Geeks and the Holy Grail

by Mari Mancusi

  “Yeah, dude. Come with us! It’ll be fun!” Stu added encouragingly. “Or at the very least, an adventure.”

  Something in Emrys’s heart tugged. He looked up at the group—at their encouraging faces.

  “Very well,” he said. “I’m in.”

  Using Merlin’s magic, they traveled back to medieval times, abandoning the bright lights and big city of Vegas for a thick dark wood. It should have been comforting, Nimue thought, to return to the familiar sounds and smells of the world back home. But in truth, she wished she could have explored Vegas just a little longer. If only to taste another one of those “ice-cream sundaes” Sophie had ordered from a magic box she called “room service” before they left.

  But all that regret faded away when Nimue stepped into the familiar clearing. Her breath caught in her throat.

  Avalon. She was home.

  She dropped to her knees, her hand clasping at her chest. She’d run ahead of the rest of the group when she started recognizing landmarks. The oddly shaped tree at the fork in the path that had twisted itself into a knot. The giant boulder she and her best friend, Tamora, used to hide behind when trying to avoid their chores. The white stone path leading up the hill to the altar of the Great Mother.

  And now…she took in the familiar sights of her village. The tiny huts made of mud with thatched roofs and red-painted doors. Old stumps, serving as stools, circling a giant fire pit where they would make their meals. It all seemed so small and crude compared to the wonders she’d witnessed in Vegas.

  But to her, Avalon had been everything.

  “Hello?” she cried out, heart pounding in her chest as she ran to the first hut—the one belonging to Vivianne. “My lady, are you here? Is anyone here?”

  With shaky hands, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. The cottage looked exactly as she remembered it. The same simple wooden table and chairs, the plain straw mattress on the floor. But now every surface was covered with a thick layer of dust.

  It was the same in the next hut. And in the small dormitory she and her sisters had shared. Silent. Empty, save for the ghosts of her memory. She felt the tears well in her eyes.

  So it was true. They were all gone.

  She staggered back out to the fire pit, ran down the path, and dropped to her knees before the sacred spring. Her mind flashed back to all the times she’d been ordered to fill buckets with water to drag up the hill to the altar. She’d complained about it then, yet what she wouldn’t give for such an order now.

  But there was no one left to give it.

  A sob choked from her lungs. All this time she’d been so focused on her quest—to get the Grail to Arthur—that she hadn’t fully grasped her own fate. Her sisters were gone. Her world was gone. And she was all alone.

  “All right, everyone. Gather round!”

  Well, not totally alone. At least not for the moment. She looked up through tear-blurred eyes to see Merlin standing by the fire pit, gesturing for everyone to join him. A moment later Stu, Sophie, and Emrys emerged from the forest. Ashley came last, with the dragon on her shoulder.

  “Sorry,” Ashley said. “I had to give him a potty break. I so do not need dragon pee on this shirt! Especially not here—in a world with no Tide Pods.”

  Merlin scanned the group. “Is everyone here?” he asked. “Where’s Nimue?”

  She sighed, struggling to her feet. “I’m here,” she called out. They all turned to look at her. She knew she must look a mess. Maybe they’d blame it on the time travel. She could feel Emrys shooting her a worried glance, but she refused to meet his eyes.

  “Very well,” Merlin said. “Let’s go over the plan once again. We don’t have any time to waste.”

  Back in Vegas, Merlin had sent a message to King Arthur using something he called “e-mail.” Nimue wasn’t clear on what it was, but Sophie and Stu had been very impressed that the wizard had set up something called “Wi-Fi” at Camelot.

  In any case, the news from Guinevere had not been good. They had tried everything, she told them, and Arthur was still sick. He needed the Grail. If he did not get it, he would likely die within a week.

  After assuring her that they would not let that happen, they made their plan. Merlin would accompany the Companions to the gates of Faerie while Nimue and Emrys stood guard with the dragon deep underground, in the secret spot under the Tor, where he had once been stored in the shape of a cup. They’d stay hidden there until Merlin returned. Safe from any potential attack from Morgana or her men.

