Pendragon's Heir

by Lori Bond

  “Percival, halt this tin can,” I shouted.

  Percival and the knight halted in mid-air, hovering somewhere around the fiftieth floor.

  “Elaine, get back up here this minute. You are grounded for life,” Arthur screamed over the knight’s internal speakers. “If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I will personally see you locked in LANCE’s Tool Shed.”

  “Oh, bite me, Arthur.” I had never heard an emptier threat. His every move since he’d rescued me had been designed to keep me out of LANCE’s clutches. I didn’t see him turning me over to them now because he’d had a little scare.

  “Young lady, don’t you use that tone of voice with me. You get back up here, or I’ll …” Arthur’s voice cut out like someone, probably Ginny, had cut his feed.

  After a moment of silence, I asked Percival to show me how the knight worked. The AI explained all the different screens and told me what commands to say to move in the armor. I practiced moving back and forth and turning somersaults in the air while Arthur maintained radio silence. Percival had just shown me how to use the targeting system for the rockets when Arthur came back on the comms set.

  “Elaine.” He basically spit out the word, like he was trying to talk in a civil tone but horribly failing. “It has come to my attention that I may not be appreciating the trauma your vision caused.”

  “Can’t argue that,” I muttered. I had Percival calculate a flight plan for any mid-sized town in upstate New York that he liked. I didn’t care where we headed as long as I wasn’t in New York City.

  “So, Ginny and I, and oh yeah, Baby LANCE, would like it if you would come up here and talk to us about how you’re feeling.”

  “You want to talk about my feelings?” I didn’t know about Will or Ginny, but Arthur had not struck me as someone in tune with his inner emotions. Or someone interested in others’ inner emotions.

  “Princess, we’re just worried.” Arthur’s tone lost its biting quality, and for a moment, he sounded sincere.

  “I’m worried, too. I’m worried about that future happening. I’m worried about you or Ginny or Will getting hurt because you all keep protecting me. Please don’t come looking for me. I’ll send the knight back as soon as I’m somewhere safe. Percival, execute your flight plan.”

  The knight banked and shot north, away from the Keeps and their tower. I had my viewscreen pan back to the Rook’s terrace. Arthur and Ginny stood by the edge of the moat having a passionate argument while Will stood off to the side frantically typing on his phone. I sighed. It had been too much to hope that LANCE would just let me go. Arthur rubbed at his face and waved his arms, but he didn’t climb into Pendragon or send any of the knights after me.

  “Percival, is there some kind of stealth mode for this thing? I don’t want LANCE or Arthur or the Dreki tracking me.”

  “We are impenetrable to ground radar and sonar, my lady,” said Percival, “and I have taken the liberty of removing this knight from Lord Arthur’s inventory. He cannot track it.”

  “Thanks.”

  It only took about ten minutes to get to the town Percival had chosen. We landed in a small wooded area on the outskirts, near a little used gas station. I stepped out of the knight, and for the first time, noticed my bare feet and pajamas.

  “Brilliant.” I frowned down at my toes wiggling in the dirt. “I need to buy shoes and clothes.” That’s when I noticed the next big hitch in my plan. “I don’t have money. I don’t suppose the knights come with credit cards.”

  “Not exactly,” said Percival. “If you’ll follow me.” The knight, with Percival in control, turned and headed for the gas station. It walked up to the ATM and placed a hand on the side. The ATM’s screen blurred for a moment and then went blank. “How much money do want?” asked Percival. “I would estimate needing at least one thousand dollars.”

  “Don’t these things have withdrawal limits?”

  “Not for me.” If a disembodied AI could sound smug, Percival oozed self-satisfaction.

  I glanced around, but no one was there to notice an armored knight hacking the ATM. “Okay. Give me a thousand dollars, but wait. I don’t want to steal from someone. I’m not my mom.”

  “Perhaps you would prefer funds from one of Lord Arthur’s personal discretionary accounts?”

  I shrugged. “That’s okay, then. We’ll call it twelve years of missed birthdays.” I also didn’t complain when the ATM spit out fifty twenties. Stuffing most of them in my bra, I placed two hundred dollars in my front pajama pocket so I could buy shoes. “I don’t suppose you could drop me someplace a little closer to a shoe store.”

