"Yes, that is Atlantis. No, we are not stopping. Come along. No time to waste."
Dad had filled my head with more legends and stories than I could remember. After all, it was important to know where the best treasures were fabled to be hidden. I remembered that Atlantis was home to Neptune and his trident-a trident that was supposed to be glammed near as powerful as Excalibur.
"Can"t we just-"
Zap.
"No. That would be one of the realms of water I do not control and where we are not welcome. They are on full military alert, so stay away from-"
I darted away from her before she could finish. Why go looking for Excalibur when another solution was closer? Neptune was a royal. And thanks to Dorthea"s hostile takeover of my memory banks, I now had years" worth of diplomacy lessons and how to princess pout stored in my brain. If I just explained I was working on behalf of the Emerald throne, I"m sure he"d be happy to help her out. Meaning help me.
"Excuse me." I waved to the very handsome mermen and batted my eyelashes like I"d seen Dorthea do. "I"d like to have an audience with Neptune."
The one on the left pointed his fork at me. "Be gone, demons."
"You haven"t even heard me out. And for your information, I"ve been stabbed, burned, impaled, crushed, poisoned, and hooked. Oversize tableware is not gonna scare me." Diplomacy lesson #31: name-dropping: "If you won"t listen to me, I"ve got the lady..." I turned around to point to her sludginess, but there was no sign of her except a few fighting hermit crabs.
"That"s weird..."
Zap!
An electric eel"s charge is apparently much stronger than a jellyfish"s sting. Being immune to harm from water apparently didn"t include the hazards in it. As I blacked out, I added electrocution to the list of ways I"d died.
When I came to, the Lady of the Lake had some words for me. Or, more precisely, she"d left some words for me. She"d stuck a note to my forehead with a sea slug.
I tried to warn you. You"ve been dead for days, and I had things to tend to, so I left my a.s.sistant to show you to the right tide pool. a.s.suming you revive-which you had better, since we have a deal and I"m holding you to it-Camelot has come under a change of management, so my name will curry you no favor there. Go unseen and do not speak to anyone. Return to the water with the sword and you will be free.
LL.
Sigh. I once again had no memory of my time in the underworld, which scared the undead life out of me. Whatever Morte was up to down there was more than I could handle. Let the people with powers like Oz, Dorthea, and Verte manage it. I needed to be more careful. I looked at my arm with its seven stripes. I needed to add two more.
The Lady of the Lake had deposited me on a bed of algae in an underwater cave. Bits of crystals and aquatic pieces lay around, making it look like a home of sorts. In the center was a giant flip-top desk, fashioned from an ogre-size oyster. In its center, instead of a pearl, there was a gla.s.s inkwell with silver filigree. Pretty fancy. Probably came from a shipwreck.
I dipped an urchin spine into the inkwell, but the ink was shimmery and see-through. Unusable. "Too bad it"s busted," I murmured.
In a nearby tide pool, a squid darted past. I reached in to snag it, scaring it enough so that it left behind some ink to use. One line. Two lines. Which made nine. I sighed. "Good thing I"m not a cat."
"Rex."
"Huh?" My head shot up, trying to track who had called me. Despite the situation I was in, I couldn"t help but break into a huge grin when I spotted what had to be the Lady of the Lake"s "a.s.sistant."
"DumBeau!"
"Rex," he said again and moved toward me. He made it a few steps before tripping on his overgrown ears.
Sure, he was just a "thing" according to property laws, but I was glad to see the lady had managed to repair the sweet, dumb oaf.
I helped him up and tied his ears in a bow behind him. "There you go. That should make getting around easier." I was rewarded with one of his megawatt smiles.
His happiness didn"t last long. His grin turned to a grimace at the sound of an echo deeper in the cave. "Rex."
"Yeah, bud. We"ve been over this."
"Rex. Go," he said. I didn"t have time to be surprised at his new vocabulary. He shoved me backward into a whirlpool. Breathing underwater isn"t the same when the currents are beating the pix out of you. It"s like being a hand-wash-only cape in a washing cauldron set on spin cycle.
After what felt like an eternity, the water spit me out like a geyser, shooting me up and splatting me on the sh.o.r.e. My crossbow burped up promptly after. After coughing out half the lake, I crawled a few paces through the sand, until my hand hit something decidedly not sand. A black leather boot.
""Tis you!" a man"s voice boomed.
Aw, hex. So much for slipping in unnoticed.
"Trim your facial hair daily or, better yet, go clean shaven. Mustache twirling has been known to give away even the best villain in disguise."
-Seven Habits of Highly Evil People.
19.
Dual Deception.
"Did you hope that revenge was a dish best served wet?"
Before I could respond, an ax slid under my chin, not entirely gently, forcing me to stand and look Mordred in his ember eyes lest I lose my head.
A black knight called to Mordred. "Iron and ashes, did you catch a mermaid?"
I couldn"t see the knight"s face behind his helmet, but I didn"t have to. He wasn"t wearing gauntlets, so I could see one tan hand and one very pale hand. But even gloved, I would have known that voice anywhere.
Kato.
As soon as his name filled my thoughts, the scene in front of me changed in a flash of green. Kato was still standing close to me but without his helmet or mountain of black armor. Plus, though we were still near the water, it wasn"t the Lake of Avalon. We"d been transported somewhere else.
The look on his face, the emotion warming his chilly, blue eyes-it was exactly the vision I"d seen in the mirror. "Show me what would really make me happy."
And then I wasn"t just watching a scene-I was living it.
