‘Vorpal Blade, Slayer of Jabberwockys’
“Told you so,” Katie said with a simpering smile, as she dragged me out. As soon as we hit the first corridor, I started to run, with Katie right behind me.
B and E, Times Three
- Keira -
After dashing up a dozen flights of stairs, and a couple miles of hallways, I was a little worked up. In my excitement, I may have pushed the massive door open a bit too quickly. My enthusiasm knocked Keegan ass over.
“Sorry,” I told him, reaching to help him up.
“So, you found something?” Brann quickly asked.
“We did. But we need to leave right now.”
Keegan, looking a bit shaky on his feet, peered down the corridor behind me. “I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but… where’s Katie?”
“Katie?” I paused, looking past Keegan. “What the— She was right behind me…”
“Well, you were the only one to come out that door,” Weylyn said.
“Katie!” I yelled down the long, empty corridor. Still no response. “Damn it! I have to go back. She must have gotten lost.”
“We’ll go with you,” Orin said.
Just then, we heard a ragged, heavy panting. Weylyn and Orin moved in front of me, a low growl coming from them. I tried to peer around or peak between them, but then Katie staggered through the door, looking disheveled, and a sweaty hot mess.
“My God. Katie? What happened?”
“You!” she gasped, “I should have taken you up on your training.”
“You? The Pilates Queen?”
“Back your cute little ass away. I think I may puke.”
“I thought you got lost.”
“My legs are burning. I think I may die.”
“Well, suck it up. We’re on a bit of a time crunch.”
As we fast-walked our way out of the Chateau, I filled the guys in on what we learned about the vanishing island.
Keegan took the ‘time crunch’ thing literally. Once we reached our cars, outside the Fairy Mound, we barely had time to reach for out seatbelts before he revved his SUV, and punched out. He was driving so fast, it was even money he’d kill us all. I was crunched against Brann, who looked interested in the physics of mass and motion.
“Maybe he’s testing Einstein’s Theory of Relativity,” Brann offered.
“Is that the one where if you smash a human body into a tree at a hundred miles an hour, you convert mass into squished guts and a bloody mist?”
“Well, I was thinking of speed compressing time. But yours sounds like the most likely outcome.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Weylyn piped in. “We have three days to get to Bantry, find a boat, and search the ocean for the Phantom Island of Hy-Brasil.”
“Oh, it gets better,” I said. “Once we find the non-existent island, we have only one day, while the moon is full, to find the bone dagger, and get the hell off the island before it disappears again.”
I looked from Weylyn, over to his brother. Orin looked green at the gills. I figured it must be the suicidal speeding. “Easy, big guy. Keegan is…” What? A Nascar driver? A getaway driver? I couldn’t blame him for being scared. I was terrified.
“Oh, he doesn’t mind me driving,” Keegan said, cornering on two wheels around a hairpin turn. “Orin’s problem is he’s scared of boats.”
“I’m not scared of boats!” Orin said without conviction. “I just don’t like the water, is all.”
“Big guy’s not a great swimmer,” Weylyn whispered to me, spurring Orin to knock him in the shoulder, hard.
“Whaaattt? I think she should know,” Weylyn bitched, rubbing his shoulder.
“How far exactly is Bantry?” I asked.
“Erm, about four hours, I believe,” Brann said. “We should just nip in at home to grab what we’ll need, then head for the coast. We’ll need time to secure a boat, and I’d like to do some research before the moon is full.”
“Don’t worry about the boat, me oul Da will take care of that.”
“What we need to focus on is where Dagda would hide this weapon,” Brann mused, already deep in thoughts of his own.
“Agreed,” Weylyn said.
We were getting close to Edna’s property, only a mile or so to go, when Keegan shouted “What the—”
I looked up just as a black shape, (is that a bird?) headed straight for the windshield. At the last second, just inches before it hammered into the car, the bird pulled up, zooming past.
“Is that Poe?” I asked, but before anyone could answer, a sharp pain lanced through my body. It felt as if every bone in my body shattered, and I hunched over gripping my sides.
“Keira!” Brann yelled, grabbing my hand. “What’s going on?”
“Talk to us!” Weylyn yelled.
Keegan hit the brakes, steering us safely to the side of the road. Orin yanked open my door, and Brann handed me over to him and Weylyn. They set me down gently in the grass.
“What happened to her?” Orin demanded of Brann.
“How should I know!” snapped Brann, more in fear than anger.
With each breath I took the pain intensified. Something wasn’t right.
Then a black mist began to swirl at the edges of my mind, drawing me into a vision.
…Wings of black feathers beat the air as a raven lets out a painful cry. It circles our own familiar home, then glides off toward the road. I can see what the bird sees — before me is a glittering wall stretched around the familiar property. But now the wall has a large crack, which is slowly spreading along the length of the wall. The raven lets out another cry, just before the wall shatters…
“The... ward... it’s been... broken,” I manage to choke out, in between breaths, as panic sets in.
Keegan looks back down the road. That black bird has reversed direction, and is speeding toward us. “It’s that damn raven again!”
“NO WAIT!” I managed. “It’s Poe.”
“What’s happening?” Keegan asked.
“When the bird speaks, I can hear him in my head.”
And I did,
