The Druid's Guise: The Complete Trilogy (The Druid's Guise Trilogy)

by Michael J Sanford

  “Just me. They’re havin’ some crisis. Kate and Andi got in some fight over a boy or some shit. Ms. Grace let me come out here to get away, since I been behavin’ myself.” She nodded at the bespectacled woman of forty who had retreated to a nearby bench, a thick paperback open across her lap.

  Wyatt nodded and slid down the short plastic slide with a grunt. He hit the ground and tumbled forward, managing to sculpt the fall into some semblance of a roll, and sprung to his feet with a bow. His glasses fell to the ground and Athena laughed, deep and throaty. He hastily replaced the crooked frames, fearing even a passing moment without the ability to see Athena clearly.

  “Do you want to play with me?”

  Athena squinted critically and took a step backwards, her arms crossed firmly across her tight black t-shirt. Her nails glittered blue and gold.

  “Do I wanna what with you?”

  Wyatt grinned and wrinkled his brow, shaking his head vigorously. He managed to catch his glasses just as they broached the tip of his nose. He laughed and swiped at the air with one hand while he gave a quick flourish with the sapling wand.

  “Not like that. We can play wizards and warriors. I’m a wizard, of course, and you can be a warrior. This,” he said gesturing to the children’s playground, “Is our castle, but it is under attack from a horde of angry Fallen Regents. They have four arms and nasty attitudes and they want my magic treasure. We have to-”

  “Whoa, hold up. I ain’t playin’ no make-believe wizard game. No offense, but that’s whack.”

  Wyatt frowned disappointedly and lowered his wand to his side in defeat. A single girl had done what an endless horde of imaginary Fallen could not. Athena punctuated her statement with a sharp nod, scaled the short metal ladder, and alighted on the metal grate platform atop his castle. Wyatt shrugged, tossed the sapling branch over his shoulder and ran at the slide. It took three attempts, but he managed to find his way up the five-foot slide to sit at the top, his shoulder nearly brushing at hers as they faced different directions.

  “You don’t go home on the weekend?” she said after a long moment of shared silence.

  “Home?” The word felt foreign on Wyatt’s tongue, as if he had never spoken it before and was unsure of how to craft the sound. “No. You?”

  “Nah,” she said. “But it’s cool that most of the other girls do. Makes dorm a lot quieter. Usually, anyway.”

  “Yeah, we only got seven kids on dorm this weekend, I think. Ms. Abagail said we could watch a movie later and make popcorn. If I behave I can go with her to pick it out.”

  “We never do anything like that. There’s always drama. I hate girls.”

  Wyatt smiled at that. “But, you are a girl.”

  “How would you know, perv?” Athena quickly retorted. “Maybe I’m a robot.”

  “Or maybe you hate yourself.” He wasn’t sure why he said it, but he could sense Athena stiffen at his side.

  “Yeah, maybe,” she said slowly as her fingers found the mass of bracelets and absently spun them around her wrist.

  Wyatt glanced to the side and watched her blue and gold nails pick over the tangled rainbow. “I like your bracelets. Did you make them?”

  Athena stopped spinning them and held up her wrist as if to analyze it. Every color coursed around her slight wrist, some cast in rubber, others braids of yarn and string. Some were simply rubber bands and some were littered with beads and metal charms. Wyatt could see a small bear, a sun, and what looked like a banana.

  “No,” she said, her nimble fingers finding a particularly beautiful braid of yellow, indigo, and black. Thick strands of yarn twisted and knotted, forming an intricate braid and dizzying pattern of colors. The yellow zigzagged between the black and indigo borders like a lightning bolt. A lightning bolt that never ended, forever spinning around Athena’s dark wrist. “My grandma made most of them, others I found, or stole.”

  Athena’s voice changed as she ran her pointed fingers along the lightning bolt, but Wyatt did not know what it meant. His hand went to the pendant around his neck and drew it out. It spun gently at the end of the long string.

  “My grandma gave me this,” he said and leaned over to pass the green stone into her field of vision. A swirl of wind passed between them and he caught a breath of her scent, rich fruit and lavender.

  Athena grasped the small amulet in her hand and thumbed the green crystal just as Wyatt did so often. It made him smile.

  “Do you feel the power?” he said.