  They still didn’t know what had happened to Morgana after Emrys had cast his spell—a fact that seemed to worry Merlin quite a bit. She could be anywhere, he warned, meaning nowhere was completely safe.

  After going over the plan once again, they broke from the group to get ready to go. Nimue sank down on one of the stumps, scrubbing her face with her hands, exhaustion washing over her.

  “Are you okay?”

  She looked up to see that Sophie had come up beside her. The Companion peered at her with questioning eyes. “Are you worried we won’t be able to do it?” Sophie asked.

  Nimue shook her head. “It’s not that,” she confessed. “It’s just…this place.”

  “This is where you lived, right? Before…” Sophie trailed off, but Nimue knew all too well what she didn’t want to say.

  “I had hoped…” Tears welled in her eyes. “I had hoped that some of my sisters might still be here. That they might have escaped somehow. When Morgana and her men attacked, I took the Grail and ran. That was what I’d been instructed to do. But what if I’d stayed?” she asked, her voice cracking on the words. “Maybe I could have helped them.”

  “Or maybe Morgana would have killed you, too,” Sophie reminded her. “And then she would have the Grail right now. I think you did the right thing.”

  “I know. But…they were my family.” Nimue felt fat tears rolling down her cheeks. “Maybe not by blood. But they were all I had just the same.”

  Sophie’s eyes softened. “I know how hard it is to lose someone,” she said quietly. “I mean, not as many people as you’ve lost. But my mom…”

  Nimue looked up at her through her veil of tears. “Your mother? Did she die?”

  “No. But everyone thought she did. She vanished without a trace when I was seven. The police searched and searched but they never found her, and eventually everyone assumed she was dead. I still remember the morning I woke up and realized she was gone. That clawing in my stomach.” She put a hand to her middle as if it still caused her pain.

  Nimue nodded. Her own stomach had tied itself into so many knots she had no idea if she’d ever be able to untangle them all. “Does the feeling ever go away?” she asked tentatively, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

  “No,” Sophie admitted, giving her a rueful look. “It fades a little with time. The sharp pain becomes a dull ache. But it’s always there, lurking. That feeling that something—that someone is missing.” She looked up. “Sorry, I’m probably not being very helpful.”

  Nimue laughed through her tears. “No, you’re not,” she said. “But I appreciate the honesty.”

  “My story does have a happy ending,” Sophie added. “I finally found my mother. Or she found me, actually. Turns out she’s a Companion, traveling through time to help save the world.”

  “And now you’re following in her noble footsteps,” Nimue marveled. “I hope someday I can do something important, too.”

  “I think you already are,” Sophie said with a smile. Nimue felt her face heat.

  “Maybe so,” she agreed. “Or at the very least—”

  A crashing in the bushes interrupted her words, quickly followed by a high-pitched whine.

  “Wait, is that a dog?” cried Sophie.

  Nimue’s jaw dropped as, sure enough, a large brown dog burst into the clearing, bounding over and leaping onto her, big fluffy paws on her shoulders, covering her cheeks with exuberant kisses.

  “Damara!” she cried, a huge
smile breaking out across her tear-streaked face. “Is that really you?” She wrapped her arms around the creature, tears splashing from her eyes. But this time they were tears of joy. “Oh, you big oaf!” she cried. “I thought you were dead, too!”

  Damara gave her a reproachful look. As if to scold her for having no faith. She laughed again, hugging the dog with a full heart. Then she gently lowered Damara’s paws back to the ground and turned to her friends. “This is Damara,” she introduced. “One of our dogs. Don’t worry; she may be big, but she’s very friendly.”

  “And very furry,” Sophie exclaimed, holding her nose with her hand. Then she sneezed. “I’m allergic to dogs,” she explained, backing away and almost bumping right into Stu.

  “Oh! Sorry!” she stammered. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s okay,” he assured her. He shuffled from foot to foot, not looking Sophie in the eye. Nimue frowned; there seemed to be some kind of weird tension between the two of them since they’d left Vegas. Like they were trying too hard to be polite to each other. She wondered what was going on between them.

