Eric
Eric rolled like a pill bug, bumping over dirt, roots, and splintered planks. He winced as he stood and rubbed at the pain gnarling like an angry dog at his hip and thigh.
Charlotte hurdled past him and creamed into a stone wall, her arms the only thing saving her from a serious face-plant. She moaned and clutched an elbow, her face twisted in agony.
David lurched out of nothingness, his legs like rubber bands, his arms stretched out to his sides like rudders. He spilled to a stop, catching himself before toppling out a window edged in braided vines, moss, and beetles. Pushing off the cracked sill, he turned around, his wild-eyed gaze flitting over his entire surrounds.
“Shit. Holy shit,” he said, gasping for air.
“What is this place?” Eric asked, his heart thumping. He bent over, his hands on his knees.
Charlotte exhaled a long breath and pressed her back to the wall. “The grist mill. We’re in the old grist mill.” She placed a hand to her side and steadied her breathing.
David righted himself and held up the necklace. The Eye of Kedge dangled from its chain, the rutseer nice and tight in its back.
Eric straightened. “I don’t believe it. She attacked her own sister to get it for you.”
“Yeah.” David placed the chain around his neck, and turned away, his face drawn.
Eric knew that look. He suspected he wore the same. It would be hard not to. Jared’s daughters were at war with each other and David was the prize. Or was he the pawn? If the latter, what was the game? What was at stake? Was David the sacrifice or the savior? And what were his and Charlotte’s roles in his demise or salvation? He balled his fingers into fists. He hated being manipulated.
He felt a nudge and met with Charlotte’s blue-eyed gaze.
“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked.
He glanced down at her outstretched palm, a coin in the center.
She laughed. “I know, it’s silly, but I had to do something. You were getting too serious. My head ached from watching yours and David’s faces, the way your eyes squinted and your brows furrowed together. It was like watching anger in visual stereo.”
“My lady, do you not understand what happened back there? It was serious. Do you not see that?”
Charlotte stepped into the middle of the ruins. “No. You know what I see? We have the rutseer. We can find the crystals now. That was our quest, right? So, let’s get questing.”
“It’s not that easy,” David said, walking toward her. “There’s something going on between Slavandria and Lily. A power play. They’re tugging against one another.”
“That’s typical,” Charlotte said. “They’re sisters.”
“It’s more than that,” Eric said. “Did you see the way Lily protected that globe? Even after what it did to you? To David?”
“You noticed that, too, huh?” David asked.
“She wasn’t protecting it,” Charlotte said, looking at David. “She was protecting you from all those sparking octopus-tendril things. I swear, it was coming after you, like it wanted to grab a hold of you and suck you inside.”
Eric felt his stomach sink through the damp, earthen floor. What if that was what the globe wanted, to rip David from this world and imprison him inside, in a room, in a dark attic where no one ever went? He glanced up at David. “What is that room?” he asked. “What is its significance?”
David walked to the window, his hands gripping the sill. “According to Lily, my mother spent a lot of time in that room while pregnant with me. There’s a skylight of sorts that once slid open above the bed. Lily said my mother would lie there at night for several months after my father died, and stare at the stars and wonder where he was. Was he looking down on her, protecting her? Watching over her? When my mother passed away, Lily sealed off the skylight. She said it was a painful reminder of what once was.” David turned around. “Of course, now I know it was all a lie and my parents aren’t really dead, so that’s that.”
Eric rubbed his chin. “Not necessarily. What if that skylight was a portal? What if that was the way your mother transported to Fallhollow? What if Lily sealed it shut so you would never find it and accidentally transport yourself?”
David gulped. His eyes widened. “Holy crap, I never thought of that. That’s why Slavandria couldn’t zap us out of there.”
“I don’t understand,” Charlotte said.”
“It’s something Twiller explained to me once. There are natural portals all over the various worlds. But if they’ve just been used or sealed, a new portal must be made. That’s why I couldn’t follow you, Char, when Twiller took you. The natural portal was hot so he had to create a new one for me to go through, which dumped us off in a different place. If Eric’s right, and the skylight was a deactivated portal, then the only way Slavandria could ferry us from the room and perhaps from the house itself, was to create a new portal.”
