Claiming Excalibur Read online

  “I’m so sorry about your birth mother, dear. But at least you now have a blood relative.”

  Now came the hard part of all this. “Yes. He and a few of his…well, our friends came home with me for a few weeks. That’s why I’m here today.” She perched on the arm of one of the chairs as her godfather took his seat behind her papa’s desk.

  Aliana bit the inside of her cheek. This didn’t feel or look right. Joe looked like a pretender sitting on her papa’s throne. But she knew that shouldn’t bother her. Her father would’ve been thrilled that Uncle Joe had taken his place at the university.

  “You’re here because of your cousin?”

  “One of our friends, actually. He’s a history buff and I was telling him about several of the books papa had, and he was hoping to look through them.”

  “Ah,” her godfather said, sitting back with his fingers steepled. “Which books? About half of your father’s collection was donated to the university library. The rest I’ve had set aside in my research room for my students to use as references.”

  Aliana panicked. She didn’t know the title of the book, just what it looked like. “He was interested in books about sixth century England.”

  Her godfather studied her. “Some of those books are in the library, and others are in my room.”

  “Maybe I could start with the books you kept in your research room?” Aliana shrugged, trying to appear indifferent.

  Joe looked down at his watch, his face suddenly perplexed. “I’m afraid you can’t right now. I’ve got class in fifteen minutes.” He gave a tight, apologetic smile. “Maybe you can come back a bit later.”

  “I can go myself. You can give me the key and I’ll be in and out.” She hoped she didn’t sound too anxious.

  “There’s no real organization system to the room, Aliana dear. You’d need my help to find what you’re looking for.”

  She was confused by her uncle’s reluctance. Had something happened to her papa’s stuff and Joe didn’t want her to find out? Out of the corner of her eye, Aliana saw a gray shadow hovering by the window. It disappeared before she could blink, like she’d only imagined it.

  “Tell him you’ll wait,” Dagg instructed in her head. “We’ll find the book on our own after he’s gone.”

  Aliana hesitated. She didn’t want to lie to her godfather, but they needed to find the book as soon as possible. “Then why don’t I wait until your lecture’s done? Maybe Owen and his friend can get here by then too,” she added.

  Looking satisfied, her godfather stood. “Good, good. My lecture should be done in about ninety minutes. Why don’t you walk around the campus while you wait? It’s a nice day.”

  “I was actually thinking of heading over to the library to see if the books are there.”

  “All right then, dear. You go on and we’ll meet back here later.” He stuffed papers into an old briefcase as Aliana looked around the office one more time. Her eye was drawn to a cupped plate behind her papa’s desk. It was filled with polished stones and a few random pieces of jewelry. Her attention lingered on one piece that looked an awful lot like a pendant her mother used to have.

  “You ready, Aliana?” Joe asked, jolting her eyes from the plate.

  “Dagg, tell Arthur and Galahad to hide!”

  “I already did.”

  Forcing a smile, Aliana let her godfather lead her from the office. She barely contained her sigh of relief when Galahad and Arthur where nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t as if Uncle Joe would recognize them or anything, but for some reason she didn’t want her godfather to see them. It was a compulsion she couldn’t ignore.

  Joe hugged her again before locking his office door. When they reached the end of the hall, Aliana turned left in the direction of the library while Joe turned right and made his way down the hall without a backward glance.

  Spinning on her heel, Aliana charged back toward the office where Arthur, Galahad, Wade, and Dawn all waited.

  “Well?” Wade asked. “Where’s the book?”

  “Do you have anything with you to pick a lock?” Aliana asked him.

  “What? Why?” he asked, his face scrunched.

  “We’re going to need to get into his research room. He said he put all of my father’s books either there or in the library. But first I need to get back into papa’s office!”

  Dagg sprang from her wrist as Aliana held out her hand to Wade for his lock picking tools.

  “I don’t have anything with me, Lia. I didn’t expect we’d have to commit a B and E today.”

  “B and E?” Arthur and Galahad asked together.

  “Breaking and entering,” Dawn explained. “Something that’s illegal.”