  “Of course, my lady.” Percival opened up the front of the knight, and I climbed back in. After being covertly dropped off behind a big box store, I bought a cheap pair of sneakers, a small duffel, and two changes of clothes. I kind of expected my bare feet and pajamas to get some strange looks, but no one seemed to think anything of a barefoot teen buying travel supplies.

  A polite stranger pointed me to the bus station, and I bought a four hundred dollar ticket to Butte, Montana. I couldn’t think of any place more remote than that. If I was the Dreki or LANCE, I would look for me in interesting large cities. I hoped that Butte wouldn’t even cross their minds.

  Since I had two hours to kill before my bus left, I headed next door to the café. I ordered a small grilled cheese and water. When I sat down to wait for my food, an overwhelming sense of déjà vu hit me. I couldn’t place why the restaurant looked so familiar. I had never been in upstate New York before, much less in this town. The place didn’t appear to be part of a chain, so it was unlikely I had visited a similar one somewhere else. I was still staring around me with a frown when a woman slid into the space across from me.

  “Hello, Elaine,” said the woman.

  I froze, instantly trying to figure out the best way out of the building. The front door sat behind me, and I didn’t see any other obvious exits. Why had I not figured this out before? “How do you know my name?” I asked to buy time.

  “You’ll tell me in a minute,” the woman said. Her eyes clouded over for a moment as if she had developed an instant case of cataracts. Almost as quickly they cleared back to their normal color. “Well, now you won’t tell me. That’s the problem with meddling with the future. It changes things.”

  “Wait, did you See? What happened to your eyes? Who are you?” The woman wasn’t in tactical gear, brandishing an assault weapon, so I didn’t peg her as a Dreki. She also wasn’t wearing the gray suits favored by Will, Stormfield, and the other LANCE agents I’d seen. Her simple green sweater complimented her eyes, but it didn’t tell me anything about who she was.

  “You can call me Cassie.” She offered me her hand to shake, but I didn’t take it.

  “As in Cassandra?”

  “You read Greek myths?” Cassie gave me a skeptical glance like she had trouble believing I read anything at all.

  “Some, but I read two or three superhero biographies when I was a kid. Don’t you work with the Defender? I thought you were a lot older.” The woman across from me wasn’t young, probably around thirty-five, but the great Seer, Cassandra, had been helping the Defender for at least twenty years.

  “We started young,” Cassie said with a smile. “Like you, I hear.”

  I frowned. “How did you hear about me? Is there a subversive news channel dedicated to knowing LANCE’s secrets? You know about me, the Dreki know about me, I’m surprised most of America doesn’t know about me.”

  “The Dreki’s knowledge is troublesome, but I know about you because Pendragon told the Defender. They thought news of a new powerful clairvoyant might interest me. Have you discovered your trigger?”

  “My what?” Unsure what she meant, I glanced around as if I expected triggers to be lying around the café.

  “The person or sensory input that helps you channel a vision. Ahmet, the main clairvoyant that works for LANCE, can only access his visions from a deep trance state. It’s not usef
ul in the field, but he provides great tactical intelligence.

  “Smells bring my visions. Yesterday, I smelled a cup of coffee and Saw myself talking with you today. It took me nearly three hours to figure out what town you were in. Why ever did you leave Manhattan? I had assumed I would find you there.”

  Taking a deep breath, I launched into the story of all my visions from the one of me at the Rook to the bad one I’d had earlier in the day. I even told her about the possible vision where Will and I hung out on the couch.

  Cassie nodded throughout. “You’re going to be very powerful someday. You’ve already had a number of unaided visions, but I think for you the strongest will always be channeled through touch. Let’s try.” She held out her hand palm up as if she wished me to read her fortune. “What do you See?”

  I grazed her palm with the tip of my index finger. This time I Saw the vision, but I didn’t become completely immersed. I could still see Cassie sitting across from me, but I also Saw her get home to an apartment somewhere. A moment later, the Defender dropped in through the skylight, he pulled off his mask revealing his secret identity, and the two kissed. It was the kind of familiar kiss that couples of long standing gave one another.

