The four friends gathered in Anna’s condo Saturday night, enjoying some quiet and privacy. They hadn’t been alone for long since their return, but they’d invited Jack to let him in on the truth. They had discussed the idea at length, the deciding factor being that someone needed to look after their interests if they were summoned again and he was the only one they could trust. The threat of Soliander’s appearance was another reason to tell someone. If he showed up while they were on a quest, they wanted at least someone to be aware of who and what he was.
Now Jack sat quietly, trying to digest what they’d told him. He had laughed at the start, assuming it a joke, but the more details they’d revealed, the less funny it had become. Efforts to ask a question they couldn’t answer had proven fruitless. The details were sobering in their complexity, and he’d tried catching them in lies to no avail. It had become clear that the level of planning needed for them to get all their stories straight, if they were lying, would have been a flattering amount of time to waste just to play a trick on him, and he had never known them to possess such imaginations as this.
But the pendant was the thing that got him. They’d acquired a loupe and taken turns looking at the words inside, but only Matt could understand them. They were indeed in the language of magic and read:
Within the jewel magic resides
Creatures, too, and all abide
To keep Earth safe from she who lies
The prison here keeps hope alive
The henge of stone shall set them free
Good and evil, equal be
Undo what’s done and come what may
Risk the price all life could pay
They’d discussed this privately and now let Jack see for himself, and though he couldn’t verify what it said, he’d never seen script like it and thought it would’ve been going awfully far to get that inscribed in there just to fool him. And there was no escaping the reality that they’d disappeared and returned weeks later
As for the pendant, no one knew who “she who lies” was but they assumed that bringing the pendant to Stonehenge had set something unpredictable in motion. This had been one reason to tell someone the truth, for if anything odd began happening on Earth, like dragons appearing over Manhattan, they wanted someone besides them to know. It was possible they’d be off-world on another request. They wanted Jack to be their eyes and ears while they were gone.
“So you haven’t seen any sign of this Soliander on Earth?” Jack asked, focusing on what they wanted, though he didn’t know what he could do against such a wizard if one appeared.
Ryan shook his head, his hand diving into a bag of Chex Mix. “No, thank God. We all asked our families if anyone strange had been hanging out around the houses or neighborhood, but they said only reporters.”
“What do you think he might do if he shows up?” Jack asked.
They exchanged a look before Eric stopped himself from swiveling back and forth in an office chair. “Go after Matt, first, unless he tries to be sneakier by going after a less obvious target, for bait or something.”
“What can you do to protect yourselves from this guy?” Jack asked, shaking his head.
“Move,” suggested Matt, looking up from the laptop before him on the table. “I’ve already been looking into apartments. There’s no sense in any of us staying where we are except maybe Anna, since you can’t sell your condo as easily.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” admitted Eric, “especially for you and me. We should get an apartment together.”
“Absolutely,” the techie agreed. “I don’t want to be alone when he shows up.”
“When?” Jack asked. “Not if?”
Matt shook his head. “I think it’s only a matter of time.”
Ryan said, “Maybe I can join you. My parents are driving me nuts. The only drawback is leaving Daniel, but my presence might bring Soliander to our doorstep and that’s certainly worse. I can’t let that wizard get to Daniel.”
“Even better,” said Matt.
Looking at Anna, Ryan added, “I don’t think we should leave Anna alone, though.”
Anna nodded, sipping a glass of zinfandel. “I agree, though I’m not sure I want to share an apartment with three guys, especially you three.”
Eric replied, “You already shared space with us in far less modest circumstances.”
“True,” she admitted, playing with her pendant.
“Ryan,” Jack started, “if the apartment is registered in your name, people may be able to find you. Maybe you should do it in mine.”
Eric perked up. “Great idea. I knew it was smart to tell you. None of us should do a forwarding address for mail, either.”
As talk turned to arranging such details, Jack took the opportunity to get another beer and excused himself for the kitchen. His head spun with crazy thoughts and he needed a moment alone to get a grip. They had never lied to him before but all of this suggested the world was a far different place than he knew. He wouldn’t truly accept any of it unless he witnessed something with his own
