My Merlin Awakening (Book 2, My Merlin Series)

by Priya Ardis

  I understood that. After a night of battling a thousand or so gargoyles, the dawn looked different. I turned to Blake and attacked him next. He returned my enthusiastic hug with an awkwardly stiff one.

  “Er, happy to see you too, Ryan,” he said with a heavy British accent.

  Gia rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you left me with just stiff-upper-lip here for company. It is so boring at Avalon Prep without you.”

  Vane had found Gia in Hong Kong and brought her to Avalon Prep in much the same manner as Matt had brought me. We had both been accepted as Candidates that day. I had no idea where she was actually from. She never talked about her past, and from what little I knew about it, I wasn’t sure how to ask.

  Gia looked up at the curved gables of Ragnar Manor and whistled. “Nice place, DuLac. A little creepy but… nice.”

  I searched her face. “Actually it’s Grey’s family’s house.”

  Her expression dimmed. “Yes, Grey.” She glanced inside a huge bay window that took up half of one side of the house. “Is he inside?”

  I nodded. “What are you doing here? What about school?”

  “School is on break for a week and the Council wanted us—”

  Blake cleared his throat. He glanced at Matt, who remained at the edge of the driveway. “Maybe we should allow Master Emrys to explain.”

  “Should we go inside?” Matt said. “I need to discuss a few things with Sylvia first.”

  An elder guardian, Clarence, with a craggy face and a stern, militant expression marched up. The other guardians fanned out behind him.

  I was surprised when Clarence faced me first and bent his head in acknowledgement. “Ms. DuLac,” he said before his eyes slid over Vane to Matt. “Master Emrys, shall we start preparing? I have twenty more guardians arriving here within the next hour.”

  “Twenty more?” I glanced at the two brothers as they walked closer. “What is going on?”

  Vane shrugged. “Ask him. He’s the wise one.”

  I turned on Matt. “What have you done now?”

  Beside me, I heard Blake exhale a shocked breath. It amazed me that he still placed Matt up on a pedestal.

  Matt colored. “Let’s go inside. Sylvia and Grey need to hear this also. It will be easier to deal with all the questions at once.”

  “Or you could tell me now.” I shouted the words in my head, locking eyes with Matt.

  He returned a bland look. “Didn’t you want me out of your head?”

  “Uh,” Gia said. “Do you want to warn your family we’re here?”

  Warn Grey? My heart twisted at the plea in her eyes. I nodded and crossed to a short stack of steps that led up to the front door. Behind me, I heard Matt order Clarence to “Proceed with the preparations.”

  What preparations? I seethed as I entered the manor’s marble foyer. I went into a beautiful living room with mammoth windows on two sidewalls, overlooking the courtyard in the front and advertising a panoramic of the woods in the back. A giant hearth dominated the middle wall.

  The walls gleamed with fresh paint. Couches, armchairs, and end tables all sparkled with newness. While the manor had survived the fire, its interiors had not been so lucky. Before the fire, the manor had been stuffed with antique wooden furniture that scores of Ragnars had collected over time. I called it “Cabin-in-the-woods” chic. Alexa had called it “Pastoral-passé.” After the fire, Sylvia had updated everything to suit her. At least one good thing had come out of the disaster.

  Sitting on the couch, feet up on a marble coffee table, Grey ate popcorn and held a controller. A shooter game played on a sixty-five inch, flat screen TV.

  I pushed his feet off the coffee table. “Do you have any idea what’s going on outside?”

  “Huh?” Grey mumbled, as he fired loudly at a few characters onscreen.

  “Is Sylvia home yet?”

  “Mom was worried after the tremor,” he said between plays. “Wanted to make sure we were okay. Think she’s in the kitchen.”

  I grabbed the controller from him and pointed out the front window. A crowd of guardians climbed the manor walls and trees, scouting for hiding places.

  Grey sat up straighter. “What the…?”

  Vane strode into the living room. “Hollow Hill Three. I’ve been waiting for this one. Thought it wasn’t supposed to come out for another month though.”

  “Mom got it early from a friend,” Grey said.

