5. Will
Chapter five
Will
Can anyone here drive a manual?
“ S o what brings you to England?” the man behind the security counter asked as he studied me over the top of my open passport.
In the crate at my feet, Gerry howled miserably, garnering our group lots of attention. Apparently, interdimensional travel was fine for the demon, but an international flight gave him terrible motion sickness. And diarrhea.
Figures . Fucking demon.
“He’s going to raise King Arthur and end his family curse,” Nana piped in from my side before I could open my mouth to respond.
My right eye twitched as I forced out a laugh. “ Ha . Ha ha. Sorry about my grandma. She’s senile. Blurts out the craziest things.” That earned my foot a good smashing from Nana’s cane, and I bit back a curse. “Just here... for sightseeing,” I choked out.
The man did not look convinced. He gazed out at our group, eyeing us all suspiciously and lingering on Gerry. Who was still meowing so. Fucking. Loud . “Uh-huh. And how long do you plan to expect to... sightsee?”
“As long as it takes to find the Holy Grail,” Nana unhelpfully interjected again, opening up her bag covered in unicorns and rainbows to pull out a container of Tic Tacs.
I smacked my forehead.
“Right,” he drawled, looking about ready to call for someone to come and detain us. Luckily for us, he just let out a harsh breath and stamped my passport. Maybe a little harder than necessary. “Have fun... sightseeing then.”
After checking everyone else’s passports, we followed the signs for the baggage claim to retrieve our luggage. Which, honestly, was a lot of bags. Except...
“You’ve got to be kidding me right now,” I growled as the last of the luggage was picked off the carousel, yet mine was nowhere to be seen. At least I’d thought to stow some of my clothes in my carry-on bag. “I really do have the worst luck sometimes.”
Hopefully, after this, that wouldn’t be the case.
I had to fill out a form about my missing bag, but even after handing it over to the tired-looking airport employee, I knew I’d never see it again.
At least I’d thought better than to store anything valuable in my luggage. I’d been half tempted to pack some gold away in there, just in case, but had decided against it. Now, I was glad I hadn’t and had instead stored a large amount of cash in my carry-on bag after selling some of the gold for this trip. Though most of the cash simply got deposited into my bank account, much to Nana’s disappointment.
While we found a currency exchange counter, to make sure we had the correct cash and coin, my dad and Dorothy went to get the keys for the rental car we’d reserved online.
By the time we’d finished and met up with them, I’d only had my toes run over four times by several strangers’ luggage and was feeling much better about this trip, despite my lack of belongings.
That was, until I saw the concern on my dad’s face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“So, funny story. I guess they only had one car left,” he said, holding up the rental keys.
“Is it not the one you reserved?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Apparently, you can reserve a car, but it’s not a guarantee you’ll get that car.”
“Okay? So what’s wrong?”
“It’s small... and a manual.”
“Oh.” I glanced around at the others, then back at him. “Well, can you drive a manual?”
He shook his head.
“Can... Can anyone here drive a manual?”
Nana was the only one who raised her hand. “I know how.”
“We’re screwed,” Otto whispered.
I couldn’t help agreeing with him.
We had plenty of time to fret as we attempted a live game of Tetris with our luggage in the tiny trunk of the rental car. It didn’t help that we didn’t know what to expect and had brought all sorts of extra things. Hell, Otto had even prepared a suitcase spelled with anti-pressurizing charms that was packed full of fucking scuba gear since Arthur was apparently at the bottom of a lake. That alone took up a bunch of space.
So this left us squishing into the car with several bags and Gerry’s crate cramped around us.
I wondered if they would help cushion us in a car crash.
Because even though Nana knew how to drive a stick shift, it didn’t mean she was good at it. Especially considering that since we were in the UK, almost everything was flipped. So while Nana knew how to drive a manual car, she now had to remember how to do so from the opposite side of the vehicle.
Something that became very apparent as we squeezed into the black, compact car.
Despite my seatbelt, I jerked forward, smashing my face into the back of the driver’s seat as Nana thrust the car into gear. The car stalled, and Nana cursed it out as she tried again. “Sorry! Just a little rusty. Haven’t driven a stick in maybe 20 years or so.”
It took us five tries to shift the car into first gear. Then another two tries to keep it from stalling when shifting into second.
But then Nana pulled out onto the road.
Onto the wrong side.
Horns beeped at us as cars were forced to move around our vehicle, and Nana apologized to no one in particular as we followed the signs for the exit. But when she tore through a roundabout, driving in the wrong direction, we released a collective scream.
“Move!” Nana called to a little, navy car that barely managed to swerve out of our way.
My heart didn’t stop racing the entire time we were leaving the airport. And it somehow succeeded in beating faster when she ran through a red light at a busy intersection.
“You know, I get that we’re in a foreign country and everything,” I said, clutching my seat belt tighter, “but I do believe it’s universally accepted to stop at red lights.”
“Everyone misses stoplights every now and again,” she mumbled, hunched forward to squint out the window.
Otto met my gaze. “I don’t think we thought this through.”
The drive to Glastonbury took us just under an hour and, the entire time, I wondered if I didn’t even need to worry about Morgana because my nana seemed intent to kill me first.
We passed through a high traffic street with lots of shops and restaurants, and when we reached our Airbnb, I released a sigh of relief I hadn’t known I’d been holding.
