8. Will
Chapter eight
Will
Consensual choking is fine, of course
“ S eriously?” I asked, my voice scraping my throat as I stared down at the unconscious king at Nana’s feet. “Do you realize who you just hit?”
She raised her cane again, looking prepared to give Arthur another wallop. “I don’t care who he is. If he tries to choke you or anyone else again, I won’t hesitate to give him another whack.”
“Unless it’s consensual,” my dad piped in as he unlatched the tailgate of the truck to load the scuba gear inside.
“Yes,” Nana agreed, poking Arthur’s arm with her cane. “Consensual choking is fine, of course.”
“Sometimes I wonder if I’m adopted,” Otto said seriously, narrowing a suspicious gaze on our dad and Nana.
“Same, man.” I squatted down beside Arthur, my brows tugging low in confusion as I noticed he still wasn’t bleeding from the gash in the side of his head. He also had a couple bite wounds on his arms, yet no blood stained his garments. “I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe it’s the spell, but for the moment, his injuries aren’t bleeding. But I don’t know how long that will be the case, so, Otto, get the healing tonics from my bag, and—”
Whatever I’d been about to say was interrupted when the air filled with screams.
I flinched, and our group covered our ears as we peered toward the sky where the moon and stars were beginning to reappear from the retreating storm.
At first, we didn’t see anything. But then, from behind the departing clouds, countless black birds circled the sky directly above us.
Their pitch-colored feathers helped them blend into the night, but their beady eyes reflected the moon and stars as they stalked us.
Because that’s exactly what they were doing.
“Okay, change of plans. Everyone in the truck,” I said, not daring to take my eyes off the now clearly ravens spiraling above our heads. I reached behind me, slipping an arm under Arthur’s armpit. Otto did the same to Arthur’s other side, and together we hauled the unconscious king up. Which was really hard considering how absolutely massive he was.
But before anyone could take a step, the ravens’ cacophony ceased, leaving the night in eerie silence.
Then a string of whispers and screams rose from the fog, sounding like the most beautifully terrible song I’d ever heard. It reminded me of death and rebirth, of damnation and redemption.
It grated on my ears, sent my thoughts spiraling and pulse pounding, and it felt so wrong, wrong , wrong ...
“I can feel you, little sorcerer,” a soft voice chimed, almost bell-like in its cadence. Through the fog, the barest outline of a figure appeared. Eddies of black whirled around them, concealing them further from our view.
But I didn’t need to see their face to know who they were.
“Otto,” I said under my breath, watching the mist shift more to reveal haunting, dark eyes gleaming from the whorls of smoke, reminding me so much of the birds in the sky. “Take Arthur and get him inside the truck. Now.”
Otto swallowed audibly, but with measured, labored steps, he dragged Arthur back toward the vehicle.
There was a hint of a smile in the woman’s next words, though she kept her face hidden still. “I’ve been known by many names, have taken countless forms, and am linked to endless myths and legends across the world. Do you know who I am, sorcerer?”
“Someone’s a little full of themself,” Nana muttered, but her voice trembled slightly. The woman’s dark gaze slanted toward her, and I... I just couldn’t have that.
“Yes, I know who you are,” I spoke up, drawing the woman’s attention back to me.
Her gaze returned to me. “Say my name then,” the woman whispered, sounding as if she was asking from directly beside me.
“Morgana,” I said, and she grinned.
“Such a smart boy,” she purred. “It’s too bad you have to die.”
Chills rose over my arms. “Yeah... I’d rather not die, if it’s all the same to you.”
She laughed again. “Funny too. It is unfortunate you share Merlin’s blood or else we could have had some fun, you and I. Maybe I’ll take a taste first anyway. Just this once.”
“I’m gay,” I blurted out, though why I was bothering to tell her this, I didn’t know. It wasn’t as if I’d be interested in her even if I wasn’t gay. She’d been the cause of my mother’s death.
She grinned just before her body transformed. Instead of the beautiful enchantress, a young, handsome man stood in her place, though he shared Morgana’s shadowed gaze. His hair was black like the smoke at his feet, and his strong jaw was covered in thick stubble. He wore a dark suit with a wilted black rose pinned to its lapel.