  “How many spells did she have to sell to pull that off?” Vane plopped down on the couch beside Grey and took his controller.

  Grey protested, “Hey!”

  Matt walked into the room.

  “Emrys,” Grey looked at him in dismay. “The Council let you go free?”

  I kicked Grey in the shin.

  “What?” he muttered. “Thought they would’ve caged golden boy after the stunt he pulled.”

  “They wouldn’t have been able to hold me,” Matt said arrogantly.

  “Grey, there’s something I need to tell you—” I faltered. He’d been so aloof, so removed since we’d gotten back. I wasn’t too sure how he was going to react to her actually being here.

  “My brother brought a few friends,” Vane said. “Including your girlfriend, Ragnar.”

  “Vane!” I scowled at him.

  “Better to cauterize the wound than to let it fester, love.”

  “Gia’s here?” Grey jumped up. He shot me a furious look. “Why didn’t you tell me? Where is she?”

  “Waiting for you outside,” Matt said.

  Grey hurriedly exited the room.

  “That’s the most movement I’ve seen out of him in months,” Vane commented before restarting the video game. Sitting down, he lounged back into the couch.

  I stared at him. Ugh. He would drive me to murder. How did guys do that? Lethal one minute and the next completely lethargic. I turned my annoyance on Matt instead. “Why are you really here?”

  Matt drew what looked like an old knife out of his biker jacket. He held it out and commanded, “Aayat.”

  The knife expanded and elongated into a broadsword. The last rays of the fading sun fell onto the sword, allowing dull gold on the hilt to sparkle. The gray steel blade shone with a hint of blue in the light. The gemstone of my amulet warmed against the bare skin of my neck. The Dragon’s Eye awoke in the presence of King Arthur’s sword.

  “Excalibur.” I stared at the sword. It hung in the air, silent and waiting. Then, a whisper fluttered along the lobes of my ears. The sword beckoned me to it. I felt its pull.

  I swayed towards it.

  An image of a rooftop full of an assortment of people—wizards, gargoyles, and regulars—popped into my mind. They knelt down to the sword. They knelt down to me.

  I drew back.

  Vane looked up from the video game. “You brought it. Why? It’s too dangerous to let it out of the protection of the Council.”

  “To remind her what she’s left behind.” Matt’s eyes fixed on me. He’d been watching my every reaction. “It’s time to come home, Ryan. You need to return to Avalon Prep.”

  I forced myself to look away from the sword. I walked away from it once and I could do it again. No one knew how hard that had been, no one except maybe Matt. He knew about power, the crushing mantle of responsibility. My eyes locked onto his dark ones. An understanding shone there, but also a hint of severity.

  My resentment flared. He would always put the needs of the sword first, not me. Why did I have to keep reminding myself of that?

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “I am home, Master Merlin. Remember, you already claimed the sword as yours.”

  “I remember what I said.” Matt’s eyes deepened with unexpressed emotion. “I said it to the world. Not to you. It is not mine and we both know that. The Council wants you to return. They feel it’s important that you train properly with Excalibur and they want the other students to be trained along with you.”

  “They want all the Candidates trained?” Vane remarked.
“Interesting.”

  Matt gave him a pained look. “They want you to return also. To train them.”

  “Makes sense. I am the best,” Vane said.

  I resisted an urge to roll my eyes.

  Vane glanced at me. “However, I have already been spoken for. I go where she goes.”

  My lips started to curve up.

  “Of course, I think she should go back,” Vane concluded. “She’s just hiding here.”

  My jaw dropped down. Matt gave me a smug look.

  I walked to the front window. Outside, Grey and Gia stood a good two feet apart. Grey held himself stiffly while Gia looked like she was trying not to cry. Blake looked like he wished he were anywhere else. He turned his head and saw me. He said something to the other two before he practically ran into the manor.

  I turned back to Matt. “I’m not going back so that Vane can train a replacement for me.”

  “Backups,” Vane corrected.

  Blake stumbled into the living room and halted near the opening.

