Knight Flyers

by Ann McCune

  I blinked a few times while my eyes adjusted to the light. When I could see again there was a huge banner hanging off the bleachers. “Go to PROM with me?” I laughed putting my hand over my mouth. I couldn’t believe he did this.

  “Yes.” I got up, moved around the table, bent over, put my arms around his neck, and kissed him lightly. His arm went around me, and he pulled me into him, deepening the kiss.

  My stomach growled, and he released me. “Sounds like we need to feed the beast.”

  “Hey, I’m not a beast.” I went back to my side of the table and sat.

  “I don’t know. You can be kind of scary when you want to be.”

  “Thanks, you can be a dickhead when you want to be.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Prom is going to be amazing.” He changed the subject before taking a bite of his food, smart boy.

  “I’m just glad I agreed to go shopping with my mom on Saturday. I told her if I didn’t go this year I could always wear the dress next year and she almost lost it.” I ate a bite of my sandwich.

  “What are you doing after school?”

  “I have to talk to Billy after school. I need to make this right.” I took another bite of my sandwich. “Then I was going to go to the library and see if I could find anything about the mark. Do you want to come?”

  “Yes, but what are you going to tell Billy?” He pulled his eyebrows together looking concerned.

  “That he is still my best friend and I can’t not have him in my life.” I opened my bag of chips and dug in.

  “Are you going to tell him I’m your boyfriend?” he asked, munching on a chip.

  I felt my cheeks beginning to burn again. “Why would I tell him that?”

  “What am I to you then?” He put his sandwich down and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I don’t know, we have only been on one date. I don’t know if that means we can be boyfriend/girlfriend yet. Plus, with this mark I’m not sure how long I will be around. Are you sure you want to get more involved with me and my drama?”

  “You aren’t counting our dreams though. If you count those, we have been on a bunch of dates and yes, I want to be very involved with you. We will find a way to get rid of the mark.” He pulled his eyebrows together.

  “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?” I dropped my sandwich on the table.

  “As long as your answer is yes then I am. If your answer is no, then let’s just pretend this conversation never happened.” He ran his hand through his hair and looked around the empty gym.

  I thought about it for a second. “Yes, I want you to be my first boyfriend.”

  “Good I want you to be my girlfriend.” He gave me one of his dazzling smiles.

  “Alright.” We finished eating, and I could not keep the smile off my face. We would find a way to get the mark off my wrist, then we could be together without all the drama.

  “I’ve been thinking about last night and how you came to me,” he said, stuffing his trash into his bag.

  “What about it?” I took the last bite out of my apple before putting the core in my bag.

  “The only way you could have done it is if you were a Knight Flyer, like me.” He put his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together.

  “You said I had to be born with it, right? Which means one of my parents must be one too?”

  “Yeah, they must be. I never heard of one who didn’t have ties to Iceland though, and neither of your parents look like they came from there.” He was trying to be gentle.

  “Burt’s not my real dad. My real dad died before I was born. It was right after he and my mom moved here.” I needed to tell Shawn what my dad was trying to do before he died. “I’m pretty sure he was a Knight Flyer.”

  “How do you know?” Shawn asked, cocking an eyebrow.

  “I found his journal in the garage. He talked about fighting mares and trying to find the gate where they came from. He wanted to figure out how to close the gates and get rid of the mares for good.”

  “Can I see it?” Shawn leaned forward, and I could almost see his gears starting to turn.

  “Yeah, I can show it to you whenever.”

  “What was your dad’s name?” He relaxed his hands and put them on the table.

  “Victor Robinson, I think he knew your dad, at least he talks about a Jon a lot in his journal.” I looked down at the table. I didn’t want Shawn to know that if it was his dad referenced in the journal they didn’t get along.

  “What’s wrong?” Shawn took my hand, causing me to look up at him. “I don’t recognize his name, but I’ll ask my dad when I get home.”

  “I don’t think they got along very well, and if it is your dad he talks about, I don’t want it to mess everything with us up.”

  “Don’t worry, we won’t let it. My dad is the leader of our clan, but that doesn’t mean he’s perfect.” He gave me a half smile. “Whatever happens between you and me, let’s not let other people influence our relationship, okay?”

  “Okay.” I smiled back at him then looked down at the table and saw the time. “Do we need to get this cleaned up before lunch is over?”

  “Just part of it. I’m going to take the banner down after school.” He stood and folded his chair and I copied him.

  He put our trash on the floor and flipped the table over to release the legs to fold it up. “I just have to get this table put away before the end of lunch.”

  I picked up our trash bags and took them to the trashcan while he took the table and chairs over to the equipment closet. I waited from him to come back over to me. “Do you have to give everyone a ride home after school?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but after I drop them off, I can meet you at the library.”

  “That will work perfectly since I am going to talk to Billy after school.”

  When we got to class, we reluctantly went our separate ways although we stared at each other almost the entire time. After shop was over, we went to my locker, then his, to get our books for history.