“It still doesn’t explain why Lily and Slavandria are feuding over David’s destiny,” Eric said, “or why they showed up in your room when they did. I think they sensed the danger. I think they knew whatever was lurking in that globe came to find you.”
“But Lily put up wards,” Charlotte said.
“Yes, to keep non-magic folk out. But what if Seyekrad placed a detection spell in your home, something that would alert him to your arrival?”
“How would he do that?” Charlotte asked.
Eric paced. “It’s something I learned in my history of magic classes. Using magic displaces time, even for a minute second. It’s like a door opening and closing. If two opposing spells meet, neither will penetrate the other side. That’s how the mages can disarm one another. Strike. Counterstrike. However, if a wizard is using magic to clean his home, and another wizard wants to steal something, Wizard Two could place a sleeping spell over the home, off to la la land Wizard One would go, and Wizard Two would be free to pillage at his leisure.”
“So, you’re saying when Lily placed the wards on the house, Seyekrad snuck in and let loose a detection spell to find me.”
Eric nodded. “Not just any detection spell. A snatcher.”
A visible shiver wiggled out of David.
“Wait. So, if that was a snatcher spell, why wouldn’t Lily want David to be protected? Why keep him here? You’d think she’d want him, us, to go where we’d be safe.”
“Because we have work to do,” Eric said. “We have the rutseer. Whatever magic Finn put in that thing, Seyekrad can’t find us, not as long as David has that thing around his neck and we stick close to him.”
“We can truly move in the shadows,” Charlotte said. Her eyes turned an electric blue, bright and clear. There was an itch to her stance. Excitement in her voice. “We’re going to need some stuff—camping gear, a phone, a solar charger, food.”
“I’ve got all that stuff in my room,” David said, “well, except for the food.”
“You haven’t time for that,” Lily said, materializing before them.
Eric’s heart skipped. He hated how she could materialize out of thin air.
David spun around. “Lily! What? How?”
She entered their dark, dank refuge. “Shh, no questions. You’ve got to get out of here.”
“No, no, no,” Charlotte said, rushing forward. “Not yet. Where’s Slavandria? What did you do with that globe thing? Why was it trying to attack David?”
“Slavandria’s returned to Fallhollow but she’ll be back and I want you far away by then. As for the globe, it was trying to ensnare you, not David.”
Eric’s pulse thumped in his throat. Panic clutched at his heart.
Charlotte’s eyes widened, her face dripped with horror. “Me? Why me? What did I do?”
“You are an influencer to the ones who can save or destroy Fallhollow. The orbalisk sensed your presence as a threat, someone that must be contained.”
There was that word. Contained. Ensnared. Imprisoned. Inside a globe. Eric gulped.
Charlotte stuttered. “Why? Why would you have such a thing in your home?”
“It was a gift, one I never suspected held dark magic. The scene is from my home in Felindil. It has been years since I’ve been there, and it’s brought me great comfort. As I spent so much time in the room with David’s mother before she left, I placed it beside the bed to bring me solace. I never gave it a thought. I didn’t know.”
“Who was the gift from?” Eric asked.
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Who was it from?” he asked again, his tone stern. He wasn’t going to let her get away from this one.
She paused for a moment. “Seyekrad,” she said. She reached out and touched David’s arm. “But it was long ago, when he still had honor and love in his heart.”
A flip switched inside Eric. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
David exploded. “Love? Honor? Do you hear yourself? He gave you a cursed object! Does that sound like love and honor to you?”
“He wasn’t always bad, David.”
“Oh my God, Lily. He tried to kill me and your sister! How can you defend him?”
“I’m not defending him.”
“To hell you’re not, and now you’re telling us that you allowed his loving and honorable magic into our home!”
“How dare you pass judgment on me! Slavandria and I didn’t know it was hexed until you did. It was just a water globe, no more filled with magic than the floor you’re standing on.”