  Tuning them out, Aliana crouched with her hand hovering above the door’s lock. She called up a small bit if her magic, imagining the pink sparks shaping together like a key. With careful control, she pushed the magic into the lock. The tumblers turned over and the bolt slid back with a click.

  “There!” she said.

  “Lia, why are you breaking into Joe’s office?” Dawn asked.

  “Yes, please explain.” Galahad took her hand to help her stand.

  “Because I think he has something that belonged to Mama. I want it back and I want to know why he has it to begin with.”

  7

  It’s damn good to back on US soil. I’ve been gone too long. I wish I had time to take a side trip home to Savannah and see my folks, but there’s too much to do. Wade and I are trying our best to help Merlin and Lancelot sort through the hundreds of maps those two pack rats have amassed. It feels like we’ll never find what we need. Herding cats would be easier! I wasn’t dumb enough to think this would be easy, but couldn’t this ridiculous prophecy quest throw us a bone? It’s damn possible that some of us won’t survive this. I just pray I can keep Lacy safe.

  ~Percy

  ALIANA OPENED THE DOOR and ushered her friends into her uncle’s office. Once she’d shut the door behind her, she immediately went to the plate behind the desk. Sitting on top of the colored stones was a pendant with five flowing spirals. It was inlaid in a rectangle frame with six tiny stones: a ruby, emerald, sapphire, a pink diamond, a blue one, and a small pearl. She wrapped her fingers around its thin chain and held the pendant up.

  “It’s beautiful,” Galahad said, standing next to her.

  “It was a gift,” Aliana turned the pendant in her hand. “An old friend of mama’s family gave it to her saying it was a family heirloom. I don’t know why Uncle Joe would have it.”

  “Lia, look at this!” Dawn said, drawing everyone’s attention to the other side of the room.

  “What?” Aliana slipped the chain over her head and hid the pendant under her top.

  “I recognize these books. Your dad used to have them at the house, remember?” the shorter girl asked.

  “He said he put all of dad’s books in the library or his research room. Why wouldn’t he have told me he had some right here?” Aliana scanned the book titles.

  “Why is that one’s cover wrapped in brown paper?” Galahad nodded at a small book with a shabby, paper cover. It was nearly hidden from sight, tucked into the corner.

  Arthur crouched and pulled the volume free. The edges of the wrapping and spine were well worn, as if the book had been opened often. He handed the book to Aliana.

  It looked about the right size. After an unsure glance at the others, she slipped her index finger under one of the torn edges and pulled. The paper ripped easily away, like unwrapping a present. Turning the book over, she studied the brown casing and yellowed pages, her gaze going to the cracked spine. On it was a faded red shield with a dull yellow Dragon rearing back, wings spread to take flight.

  “That’s my family’s crest,” Arthur confirmed.

  “And this is the book from my dream.” Aliana’s astonishment turned to concern and confusion. “Why would Uncle Joe keep it wrapped in crappy paper to hide it?”

  “We’ll have to discuss that later,” Arthur
decreed. “We have what we came for; we should go.”

  Aliana asked Dawn to hide the book in her messenger bag, and Wade led the way out of the office and down the hall. Dagg locked the door before returning to Aliana’s wrist. Galahad and Arthur flanked the girls, their eyes scanning the nearly empty hall.

  “Why do I feel like I’m in the middle of an honor guard?” Dawn whispered loudly enough for the knights to hear.

  “I’d like to know why we’re freaking out so much,” Aliana fake-whispered back. “I’d think we’d look much less conspicuous pretending to be normal students.”

  Galahad took Aliana’s hand. “We’re just being cautious,” he said, but his stance relaxed and the pace Wade set slowed.

  Aliana was used to seeing this part of the college more crowded. Now it felt more like a creepy movie ghost town minus the rolling ball of tumbleweed. She shook her head, dispelling the paranoid thought. The school was always a lot less crowded during summer.

  They made it out of the building without incident and were halfway across a small, deserted quad. Wade pulled out the car keys, chirping off the alarm system as they neared the SUV.

