“We’ve been calling you forever,” Jack says, looking concerned.
“What are you thinking about so intently?” Bri asks. “We know you didn’t do it, you know,” she adds more quietly.
And she should be discreet. Though all the tables around us have been cleared, it’s hard to ignore the distrust and fear that crosses people’s faces whenever I’m present.
“She’s thinking about that man of hers,” Keva says with a knowing smile. “I told you they were having an affair…You should pay up.”
I frown at my roommate. “Will you drop that, please? First of all, there’s no way there’d ever be anything between me and Dean. He’s just our family lawyer doing what he’s told.”
“Uh-huh,” Keva says with a roll of her eyes. “And everyone knows how top-paid lawyers are known for playing babysitters.”
“Second,” I continue, ignoring her, “I’ve got more important things to think about right now than guys.”
“Like what?” Bri asks.
“Like it’s-none-of-your-business,” I reply.
All three of them stare at me with undisguised weariness, forcing me to concentrate on the bottom of my plate instead.
“I don’t like this,” Jack says in his soft voice. “She’s up to something.”
“Yeah,” Bri says, “and that’s bound to end up wrong.”
“Of course,” Keva adds. “Anything she does turns into a big mess.”
I can feel their stares boring into me, eating away at my meager defenses. How can people ever keep secrets when they have friends so unabashedly curious?
“Fine,” I say, “but you’ve got to promise not to tell anyone.”
“Of course not,” Keva and Bri say with heavy nods.
“I don’t know…” Jack starts, but stops when the other two girls glare at him. “Yeah, OK.”
I take a deep breath, suddenly regretting my decision to tell them what I’ve learned. “Well, I overheard something last night…” I stop and look around to make sure we’re safe from prying ears. “I heard a KORT session.”
“You mean you spied on them,” Keva snorts.
“Call it whatever you want,” I say. “They were discussing, you know, the deaths.” All three of them lean forward in their chairs. “And they mentioned a banned-she something or other.”
Jack chokes on the last of his food. “A banshee?” he repeats as Bri pounds his back.
I nod. “Apparently it’s been roaming about on the surface near the lake, and that’s what K and Rei were checking into the night they disappeared. Why? What is it?”
“Technically, they don’t do much,” Jack says. “But—”
“They usually only appear when someone’s about to die,” Bri finishes for him. “They’re like carrion birds.”
I try really hard not to picture Rei’s body before me, but find it difficult and gulp the rest of my water down to hide my unease.
“So what’s that got to do with you?” Bri asks.
“Well everything, of course!” I exclaim. “If I can find—”
“You mean ‘they’?” Keva says pointedly.
“This banshee creature,” I continue, “then my name will be cleared. I won’t have to deal with all these stupid taunts, and I may even be able to go back to Switzerland, finish high school there, and be done with this wacko place.”
“You want to leave us?” Bri asks, stricken.
I look away. “Well, I’d like to be independent as soon as possible,” I say. “And if that means leaving…”
“You mean ‘they,’ don’t you?” Keva asks again, her voice rising. “KORT members?”
“No, I mean I will look for it,” I say, annoyed. “They’ve had their go at it, but they’re obviously not getting anywhere.”
“You can’t be serious,” Jack says. “You’re not even a knight. What am I saying? You’re not even a squire! What do you think you can do that they can’t?”
And this is why I didn’t want to tell them in the first place. I sigh in frustration.
“Seriously,” Bri says, looking tense, “you know better than everyone else how much I’d like to see them all burn, but this is stupid. You’re only going to get yourself killed—that’s what banshees are known for, foretelling someone’s death! Besides, you don’t even know how to do any kind of EM. How are you going to get up there?”
I keep my eyes averted. There’s no way I’m going to spill more than I already have, especially if they’re not going to help me. I push my chair away.
“You’re too young to understand,” I say, tossing my napkin on the table. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
I have a feeling one of them is bound to break and tell someone about my plan. And that leaves me with but one solution: to go after the banshee tonight.
◆◆◆
I watch Sir Ywain limp away before I take out the spare key and unlock the armory. If there’s one good thing about all this stupid cleaning I’ve had to do, it’s that I know where everything’s kept.
I scan the shelves filled to bursting. What I need is a weapon.
“This’ll do nicely,” I say, coming upon a rack of swords.
I grab one whose hilt ends in a glimmering dark blue stone—not a gem I recognize, but the point is that the sword’s made of iron.
I grab it, but its weight pulls me forward, and the tip clangs against the floor. I jerk around, ears open for any other sound. When no one comes over, I hurry to replace the sword back where it belongs and settle instead for a much smaller blade.
Knife tucked safely into my boot, I slink back outside, lock the door behind me, and head for the landing pad.
“I knew it,” someone says behind me.
I jump to the side, ready to defend myself. Keva and I both stare at each other, and then I drop my hands back down, sheepish.
“If you think you’re gonna get the banshee like that, God save us all,” she says. “You might try not to close your eyes, for one.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say, straightening my jacket. “How’d you know I’d be here?”
“I’m your roommate,” Keva says. “Though frankly, you’re so transparent anybody can read what you’re going to do before you realize it yourself.”
