“Well… Davie told me.”
It was as if lightning bolted through the entire room that we were in, everyone jolting to upright attention. Suddenly, they were all talking at once, and I wondered if I had gone about this entirely the wrong way.
“Davie? You saw Davie?!”
“Do you mean like a dream? Or a vision?”
“That is nothing to joke about!”
“Huh, really?”
I held up my hands, which I noticed were still shaking and covered with a dozen or so small cuts from my mad dash through the city.
“One at a time, please. I speak your language, but you all have very thick American accents!”
That seemed to give at least a few of them pause, and Mickey breathed deeply before addressing me with quite the stern voice.
“Explain. Now.”
“Your sister came to me like a ghost. She just appeared a few days ago and told me that you all would need my help. At first, I tried to get away, but she was…persistent.”
I didn’t miss her sharp intake of breath and the tears that came to the corners of her eyes. “That sounds like Davie.”
Bronn leaned forward, and it felt like he was staring right through me. “How do we know this is so? This entire thing seems too convenient. How did a mere boy run away from a horde of dragons?”
“I dunno, Davie and I managed,” Mallory interjected.
“The prince is right to be suspicious,” I said, surprising all of them, “and Davie told me you all would be.”
“A convenient enough excuse.”
“It’s not an excuse,” I countered. “Just a statement of fact. Davie told me how you were betrayed by your closest cousin and would no doubt have some issues trusting. So, she also gave me information to assure you that I could only have learned all of this from her.”
“Oh really?” Mickey asked, sounding like she so desperately wanted to believe me but was forcing herself to be practical. “Like what?”
“For you, she wanted me to remind you of that time where you both had the flu soon after you moved into your new place. You were both so sick that you just laid in bed with a, what do you call it, an upchuck bucket?
“Eventually, Davie began to feel better and she went to take care of the bucket in the bathroom, but as she was doing that, you felt so sick that you had to rush in. You were in such a desperate rush that you knocked the bucket out of her hands and…well, the two of you promised to never speak of it ever again as long as you both lived.
“She also said she was sorry for blabbing, but since she’s dead, she technically didn’t break your oath.”
Everyone looked to Mickey, and suddenly, I wondered if I should have told the story a little more delicately, because her head was in her hands and she was crying loudly.
I didn’t know what to do, so I just stared at her, fearing I had done something terrible. Mallory reached for her, patting her leg, but it was still several moments before she sat up and heaved a great breath.
“That’s real,” she gasped. “That’s exactly how it happened.”
“But how do we know that he didn’t just have a vision of it? I apologize if I’m being difficult, but it just seems so odd to me that you were able to outrun actual dragons. I don’t mean to offend, but they are trained soldiers and you are—”
“A starving orphan? Yeah, I get that. But you all are the ones who came looking for me. If it weren’t for you and Davie, they’d never even know I existed.”
“What do you mean?” Mallory asked.
“I got involved in a…an altercation, I guess you could say, and I was ignoring Davie because I thought that she was a hallucination brought on by hunger. So she, uh, jumped into me, I guess you could say. Apparently, that was enough to tip off your enemies that she was around.
“You see, they do not know that she is dead, so Davie says they’ve been using what little understanding they have of the ‘old magics’ to find her, whatever those are.”
“If Davie knew that we were coming, and told you all these things to convince us, why not just talk to us?” Mal asked. “Mickey is a seer and her sister. You’d figure she’d make the connection with her own blood instead of some stranger across the world that Mickey just so happened to have a vision of.”
“That’s the thing,” I answered, starting to feel a bit exhausted from the interrogation. “She says she can’t reach you. That something’s blocking you all from her, and once I got close to you, it was like she was just erased from my sight.”
“Well, that’s…certainly foreboding,” Mickey murmured.
“It is,” Bronn agreed. “But forgive me—”
“Yeah, yeah, we get it, you’re suspicious,” Mallory said, cutting the man off as she leaned forward. “What I wanna know is, you said Davie sent you to help us. Are you really going to raise the shields for us? Or was that whole thing more of a metaphor?”
“About that,” I said, taking a deep breath. Davie had said that this was the most important part and I certainly didn’t want to misspeak. “She says that those shields are done. There’s no way to repair them. You’d need someone to generate the spells for entirely new shielding, and that’s not what my gifts are.”
I could feel the energy deflate out of the group and it took several moments for anyone to speak.
“Then it’s useless? This whole plan was a bust?” Mickey whispered, looking like she was holding back tears once again.
“But if there’s no way to repair the shields, then how in the hell are you going to help us?” Mallory said, her irritation with the situation clearly rising.
“Well, it’s like Mickey’s vision said. I’m connected to the old magics. I can’t do things like raise shields, or see the future like all of you do, but apparently, I can be a…a… What is the word she used?” It was so hard to concentrate with all of their eyes on me, staring me down like a cadre of disapproving hawks. “Conduit, I think.”