  “When we get back we need to—” Arthur was cut off when an unnaturally bluish-gray cloud swooped down from the sky, wrapping around the group and trapping them in a smoky wreath. A gray, fox-like creature with matted fur and three tales jumped from a tree and stared at them with glowing red eyes. Its tales twitched as it hunkered down, like it was waiting to pounce. Yellow ooze dripped from its sharp teeth.

  “Get behind us!” the three guys ordered together. Dagg leaped from Aliana’s wrist, taking his true form. The guys pulled their swords from out of nowhere, getting into fighting position. The jewels on Arthur’s fire Elf sword gleamed.

  “Where the hell did your weapons come from?” Aliana gasped. The scabbards that had held the swords were now visible, strapped to the guys’ backs.

  “Merlin’s idea,” Galahad answered, studying the cloud.

  “Didn’t think the old timer had it in him,” Wade joked, but he didn’t smile.

  As quickly as the cloud came, it vanished, leaving behind a dozen disfigured monsters. Their black, tattered clothes showed gray, cracked skin, and their claw-like hands held long sticks with dozens of sharpened barbs. They had Frankenstein-ish, lightning-struck spiked hair and lidless, dead eyes circled with black like raccoons. Their mouths gaped, revealing sharpened, yellowed teeth, as they lumbered around their trapped prisoners.

  The girls stood back to back behind the knights. Aliana kept an eye on the monstrous little TreTale. Dawn gripped her bag, holding the book tightly to her side.

  “I feel like I just landed in the middle of a Power Rangers fight scene,” Dawn said, trying to hide the tremor of fear in her voice. “What’s next, a flying monkey in gold armor saying ‘Attack them. Bring me the book’?”

  “Not the time, Dawn,” Wade warned as Dagg growled. “Get to the car.” He tossed the keys over his shoulder, and Aliana caught them before they hit the ground.

  The Zombie-like creatures attacked like ravenous coyotes on the scent of a fresh kill. The TreTale sprang, aiming right for Aliana. Dagg swooped down and caught the beastie’s neck in his powerful jaws. He bit down, roughly shaking the creature until bones cracked and it dangled limply. Blood and yellow ooze dripped as Dagg hurled the dead creature toward a Zombie.

  Aliana watched the guys move in sync with each other as they fought the things back, using carefully controlled strikes to cut hands and arms from the monsters. But like the black knights, these things didn’t stop.

  Galahad cleaved the head off of one, but the gray, paper-like skin climbed up, like sand building on top of itself, and the severed head regenerated.

  “What in the seven realms are these things?” Arthur asked, slicing a demon in half. Spinning in a graceful arc, he cut down another.

  “Get to the car, Aliana!” Galahad snapped. “You and Dawn get that book out of here!”

  “No!” Aliana cried out, horrified by the thought of abandoning her knights.

  “Don’t argue!” Arthur ordered.

  “Dawn can’t fight these things. You have to get her and the book to safety, Lia. We’ll hold the freaks back.” Wade swung his sword, cutting an arm from a monster and catching its spiked stick in his other hand before it could connect with his side.

  Wade hissed as one of the barbs cut into his skin. He ripped the weapon from the monster and flipped it in the air to grip the other end. He swung it like a battle ax, the barbs ripping into the thing, cutting a path across its chest. The monster howled before falling to the ground, writhing. It turned the same bluish-gray color as the cloud and vanished.

  “Their weapons!” Wade called to Arthur and Galahad as the things pulled back. “Their own weapons destroy them.” He wiped away the sweat that poured down his face.

  “Aliana, Dawn, go!” Galahad shoved them toward the car as the guys formed a line between the monsters and the girls.

  “But…” Aliana protested.

  “No but. Go now!” Arthur ordered, and Aliana could do nothing but obey. They turned and ran. Dagg flew next to them, ready to attack.

  Dawn and Aliana got to within feet of the parking lot only to be cut off by severed limbs that had followed them. The pieces came together, creating more Zombies armed with spiked spears. Dagg roared, shooting magical fire. The purple flames consumed the creatures but didn’t destroy them. They charged, and the magical flames died as if smothered.