  She shook her head, turning back to nuzzle Damara, who covered her face with happy kisses and slapped her knees with her fluffy tail. Nimue’s heart squeezed.

  “Sweet girl,” she said. “You don’t know how happy I am to have found you.”

  She realized, suddenly, that the dog was looking behind her. A low growl rippling from her throat. Alarmed, Nimue whirled around to see what was causing the dog’s distress. She laughed when she realized it was only Spike, who had hopped up on the giant cooking cauldron and was gingerly walking the perimeter.

  “Don’t mind him,” Nimue assured the growling dog. “He won’t hurt you. He’s not even a real dragon.”

  Spike huffed, looking offended at this. Then he fell into the pot. Nimue couldn’t help but laugh as Ashley ran over to pluck the dragon out and set him on the ground. Then, before Nimue could stop her, Damara bounded over to the dragon. She sniffed him curiously, then planted a huge slobbery slurp on his face. Spike looked horrified. He squawked loudly and backed away, shaking his body. A healthy amount of dog drool splattered from his scales. Damara grinned goofily, beating her tail against the ground.

  “I think she likes you!” Stu teased Spike.

  Spike wrinkled his snout. He lifted his chin in the air and strutted away from the dog. Ashley scooped him up and cuddled him in her arms. “It’s okay, Spikey. Everyone knows that dragons rule and dogs drool.”

  “All right, everyone,” Merlin interrupted. “Are we all ready?”

  “Yes!” Stu cried, punching his fist in the air. “Let’s do eeeet!”

  Nimue caught Sophie giving him another strange look. As if she wanted to say something, but didn’t know where to start. Something was definitely off between the two of them. She just hoped it wouldn’t interfere with their mission.

  Ashley, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to it all. “Bye, Spikey!” she cried, dropping to her knees in front of the dragon. She kissed the top of his head, then wagged her finger at him. “You be a good dragon, you hear? No burning down the druid village while I’m gone.”

  Spike burped in response. Ashley groaned and reached into her pocket, tossing a few hair bands in Nimue’s direction. “Watch him,” she instructed. “He clearly cannot be trusted.”

  And with that, she, Sophie, Stu, and Merlin hiked into the woods, up the hill, toward the portal to Faerie, leaving Nimue and Emrys alone.

  Well, almost alone. Damara wagged her tail expectantly as Spike slurped a black beetle off the ground with his tongue and crunched down on it happily. Nimue sighed. That should be great for his digestion.

  She turned to Emrys. “Are you ready to head underground?”

  “Let’s do eeet,” he replied, mimicking Stu.

  She scooped up Spike and instructed Damara to follow them inside. “You can be our guard dog,” she told her. Damara licked her hand, telling her she understood.

  They headed into Vivianne’s home, closing and locking the door behind them. Nimue handed Spike to Emrys and knelt down on the floor, working to uncover the secret trapdoor that led to the underground temple where the Grail had once been stored. Nimue had only been down there once and hoped they didn’t get lost in the twisty passageways beneath the mountain.

  “All right,” she said as the trapdoor was revealed. “Now I just have to…” She pulled on the handle.

  It didn’t budge.

  She frowned. “That’s strange.”

  “Let me try.” Emrys set Spike down and wrapped his own hands around the handle. He pulled hard. But the door did not give way. “Is it locked?” he asked, looking up at her.

  Nimue sank to her knees, blowing out a frustrated breath. “I think it’s sealed by magic,” she realized. “I should have known that Vivianne would secure it before we left. There are a lot of treasures buried under the Tor, after all. Priceless relics and powerful magic. Of course she would not leave them lying around for common thieves—or worse.”

  “Can you open it?”

  “If I had my spell book…” She looked around the room, hoping perhaps Vivianne had left a spare lying around, but saw nothing. “What about Merlin’s iPad? Did he leave it in Lost Vegas?”

  Emrys held up his hands. “No way. Even if he didn’t I am not touching that thing. No more magic for this apprentice. Not until I’ve had proper training.”