“A conduit? A conduit for what?”
I looked the sister square in the eye and tried to steel my voice as best I could. “To bring her back to this dimension. Alive, of course, and significantly less impaled.”
13
Ghost of the Past, Ritual of the Present
Krisjian
I had heard the word cacophony once in my life, back when I was in school and learning vocabulary for a test. But I’d never seen a reaction that so fit the word until I told these strange folks that I could possibly be a part of bringing Davie back to them.
Mickey just burst into tears again, holding her face in her burned and unburned hands. Davie told me not to stare at her intense scarring, but it was difficult at first glance. Her skin read like a pink, topographical map, and I kinda just wanted to touch it. Thankfully, even in my exhausted state, I knew that wasn’t appropriate.
Meanwhile, Bronn shot up to his feet, instantly questioning if I was serious, if that was possible, and if I knew what he would do to me if he found out that I was lying. I sensed that he didn’t really want an answer, but rather needed to get out every single doubt crossing his mind.
Mallory, well, she was the most surprising of all. She just let out a loud howl, followed by deep, deep peels of laughter. Bordering on manic in sound, her mirth filled the space, until my ears were ringing between the three of them.
That was about when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking over, I saw Mal handing me her almost empty bottle.
“Oh no,” I said politely. “I’m not old enough.”
“Since when does a homeless kid turn down free calories? Drink it, it’s practically all sugar.”
Who was I to argue with that? I reached for the bottle, anxious for anything to take away some of the stress of the situation, but before my fingers could wrap around it, it was snatched away.
“Let’s put a halt on that underage drinking there,” Mickey said, voice hitching. “And why don’t you tell us how the two of you are supposed to bring her back. Last I knew, death was a prett
y permanent thing.”
“She’ll have to explain the specifics of it to you. She told me she didn’t have time to explain it all. What she told me is that there’s this ritual detailed in one of the books she found in Mal’s world that should be able to pull her from that dimension to yours without reopening the portal. It won’t be like we’re bringing her physically here, but more like we are destroying her form wherever she is now and reconstituting her on this plane.”
“Destroying her?” Mickey repeated, sounding horrified. “What if we make a mistake bringing her back, or something goes wrong? I don’t know about you, young man, but I’ve never performed a ritual of any kind.”
“If we mess up, the Davie that I interacted with will be no more. She will cease to exist in entirety, and the form that she’s in now will be absorbed by whatever the energy is that connects all these worlds.”
“I… That’s an awful lot of responsibility,” Mallory said, seeming to come down from her high. “Are you sure this is what Davie wants?”
“She’s scared too,” I answered honestly. “The risks are high, but she said if she wants everyone she loves to survive, this is what we all have to do.”
“Does that mean my cousin wins if we don’t resurrect our shields?” Bronn said, sitting down for the first time since he had gone on his questioning rant in the background.
“I don’t know. She didn’t give me a detailed list of what she was afraid of. She only said that things were coming that you wouldn’t survive without her. I think… I think she worried about scaring me off.”
“Alright then. Let’s say we believe you. How do we perform this ritual?”
“It has to be done on the night of the next new moon, when the sky is practically all stars. There are several ingredients we will need, some easy, and some difficult, but we must have them all before that night.”
“The next new moon? That’s less than a week away once we land. Can we really do all of that in such a short amount of time?” Mallory asked.
“I am more concerned on if we can hold off the dragon supremacists until then,” Bronn muttered.
“Oh, is the situation that bad?” I asked with wide eyes.
“Did Davie not tell you?”
“She alluded that things were not the best they could be and that you needed me, but she didn’t go into detail.”
“Sounds about right.” I didn’t think it possible, but Bronn’s face sobered even more as he looked at me. “We’re barely holding onto our ability to keep the enemy forces at bay. Right now, we assume that the only reason they haven’t swept in and crushed us all is because they’ve heard we no longer have custody of Davie and they’re searching for her.
“If they find out that she has passed, I doubt that we will survive.”
“That sounds quite grim. No, she didn’t communicate that to me.”
“I’m sure she has her reasons. Now, let us get you some food for the rest of the flight. It is a long one, and we will need you at your best when you land.”
He pressed a button on his chair and a voice came from nowhere to politely ask how they could help him. I stared at the entire process, baffled, but soon a woman came from the front, dressed in a sharp suit, and gently placed a tray of steaming food in front of me.
“I apologize for my reaction earlier,” Bronn said, although he didn’t sound any kinder than before. “I’m sure you can understand that what you’re telling us is quite an…emotional revelation, I guess you could say.”
“I understand.”
“Good.” He nodded, and I could see the practical maelstrom of emotions behind his eyes.
“It must be difficult to see the woman you were in love with die, only to then learn that there’s a chance she could come back to you.”
Perhaps that wasn’t the best thing to say. He sat bolt upright, looking at me with an expression that was even worse than before. “Who told you that? Did Davie say something? Does she think I’m in love with her?”
