“Nice work, Damian,” Sheila said, patting me on the back. “But how did you get Grax’thor from her like that?”
“Oh, that?” I said, smiling at her. “I didn’t. Her sword was a fake this whole time.”
Everyone looked at me kind of cross-eyed.
“It was when I was looking at the swords outside your house in the rental car, when Arlan and his buddies attacked. I knew I could only take one and figured it would be safer to keep Grax’thor on me.
“But at the same time, I wanted to give the bad guys a good target, so if they thought I’d left Grax’thor behind, well, they’d think they’d won easily. So I used a little illusion charm to switch things around when no one was looking. Easy peasy, and a nice little insurance policy to make sure Boudicca’s plan didn’t work, even if I didn’t get there in time. Pretty ingenious, no?”
Sorry for keeping the secret this long, kids, but I think the story played out better with no one knowing the truth.
Mei shook her head and walked toward me. She was back in human form now. “Oh Damian, you’re such an ass.”
“An ass that saved your life, though, am I right?” I grinned at her.
She ruffled my hair with her hands. “Oh you big, stupid lout. Come here.” We embraced for a moment, and I patted her several times on the back. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
“So… it’s all true, then?” Rick said a moment later, spoiling the fun. “The dragons? Magic? All of it?” He was sitting there staring at us, his mouth slightly agape.
I burst out laughing and walked over and smacked him on the arm. “Well, what did you think it was, a laser light show?”
Rick shook his head just a little bit. “No, of course not, it’s just… she’s so… beautiful.”
“Save the flirting for when we’re all back home safe, genius,” I said to him, smiling a little.
Rick growled at me. “S-sorry,” he muttered.
Sheila went up to Mei and started chatting with her, looking her over for wounds and such. Something I probably should have done, but I was a little preoccupied. I rummaged around in one of my pockets for my phone. I found it, but it was badly cracked, and the battery was dead.
“Hey, Rick,” I said in a hushed tone. “Can I borrow your phone? Mine kinda broke in the scuffle.” I showed it to him.
Rick shook his head and sighed. “Oh, Damian. Always so irresponsible.”
“Hey! I was saving the world, all right?”
Rick let out a slight laugh. “I was just teasing. Relax already.” He took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. “No calls to Taiwan, though, okay?”
“Sure thing, buddy.”
I glanced at the screen. It was two minutes to seven. Man, I’d been close on this one.
With a small sigh of relief, I pulled up the text app.
It’s done, I typed to Mei’s father’s number. She’s safe.
A moment later, a single word reply came. Good.
That was it. Trust Mei’s dad to be the wordy type. But it didn’t matter. She was safe. Everyone was safe. It was a good day.
I smiled at each of my companions in turn. “Let’s go home, shall we?” I offered.
Now that was something everyone could agree on.
17
It was about two weeks later, and we were all piling into Mei’s bar for a celebratory drink or six. Well, everyone but Sheila. She’d stayed behind in Canada. Said she missed her home too much to travel that far. It was a little disappointing, but I could understand wanting to be home after that kind of harrowing experience. She’d performed remarkably well in the battles, but she was no warrior.
The big red door to Mei’s stood before me. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder what kind of “unintended” mess I’d find myself in next. Rick had been right about that. Old magic was always tricky, and we’d subverted it. As the holder of the magic artifact that now held Boudicca’s soul captive, what would happen to me?
So far, I hadn’t felt anything odd or off, but it was only a matter of time. Oh well, no use worrying about it tonight at least. Tonight was a celebratory night.
Rick tugged on my sleeve. He’d decided to come with me. Probably so he could talk my ear off, like he was doing right now. He peppered me with questions while we made our way through the doorway and walked down the stairs.
“So, it’s all real?” he said, repeating one of his questions from earlier. “All of it? All the tales, all the legends?”
I shrugged. “Most of it, I guess. Like what?”
“Well what about Bigfoot?”
“Mm, sort of. Bigfoot’s real, but he’s not one person. There’s a whole race of Bigfoots out there. That’s why he’s been spotted in so many areas. But they usually keep to themselves and tend to be nocturnal. That’s why there are so few sightings.”
Rick’s eyes lit up. “I knew it! I’m going to have a field day with my colleagues after this.”
He’d been like this ever since that last battle with Boudicca. Asking me about every single mythical creature and tale he could find, wanting to know if it was all true. A lot of them were, at least in part. History tended to flub over a lot of the finer details, though.
“What about the Loch Ness Monster?” he asked.
“Nessie?”
He nodded.
I shrugged. “No one really knows for sure, unfortunately. The lake is deep and exploring water is hard, even for the magically inclined. It’s possible I suppose, but your guess is as good as mine on that one.” I patted him on the back. “Guess you’ll just have to go and find out for yourself.”
We reached the row of bar stools a second later to a hail of cheers and shouts from the assembled patrons. Everyone was there - Sevin, Yuri, Hank, Sally, Isaiah, the cute vampire couple that never seemed to take their eyes off each other - everyone. And, of