  “Then what are we going to do?”

  Emrys rose to his feet. He walked to the door and bolted it shut. “We’ll be fine here,” he said. “At least until Merlin returns. He’s just opening the portal and then he’ll be back. He can help us open the trapdoor then.”

  Nimue pressed her lips together, unsure. “What if someone comes?”

  “Then Damara will scare them away,” Emrys added. “You trust her, right?”

  She sighed. “I guess.”

  “It’ll be fine. I promise,” Emrys assured her. Then he reached into his bag. “Now, how about a game of Mario Kart to pass the time?”

  Nimue cocked her head. “Mario what?”

  He pulled out a strange-looking device, then proceeded to break it into three pieces, handing one of the pieces to her. “Stu let me borrow it while I was stuck in bed,” he explained. “It’s something from the twenty-first century called a video game.”

  Nimue stared down at the small red device in her hand. It looked nothing like any game she’d ever seen. “How does it work?” she asked.

  “I’ll show you.” He pressed a button and the screen burst to life. Nimue’s eyes bulged from her head as she watched weird-looking creatures in little cabs zoom down the road. Was one of them actually a turtle?

  “How did they get those tiny people into the box?” she asked in wonder. “Is it magic?”

  “Of a sort, I think,” Emrys replied with a grin. “Now pick a character. We’re going to race.”

  “I don’t know….”

  “Come on. It’ll take your mind off things,” he said gently. “At least for a bit. And who knows, maybe it will be fun?”

  “Fun,” she repeated, half to herself, as she reluctantly selected a pink-and-white mushroom with a face—which was strange in and of itself, and stranger still when the mushroom started driving his own cab. “With all that’s happened, I hardly know what that word means anymore.”

  Emrys pressed a few more buttons and the screen flashed. Their characters were on a road, with a countdown on the screen of three, two, one….

  “Well, then,” he said. “It’s high time you remembered.”

  “Are we almost there?” Sophie called out as she trudged farther up the hill, through the thickening mists. The fog had rolled in not long after they left the druid village and it seemed to get denser the higher they climbed. They were climbing extremely high, too—up a steep, rocky path without any switchbacks, and her thighs, at this point, were burning. Before her next Camelot Code mission, she was so joining the YMCA and getting in better shape.


  “Not much farther,” Merlin assured them. Which would have been comforting had he not said the exact same thing five minutes before. “And stay close,” he added. “For these are no ordinary mists. One could get lost in them and stay lost for a thousand years.”

  “Then we really would miss our parents’ wedding,” Ashley declared. As if that would be problem number one in a getting-lost-in-medieval-mists-for-a-thousand-years scenario.

  The mists were so thick now she could barely see her hands in front of her face. And when Merlin suddenly stopped short, Sophie slammed into him, almost knocking the two of them right off the mountain. Her heart pounded a little faster in her chest as she struggled to regain her footing. At least she couldn’t look down to see how high they were. That would have made her lose it for sure.

  “Are you okay?” Stu asked. He knew all too well about her fear of heights, and she was grateful for his concern, especially since things still felt super strained between them. After talking to Ashley, she’d tried to get him alone a couple of times—to demand that he tell her what was going on—but he had somehow managed to thwart each effort, keeping himself practically glued to the group. And every time she’d try to ask him what was wrong, he’d managed to change the subject with a dumb joke or long-winded distraction. At first she thought it was her imagination. But when he started going off on how waffles should always be served with peanut butter rather than syrup for ten minutes for no reason whatsoever? She realized it was intentional.

  But what was he hiding? What didn’t he want to tell her? She was sure now it wasn’t anything to do with Ashley, though Ashley seemed to know something she didn’t. Which was extremely annoying.

  Ugh. She shook head. She needed to stay focused. After all, they were on a dangerous mission. She couldn’t afford to be distracted. But after this was over, she would find a way to get Stu alone and force him to tell her what was going on. Even if she needed to hold him down and make him smell Spike’s farts until he confessed.