  Aliana dropped to one knee, her hand digging into the earth, calling its magical element. The ground shifted under the creatures’ feet, knocking them down and ripping the weapons from their gnarled hands. Raising her other hand in the air, Aliana opened her magical senses even wider, pleading for the air element to come to her aid. Violent whirlwinds formed and swooped, lifting the monsters and their weapons into the air, whipping them around and trapping them in a tornado.

  The Zombies collided with their own weapons, roaring ear-splitting howls of pain. The creatures wouldn’t escape the violent wind tunnel. Aliana released the elements’ savage magic. The wind died and the earth returned to its former pristine condition. The disfigured monsters smacked hard into the ground, glowing blue-gray before they vanished.

  “Definitely an episode of Power Rangers,” Dawn breathed, pale and awestruck.

  “As long as I’m the pink one,” Aliana wheezed, trying to control the energy drain from using so much power. The effects were more manageable this time because of the practice she’d been doing with Merlin and because she hadn’t used any magic of her own, only that of the elements.

  “No issue there. I was always the yellow one. Besides, you’re way better than Kimberly was.” She glanced toward the guys as they ran toward them, their own monsters destroyed. “But you do have a hottie-with-a-hero-complex fighter head over heels for you like she did.”

  “Shut it! You have your own Red Ranger out to win your heart.” Aliana elbowed her friend lightly.

  “Are you two all right?” Wade asked, hugging Dawn tightly.

  The dark-haired girl blushed as she wrapped her arms around him in return. Aliana hid a smirk. She already knew the two cared for each other, now she just needed to get them to admit it.

  “Aliana, that was impressive magic.” Galahad placed his sword back into its sheath, and the weapon disappeared again.

  “Thanks,” she said as they hugged each other, sparks swirling between them. Pulling back, Aliana hugged Arthur.

  “Good to know your training with Merlin is paying off,” Arthur said.

  “That’ll teach Mordrid and Morgana to think twice before attacking her again!” Wade cheered with one arm still around Dawn’s shoulder.

  “Yes, well they could send more monsters at any minute. We need to get the book to safety,” Arthur said, opening the back door of the car for Dawn and Aliana to climb in.

  “No worries, sire.” Wade took his place behind the wheel. “Speed Racer’s got
nothing on me!”

  “You’re going to have to explain all these references you three keep making, Aliana.” Galahad climbed in behind her.

  “Of course, handsome. I’ll explain it all to you later.”

  Wade drove them out of the university parking lot while Arthur dialed Merlin from his cell phone. Dawn pulled the book from her bag and handed it to Aliana. “Let’s see what all the fuss is about.”

  Aliana flipped the book over, examining its crest before she flipped it open. Dagg curled in her lap as she turned the pages.

  “A mighty blade of earth and flame

  The lost relic of a sleeping king

  In a land of heroes long forgotten

  The blade returns from whence it came

  Waiting in cold darkness for him to claim

  If he proves cunning, true, and brave

  Let jeweled curves guide thy Destined quest

  Returning to whence your story began

  Guarded till dawn by teeth and claws

  Coiled in Dragon flame and earthen frame

  Hidden in many truths only he can see

  A king will rise high or fall low for all to see.”

  “Well, what does that mean?” Lacy asked when Aliana finished reading. After getting settled back at the house, they’d all gathered in the living room to read what was in the book.

  “The first two lines are self-explanatory,” Lancelot said. “It’s the jeweled curves bit that confuses me.”

  “Let’s not forget the ‘guarded by teeth and claws’ bit,” Owen threw in.

  Everyone had different opinions about the poem’s meaning, and they voiced all of them, no matter how ridiculous they sounded.

  “We must puzzle out where Excalibur is before we worry about the other dangers this poem hints at,” Leo said over the various conversations. Arthur nodded in agreement.

  “Dagg,” Aliana asked, “could it be in another realm?” She smoothed out a wrinkle in the pale yellow and gray sundress she’d changed into. Dawn’s question from earlier about Titania possibly having moved the sword nagged at her. “Could it be in Avalon?”