  Matt sighed. “The sword does not change allegiances easily. Whatever the Council thinks it can accomplish, I don’t see how it could hurt to have your friends trained.”

  “Are you going to teach us again too?” I asked. In preparation for our attempt to pull the sword, we’d done physical training with Vane and magical defense with Matt. Since the wizards made their money by selling magic, anyone out there (magic, regular, or gargoyle) could be armed. The amulet and charms Matt had given us allowed a non-magic person, a regular, to ward off a magical attack.

  Matt shook his head. “I’ve a few things to do.”

  “Second Member duties?” I asked.

  Second Member was the title of the operations head of the Council. They oversaw implementation of all the policies the Council set, and essentially, ran the wizard world. Only the First Member ranked higher. The First Member concentrated on creating policy and usually didn’t get involved with day-to-day affairs.

  The loud staccato of machine gun fire sounded from the speakers as Vane shot ten people in graphic color on the screen. He informed me cheerfully, “The Council removed him as Second Member.”

  Matt waved a hand and the TV turned off.

  Vane made a sound of dissension. “Dullard.”

  Matt’s expression remained blank, but he didn’t fool me. He couldn’t have liked being replaced. He had so many plans. He’d been working on a system to regulate the sale of magic, to make the world safer from its current state of indiscriminate distribution that turned a blind eye to its abuses.

  I asked, “Who was appointed Second Member then?”

  “Councilmember Thorton,” Blake answered.

  “Not that prig,” Vane groaned.

  I agreed. Thorton had no love for regulars—anyone who wasn’t supernaturnal. But then neither had Vane. Vane had always tried his best to keep Candidates who were not wizards out of Avalon Prep. He’d come around though, after we proved we could hold our own. I had forced him to.

  Sylvia walked into the living room, still in her work suit with her dark hair tied back tightly. She saw Vane first and smiled brightly. “I’m so glad to see you. I found this delicious recipe I know you’ll just adore—”

  Then, she spotted Matt. High heels wobbled to a sudden halt. Her face paled. She came to stand beside me, as if she were ready to jump in to defend me against Matt. I suppressed a smile. My adoption by the Ragnars may have been official for only five days but we’d already become a family.

  Vane noticed her protective stance and smirked at me. I rolled my eyes. Like the rest of the wizard world, Sylvia, while awed by Matt, simply adored Vane. She’d been wary when he first showed up at the manor, but after one conversation, he and she were chattering away like two best friends. Matt told me once that Vane’s wizard super-power was talking. It didn’t sound like much of a super-power until you saw it in action. Vane could get pretty much whatever he wanted just by being charming. It was a good thing he rarely bothered to be charming.

  “Master Emrys,” Sylvia said deferentially, because protocol demanded it. The last time she’d seen Matt, a sledgehammer had slammed her life and she still blamed Matt for it. Sylvia glanced out the front window. Clarence and another guardian were scattered around the manor. “Is everything alright?”

  “Of course,” Matt said easily. “However, I need to speak with you. The Council would have me discuss a few matters. I’ve come up with a system to regulate the selling of magic, but I could use your input.”

  “Oh,” Sylvia said with pleased surprise. “Of course, I’d be happy to contribute whatever I can.”

  Ragnar Bank’s largest commodity was magic. The Ragnars had been brokering magic ever since they settled in Boston, in the 1800s. Sylvia showed Matt out of the living room. They went down the short hallway to her office and I heard the door shut.

  I shot Vane a look. “If he’s not Second Member any longer, why is he still heading up the regulation?”

  Vane rose up from the sofa. He crossed to where I stood near the door that led to the hallway. He whispered, “Zrnoti.”

  A faint wind slithered around us, sped down the hallway, and crashed into the office doorway. There it died with a loud bang.

  “Any idea why my brother would put a privacy spell on the office?” Vane looked at Blake.

  Blake shrugged. “I only volunteered to come here and see Ryan and convince her to come back.”

  “Nothing else has been going on?” I said.

  Grey and Gia walked into the living room. Both seemed composed, although they stood a safe distance apart from each other.

  “What’s going on?” Gia asked.