  Billy was sitting in his normal spot, so I sat next to him and Shawn sat on the other side of me. “What, you two back together?” Billy asked, before the teacher started.

  “Yes, but let’s talk about it after class,” I said, opening my book.

  “Fine.” He was trying to sound mad, but I could tell he was happy I was talking to him again.

  When class was over, I walked with Billy to his locker. “So, what did you want to talk about?” he asked, walking with his head down, and his arm hanging like limp noodles at his side.

  “Look, I can’t stay mad at you. I don’t want us not to be friends, but I need you to promise me something.”

  He looked up at me with a half-smile. “Yeah?”

  “It’s actually two things. One: Don’t be a dick to Shawn because he’s my boyfriend and you’re not.” I waited for him to agree as we arrived at his locker.

  “What? Boyfriend? When did this happen?” He turned and opened his locker.

  “At lunch,” I said as he grabbed his backpack and slammed his locker shut.

  “Who else knows?” he asked as I turned and started walking to my locker, hoping Billy would follow. He caught up to me and matched my pace.

  “You’re the first person I’ve told, because you’re my best friend. I want to be able to talk to you about things, and for you and Shawn to be friends too.”

  “Fine, I’ll try and be nice to him, but I’m not promising it.”

  “Okay, moving on. Number two: Don’t ever try and kiss me again or I won’t slap you, I’ll punch you.” I pushed his arm hard, making him stumble.

  “Fine, I promise I won’t try and kiss you ever again.” We got to my locker and I spun the lock before entering the combination.

  “I have a condition too, though.” He leaned against the locker next to mine.

  “What?” I opened my backpack and loaded it with the books I would need for the night.

  “I know we’re BFFs and all, but I
don’t want to hear about any of the kissing and making out crap girls like to talk about with each other.”

  “Billy, when have you ever known me to talk like a normal girl?” I asked, zipping up my bag.

  “Well, you did get a boyfriend. Who knows how else you are going to change.”

  “Alright, I promise not to talk about making out or kissing him with you.” I pulled my pack out and slung it over my shoulders.

  “So, we’re good?” Billy asked as we walked toward the front doors.

  “I guess.” I felt myself relax for first time since Sunday. All was right with the world for a change.

  “What are you doing this weekend?” Billy asked before we split up to go to our vehicles.

  “Hanging out with Shawn tomorrow night probably, prom dress shopping with Mom Saturday. Working half a day on Sunday and studying the rest of the time.”

  “No Billy time?” he asked, looking bummed.

  “Come hang at work with me on Sunday morning, you know how dead it will be.”

  “Alright, I’ll see you then. If you get lonely in the meantime, you know how to find me.”

  I rolled my eyes and started walking to my Jeep. “Bye, Billy.”

  “Bye, Liz.”

  I found an empty study room at the library and checked it out for two hours. I left my backpack inside then went to the computers to look for books about northern European mythology, nightmares and how to get rid of them. I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try something. Twisted Pines did not have a big library, but I did find a few books that might point me in the right direction. After I pulled them, I went back to the room and stacked them in front of my chair.

  I had just opened one when my cell phone started to vibrate. I pulled it out of the front pocket of my bag and smiled before answering it. “Hi, are you still coming?” I asked Shawn, feeling all warm and fuzzy at the thought of spending time with him outside of school.

  “I’m here, where are you?” he asked in a low voice.

  “Oh, sorry, I’m in study room two.” I stood and went to the doorway and looked out. He was walking around with his phone to his ear looking completely lost.

  “Over here,” I said, waving my hand in the air. He looked around and nodded his head.

  I hit the end button on my phone and went back into the room. I sat and moved my bag off the table to give us more room to work.

  “I feel like a complete idiot,” he said, coming in and closing the door behind him.

  “Why? I’m guessing you have never been here and I never told you where I would be.”

  “Still, everyone was staring at me like I didn’t belong.” He sat in the chair across from me and put his bag on the floor. “What are you looking for?” he asked, looking over the books between us.

  “I wish I knew. I need to get this mark off, but I am also looking for the meaning of the rune I found in my bio-dad’s stuff.”

  “What does it look like?” He pulled his eyebrows together in a frown.

  “Here,” I said, pulling my phone back out and scrolling through the pictures. “I took a picture of it, so I could see if I could find something like it here.” I handed him the phone.

  “It looks almost like something we use before we can protect ourselves from the mares but it’s different.” He put the phone on the table and pulled a notebook out of his bag. “I’m going to try to draw it, then I can look in our library at home. I would have you send me the picture, but I don’t want my dad to see it if he checks my phone.”

  “You have a library?” I asked, wishing I could take a peek at it. I bet that is where my bio-dad had found out about the gate, not at the local public library with books full of myths and legends.

  “Yeah, most of the books are super old, and, unless you read ancient Icelandic, you won’t be able to read any of it, but there are a bunch of books with pictures of runes in them. Maybe I can cross reference them.” Done drawing the rune he gave me my phone back.

  I looked at the books I pulled and blew out a breath. “Do you think I am going to find any answers here?”

