Knight Flyers

by Ann McCune

“Not my problem.” She continued walking to class.

  I went to my class, depressed that not only had I lost Shawn, but Jo too. I was scared I was going to be on my own in my dreams and I didn’t know if I was strong enough to beat the mare. My dad had failed and from what I had read he was one of the best Knights they ever had. I had zero training and no help, how would I survive when he had failed?

  Lunch time came, and the cafeteria was the last place I wanted to go. I took my lunch and went out to my Jeep. I turned the radio on and ate my sandwich by myself. The last thing I wanted to do was sit at my table with Billy. The next two classes I had were with Shawn, and I wondered if I could get him alone to talk to him.

  I got to auto-shop early and waited by my station for Shawn to come in. He walked in right before the bell and Mr. Pearson started talking. When he was done explaining what we needed to do Shawn went to his station on the other side of the garage without even looking my way.

  I let out a frustrated breath and got to work, trying to think of an excuse to go talk to Shawn, but came up with nothing. When I finished with the assignment I went over to his station.

  “Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked, in a small voice.

  “I’m really busy right now,” he said, polishing his carburetor with a rag.

  “Look, Billy came over, I was making him leave when he turned around and kissed me. You left before you could see me slap him.” I put my hands in my pockets and shuffled my feet back and forth.

  “Who you kiss isn’t my problem anymore.” He didn’t look up as he talked, only concentrated harder on the already gleaming carburetor.

  “I did not kiss him,” I said a little louder. “He kissed me, then I slapped him.”

  “I need to get to work. Please leave me alone.” He turned his back on me and I struggled to keep from crying as I walked back to my auto-shop locker.

  I took my coveralls off and left. I didn’t care that class wasn’t over. I needed to leave before I made a fool of myself by crying in front of the guys.

  I walked numbly to my school locker to get my history book. I opened it and stood there staring at the contents like it was the first time I had seen any of it. I didn’t know what to do. This whole situation was Billy’s fault. I should have stayed at the dining room table and not walked him out, but then Shawn would have seen him leaving. Would he have still thought something was going on between Billy and me if he saw Billy leave the house right before he got there?

  Maybe Shawn was too jealous to be with me. I did hang out with the guys a lot. Maybe my mom was right. If Shawn didn’t want to listen to me and believe me when I said Billy kissed me without permission, then he wasn’t worth my time. The bell rang, and I noticed the people all around me.

  I was done feeling sorry for myself. This was not my fault. Shawn could suck it. Switching gears, I walked to class wondering how I was going to figure out how to get rid of the burn on my wrist and the goblin on my own.

  Billy was in his usual seat when I arrived, and I took a seat in the front row as far away from Billy as I could get. He gave me a hurt look when I accidently made eye contact with him, but I ignored him and opened my book. I forced myself to keep my eyes on my book while the seats around me were taken. I only looked up when class started.

  I told myself I didn’t care where Shawn was sitting. I didn’t need him to mess up my future. I didn’t need Shawn or anyone.

  When class was over I went to my locker without making eye contact with anyone I passed. I threw my books in my backpack and headed for the parking lot, excited to go to work. At least I wouldn’t have to think about the mess my life was for a few hours.

  Working after being gone for a week was exactly what I needed. Bob had a ton of stuff for me to do to keep my mind off the problems ruling my life. I was only interrupted by Billy, who came in to buy some milk. He tried to talk to me, but I ignored him, and only said what I had to—what his total was. I was still so mad at him for messing up what Shawn and I had. For the first time in my life, Billy had no idea what was going on with me. Even if we weren’t fighting and I told him what was going on in my dreams I doubted he would believe me.

  Mom was pulling dinner out of the oven when I got home, so I ran up to my room and dropped my backpack off then came back downstairs ready for dinner.

  “How was your day?” Mom asked tentatively as she put a piece of roasted chicken on my plate.

  “It sucked.” I saw no reason to lie to my parents about it.