David ran his fingers through his hair. Cupped the back of his neck. “How is that even possible? You and Slavandria are supposed to be these all-knowing, all-powerful sorceresses.”
“According to whom? We may be strong in many aspects, David, but we don’t know all magic, especially dark magic, nor how to defeat it. We are also not perfect. We make mistakes, the same as you, so don’t stand there and point fingers and chastise.”
Uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
Blood surged through Eric’s veins, rushing like a raging river. White caps of heat and fury rose and tumbled in the ripping current. Once again, the mages had interfered and it had almost cost him his friend’s life. There should be laws against such meddlesomeness. Wait. There were, set by Jared himself. Apparently, his daughters felt as if the rules didn’t apply to them. Sanctimonious witches.
Charlotte’s fingers brushed David’s. He shirked her touch. “Don’t. I might infect you with an unhealthy dose of anger and resentment.”
“Stop being an ass,” Lily said, “and don’t take out your displeasure with me on Charlotte.” She glared at him, her eyes intense. “I know you’ve had a lot thrust on you in a short period of time. I know the dangers you’ve faced, and I know you’re angry. You have every right to be, but you need to focus.” She took his hands in hers. “Look at me. This isn’t over. Far from it. I need,” she glanced at Eric and Charlotte, “they need you to be calm, rational. You’re their leader. You’re the paladin. As much as you want to fall apart and scream and yell and blame the universe, you have to hold it together. Think smart. Not with your emotions but with your brain. This is war. You are the general of your army. They are looking to you for guidance, not anarchy.”
David laughed. “The general of my army? Are you nuts, Lily? Look around. I don’t have an army. I have Charlotte and a guy who thinks I’m about as useful as a ripped umbrella in a downpour.”
Lily squeezed his hands. “None of us can choose our destiny, and none of us can escape it. Every moment you don’t do what’s right is a moment the enemy gains ground. You cannot afford to lose this war. It may only be the three of you, but you’re strong in ways you can’t imagine. Why else does Seyekrad want you out of the picture? He knows you can defeat him.”
“Why don’t you defeat him?” Charlotte asked. “Why does David have to fight your battles? I mean, it seems kind of lame to drag him into your problems.”
“David and Eric are obligated by birth and decree to protect and defend Fallhollow. I cannot change that. No one can. Did Slavandria and I pray these dark days would never come? Yes. We prayed with all our might, but our prayers were not enough. Greed, malcontent, evil, they all triumphed, but they won’t for long. The chosen ones have been summoned and they will win the day. If you do not, then Fallhollow will be lost and this world will follow.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” David asked.
She reached into her pockets and pulled out a bundle of money, keys, something she called a cell phone, and handed them to David. “I know this sounds crazy, but please, I’m begging the three of you to trust me. Go to Kingsport, to Charlotte’s grandfather’s house. He’s a very wise man.”
“I don’t understand,” Charlotte said. “What does my grandfather have to do with this?”
Lily ignored her question. “Your car is in the Conroy’s barn off 421. I’ve already alerted them that someone would be coming by to pick it up. Go. Now. Do not stray from the course. Fallhollow and Havendale are depending on you.”
“Lily, you sound crazy.”
She collected David’s bow and quiver from the ground and handed them to him. “You don’t have much time before Slavandria returns. Oh, and here.” She withdrew a leather rope necklace from around her neck and placed it in David’s hand. A small orb, not much bigger than a dime and filled with what looked like swirling smoke, lay cool in his palm. “It holds the answer to some of your questions. Charlotte’s grandfather will know what to do with it. Keep it safe. Now go. Hurry. All of you.”
David snagged her in a big hug. “I love you, Lily. Thanks for everything.”
“I love you, too, honey.” She leaned back and cupped his face in her hands. “Be kind to each other.” Her eyes searched his face.
“I’ll see you again, Lily. I promise.” He glanced over his shoulder at Eric and Charlotte. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Lily grasped Eric’s hand as he passed, and whispered, “Guard them. Protect them. Their fates rest on the blade you carry. Wield it well.”
And then she was gone.