  Athena quickly dropped her hand and resumed fussing with her bracelets, her dark gaze cast away from the warm green stone bound in dark twisted wood. Did it burn her? Wyatt thumbed the stone himself. It was no warmer than the air and elicited no spark or scorching fire.

  “Pretty cool, huh?” he said, but Athena did not reply. “It’s magic, too.”

  Athena sighed. “It’s always magic and warriors with you, huh?”

  Wyatt didn’t have a response for that. He merely shrugged and replaced the amulet beneath his superhero t-shirt.

  “You ever get outside your own head?” she said, her gaze fixed on the distant brick buildings, though something told Wyatt she didn’t actually see them.

  “What if I told you I could take you from here?”

  Athena shot him a stern glance and gestured her head sharply in the direction of Ms. Grace. “Keep it down,” she whispered. “That is the plan, ain’t it? For you to get me out of here. Did you come up with a plan yet, wizard boy?”

  “Yes, I mean no. Well, not like that. I mean, I have a way out.”

  “Well, spill it.” Her eyes had narrowed and seemed to grow in intensity, the deep green pulsing beneath her darkened brow.

  “My pendant,” he said and patted his chest.

  “Your what?”

  “Pendant,” he repeated. Had she forgotten already? “I can take you away from here. To Hagion.”

  Athena rolled her eyes and turned away. “I don’t need your magic bullshit. I need a real way out of this fuckin’ place.”

  “Isn’t magic better than anything here?”

  “No.”

  “I can do it, honest. It’s magic. The crystal gets all warm and then starts shooting sparks and magic vines. And then it turns to fire, so bright you can’t look at it and it burns you up and next thing you know you’re in Hagion. And it’s way better than here. There are the Children and Rozen and Grenleck. He’s an imp and there is the Regency, but they’re bad and there’s-”

  “Show me,” Athena interjected, her voice icy cold and her emerald eyes frozen and still.

  Wyatt looked back at her, lost in her stare for a moment. If he stared long enough he thought he may be able to decipher the underlying emotion.

  “Show me,” she said again, nodding sharply at his chest. “Take your lil’ magic necklace and zap us to another world. Go on. Do it.”

  Wyatt cleared his throat, not for sake of nerves, but for a bit of phlegm that was lodged there. He turned and spit a pale-yellow ball of snot that didn’t make it off the platform. He stared as it slid between the metal grating until Athena elbowed him in the ribs, hard.

  “Ow,” he exclaimed and rubbed at his side.

  “Well?”

  “It doesn’t work like that and that hurt, you could have just tapped me, why’d you have to hit me?”

  “Oh, your lil’ magic necklace ain’t so magical after all, is it? Get your head outta your ass, Wy.”

  Wyatt stiffened a bit, still rubbing his side and frowned at her. Was she no different than any of the others? He wasn’t surprised that his peers and even the staff hadn’t believed him, and had taken to calling him “the Wizard,” but Athena…

  “There’s a bog imp,” he said with no more care than if he had been remarking on the weather.

  “A what?”

  “Bog imp. His name is Grenleck. I named him, but you can call him Gren. He’s real smart. Zuel says he knows most languages, though he doesn’t talk, just chirps and shrieks a lot. You’d l
ike him.”

  “Oh yeah? And why’s that?”

  Wyatt shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s kinda like a dog. A little dog with sharp teeth and-”

  “I had a dog,” she said, her voice softer than it had been. “Teddy, I called him. He looked like a bear, brown and fluffy. Small like a cat.”

  She fell silent and leaned back on her hands, staring up at the twisting clouds. Wyatt followed her gaze, expecting to see something more than gray nimbus. The air smelled of rain, sweet and damp. He could almost taste it. He wanted to taste her. Whether her was Athena or Rozen he wasn’t certain.

  “What happened to him? Teddy, your dog.”

  “Died,” she said simply. Wyatt glanced over at her and found her eyes closed. She wasn’t looking to the sky at all.

  “How?”

  “You know what they say ‘bout bein’ too curious?” She didn’t open her eyes, nor did she turn toward him.

  Wyatt shrugged, though he knew she couldn’t see. It was merely out of habit. “Good thing I’m not a cat.”