  “What happened?” Dad asked, looking a little too eager.

  “I’m not talking to Billy and Shawn wants nothing to do with me. One date and my entire life has been flipped upside down.” I took a bite of my chicken.

  “Why aren’t you talking to Billy?” Dad asked.

  “Because this whole thing is his fault. If he hadn’t kissed me everything would be fine.” I couldn’t believe my Dad didn’t understand what was going on.

  “Things were going to get complicated one way or another.” Mom took a bite of her salad. “Billy thought he was losing his chance with you. He was bound to do something drastic.”

  “Well, neither of them are worth my time. I am just going to hang out on my own and focus on my future.”

  “Good. Boys can wait till you are done with school,” Dad said, after wiping his lips with a napkin.

  My mom rolled her eyes but kept quiet. She wanted me to have a social life and not spend my time under cars or in books. Well, until I found someone worth spending time with, I would keep myself busy.

  After dinner I went to my room and studied for a while then pulled up my favorite search engine and looked for information about gateways to other dimensions and how to close them. Unfortunately, all I found were websites about video games and volcanos. I had no idea where the gateway was, but my bio-dad thought there was one near Twisted Pines and the closest volcano was the super volcano under Yellowstone. There had to be another way to find it. I took a picture of the rune on my nightstand and did an image search for it, but nothing came up. Frustrated, I gave up for the night and tried to get some sleep, hoping my stalker would give me some peace.

  I dreamed restlessly that night. Billy and Shawn were fighting over an ice-cream cone. I tried to break them up, but it was like I wasn’t there. When I tried to get between them they would move away from me. All I could do was watch them punch and kick each other, neither of them winning, just beating the crap out of each other. All the while my stalker goblin tried to get in on the action, but the boys were intent on killing each other and ignoring the goblin.

  CHAPTER 18

  I went through the motions of getting ready for school the next day, but I was still miserable. I was exhausted and mad. I needed to find a way to get rid of the goblin, or I would never get another good night’s sleep, but I had no idea where to start looking without being able to talk to Shawn. I ate breakfast and said goodbye to Mom then went to school.

  The day started better than the previous day. I was determined to put on a brave face and not let Billy or Shawn get me down. Everything was going smoothly until lunch. Tommy and Sam were my friends too, and there was no reason why I should freeze to death eating in my car when there was a perfectly good table I could sit at and ignore Billy.

  I arrived late on purpose. I wanted to sit as far away from Billy as I could. The cafeteria was full of students when I got there, and I went to my normal table figuring Shawn and Jo would be sitting somewhere else. Not only was I wrong, but Tiffany was sitting between them. Shawn saw me and quickly looked away. I couldn’t leave now unless I wanted to look weak. I pulled my shoulders back and walked to the only free seat at the table, luckily it was on the end furthest away from Billy and Shawn.

  “Hey, guys,” I said, sitting down with a smile on my face. “How’s your sled, Tommy? Did you get it fixed yet?”

  “Oh, no I haven’t had time to look at it yet,” he answered me like he was surprised I was talking to him.

  “I
f you need help let me know.” I opened my bag and took out my sandwich and bottled water.

  “Yeah, I will.” Tommy’s eye rolled from me, to Billy, to Shawn, then back to me.

  “Hey, Tracy, how was prom dress shopping?” I think it was the first time I had ever started a conversation with her.

  “Drama. Kelly and Laura wanted the same dress and I had to figure out who it looked better on. To tell the truth, it didn’t look good on either of them. I tried to talk them both out of it, but Laura bought the dress and Kelly blames me. Be happy you didn’t come.”

  “Yeah, doesn’t sound fun. Did you find a dress?”

  “Yes, it is going to look amazing on me.” Her whole face lit up when she talked about it. “It’s long and fitted, bright green with a ton of sequins.”

  “Yuck, green? Really?” Tiffany said, flipping her hair, and hitting Shawn in the face with it.