“No! I mean, I don’t know.” He looked more confused by my answer, so I tried to straighten out my words before I made an even worse mess of things. “She never said anything directly, but I always got the impression from how she talked about you. And hearing you talk about her, it’s much of the same.”
“I see…” he said, sitting back and seeming to consider my words. “But like I said, eat up and get some rest. When we land, you’re going to need it.”
I nodded and hastily dug in. At first, I thought it might be difficult to eat with all of them staring me down, but the moment the rich, creamy potatoes touched my tongue, I was in love. It was delicious, and flavorful, and full of fat. I could feel it coating my stomach and making my brain feel more protected with every second. I just needed to make sure I didn’t eat too much, as it would be too much of a shock to my system.
Like the prince had said, I had a lot to do once we landed, and I couldn’t afford to waste time with an upset stomach.
The prince had not been kidding when he said the flight was long. It went overnight and well into the next day before I saw my first American city sprawled out below, but I didn’t mind. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had slept in such comfort. Mal told me that I was out for nearly ten hours, and I honestly wasn’t surprised. I felt like I had been living in a terrible, exhausting nightmare for years and had finally woken up to the dawn. It was amazing what a comfortable chair with massage functions and a full meal could do for an orphan.
But as amazing as the plane was, and the concrete jungles we were passing over, and all of the rest of the finery, none of that compared to when we landed.
As soon as the engines quieted down, I could hear a low thrum of sound. It was strange, and I couldn’t quite place it even as we walked into the large, open hangar. It wasn’t until the metal doors opened at the end for us that I was treated to the full rush of what I was hearing.
It was city sounds, but a thousand times louder than my home. There were cars rushing, people yelling, honking, construction. It was a maelstrom of stimuli on my ears, and I just stood there a moment in total awe.
I’m not sure how long I would have stayed there if Mal hadn’t grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
“Don’t worry. I was that way at first too. It really is a trip, isn’t it?”
I nodded as I piled into the long, long car that was there for us, and immediately turned down the window. Almost everyone else was talking about the ingredients for the ritual and where to get them, but I was enraptured by this massive city of the future.
“Wait until you find out about the internet.”
“The what?” I asked.
“You’ll see.”
I just nodded, letting myself soak up this opulent world that I had been dragged into.
I expected myself to be able to begin to cope with some of the grandeur, but the more we drove, the fancier and fancier things got. There were no abandoned buildings, no bomb craters. There were new and shiny traffic lights, and even billboards that were illuminated with moving pictures. I had heard that America was such a hard land to survive in, and that they didn’t take care of their poor either, but how could I believe that when confronted with all this prosperity? It was a strange land, that was for sure.
After a while, however, the city began to pass and then we were in the countryside. At least that was not so different from my home. Just as green and just as open, with plenty of trees. But then, through those towering arbors, I caught sight of a massive castle.
“Is that…” I asked, leaning over to Mal.
She nodded, seemingly amused by my reaction. “Yup, welcome to your new home, kiddo. Not a bad place to stay while you try to save the world, right?”
“No, not at all,” I murmured.
Whatever happened, I certainly owed Davie my thanks. Even if the ritual went terribly wrong and we all died in some sort of backfire explosion, I would have nearly a week of living like actual royalty.
But I didn�
�t want to get it wrong. In fact, I found myself wanting to get it right more than anything else. Goodness knew I owed Davie at least that much.
Strange to think that I knew a ghost who was so incredibly vital to the fate of the world. It was a bit hard to see her pale, pained face and know that so many were in incredible pain because she was gone. Maybe that was why I was put on the path I was. I may not be the grand hero come to save the day, but I could try to save the hero that everyone needed.
Yeah, that didn’t seem like a bad fate at all.
14
Not the Average Shopping List
Krisjian
“Alright, so this list is gonna seem real weird to you, but the others should get this. Hopefully. I mean, fingers crossed.”
Davie looked at me with a hopeful expression, although sweat was trickling down her brow. Apparently, ghosts could sweat. Who knew?
“First of all, they’re gonna need a scale of the oldest dragon they can get their hands on. The older they are, the better a chance they have of things working out.
“Secondly, they need the blood of the betrayed. Pretty easy considering everyone in that castle was done in by Baelfyre.
“Now, this one gets harder. They need water of the light of the moon. From what I can tell, this is from any pond or stream that is reflecting the full moon. But it has to be a natural body of water, not like, a birdbath or something.”
“This ritual is very specific,” I murmured, putting everything that she said to memory.
“Well, yeah, it’s a magical ritual that can theoretically bring me back from the dead. I don’t know about you, but I expected a certain level of complexity there.”
“You have a point.”
“Thank you. And then you need the tears of a maiden. Probably awkward going around asking who’s a virgin and who isn’t, but deal with it.”
Power of the Seers Page 7