He truly was a fine specimen, but that sense of wrongness still clung to the air around him.
“Better?” Morgana asked, voice rich and deep.
“Uh, that’s going to be a ‘No’ for me.”
“Pity.” Morgana pouted mockingly before letting the shift fade and returning to her previous form. “Your magic feels like his, you know,” she said, inhaling long and slow. “Merlin. Yours is subtler, yes. Even now, I can barely feel you. Perhaps that’s because of so many generations of dilution.” Her head cocked at an almost impossible angle as her gaze fell to the ring still on a chain around my neck, and that sense of wrongness grew, of something unnatural that caused the hairs on my arms to rise in caution. “Or maybe it’s something else entirely.”
Otto’s mutters reached my ears, and I heard him and my dad struggling to lift Arthur’s body into the truck. Too bad the bed of the truck had so much gear in it, ours piled on top of the truck owner’s stuff.
Morgana’s eyes trailed from Eluned’s ring to where they’d finally managed to stuff Arthur’s body into the truck. Her expression hardened to one of rage. “Hasn’t anyone told you it’s bad to steal?”
“Arthur doesn’t belong to you,” I said, taking a slow, subtle step backward. “You can’t keep him.”
Taking a menacing step in our direction, she shook her head. “He stole my son’s life, so I think it’s only fair that I keep his as penance.”
“He was in pain .”
The grin that lit her face was more of a slash than a smile. “It was no less than he deserved.”
“You’re crazy,” I said, eyes wide.
“Will, honey,” Dorothy called from where she was squeezing into the back passenger seat beside Otto. “I believe it’s called mentally ill now, not crazy.”
Gerry leapt inside after her, Excalibur’s hilt clutched in his teeth. And even in this moment, when confronted with the person who’d killed my mom and ancestors, I couldn’t help but think how someone should really take that sword away from him. It just wasn’t safe.
“Will,” my father called anxiously as he and Nana edged closer to the truck.
When I risked a glance at him, he was pointing toward the sky. His concern made sense when I noticed the change in the birds. They had Voltron-ed themselves into the shape of one massive raven, making it impossible to distinguish where one abomination began or ended. The only giveaway was the glassy, black eyes glinting in the starlight.
The menacing creature swooped through some remaining clouds, its wings and body larger than any plane. It opened its unnatural beak and released the most horrifying cacophony of caws.
Like a call of war.
The smoke concealing Morgana’s body fell to the ground in a whoosh , revealing her voluptuous frame. A floor-length dress draped over her milky skin, nipping tight at her waist. The swaths of fabric billowed around her legs, and the black smoke from before creeped up its hem.
But the most curious part of the dress was the decaying, pastel flower petals covering nearly every inch of the fabric.
It wasn’t until the wind swept the sickening floral scent our way that I finally recognized the flowers.
Apple blossoms. Like the ones that had been missing from the trees guarding the castle in Avalon.
The cloying smell grew stronger, overwhelmingly so, and I almost gagged.
My dad did gag, and Nana frowned at him. “What’s wrong with you?”
“You don’t smell that?” Dorothy asked from the open truck door, voice muffled and nasally from where she covered the lower part of her face with her arm.
Nana sniffed the air like a bloodhound, but her sense of smell was nearly nonexistent. “What?”
When I turned back toward Morgana again, those black swirls took a more solid form behind her, giving her the appearance of having midnight wings.
“How does that silly children’s game go?” her voice hissed, those fathomless dark eyes trained on our group. Then she was airborne, lost to the scattering clouds and our view.
Fear flooded me, infecting my blood and coating my skin. “Get in the truck now!” I bellowed to my dad and Nana. They didn’t need any convincing.
We squeezed into the truck, and Nana headed for the driver’s seat, apparently planning to be our getaway driver. I squished into the back with Otto and Dorothy, and we had to spread Arthur awkwardly across our laps. Otto grumbled about being stuck in the middle seat, but I ignored him. Gerry purred from the floor at my dad’s feet, Excalibur tucked beneath his body like a precious egg.