  I pulled my finger back, and the vision faded.

  “Patrick Jennings is the Defender?” I asked. “The actor from Danger Road? I must have binge watched the entire series last month. How can he have time for both the show and being a superhero? Does this mean he does his own stunts?”

  “Shh.” Cassie glanced around, but no one seemed to pay us any attention. “It’s called a secret identity for a reason. You have to keep it secret.”

  “And you two are like dating or something? I Saw him kiss you.”

  “Engaged actually. What was I wearing? You need to use clues from your visions to figure out where and when they will happen.”

  “You’re wearing what you have on now.”

  “Good.” Cassie nodded, a pleased expression on her face. “Then I get home safely.” A slight cloud passed over her eyes. The hazel part of her iris didn’t disappear like last time, instead it was more like a faint mist had obscured Cassie’s pupils for a second. I wondered if that was what had happened to my eyes back at school. No wonder everyone kept staring at my eyes and making comments.

  “But I get home safe only if I leave now.” Cassie stood and slid over a small piece of paper. “Call when you have questions. I should already have the answers. And remember the future is not fixed. What you See can be changed. Try to change for the better.” She nodded goodbye and hurried past me for the front door.

  I stayed in my seat, tapping my fingers on the table. For a second I wondered why Cassie had to leave so suddenly, but I assumed it was an experienced clairvoyant thing. Someday I might leave other people just as confused as I abruptly ran to some event in the future.

  Instead, I focused on what Cassie had said about changing the future. That was what I was trying to do by running away. If I could keep the Keeps, and especially Will, away from me, no one would have to die. I traced my finger along a groove in the table and wondered what was taking my grilled cheese so long. I turned to glance back at the counter and froze.

  An older man with a determined look on his kind face came toward me carrying two steaming cups. He sat a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows in front of me then slid into the seat Cassie had left only five minutes before.

  “Ah, Elaine,” the man said. His voice chilled me. Little goose bumps popped up on my arms. “I’ve been trying so hard to arrange a little meeting with you, but you appear to recognize me. Perhaps your father has spoken of me?”

  I nodded, but I couldn’t speak. An overwhelming feeling of despair tied my tongue into knots. I recognized the man, but not in the way he meant. This was the man from my vision, the man who would shoot Will any second now. I hadn’t run from my vision but straight into it. If I had stayed at the tower like Arthur had wanted, I never would have been in this café now. No wonder the place looked so familiar. I turned, searching the room for Will, but no one new came through the door.

  “Are you expecting someone?” He glanced around too.

  “I sincerely hope not,” I said.

  This surprised the man. “Good. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Vortigern, Elector of the Dreki.” He held out his hand to shake, but I didn’t take it. There were some people’s futures I didn’t need to See.

  Vortigern didn’t seem bothered. There had to be plenty of people that had refused to shake the terrorist’s hand.

  “Don’t you mean the Illuminati?” I asked him.

  Vortigern looked pleased. “I see your father, or perhaps one of your LANCE minders, has been speaking with you after all.” He reached forward as if to give my hand a gentle pat in a weird parody of the way Arthur had been comforting me earlier. I jerked my hands into my lap.

  “But King of the Illuminati is so outdated now,” he continued. “It brings so many crackpot theories to mind. Since taking over, I prefer to see the organization abandon the shadows and use the noble name of our warriors.”

  “The Dreki.”

  Vortigern nodded. “I would like to discuss you becoming a part of my organization.”

  “What?” This so surprised me I quit watching for Will. My head snapped back to Vortigern.

  “Yes, dear. What did you think we’ve been trying to do all week?”

  “Kill me” was the first thing that came to mind. Instead I said, “You’ve been trying to recruit me?”

  Vortigern smiled in the way I had always imagined vampires smiled before draining their victims. “My dear, you have no idea how much we want you.”

  “I have a bit of an idea,” I said thinking of the battle at my school and the bomb they’d set off in the Rook.