The wood creaks under us as we cross the wharf. When we reach the warding stone, I pause. Darkness has enveloped the fields ahead of us. I wish there were at least stars in this sky-lake, anything to dispel the sense of foreboding this lugubrious landscape is giving me.
“Changed your mind?” Keva asks, her voice ringing clear in the quiet of the night.
“Shh,” I say, my heart beating faster. There’s no turning back now, especially not with a witness.
Something glows in the darkness before us, winks out, then comes back, closer. Keva grabs the back of my jacket.
“Is that a Fey?” she whispers. “You step out of the school precinct, and you’re toast.”
My thought exactly. I wonder if I should get my knife out already, until I hear a soft meow.
“It’s just a cat,” I say, releasing the breath I’d been holding.
I shrug Keva off and head in the direction above which I believe Island Park lies. After a minute, Keva follows.
It’s not until we’re nearly to the forest and the school’s no longer visible that I stop. I look up at the dark void that is Lake Winnebago.
“I really don’t like this, Morgan,” Keva says as the cat runs around my legs.
“I’ll be fine,” I say, more for my sake than hers.
I make a quick prayer to slow my heartbeat to a more acceptable speed, then point my hand down to the ground at my feet.
“Perth,” I whisper.
A burst of green energy flashes out of my hand and pulverizes the ground, nearly taking out my foot at the same time.
“By Kali’s mighty sword, you can use them!” Keva breathes.
“OK, let’s try that again,” I say shakily. “But without any
maiming.”
I’m about to call out the ogham’s name again, when the cat hisses at me, then claws my legs to shreds.
“Get it off me!” I yell, trying to kick the animal away.
Keva comes to retrieve it, but not before it punctures more holes in me.
“Thanks,” I say, wincing.
“Just…do your thing,” Keva grunts, struggling to keep the cat away from her face.
I call out the ogham’s name again, concentrating on what I want to see. The stream of air that comes out this time is wider, and I feel my feet lift off the ground.
“It’s working!” I gasp when I’ve reached a couple of feet.
But I’ve cried victory too soon, as the green jet sputters, and I find myself toppling to the ground. I land on the packed earth, jarring my coccyx.
“Why don’t you just give up?” Keva asks as the cat, who’s gone completely bonkers, tries to claw her instead.
I remain flat on my back until I can catch my breath, then get ready for try number three.
This time, I manage to keep a constant flow as I rise into the air at ever-increasing speed. Before I know it, I break through some strange pressure and find myself drenched in freezing water. Eyes closed and holding my breath, I keep the sylph’s stream as steady as possible before I can drown myself.
I finally break the lake’s surface to be greeted with a bitter wind. I try to stay afloat, fighting against my uniform and the dagger in my boot that keep dragging me down. I look about me, searching for my bearings.
I falter and take another big gulp of water. Coughing, I try to swim toward the city lights, if only to keep myself from getting hypothermia.
Then I hear it, carried on the air, the hair-raising sound of a woman’s high-pitched cry. With a last burst of energy, I call on my ring’s power. Half swimming, half flying, I travel over the lake until I land face-first on solid ground. With trembling hands, I pull myself away from the shore and the freezing waves lapping at my legs, then collapse under the shadow of a large rock. I roll onto my back, gasping as my bad arm gets caught under my soaked body, and stare at the night sky.
“Thank you, God,” I whisper to the stars hanging high above me and realize, despite my fuzzy mind, that the ground underneath me is uncommonly warm for this time of year.
Chapter 19
Breath fogging in the air, I push myself to my knees, then forge ahead, toward the houses. The farther away from the lake I go, the warmer the ground beneath me gets, until my uniform’s steaming about me as it dries out. Though it feels nice to regain feeling in my limbs, I know this is not a good sign.
“If it weren’t for those idiots down there,” I mumble, “I wouldn’t have to go through this craziness.”
I grip a tuft of grass, and it comes away in ashes.
“Please…”
A chill runs up my back. The voice is coming from just beyond the standing stone.
“No, please, I don’t want to d—”
That strange moaning sound cuts the man’s pleading short. My heart’s thumping in my chest like it’s trying to run away, as I should be doing. What was I thinking coming here all on my own just to prove a point?
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” I tell myself before I bite down hard on my lip, realizing I’ve spoken out loud again.
Hands trembling, I reach for my knife and feel its reassuring presence in my boot. Ever so carefully, I slide it out of its sheath. I peer around the boulder for a split second before moving back out of sight, but it’s no use. With this little light, I can barely make out anything but moving shadows.
“Sleep, sleep, little warrior,” comes a high-pitched, sighing voice. “Sleep, and all your worries shall drift away like dust in the wind. Away, away they shall be carried, until you no longer feel anything, and the doors of the afterlife shall open to you.”
Terrified, I cross myself multiple times at the horrible voice that manages to sound both sad yet eager. I’m about to cross myself for the eighth time when the ground starts shaking, small little tremors that quickly turn into bone-rattling quakes.