He better not get too attached to that damn sword. He couldn’t keep it.
As the doors shut, Morgana’s voice came from the speakers, deafening in its volume. “Do you want to play a game with Death, sorcerer?”
“Drive!” I shouted, whipping a glance through the window toward the sky. The megaraven dove, blocking out the moon. I smacked the driver’s seat headrest in a panic. “Drive, drive, drive!”
The engine purred to life as she twisted the key in the ignition. Shifting into gear, Nana slammed on the gas, causing the tires to squeal and the back ones to fishtail slightly before she righted the truck.
Morgana’s wild laughter burst forth in surround sound. “Ready or not, here I come!”
“Someone should tell her this isn’t how you play hide-and-seek!” my dad called from the front of the vehicle.
My back slammed against my seat from the force as we peeled away, racing down the road. And just in time too. Because when I risked a peek out the narrow window above the rear seats, I could nearly make out the gleaming eyes of hundreds of ravens as they flocked closer to the bed of the truck.
Arthur groaned as he was jostled, red sparks hissing as they coiled over his skin almost protectively.
While Otto poured some healing tonic on a washcloth, Dorothy held Arthur’s lower legs in her lap, looking cramped in the opposite corner of our row. She pulled out a pair of scissors from her purse and started cutting through Arthur’s trousers so she could see the extent of the damage.
And... whoa, that was a lot of muscular leg.
What looked like a dirty sword sheath and what I assumed was a belt tumbled to the floor of the truck as she continued cutting, and if it wasn’t for the pinch of pain in my hand, I might have continued ogling all that golden, freckled skin.
I cursed as red sparks crawled up my hands, stinging me like angry hornets. Arthur jerked and writhed, moaning in what sounded like pain, and I hushed him as I trailed a soothing hand over his muck-covered brows. His body relaxed with each stroke, and I met Otto’s concerned gaze where he pressed the towel soaked with healing tonic to the side of Arthur’s head. Only now, the towel was soaked red, and it squelched where he pressed.
And fuck me, that was a lot of blood.
“Will!”
I blinked up to find Otto glaring daggers at me. “Are you paying attention right now?”
“Huh?” I asked, feeling a little queasy at the moment. But before he could yell at me some more, something slammed into the back of the truck, making us swerve.
Nana cursed as she righted us, and she scowled into the rearview mirror as the birds poised for another attack. “Never liked birds. Pests, the lot of them.”
“I think this quest just got a whole lot more dangerous,” Dorothy said, eyes flicking between Arthur’s wounds and the rear window, where beyond, the echoes of birds screaming mixed with the wind.
“Will, you should drink one—”
“No,” I said firmly, cutting Otto off before he could push me on it. “I don’t care if you have to manually force him to take them. I want him to drink every last drop.”
Otto didn’t look pleased, but I couldn’t risk Arthur dying. And that really was a lot of blood. I only brought so much healing tonic, and it would take us time to brew more. So for now, all we had needed to be used on Arthur’s wounds. They looked far worse than anything of mine.
And thankfully, instead of arguing, Otto just muttered to himself and pulled out the remaining glass vials from his bag.
He barely managed to catch the vials before they went crashing to the floor, though, as, once again, the megabird slammed into the rear of the vehicle. The tap, tap, tap of beaks sounded as several more broke away from the main monster and started rapping at our windows.
My dad shouted in alarm as one managed to reach the front windshield, blocking our view of the street. It cawed in supposed victory as Nana leaned closer to the steering wheel with a curse. But then she switched on the windshield wipers, and the raven went careening off the truck with a squawk.
“We need to take care of these wounds, Will,” Otto said in a low voice as more and more of them perched on the truck bed, pecking at metal and glass. “So you need to do something about those birds or else he’s going to bleed out before we can help him.”
Peering down into Arthur’s pained unconscious face, at the bloody, dirty cloths Otto and Dorothy held, I swallowed down my panic and nodded once. Because he was right. I was scared, we all were, but I couldn’t let the fear paralyze me. Not now. Not after we’d come so far. “You’re right. And I think I might have a plan.”