  Athena laughed, a short expulsion of air, nearly a cough, but Wyatt took it for genuine mirth and smiled. He looked at her expectantly, but she had fallen silent, her face turned heavenward.

  “Well? How’d Teddy die? Did he get hit by car? My neighbor had a dog that got-”

  “My dad killed him,” she said suddenly and sat forward again. Her left hand found her right wrist again and toyed with the rainbow.

  Wyatt was taken aback, though just for a moment. His mouth was seldom startled for long, even if his mind was left handicapped. “Really? Why? Was he sick?”

  “My dad? Sick? Yeah, you could say that. Or you could say high. Whatever floats your boat.”

  “I don’t get it,” Wyatt said and turned to face her, leaning up against the corner support. Athena didn’t turn to face him, but continued to toy with her wrist and stare into the distance.

  “Your dad killed your dog? Why?” Wyatt said.

  Athena shrugged. “Because my mom wouldn’t let ‘im kill me.”

  “I… uh… but…uh… your mom saved you?”

  Athena glanced at Wyatt, but her emerald eyes betrayed no emotion. “Save me?”

  “She stabbed him, right?”

  Athena laughed and turned away again. “She stabbed him alright, but not for me. For money. Mama beat me worse than the old man, though she weren’t half as strong.”

  “I… uh… I’m sorry,” Wyatt said.

  She shrugged again. “Ain’t no thing.”

  Wyatt stared at her dumbfounded. “But…”

  Athena sighed. “We all got shit, Wy. You’re no different. What ‘bout your parents? They beat you? Maybe get a bit handsy? Make you play doctor or some shit with your cousin?”

  A sick twisting feeling seized his stomach and threatened to bend him over double. “No,” he said. “It was just my grandma and me and she’d never hurt a fly.”

  Athena rolled her eyes. “And yet you’re here, in this hell hole. Ain’t no such thing as coincidence. So, your old man took a belt to ya and maybe your mom tried to stop him and maybe she took a few blows to the-”

  “No,” Wyatt shouted suddenly, not recognizing his own voice. “It’s only my grandma and me. No one else. And when she’s better I’m-”

  The words lodged in his throat as his eyes went to a small evergreen bush growing alongside the large one-story building flanking the street. But, it was not the building that had seized his attention, nor was it the bush at which he now looked.

  He reached behind him, swiping blindly. He caught Athena in the head, momentarily snagging her hair.

  “Ah, what the fuck?” she shouted, ignoring the feigned rebuke from Ms. Grace.

  Without turning, Wyatt said, “Did you see that?”

  “See what?”

  “There,” he said, pointing. “It was there, by that bush.”

  She turned to follow his finger. “Oh, you mean the bush that I wasn’t facin’? Yeah, I saw it with them eyes in the back of my head.”

  “So, you saw it too? I think it was an imp. But, how did Grenleck get here?”

  If she rolled her eyes, Wyatt didn’t see; he was too busy scouring the length of the distant building and the shadows behind it.

  “Are you kiddin’ me? So, now you’re seeing your stupid imp things? Wy, you’re not just weird, you’re certifiably insane. Maybe that’s why you’re here.”

  “I swear I saw something,” he said, ignoring her sarcasm and launched himself from his perch. He stumbled and fell to his knees, but never broke his gaze. There had been something there, a dark shape, darting amongst the shadows at the back of the After-School building, too quick for any animal he knew and he could swear he saw a pointed tail. Was it blue and green and brown?

  He broke into a jog, beelining for the vanished creature. If Ms. Grace took notice of his exodus she didn’t say anything. He had quickly learned that each dorm staff generally kept to their own residents and seldom bothered with another’s. Not that it would have mattered. He wouldn’t have stopped had she asked him to and his own dorm staff were too enthralled in the kickball game to find concern in anything he was doing. Athena was likely the only one to watch him fade across the parking lot and disappear around the back of the After-School building. And he wasn’t sure she cared any more than anyone else. Was he wrong about her? Wyatt didn’t have the time to think on that, his eyes and mind were fixed solely on finding the bog imp.

  There was little more than a dozen yards between the back of the brick building and a tall wooden slatted fence that marked the property border. It towered ten feet high and a trio of towering oaks continued skyward, draping large branches across the span. Some branches reached the building’s roof. The clouds and trees conspired to shroud the corridor in dark shadows, each twisting and turning as Wyatt slowed his advance, halting to peer beneath bushes.

