by Sarah Noffke
With a loud thud, Liv landed in the middle of the boat, nearly toppling over the side. She threw her balance in the opposite direction, trying to compensate as the boat teetered from side to side.
“Dagnabit!” Zeno Dutillet yelled, staring at the controls of the boat. “How does this blasted thing work?”
Liv took a deep breath and raised the book again, having to squint to read in the growing darkness.
Zeno Dutillet blinked like sleep was suddenly overtaking him. Then his eyes brightened when he saw the key in the ignition. He turned it, and the motor started. Liv began to read faster.
“Now, how do I get this thing going?” Zeno Dutillet asked, turning his head to the side and studying the controls.
Liv was speeding over the words, hardly opening her mouth to speak. She flipped the pages with such a force that they nearly ripped several times.
“Cousin Beaufont, you’re not finishing that story,” the SandMan threatened. “I’m sure you’re a good magician, but we’re about to part ways.”
“After all these years, they’d finally found her,” Liv read, completely engrossed in her own story. “There would be no running. No more hiding. It was time she faced her past.”
“It’s a fine story,” Zeno Dutillet said, yawning, his shoulders slumping slightly. “But I ain’t going back to sleep. There’s so much of the world I need to see. So much I’ve missed. I don’t even know how technology works.”
Liv continued, nearly choking up several times.
His face brightened when he figured out how the throttle worked. He wrapped his hand around it, pressed a button, and jerked it all the way up. The boat took off like a bullet, throwing Liv down, the book sliding to the other side of the boat.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The boat took a hard turn, throwing Liv’s shoulder into the side. Her head smashed into one of the seats and Bellator pinched into her side. She felt like a single sardine being knocked around inside a tin.
“I do apologize, Cousin Beaufont! Please don’t take offense. You’ve got your mission, and I’ve got mine.”
Liv had to give it to Zeno Dutillet. He had manners and class. She almost didn’t want to be angry with him. Then her face smacked into a tackle box that had come loose from under one of the seats and she lost her good will toward her long-lost cousin.
Another quick turn sent Liv rolling to the other side of the boat, the book sliding past her. She reached for it, but it was just out of her grasp.
Zeno Dutillet, seeing what she was trying to do, threw the boat into reverse, sending Liv and the book rolling toward the bow.
The book knocked into the SandMan’s foot. He grinned, stomping down on it.
Liv narrowed her eyes at the man before her. “And now it’s my turn to apologize, Cousin Dutillet.”
Confusion made his kind expression drop.
She pointed her finger at his pant leg, and it erupted in fire. Immediately, he jumped off the book, leaning over the side of the boat and splashing water on his leg to extinguish the flames.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, this was my best pair of pants, and now look what you’ve done to them,” he complained.
It had worked, though and Liv extended her hand, bringing the book soaring into her outstretched fingers.
Zeno Dutillet’s eyes widened with horror when she opened the book again, looking for where she’d left off.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” he said, dowsing his pants once more for good measure. “I’ve got no idea why you want me to sleep. I only affect mortals, not you.”
“Mortals count,” Liv said, her eyes honing in on the right place on the page. “The blue eyes that looked up at Liv made her knees weak. How had she missed Sophia Beaufont so much and never realized it until that moment?
Zeno Dutillet shook his head as if trying to shake away sleep. He threw his hand onto the throttle again, sending the boat speeding through the narrow channels of the swamp. It was almost dark now, and harder to see where they were going. As the boat’s speed ramped up, Liv had a hard time keeping the pages from rippling in the wind. Still she continued to read.
The SandMan cranked the wheel hard to the right, making the boat spin in place, doing a one hundred and eighty-degree turn.
Liv fell back, her spine taking an assault from the seat she hit, but thankfully she kept hold of the book. Still, the fall had knocked the wind out of her, making her unable to speak.
“Yeehaw! I forgot how good it feels to be awake!” Zeno Dutillet yelled. “I’m obliged to you for reminding me of the fun to be had out in the world, Cousin Beaufont.”
Liv remained sitting, knocking her fist into her chest to try to get her voice back. “You’re welcome.”
He cupped his ear. “You’ll have to speak up if you want me to hear you. I can’t hear over the wind!”
The boat was at full speed now, making Liv feel that her cheeks were flags in the wind. Her hair assaulted her face, and it was nearly impossible to make out the words on the page. But she didn’t have much more left. Only a few paragraphs.
Pushing to her feet, she tried to maintain her balance. Zeno Dutillet cast a worried look over his shoulder. Sensing that he was about to send the boat into another spin, she used all her remaining focus and shot a paralyzing spell at him. The look on his face spoke of how insulted he was by the tactic. He couldn’t so much as speak, but Liv knew she had only a few seconds until it wore off. Paralyzing spells were tough, and doing one on an ancient being such as the SandMan was incredibly difficult to maintain.
As the boat continued to speed blindly through the swamp, Liv lifted the book up, reading as fast as she could. She only had three more sentences left when Zeno Dutillet’s eye started to twitch. He was breaking free of the spell.
His hand flexed by his side. She rushed over the words, barely breathing as she spoke.