As I started to shift Arthur off my lap, one of his hands came up to grip my wrist in a painful hold. I halted in surprise, especially when that red current of energy zapped me where we touched, but he was still knocked out.
“We’ve got him,” Otto promised, moving to help me pry Arthur’s bruising grip off my wrist. He grunted and leaned back into Dorothy’s space as he pulled the king’s fingers off me, one by one. “Damn, he’s strong for an unconscious guy, isn’t he?”
When he finally managed to release me from Arthur’s grip, he was huffing and puffing from exertion.
“Gerry, give me the sword,” I said, rolling down my window.
Gerry pouted, his whiskers twitching. “Can’t you use something else?”
“Gerry!”
“But it’s pretty! And shiny!”
I glared at the demon, and his tongue snaked out at me in a taunt. My magic tingled at my fingertips, and before Gerry could react, he was forced aside. The sword zoomed through the air, slicing off several of his whiskers, before I caught it by the handle.
“My whiskers!” Gerry lamented, pawing at his face in distress. “Now I look like my brother Norman! And everyone knows Norman is the least attractive sibling!”
“Oh, shut up. They’ll grow back,” I griped.
“Don’t die!” dad called as I started climbing out my window, whacking several ravens away from my face.
“But if you do, can I have your gold?” Nana shouted after me.
“I fucking hate all of you,” I muttered as I batted away two more of the flying shadows from my face as I slowly and stupidly maneuvered myself the rest of the way out of the window and into the bed of the truck.
“Nah, you love us,” my dad shouted, voice heard through my open window.
I flipped him the bird, ironically, even though he couldn’t see it.
Surrounded by gear and junk, I smacked at several more of the flying fuckers. Claws raked across my wet suit, which thankfully helped me avoid the worst of their assault. But a few managed to nick my hands.
I almost lost my grip on Excalibur several times as I dodged more raven attacks, and I decided this was a stupid plan because I didn’t know how to use a sword.
A rather vicious dark-magic corvid dive-bombed me then, smacking into my side and nearly knocking me over. But then Gerry was there, tearing into the bird with razor-sharp teeth. Its final scream lingered in the air even after it turned to smoke.
Gerry shook his head as though trying to remove the smoke off of his fur, and moved to stand at my side. His claws scraped abhorrently against the metal truck bed, making me wince.
He didn’t speak as he stood beside me, eyeing the sky, his tail jerking behind him.
But a sense of... something wrapped around me, though I couldn’t put a name to it. Maybe awareness?
Unlike before, I could now sense Gerry’s presence beside me. Could feel his determination to help me fight off these unnatural creatures.
I reached over and rubbed the spot between his ears, and he released a contented purr.
Ooh, more. Yes, I’m a good demon. More, more, more!
I blinked at him as he pressed his head harder against my fingers, urging me to continue. But his lips never moved.
Well, that’s not good.
What is he talking about? Gerry asked, his voice echoing in my head. Then his mouth frowned as he noticed me staring at him. Do I have something on my face?
Gerry ...
A furry brow rose. Yes, Lord Will?
I stared and waited. Then waited some more.
Finally, a second furry brow mimicked his other. Uh-oh.
I didn’t get the chance to respond because I spotted more birds coming our way. Just as I straightened fully, a swarm of ravens screamed and plummeted toward us, and without thinking, I swiped Excalibur at them with no finesse whatsoever. But that didn’t seem to matter, because the sword glowed a bright white, and the moment it touched them they burst into wisps of smoke.
I stared at the sword as it continued to glow, an idea forming in my head. So I planted my feet wider apart and inhaled slowly, focusing on that ball of light in my chest. My magic still thrummed from its earlier lightning charge, though I was close to burnout, especially after expending so much of it into Arthur to get his heart beating. But we just needed to make it a little longer.
Sluggishly, I let it expand outward from my chest and down my arms, gathering at my fingertips until my body was glowing just like the sword, a beacon in the dark to guide them to me.
Next, I focused on what I needed my magic to do, shaping it into a shield of light. My grip tightened on Excalibur as my magic formed an electric shield that attached to my free arm with sparking straps. And as a raven crashed into the shield, it instantly became smoke.