  There was a shout from behind, but the words were garbled and he took no notice as a sharp rustle caused him to freeze in place. He turned his ears to the sound, eyes flicking amongst the shallow piles of dead leaves and dense evergreen shrubs that lined both the building and the fence. There was only one way through, but it felt like a maze and Wyatt was certain something hid within its confines.

  Something flickered in the corner of his eye and he whirled around, facing a broad window with its shade drawn. Again, a rustle came, this time not more than a whisper from him, muffled by the stout branches of a shrub. He quickly dropped to his knees. The ground was damp and yielded to his weight. He pressed his face tightly to the dirt. Something moved, quick and erratic, thrashing amongst the shaded branches.

  “Gren?” he asked the shrub. “Is that you? Come on out, please.”

  He received no response, so he crawled closer until the stiff needles scratched at his forehead. A scurrying noise echoed out from the shadows. He’s stuck, Wyatt realized at once. He pressed the side of his face harder against the soft soil and extended his hand into the shrub, snaking around branches and wincing with every prick the stiff needles gave.

  “I’ll get you out of there, Gren, don’t worry. I am Wyatt the-”

  Suddenly the shrub erupted with life and Wyatt reared back, rolling away from the convulsing bush. He stumbled back just in time to avoid being raked by the sharp talons and beaks of a dozen birds. The dark shapes exploded out of their nest in a flurry, shooting past Wyatt like dark bullets. In half a moment, they were gone and Wyatt was left to catch his breath, sprawled in the grass and dirt.

  “Is this what wizards do? Roll around in the mud?”

  Wyatt hadn’t seen Athena slip beside him, but her dark face stared down at him. Even in the shadows he could see her roll her eyes.

  “I thought I saw Grenleck, but it was just a bunch of birds. I almost lost an eye. Are you OK?”

  “Huh?” Athena said. “Birds? What are you talkin’ ‘bout?”

  “There were birds and-”

  “Athena,” shouted Ms. Grace as she stepped
beside the teen, her index finger wedged firmly in the middle of her paperback. “You can’t wander off and you’re not allowed back here. I’ve called Mr. Alec to get Wyatt, but you need to come back with me now.”

  Athena sighed and dropped her shoulders like a petulant child denied ice cream. “We’re not doing anythin’, Ms. Grace, come on. It’s not like we’re back here fuckin’ or nothin’”

  “Language! And that is not the point,” Ms. Grace retorted. Her beady eyes had gone stone still behind her thick rimmed glasses and Wyatt could see her free hand tremble slightly. “Let’s go. Back to dorm.”

  Athena growled like a cornered dog, but refused to move; instead she offered a hand to Wyatt and tugged him sharply to his feet. She was much stronger than she looked and Wyatt felt his shoulder strain under the force.

  “I’m tellin’ you, Wy’. Get your head outta your ass or you’re never gettin’ outta here.”

  “Back to dorm, Athena,” Ms. Grace interjected. She waddled closer and placed a hand on Athena’s shoulder.

  Athena spun away violently. “The fuck off me.”

  “Let’s go.”

  “Don’t fuckin’ touch me,” she shouted. Her eyes were daggers and she jabbed a pointed finger at Ms. Grace.

  Ms. Grace scowled and pointed silently in the direction she intended Athena to take. Wyatt toyed with his glasses and smiled. The tension tickled him. He struggled not to laugh. Athena folded her arms and promptly marched away in the opposite direction.

  “I’ll go, but I’m goin’ my own way back and don’t you fu- don’t touch me again… please.” The please sounded forced and pained. Ms. Grace offered no response but an exasperated sigh and followed after Athena. Wyatt turned and watched the pair disappear around the front of the After-School building.

  “Bye, Athena,” he shouted after they had vanished from sight. He received no reply.

  Wyatt turned and nearly collided with Mr. Alec. He stumbled backward and thumbed his glasses, smirking at the diminutive man. Mr. Alec was a couple inches shorter than Wyatt and at least fifty pounds lighter, but Wyatt had no disillusions about his mettle. He held his hands out at his side, a look of mock surprise on his bearded face. A worn baseball cap obscured his brow.