  It took everything I had not to start laughing as Shawn pulled a few loose hairs out of his mouth. Jo rolled her eyes after making eye contact with me.

  “What is wrong with green?” I asked, a little harsher than I intended.

  “Everyone wore green last year, but I guess you wouldn’t have known since you were sophomores.” She rolled her eyes, like being a year younger was the worst.

  “Crap,” Tracy mumbled, looking down at her hands.

  “Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll look great, and since its green you will stand out more than if you wore whatever this year’s color is.”

  She gave me a sideways look then smiled. “Thanks,” she whispered before eating the rest of her lunch.

  “Are you even going?” Tiffany asked, putting her arm around Shawn like she owned him. He shook her arm off and gave her a dirty look.

  “I haven’t decided yet, but maybe you could tell me what this year’s color is, so I can make sure to buy a contrasting color.”

  “You don’t have a date yet? Are you going by yourself?” She let out a ridiculous laugh.

  “Last time I checked I didn’t have to report who I was dating to you. Now if you will excuse me, someone’s perfume is making me sick to my stomach.” I picked up my empty bag and left.

  It took everything I had to hold myself together, but I managed. I had twenty minutes before my next class started so I went to the library.

  I found the only book on runes the library had and started to skim through it. There were diagrams of them and I studied them looking for the rune on my bio-dad’s stone but I didn’t see anything like it.

  I wanted to start reading the book from the beginning, but the warning bell rang, so I took it to the counter and checked it out. I put the book in my locker then ran to shop class, making it just before the bell rang.

  I stood at my station while my teacher went over what we needed to accomplish and didn’t look over at Shawn once. When he released us to get started, I put my head down and got to work.

  I finished just as the bell rang. I ran to my locker to get out of my coveralls and get back to my regular locker to get my history book. I didn’t want to be late or have to talk to anyone.

  I took the same seat as I had the day before, away from both Billy and Shawn and successfully ignored them during class. When the final bell rang, I left the room and walked quickly to my locker. I was looking at the floor to keep myself from staring at Shawn when I found shoes blocking my path.

  I looked up, finding Billy blocking my path. “Move.”

  “Liz, can we talk?” He shuffled his books from one hand to the other.

  “I am not ready to talk to you yet. You ruined everything, Billy.” I pushed past him and walked away as quickly as I could without running.

  I threw everything I needed for the night into my pack and instead of leaving by the front entrance like I normally did, I went out the gym exit and walked around the school to the parking lot. Tears I could no longer hold back started streaming down my face. I kept my eyes down and hoped I wouldn’t run into anyone.

  Once I was safely in my Jeep I wiped my eyes and looked around. Shawn was standing in front of his Jeep talking to Tiffany, who was flipping her hair and laughing. I saw him roll his eyes and look around the lot. His eyes met mine for a second before I looked away. I started my Jeep and left, making sure not to drive too fast, I didn’t want him to know how much he was hurting me.

  When I got home, I sat at my desk in my room and pulled out the book on runes. They originated in northern Europe and were used until they adapted the Latin alphabet. They were not only an alphabet but many had special meanings. I picked up the stone by the leather thong and looked at it for a long moment. I had a feeling the symbol on the stone was more than a letter, it had to mean something. Maybe it could help me lose the goblin. I held it up to the light and was about to put the thong around my neck when I heard a car pull into the driveway. I dropped the necklace and went into my parents’ room to see who it was.

  Billy was getting out of his truck and walking to the front door. He was the last person I wanted to see, but, knowing him, he wouldn’t leave until he said his piece, plus he had a key.

  I went downstairs and opened the front door part way. “What do you want?”

  “I’m sorry, Liz. I should have talked to you about how I was feeling. I had no right to mess up what you and Shawn had. I told him what happened after school today.”

  “Too little, too late, Billy. You saw Tiffany hanging all over him at lunch.” Tears threatened again, but this time I held them back.

