to his knees, shouting in agony. He dropped his sword and grabbed at his chest.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, sliding down next to him.

  Chance pulled up his shirt a bit—exposing a part of his abdomen, which had turned to stone.

  His horror matched mine. “Lenore said the effects of Midnight Law could kick in when we got close to the deadline. It’s starting. I—” He cringed as another rib petrified.

  “Girtha!” I shouted. “Chance needs help!”

  Our friend didn’t hesitate. She slung the machine gun strap over her s
houlder then clambered down the outside of the building with the dexterity of a cat, lowering herself until she landed in the snow and raced over.

  “Chance,” she said. “It’s time for a little role reversal.”

  “What?”

  Girtha scooped up the prince in her arms like he was a damsel and carried him into the cabin. I wanted to follow, but then I heard SJ’s voice.

  “Let him go, now!”

  I turned to see SJ, Alex, Arian, and Daniel by a cluster of trees. Arian held his sword at Daniel’s throat; SJ and Crisa’s brother stood a short distance away. Alex pointed a handgun at Arian while SJ pointed one at Alex. It was a conflict about to combust. I ran toward it.

  “Alex, do not even think about it,” SJ said. “You will hit Daniel.”

  “I’ll hit Arian,” Alex said, eyes never leaving our enemy. “That’s what matters. If I hit Daniel too, he’s a small price to pay.”

  “You may as well do it, SJ,” Arian goaded. His sword cut into Daniel’s throat enough to create a trickle of blood on my friend’s neck. I came to a stop near them. “Jason, just in time,” Arian said, keeping his eyes on Alex as he addressed me. “What do you think? Does your princess friend have it in her to break her hoitytoity views of morality to protect one of her dear friends? I’m thinking no, but she could prove me wrong.”

  I glanced at SJ and realized Arian was right. She could prove him wrong. Killing went against SJ’s morals, but for the first time in my memory, she looked like she was on the verge of breaking them. The expression on her face was intense but calm. Both hands were steady even though she held an unfamiliar weapon. Her posture didn’t bend, despite the immense pressure of the standoff.

  “Why do you even care if Alex lives or dies?” Arian said to her. “He has no redeeming qualities as far as your kind is concerned. You do realize he isn’t here to save his sister? He’s here to save himself.”