Surprisingly, my magic didn’t seem to bother Gerry. In fact, Gerry’s power seemed to reach out to mine, and without thinking too hard about it, I let it tangle with my own. A feeling of strength, of invincibility, washed over me as our magic mixed, seeping into my bones. His tasted of the sun and fire. It was... heady. Potent.
Probably stupid.
Brimming with newfound energy, I grinned as more fiends appeared. “Bring it on, you Edgar Allan Poe rejects!”
Gerry lunged again with his gleaming claws at the same time I swung Excalibur at another bird attempting to attack us. Side by side, we fought off the onslaught. With each swipe of the blade, the aberrations dissolved into more black, crackling smoke. With each swipe of Gerry’s claws, they were left in shredded tatters.
Several managed to sneak past my shield and blade, their beaks sharp and unforgiving where they pecked at my skin and made me bleed. When too many attacked at once, I blocked them with my shield, protecting both me and Gerry and letting the shield’s blaze sear Morgana’s dark magic. If any stragglers remained, I finished them off with the enchanted sword or Gerry rent them to ribbons with his teeth or nails.
I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, and definitely wasn’t following any proper footwork or structure, but the more I swung the blade, the easier everything became.
Just as I was getting the hang of smashing and slashing at these abominations, a particularly nasty raven moved to claw at my face, its talons fierce. One of its nails managed to slash a cut across my right cheekbone, and I hissed as my blood trickled down my jaw. Gritting my teeth, I used my free left hand to snatch the shadow creature from the air before it could escape or make another move to attack me. My hand blazed with light, and the bird screeched as it exploded into smoke.
I could hear my family shouting at each other, their voices blending together, but I couldn’t focus on them. Not now. I just had to trust that they’d take care of Arthur while Gerry and I played our part.
Over and over, we turned Morgana’s minions to smoke. By the time the last raven fell to Arthur’s sword, my magic was screaming for time to recuperate and I had dozens of cuts clawed into my skin. Gerry only had a few scratches himself, all of them shallow in appearance.
My shield dissipated as I let the magical light inside me snuff out, and I sighed in relief. Gerry’s power also vanished alongside mine, and its sudden disappearance left me a little lightheaded.
Swaying slightly, I scanned the skies, making sure we’d officially lost Morgana before flopping down onto piles of gear and shit.
Dorothy popped her head out her window, seeking me out. “You good?”
I blinked back at her slowly as blood streaked down my forehead and into my eyeball, stinging. Then I held up a begrudging thumbs up. “So good.”
She smiled and ducked back into the truck.
Gerry met my gaze, his cat eyes glowing bright. We didn’t speak. Though, we didn’t need to.
Well, shit , Gerry’s voice said in my head.
My thoughts exactly. Because it appeared as if Gerry had unintentionally become my familiar.
Otto’s voice came from the small rear window then, which he’d slid open. “Will?”
“No,” I moaned, covering my ears. Maybe if I ignored them, they’d give me a second to do nothing because I needed a fucking break.
“Will?” Otto called again. Then over and over until I growled in frustration.
Sitting up, I glared into the small rear window. “What?”
“He’s getting a little antsy here,” Otto said apologetically, jerking his chin down toward where... Arthur was writhing in their laps, his muscles spasming almost violently.
My irritation melted away instantly, and I forced myself up to start easing back around the side of the truck and through my window. Gerry didn’t follow since he could crawl through the small, rear one with ease, considering his tiny, feline size. Otto helped me reposition Arthur’s head once more in my lap, and I settled my left palm against his cheek.
His body reacted once again to my touch, his twitches and jerks calming some, though not entirely.
“Well, that’s interesting,” I murmured, tilting his face so I had a better view of the gash in the side of his head. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, and it seemed Otto had already stitched the gash. I just prayed Otto’s tonics were strong enough to keep him alive.
“Do you think we lost her?” Dorothy asked, a hint of fear tinging her voice.
My free hand shifted to my sternum where my ring lay. “I think so.”
And it wasn’t until we reached our Airbnb, with no murderous fairy queens coming after us, that we finally relaxed.