He opened his mouth. Shook his head. “Oh, no, you don’t, Cousin Beaufont.” His hand reached for the throttle.
Liv spoke the final words as if they were only one: “The truth that binds all things is the ultimate way to protect magic, but first, it must be discovered.”
The SandMan smiled. Winked at her. Liv didn’t know if it had worked or not. Maybe she had missed a word or sentence or page in her haste. All Zeno had to do was pull down on the throttle and she’d be sent overboard.
Liv held her breath, knowing there was little she could do at this point.
Zeno Dutillet’s eyes fluttered shut. “I’m sorry it had to go this way, Cousin Beaufont. I really wanted to like you.”
And then he fell with a thump on the floor of the boat, snoring as loud as the bullfrogs in the swamp of the Atchafalaya Basin.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Liv wasn’t granted a single second to celebrate. She whipped her head up to see they were headed straight for a huge cypress tree.
She lunged over the sleeping man’s body, jerking the wheel to the right, narrowly missing tree but plowing into a ton of foliage on top of the water. Pushing the throttle back down, she slowed the boat. The engine choked like it was having problems.
“I think the propeller is tangled up,” Plato said, at her side again.
She nodded, throwing the boat into reverse, hoping to expel all the stuff she’d run the boat through. When she’d released enough of it that the boat seemed to get on okay again, Liv brought it to a halt, finally allowing herself to take a breath.
“So, looks like you did it,” Plato said, running his gaze over the sleeping man on the floor of the boat.
“Barely,” she stated with gratitude.
“Barely counts in this business.
Liv’s phone chimed in her pocket. She pulled it out, finding a message from Papa Creola.
The SandMan won’t stay asleep long.
Liv growled. “Of course, he won’t.”
Another message came through from Father Time.
You have roughly twenty minutes before he’s back awake.
“Twenty mi
nutes!” Liv yelled. “What the hell? All things I could have been told before.”
It was better this way, Papa Creola texted a second later.
“This guy!” Liv said, looking at Plato for sympathy.
Another message came through. You must find a mortal to stand guard over the SandMan. Give them the book, and once they agree to the task, he will sleep until awakened again.
Liv looked around the almost-dark swamp. Glowing eyes blinked at her through the trees. “Oh, just find a mortal in twenty minutes. That shouldn’t be hard…but wait, I’m in the middle of nowhere.”
“I know of a mortal who’s maybe close by,” Plato offered.
How could Liv have forgotten about Al? She rejoiced. “Of course. And I need to rescue him anyway.”
Her phone dinged again. She glanced at it. This mortal and his relatives will be charged with guarding over the SandMan forever. It is not an easy task and will make them enemies to some who dare to wake him. The mortal you choose must know this before consenting.
Liv nodded. “Yes, I should have expected this.”
“So you have twenty minutes to find Al,” Plato said.
The phone chimed again. Liv rolled her eyes as she brought it up to read the message. Nineteen minutes.
“Oh, that man…” Liv stated with another growl. “If he weren’t so powerful, I’d—”
The chime of her phone interrupted her. You’d what?
I’d put everything on the top shelf in your office and walk away.
“He can shape-shift, you know,” Plato reminded her.
“Yeah, I know,” she said, thinking of when Papa Creola had changed into a fae at Rudolf’s wedding. “Anyway, I don’t have time to think of a proper insult. I have nineteen or eighteen minutes to save poor Al. But I don’t even know where the giant, deranged spider took him.”
She glanced down at her phone, wondering if Papa Creola wanted to offer any input on this one. Apparently, he didn’t.
“Well, you can use a tracking spell,” Plato suggested.
“Yeah, but I’ll need something of Al’s,” Liv said, feeling defeated already. Then she perked up. “Oh, this is his boat.”
“Let’s hope so, or the tracking spell will lead you to whoever it legally belongs to,” Plato offered.
Liv had to take the chance that this was Al’s boat and not his momma’s or his daddy’s. She closed her eyes, touching the side of the metal boat and repeated the spell several times. She was going to run through it once more for good measure, but Plato interrupted her.
“Liv,” he said tentatively.
Her eyes popped open, and she saw a trail of gold dust snaking over the swamp before her. That was the path to Al. All she had to do was follow it. And hope that he was still alive. And defeat a giant spider.
No biggie.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Using a silencing spell on the motor of the boat, she steered it through the swamp. When the trail of gold dust ran up the side of a tree, Liv knew it was time to tie up and start climbing.
She looked up at the canopy overhead, seeing the golden light surrounding a large object. That had to be Al.
She was really tired of climbing trees but mostly tired of falling from them. However, time was running out.
Morphing into her cat form, Liv scaled to the top of the trees until she was face to face with a giant white cocooned Al. His face was sticking out one end and his feet the other. His eyes widened in confusion at the sight of the black cat.
“Hey, little kitty, can you help me?” he said, his voice vibrating with fear. The web around him shook as if it were about to fall down at any moment.
Liv changed back into her normal form, making Al’s eyes nearly pop out of his head.
“Wow! How did you do that?”
“Magic,” Liv said, looking around for the spider or an easy way of releasing Al.