  “You would be one of our most valuable assets. Being able to See the future would be an amazing tactical advantage for us.” He stared deep in my eyes, and once again I knew how a rat felt when mesmerized by a snake.

  “So what do you say, my dear?” asked the man.

  “She has nothing to say to you,” said a voice from behind me just like in my vision.

  This time though, I didn’t turn. I grabbed my untouched cup of hot chocolate and threw it in Vortigern’s face. At the same time, I jumped up. “Run, Will!”

  I spun around, but Will didn’t stand behind me. Instead Arthur grinned. He wore his normal board shorts and hideous Hawaiian shirt except for the knight’s glove on his right hand. He had the rocket from that glove aimed at Vortigern’s nose.

  Vortigern wasn’t in any danger of pulling a gun this time. He had jumped back so the hot chocolate had landed on his lap instead of his face. Vortigern stood brushing at his pants in a futile gesture to remove some of the steaming liquid. He glared up at us.

  “Pendragon. Your timing is impeccable, as always. I don’t know what you plan to do with a single rocket. I have eighteen men surrounding this building.”

  My stomach dropped to my toes. Vortigern might not have shot Will, but he still might kill Arthur and me.

  Arthur gave Vortigern a pitying stare. “I know about your men. I have eighteen knights outside targeting them. There’s also twenty-two on the roof with lasers targeted at your head.” Arthur turned to me. “Elaine, let’s go.”

  “You’re bluffing,” said Vortigern. “You would never risk this many innocent people to blow me up.” He waved at all the other café patrons. A few had noticed the commotion and had backed away, but most were still oblivious.

  “Who said anything about blowing you up?” Arthur rolled his eyes. “I said lasers. The knights have lasers aimed at various parts of your head with pinpoint precision targeting. Just twenty-two little holes and bye-bye higher brain function. The owners of this place won’t even realize they have holes in their roof until the next time it rains.”

  Vortigern paled slightly. He opened and shut his mouth, but he didn’t bluster out a retort. He also didn’t move.

  “Com
e on, Princess. We’re leaving.” Arthur grabbed my arm and steered me to the door. Outside three knights stood waiting on the pavement.

  “I have never been so happy to see you,” I said in a low voice. “I’m so glad Will didn’t come.”

  The helm of the nearest knight flipped open, revealing Will’s face. I jumped almost a foot in the air.

  “You didn’t think you could run away from LANCE that easily, did you?” he said with a small smile.

  Arthur huffed. “Yes, Baby LANCE insisted that either he came with me, or he called out LANCE reinforcements. I decided I preferred the devil I knew. However, considering your vision, he agreed to wait out here. Am I correct in assuming that your vision just played out?”

  I nodded, and to the guys and my surprise, I hugged both Arthur and Will. “I am so glad no one died today.”

  “The day’s not over yet,” said Arthur in a cheerful tone that did not at all match his words. He pointed over at the extra knight. “Armor up.”

  I stepped into the spare knight while the rest of the Pendragon armor assembled around Arthur.

  “Don’t even think about trying to co-opt this knight,” Arthur said over the headset. “I’ve had Percival revoke all of your flight controls for now.”

  The knights took off. Once we were mid-air, an additional forty joined us.

  “You weren’t bluffing. You really had all those knights targeting everyone.” I shook my head, but that made my knight wobble, so I stopped.

  “I don’t bluff,” said Arthur in his smug tone. “I may outright lie, but I never bluff. And Princess, next time you decide you want to go to Montana, just ask. We own a twenty-thousand acre ranch out there. We can go visit anytime.”

  I sighed. “Of course, you do, Arthur. Of course, you do.”

  10

  WHERE I LEARN THAT WILL HATES SPILLING HIS GUTS

  DINNER THAT NIGHT WAS A SOBER AFFAIR. I WAS NOT, AS GINNY pointed out, grounded for life, but I was grounded for the foreseeable future. This seemed kind of a joke since I couldn’t leave the residential floors and, until I jumped off the balcony, hadn’t been outside for days. I nodded though and accepted my punishment meekly enough. It seemed to make Ginny and Arthur feel better, and I had run away and made a huge mess. Grounding seemed fair.