  “I was asking Blake what Matt has been up to while I’ve been gone,” I explained.

  “You mean other than moping around campus because Ryan isn’t there?” she said.

  I felt my cheeks heat. Vane made a sound of disgust. “Focus, Cornwall.”

  “Master Emrys and the Council had been having a non-stop session for awhile,” Blake said. “Then he left to travel—”

  “Where and when, Emerson?” Vane prompted impatiently.

  I elbowed him. “Be nice.”

  “It doesn’t work well for me,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes. The statement was unfortunately true. He would never be nice, but he’d never let me down either. “Where did Matt go, Blake?”

  “I don’t know. I only know it was out of the country.”

  Gia spoke up. “I wanted to switch into more advanced classes so I went to speak to Marilynn…” Gia made a face. I could understand why. Marilynn was a school administrator, actually the school administrator. While the Council ran the school, Marilynn handled all of its myriad details. She hated me because I’d dated Matt, and hated Gia by association.

  Gia continued, “Merlin had her arrange the travel and she said the flight from Heathrow was only twenty minutes. But now that I think about it, I don’t think she wanted to say much in front of me. She was pretty dodgy about the whole thing.”

  “Dodgy is apt.” Vane took hold of my shoulders and positioned me so I faced the doorway to the office. “We need to hear what is going on inside that office. I can’t break through the bubble. Merlin’s magic is too powerful, but you have ears I don’t.”

  “She does?” asked Blake.

  “The—” I started to explain.

  “They have a special connection,” Vane said.

  Blake said, “I thought they only went on a couple of dates—”

  Gia giggled. “Yes, dates.”

  Blake colored. “Oh.”

  Grey made an annoyed sound. “Watch what you’re saying about my sister, Vane.”

  Everyone already suspected the term “we went on a couple of dates” translated to “we spent the night not sleeping a couple of times.” I sputtered, “Matt and I did n-not—”

  “Right.” Gia winked and sent Vane a gleeful glance.

  I glared at Gia. She was not a Vane fan. I got th
at. Did she have to go out of her way to antagonize him?

  Vane’s hands tightened on my shoulders painfully. He didn’t like the idea of putting Matt and me in the same sentence, much less a bed. He pulled me into the hallway away from the others, saying loudly, “We can use your connection to do a spell.”

  I frowned at him in confusion. He shook his head in silent message and I finally got it. I hadn’t told my friends or Grey about Matt and the mind-reading abilities of the amulet. Not because I was trying to hide it; it had yet to come up. I didn’t know why Vane seemed to want to keep it secret. Before I could ask why, Vane mouthed, “Trust me.”

  His voice dropped to a whisper, “Just try listening with the amulet, DuLac.”

  “He’s going to know.”

  “Don’t be loud.” Vane gave me a little push closer to the office door.

  I gave him an irritated look. How was I supposed to be “not loud” while trying to read someone’s mind? Pushing the irritation away, I closed my eyes.

  It was like turning a key. In my mind, the office came through with crystal clarity. Sylvia sat behind the mammoth writing desk, separating her from Matt. As if she needed to place a barrier between them. Matt stood next to one of the large armchairs facing the desk.

  “He can’t come here!” Sylvia said, her face pale.

  “The Council received the message just yesterday. I rushed back to them and then straight here. He will only agree to come to Ragnar manor,” said Matt. “The gargoyle king has asked to see you specifically, Sylvia, and I want you to agree.”

  The walls of the spacious office seemed to shrink around Sylvia. Trees knocked against a thick-paned window and even though it couldn’t have possibly allowed any of the winter chill inside, Sylvia shivered. She glanced at the picture of Alexa on her desk, as well as the walls upon walls of leather-bound books that appeared to have not been read in years. She avoided looking at Matt.

  “I c-can’t,” she said. “You don’t understand.”

  “You must,” he said. “Rourke has promised to give us something we desperately need in exchange for this meeting. Something I have been seeking ever since Excalibur was pulled from the stone. If you care at all about Grey and Ryan, you need to allow this. Their future—no, all our futures will be changed if you do this.”