“I’m so grateful you came after me,” he said in a rush. “I would have passed out from terror, except that I’m strangely more awake than I’ve ever been.”
“My fault,” Liv admitted, pulling Bellator from her side. “Sorry about that.”
She was just about to slice through the webbing holding Al hostage when something shook the branch where she was standing.
Liv closed her eyes for a half-beat, knowing exactly what was at her back.
Twirling Bellator to the side, she pivoted, careful to keep her balance. Staring at her with its menacing eyes was a large fishing spider. It didn’t appear the least bit happy to see her.
With its long legs on multiple branches, it scuttled forward.
Time was running out. Liv needed to get Al to safety. She threw the first attack, spinning Bellator up and around and straight at the body of the spider. Two of its legs came out of nowhere, deflecting the attack.
Liv nearly fell off the branch but managed to save herself. Again she swung her sword, not directing it but rather allowing Bellator to lead the way. It connected, slicing off one of the legs cleanly.
The spider screamed as it reeled. Liv took this opportunity to wheel around and try to slice through Al’s ties. His eyes told her she had run out of time. Something swept her legs, making Bellator slice through part of the web. Simultaneously, Liv fell down on the branch, just as Al plummeted toward the water, still bound by the web.
A loud splash told her he’d fallen into the swamp. He’d drown if she didn’t help since he was unable to swim with his arms and legs constrained.
Liv rolled over on her back, the large spider bearing down on her, its fangs dangerously close to her throat. She made a note that when she got home, all the “roommate” spiders were getting kicked out. If she never saw another spider for the rest of her life, that would be just fine.
Liv readjusted Bellator in her hands. Not because she had any bright ideas, but because it seemed to be telling her that.
The spider clamped its legs down on the lower half of her body, and a thread of silk shot out of its mouth as it began to bind her to the branch where she lay. It was working fast. Al was under the water. She was out of options.
There is still one more, Bellator seemed to say in her mind.
And because she was bonded to the giant-forged blade, she felt her arm moving without her intention to do so. In a brilliant show of power, the hand holding Bellator shot up and pushed the sword through the center of the spider, stabbing it all the way through, killing it at once. The beast screamed, making the trees shake.
Knowing she didn’t have a second to spare, Liv broke out of the bonds the spider was putting on her and threw the monster to the side. It fell through the trees, catching on several branches before hitting the swamp.
As she’d done several times before, she shrank Bellator to a smaller size and then dove straight into the water below. The murky water of the swamp was dark. Finding Al would be difficult.
Twice she jerked around, looking for any sign of the mortal. She was just about to come up for air when she noticed something. It was the white glow of the spider’s silk binding him. Liv kicked hard in that direction, and his face swam into view. Bubbles were spilling from his mouth. He appeared to be trying to break free, but the thread was too thick.
Liv pushed harder, making up the distance fast. She was on him in a moment, her arm around his neck, pulling him up to the surface of the water. He let out a huge gasp of relief when they were into the fresh air, drinking in oxygen.
Even though it was awkward, Liv went straight to work cutting the threads around Al. It didn’t take long, but she knew every second counted. The boat was not far, only about ten yards away.
“Can you swim?” Liv asked him when he was free.
Looking totally disoriented, he sort of nodded.
“Come on, we have to get to the boat fast,” she stated.
“You didn’t get the spider,” he said, his voice shaking.
“No, I totally did. But we don’t have much time. Go!” she yelled, swimming fast for the boat. She c
limbed over the side when she arrived, then reached back over to help Al into his boat. He nearly jumped back out when he saw the man sleeping at the bow.
“Whoa! Is that your criminal?” Al asked.
Liv put Bellator away and pulled out the book she’d thankfully left in the boat. It was dry and intact. “This is the SandMan, Al. And I have a very important mission for you, but you have to accept it of your own accord.”
When Liv was done explaining the situation to the mortal, he merely stood looking between her and Zeno Dutillet several times. “Where am I supposed to keep him?”
Liv wanted to laugh. It was a good logistical question, but she needed an answer. “It doesn’t matter. Just keep him close. I believe the magic will protect him from most seeing him, but like I said, his presence will put you and your children’s children in danger.”
“But if he’s ever woken up, then all mortals will die, won’t they?” Al asked.
Liv nodded. “Will you please accept this challenge, accepting this burden for you and yours for all of time?”
He didn’t even think for a moment before holding out his hand. “I, Albert Flournoy the Second, accept this, not as a burden, but rather as an honor.”
Liv laid the book with the story of part of her life in his outstretched hand. The book glowed for a moment before fading back to its normal appearance. “Thank you, Al.”
He smiled, looking around at the swamp. “I think it’s time I get you and my permanent houseguest home. Momma will be worried sick about me.”
Liv agreed, taking what felt like the first replenishing breath all day.
When they were back at the docks, Liv helped Al put Zeno Dutillet’s body in the back of his truck. While he was busy covering the sleeping man, Liv made a few enhancements to Al’s boat. Some were changes that John had taught her, like how to tune up a motor—using her magic, of course. The others were things Alicia had taught her using magic tech. Those two could save the world with their brilliance if they bonded together, Liv thought, standing back to admire her handiwork.