I steal another look around the stone. Across from me, another boulder is rising from the ground. I rub my eyes, but there’s no denying it: that rock is definitely sprouting out of the earth like some magical tooth, nearly completing a semicircle of five standing stones.
A circle, I tell myself. A circle of stones, like in the poem. I knew I was right, but nobody ever listens to me. And now I’m going to die.
Keva was right. This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever come up with.
“Pretty, so pretty,” the voice says. I see a shape wrapped in a dark cowl throw itself at the newly grown menhir[22] and rub itself over it like some gigantic cat. However, I know that it’s no feline, but this banshee Arthur and the rest of KORT are so afraid of.
“Saint George’s balls,” I say under my breath, “what is going on here?”
Every instinct I have tells me to get away before that creature sees me. But I find I cannot move an inch, not even to hide back behind my boulder.
Jennifer’s dire words come back to haunt me—those predicting my death by a Fey with no one to protect me.
“Charlie, no!” A guy rushes over toward the creature. I hear the distinct hiss of a blade being drawn and feel myself let out a long breath—a knight’s arrived, I’m safe!
“You’ll pay for this!” the boy hisses.
The banshee rears up to her full height, which makes her about the size of an old woman.
But old woman or not, the creature is much faster than she appears. She pounces on the knight with a shriek, and he falls to the ground, motionless. The banshee kneels next to him, the low wail rising from its gray form. A slender, bony hand reaches out, claws clicking together as it grabs a long black knife.
“Stop!”
I find myself standing within the semicircle of stones, my own paltry knife held before me. It had seemed like such a wise choice at the time, but I think the sword may have been a better choice after all.
The creature freezes above the knight’s body. Then two small dots of glowing yellow turn in my direction. I flinch backward.
A violent screech erupts, and I feel my skin try to crawl off my body. Before she can attack me, I rush the banshee. I must have surprised her, for I ram straight into her body, and we both roll onto the ground. Thrashing, the woman-beast screams in pain. I push myself up and rush over to the knight before the banshee recovers.
“Are you all right?” I ask, falling onto the soft earth next to him.
I try to feel for a pulse, but find that his body’s slowly sinking into the earth, his right leg already halfway covered with the burnt soil.
I grab his shoulders as the ground tries to suck his body down like some hungry ogre.
“Over my dead body,” I say, pulling with all my strength to get him out.
The boy shudders in my arms before going completely limp.
“Nonononono,” I say, slapping his face while trying not to panic. “No time-out for you!”
The earth shifts around the knight’s leg, and I hear the sickening sound of bones getting crushed. He screams, and I pull on his arms again until we lurch backward as his body tears away from the earth’s rabid maw. With a horrified jolt, I realize half of his leg is missing.
“You’re going to be OK,” I tell him, trying to staunch the blood with my jacket.
If only I knew we were both going to make it alive off this cursed island.
“I’m going to take care of you,” I say, looking around, wishing for help that’s not going to come. “I’m going to call for an ambulance, maybe a heli—”
Something barrels into me, and I crash to the ground, hitting my head hard on one of the boulders. Air whooshes out of me, and I remain lying there, stunned. Training definitely did not prepare me for this crap!
I take a deep breath, then bite back a cry when a sharp pain answers me, searing through my sternum. I must have at least one rib broken, tho
ugh judging from the lack of wheezing as I breathe, neither of my lungs got punctured.
Taking slow, shallow breaths, I carefully get back up on my feet. The dim world around me vacillates, and I lean against the stone for balance. Out of sheer will, I force myself to stay standing. Somewhere around is an angry Fey who wants to kill me, and I’ll have a better chance to fight her off if I’m not lying on my back.
Something silvery on the ground catches my eyes—my knife! I hobble over to it and painfully lower myself to pick it up. Its handle is slick with what seems to be blood. I must have injured the banshee when we both fell together.
A tiny smile escapes me; at least I won’t go down like a total loser.
A light rustling reaches me from behind. I turn around with a grunt. The monster lets out a shriek and rakes her taloned hands toward my face. I raise my arms protectively before me. The banshee’s claws seem to hover over me for a moment, as if the air is resisting her. She lets out a terrifying wail, hunches down, and I feel a burning pain lance through me as her sharp fingers dig deep into my own mortal flesh. Tears burst into my eyes. I grit my teeth, try to push the creature away, take a step back, and bring down my hand still clenched around the knife.
The blade catches the monster in the face, and she yelps in pain before she attacks again. This time, I remember my training and slide my back foot around. The motion catches the creature by surprise, and she stumbles past me. I close in on her from behind, then plunge my knife into her body. I feel the banshee quiver like a fish caught on a hook. The Fey tries to reach back behind her, but I push its arm away as I twist the dagger in her back.
With a cry, she jumps away from me, nearly tearing the knife out of my hands. From beneath her deep cowl, the creature eyes me carefully. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. I feel like I should have already turned to mush half a dozen blows ago.
“Well this is unexpected.”
I whirl around at the sound of the voice just as something hits me in the temple, sending a dizzying number of stars into my vision before I crumple to the ground.
Chapter 20
Morgana Trilogy Complete Series Page 24