  “Maybe, but I doubt it.” He pulled one of the books in front of him and thumbed through it.

  “What am I going to do?” I had no idea even where to start looking for the information I needed. “I know you kill monsters in people’s dreams but why? How did this all start?”

  “We will find something. I’ll ask my dad if we don’t figure it out soon. To answer your second question, we were cursed to protect people from the mares, or goblins.

  “Our clan came from Iceland, we are not sure when they settled there, but it was around two hundred AD. The legend says a man named Sindri was hunting after a brutal winter and found a cave. There are many caves on the island and they were known to our people, but this one was new. He ventured into the cave and found a door covered in runes he had never seen before. When he touched the door, it flew open pushing him to the ground. He saw nothing but felt pure evil escaping out of the doorway. He had no idea he had allowed the goblins to cross into the dream dimension.

  “The evil he felt terrified him, and he ran back to the village, with a terrible feeling that something bad was about to happen to his people. He was relieved when he returned and found no trace of the evil he felt come out of the cave. He relaxed, thinking he had hallucinated the entire thing. He told his wife what had happened, and she laughed at him. The next morning, he awoke to find half the clan dead, never waking up from their dreams. He went to our leader and told him what happened in the cave. The leader was beyond himself. Their numbers were too few as it was, the leader told everyone they needed to move as far away from the cave as they could. Sindri had cursed them, the only way for them to survive was to move away.

  “For nine days they packed up their lives with no idea where they would go and for eight nights people went to sleep and many never woke up. On the ninth night, the night before they were set to leave, Sindri entered his wife’s dream and killed the goblin who was trying to kill her. The next morning, she remembered what he did, and they went to the leader and told him what happened.

  “They stayed another night and the leader told each man what had happened in the dream and each man of the village went to sleep ready for battle. They ended up staying where they were and killing all the mares or dream goblins.

  “Word came many years later of another village having the same problem with the sleeping death. A band of men from the village went to fight the mares. They tried to teach the others how to fight the goblins, but they were unable to.”

  “So how did we end up with this gift?” I asked.

  “It’s been passed down through the generations. Like I said it is a curse.”

  “Or a gift,” I said thinking about the ability to save people.

  “That is a constant debate among the knights. What I don’t get is how anyone lives here. There is a huge concentration of mares here, yet everyone is alive and well. Then there is this protection you have.”

  “The answer is simple. There’s an old legend, if you don’t sleep under a dreamcatcher you will die in your sleep. Everyone in town has them over their beds. Even the hotels and the rentals have them.”

  “Wait, seriously? A dreamcatcher? It’s that easy?”

  “Don’t you sleep with one?” I asked, giving him a confused look.

  “No, but I don’t spend much time in my own dreams.”

  “I can’t believe you and your family are still alive. There are always a lot of deaths from campers and tourists who don’t stop by the visitor’s center and pick one up. So, can everyone fight them? What about the babies and kids?”

  “We all wear a special rune to keep the nightmares away until we can defend ourselves. It is similar to your dreamcatchers, but it requires the magic of a holy person to bless them. They are very rare and expensive. When you come of age, and can fight your own mares, you have to give it back. It is kind of a coming of age thing. Will you show me your dreamcatcher?”

>   “Sure, but what am I going to do in the meantime?” I asked as my phone started to vibrate again. I looked at the screen. “It’s my mom, I didn’t tell her I was coming here.” I hit the answer button.

  “Hi, Mom.” I rolled my eyes at Shawn.

  “Liz, where are you? Did you get called in to work?”

  “No, I went to the library after school. I’m sorry I forgot to tell you.”

  “Okay, well dinner is going to be ready in thirty minutes.”

  “I’ll pack up and be home soon then.” I wanted to talk to Shawn more about Knight Flyers, but it was going to have to wait.

  “Drive safe.”

  “I will, love you, Mom.”

  “Love you too.” I ended the call and looked at Shawn. “I have to go.”

  “It’s alright, I’ll find you later.” Shawn got up as I picked up my pack. I looked at the books, he was right, I doubted I was going to find anything in the books to solve my problems.

  “Are you on duty tonight?” I asked as we left the room and walked toward the exit.

  “No, I actually have the night off.” He took my hand as we went through the door and emerged into the parking lot.

  “Good, I might need you to save me from the goblin.”

  “I would love to be your knight in shining armor,” he said as we stopped by my Jeep. “I missed you, Liz.”

  “I missed you too.” He came in and pressed his lips to mine for a quick second. “I’ll see you later.”

  When I opened the mudroom door, the smell of my favorite food surrounded me, and I couldn’t help the smile on my face. “Mom, I’m home,” I called, taking my shoes off, and hanging my jacket up. I took my backpack to the base of the stairs then went into the dining room. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “What were you working on for so long?” Mom asked, coming in with a plate full of steak, green beans, and salad.

  “Just a history project,” I said, skirting the truth. I was looking up ancient history.

  “I’m glad to see you back to your old self,” Dad said, cutting into his steak.