  “He doesn’t like her, Liz, he couldn’t take his eyes off you during History.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

  “Look, Billy, you need to go. Maybe I’ll be ready to talk later this week.”

  “Yeah, I just wanted to let you know I’m trying to make it right.” He spun around and went back to his truck.

  I shut the door and ran back to my room. I flopped face down on the bed and cried. I was tired of crying; this dating thing was not as fun as I thought it would be.

  Once I cried myself out, I read more about the runes and looked at all the diagrams, hoping to find some similarities between them and the stone. After an hour of finding nothing, I ate dinner with my parents, then went back to my room, and pulled out my homework. I studied until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer then I went to bed, praying I would get a good night’s sleep.

  I was sitting on the couch in the living room watching a Bronco game with my parents. They were winning by one touchdown and the clock had just hit the two-minute warning. I was staring at the screen willing the defense to hold the Patriots back. We needed to win for some reason. The Patriots quarterback had just received the ball from the center, he threw the ball far down field with a Hail Mary pass when the screen when blank.

  “What the hell?” I called, getting up from the couch and walking over to the television. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but it didn’t matter, the goblin’s face filled the screen and I took a step back.

  “Why are you putting off the inevitable? You will never escape me. Why not give in and save yourself from the pain?” he asked, with hungry eyes.

  “Go away,” I yelled, at the monster as it crawled out of the screen. “Why won’t you leave me alone?”

  “Because,” he paused, finding his feet, and looking at my parents who were still staring at the now black TV screen. “I need you or my plan will fail. Now what is it going to take to convince you to give in.”

  “I will never give in.” I closed my eyes and imagined my dad’s .45 revolver. It was heavy and difficult to shoot, but it could take down most large animals if you got close enough. I aimed the barrel at the mare and pulled the trigger. The gun went off and my arm came up with the recoil. It hurt, and I thought I hit him, but I wasn’t sure. The goblin was on the ground screaming in agony.

  My mom got up from the couch and went to the monster. “How could you shoot this man, Liz? He is a friend of ours.” She looked at me with disappointment in her
eyes.

  “Mom. No don’t. He’s a goblin, he’ll eat your soul and you will die like Victor. Please get away from him.” As soon as the words left my mouth the goblin’s cries of pain turned into maniacal laughter. Shawn’s plan of shooting the goblin didn’t work, dang it. He grabbed my mom by the neck and twisted her head off in one smooth motion. Blood spurted from her neck and he threw her severed head at me.

  I caught it as tears began to roll down my cheeks. “See, Liz, I told you there was no reason to shoot the man,” Mom’s head said, smiling up at me. I screamed, dropped it, and jumped away.

  Dad was on his feet running towards mom’s body. “Dad, no, stay away from him,” I yelled, trying to get to him before he reached the goblin, but it was too late. The goblin grabbed Dad by the shoulders and brought his mouth down on Dad’s and I froze with fear as the goblin sucked the soul from him. I ran toward them. I wanted to rip the goblin’s head off, just like he did to my mom, but when I was a foot away I ran face first into the barrier that separated us.

  The goblin lifted his head and laughed. “You can’t touch me while you have your protection. I’m going to enjoy killing everyone you care about until you face me without it.”

  “No,” I screamed, falling to my knees while he bent back to my dad and continued sucking the soul from his frozen body. The smoke alarm started to go off and I looked around expecting the house to be engulfed with flames, but there wasn’t any smoke in the air. I closed my eyes and told myself to wake up. I needed to check on my parents.

  CHAPTER 19

  I opened my eyes and looked around my bedroom. It was just a dream, but was it? My heart was racing, and I was covered in a cold sweat. I jumped up out of bed and went to my parents’ room. I had my hand on the doorknob ready to run in to try to save them when I heard first one voice talking softly then the other. I let out a shaky breath and went back to my room to get ready for school. The goblin had been messing with me, my parents were fine.