The two-story home was quaint, with red and yellow flowers planted in the front garden and in the boxes beneath the windowsills. It had been painted a light blue with a bright yellow front door.
While my dad pulled up the code for the lock, the rest of us unloaded the luggage from the car. It took us several trips to move everything inside, especially since we didn’t know if any of the neighbors were paying attention, so we couldn’t use magic to do the labor for us.
Each room had two double beds, and it was decided that once we had Arthur, he’d stay in my room with me. It was a little nerve-racking to think that if all went well tonight, I’d be sharing the same room with a man I thought was a myth mere days ago.
Gerry found a sunny spot on the floor in the kitchen to lounge. Otto was sitting at a small kitchen table set with strawberry-themed place mats on it. He’d apparently found some tea somewhere and had made himself a cup, looking so ridiculous as he sipped from one with cute little watercolor strawberries that matched the place mats. I knew for a fact he’d never had a cup of tea in his life, and every sip he took, his nose wrinkled.
“Maybe we should get a kettle,” he said, holding up his pinky.
I rolled my eyes. “Why? You don’t even look like you’re enjoying it.”
He added a large scoop of sugar to his tea. “Maybe I just need to find the right tea.”
Ignoring him, I turned to the demon. “Gerry?”
“Yes, Lord Human?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Please, again, just call me Will.”
Gerry stretched. “Of course, Lord Human Will.”
“Whatever,” I muttered. I gestured to his furry body. “Are you able to shift?”
“Oh!” he said, finally giving me his full attention. “I have many forms, if that’s what you mean.”
“Do you have any that aren’t going to be so... conspicuous?” I didn’t know if we’d draw more attention bringing a cat along with us to the Tor.
He nodded fervently. “Oh, yes. How about this?”
There was a poof of smoke, and then instead of a cat, a man stood before us in the kitchen.
While this was definitely a humanlike form, there were still some features that made him appear not-quite human. Shorter dark hair spiked around his head, and his eyes kept that distinct, catlike look with a narrowed pupil and enlarged, orangish iris. It wasn’t as noticeable from a distance, but up close, someone would think he was wearing cosplay contacts.
No fur coated his warm, brown skin. That was obvious because he was very— very —naked.
“Dude,” Otto breathed, eyes wide as he gaped at Gerry.
Gerry flicked his forked tongue along his sharp canines and grinned at Otto, preening. “Like what you see, metal human?”
Otto flushed a bright red.
I snatched the hand-stitched hand towel off the oven and threw it at his... Well, maybe penis wasn’t the right word. What did you call it when there were two of them?
“And this”—I waved a hand up and down his frame—“this is the most human form you have?” I asked, wanting to make sure.
He beamed, and apparently forgetting—or maybe not caring—about the towel, he posed with his hands on his hips. “Yes! It’s perfect, isn’t it?”
“It’s something,” Otto said, biting his bottom lip as his gaze fell to Gerry’s enormous...
Rubbing at my temples, I stomped out of the kitchen and up to my room to fetch the demon some clothes from one of the other’s bags.
Maybe I needed to do more cardio. Because the walk up the Tor had me panting and sweating buckets like I’d joined some triathlon. None of the others in my party seemed to be having the same issues, though I was sure their own magic, no matter how diluted, could feel the thrum of energy here.
My dad and Dorothy hiked up ahead, pausing plenty of times to take selfies with the Tor and St. Michael’s Tower in the background. Gerry, dressed in some of Otto’s clothes, bounded around the hillside, chasing dandelion seeds as they bobbed along a light breeze. Otto only looked a little tired because he and I were practically carrying Nana up the path. Otherwise, I doubted he’d even break a sweat.
All around us, several other groupings of people made the trek up the Tor, and a couple stragglers were even spread out on blankets along the grassy hill, reading books or scrolling on their phones.
But it wasn’t just the exercise causing me to sweat.
The moment we’d arrived at the base of the large hill, St. Michael’s Tower looming at its peak, I became restless. My skin itched and my insides squirmed uncomfortably as this... tug urged me closer. Almost like the magic of this place was calling me, beckoning me nearer.
I had trouble controlling my magic on a normal day, but this was different. Because this wasn’t my default, the magic here was sending it haywire. It was unnerving.
While we strolled higher and higher, I took my time to study the Tor. The tower atop it wasn’t the original structure, but it wasn’t the Tor or the tower that made this place thrum with unchecked magic. It was a location where many ley lines intersected, creating an incredible framework of magical energy.
My thoughts went a little fuzzy with each step closer to the top. I could sense my family around me, but it was as if I wasn’t moving of my own accord anymore. No, it was the magic calling me closer to the lone tower that had me moving now.
“Will,” Dorothy called after me, her hazel eyes looking a little dazed. “Are you okay?”
But I didn’t stop. Not until I stood beneath St. Michael’s Tower.
“I can feel it,” I said, and my words sounded strange even to my own ears. “Can you feel the magic?”
The others followed me, looking... nervous. I didn’t blame them, either. I was at the whims of the magic here.
“I definitely feel something,” Nana said, frowning at the ground. “It’s making me antsy.”
Dorothy nodded. “I feel it too. Almost like I’ve had too much caffeine.”
Gerry watched me with glowing eyes, which could never pass as mundane. “What are you going to do?”
My gaze scanned the land around us while I listened to what the magic wanted. It didn’t speak, but it was just this... feeling. Like I could sense what it wanted, what it needed .
And that’s when I knew what had to be done.