Kato strode forward and put a hand under my chin, turning my face to his. "Right now, we"re all we"ve got." His eyes were soft with an unfathomable expression as he placed his hands on either side of my face. "And we"re all we need."
Then, without warning, his lips were on mine. I didn"t understand what was going on. I wanted to push him away, but my arms wouldn"t obey. They circled him on their own. Kissing him was wrong. I knew it in my mind, but my heart wouldn"t obey. It galloped wildly, like a mount taken off the reins for the first time. There was no resisting it. I wanted to let everything go and live in that one perfect grain of sand in the hourgla.s.s. Except in my deepest core, I knew it wasn"t real.
At least it wasn"t real to me.
Just like Morte had made me do a half dozen times, I was reliving a memory. Only this memory wasn"t mine. And it was a thousand times worse than before when I"d just known fragments of Dorthea"s life. I had no more sap to bring me back to myself. And even if I had, would I have wanted to? My fractured soul warred with itself, one part wanting to fight since I knew this love wasn"t intended for me, while another part didn"t care and wanted to stay frozen in this moment.
Addicted to a memory.
Kato"s nail brushed across my throat-not a gentle caress, but a sharp slice.
"If you like the touch of my ax that much, I can give thee more."
I blinked, the voice not matching the face. The green-glossed memory faded, replaced by the present. Mordred still held his ax at my throat. A trickle of warmth slid down my neck. I didn"t have to see it to know it was blood. The coppery scent filled the air. I kept quiet, worried that moving my jaw might encourage Mordred to separate my head from my neck.
Kato stepped forward, taking off his helmet and dropping it with a clang. His face was the same as in the memory, but his expression was anything but soft. "I was not aware that the dark prince liked taking his frustration out on girls."
Mordred pulled his ax back a hair, relieving the pressure. "Are you daft, Sir Kay?" With a furrowed brow, he looked me over, then shook his head. "The maids from your land must look something foul if you mistake Rex as anything but an interfering huntsman"s whelp."
At my offended grunt, he flicked my short, wet mop of hair. "Or perhaps a drowned rat."
"Rex. A huntsman," Sir Kay said slowly, eyebrow quirked high. "Is that right?"
I"d spent most of my youth trying to be one of the boys. But suddenly, it disturbed me to be mistaken for one. Or more accurately, have Kato think of me as boyish. But before I could stammer out a retort, Mordred lowered his ax and grabbed me by the scruff of my neck.
"Don"t let the fair face fool thee. He"s gotten the drop on me twice now. Nay, three times. If a mere la.s.s had managed that, I"d be tempted to kill her and any witnesses just to salvage my honor and the pride of Camelot."
"Of course you would." Kato wiped a hand down his face and groaned.
""Twould be a kindness compared to what the queen would do if she found a maiden had wiled her way into Camelot." Mordred shuddered.
Kato"s face paled to match his white arm. "Good thing for us all that Rex here is just a harmless, sneaky brat, who clearly doesn"t know what he"s doing." He emphasized each word, almost growling out the end.
"I don"t think you give him nearly enough credit. I"ve let him go twice, thinking he was not a part of the Grail Wars. I won"t make the same mistake again." Mordred squeezed tighter, bringing his nose down to mine. "It is as plain as your face. I must be getting close, and that"s why you"re following me."
"Get over your over-broody self. I"m not following you." My neck hurt, and my cheeks still burned from the invading memory. Full of anger and embarra.s.sment, my heart still racing, I stomped on the tip of my crossbow-just as Mordred sidestepped over the top of it. The handle whacked straight up between his legs.
Bull"s-eye. Guess it had great aim even without the bolts.
Mordred doubled over, letting me go.
"So." I grabbed the crossbow and put some distance between us before he recovered. "Does that make four times I"ve gotten the drop on you?"
Kato half coughed, half guffawed.
"What are you laughing at, Sir Kay? Grab him. He might have already found the grail," Mordred said, still grasping his...knighthood.
"With due respect," Kato said, clearing his throat, "if your grail exists and does all you say it does, I believe your huntsman friend would have used it by now instead of..." He waved in the direction of the cross-legged prince.
"Look, I don"t have whatever this grail is you"re obsessed with. Don"t know what it is. Don"t care. This is about payback," I said, backing away from both of them. "In the forest, you left me to rot in that poisoned trap. But if you let me be on my way now, I"m willing to call us even."
"Yes. I think that"s an excellent idea. In fact, I think it"s best if we were all on our way," Kato said. Nearby, there was a high-pitched wail. "Ah, son of a basilisk. It"s too late. That thing found us. We"re all scorched."
"What thing?" I looked around, ready to run in the opposite direction of whatever was headed our way. Except what was walking toward us but a pygmy dragon carved out of emerald with a chip knocked out of his back. The tension went out of my stance. "Oh, it"s just you."
Mortimer, the House of Emerald"s guard dragon, snapped its mouth shut, its siren wail cutting off abruptly. He sighed heavily. "That"s a lovely greeting. "Just you." Best I could hope for, considering. At least you didn"t whack me with an ax, like some people." He stared down Mordred. "You are all hereby confirmed as absent without leave and are ordered back to the inst.i.tute to see the director." He shook his head and mumbled, "Not that you"re going to listen to me. I warned her. Can"t get an ounce of respect, I tell you."
"What are you talking about? Who"s her? And how did you get this far from Em-oof." Before I could finish, Kato sprinted for me at full speed. He barreled into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me and forcing me to the ground.
"Don"t give us away. What are you doing here?" he growled in my ear.
"What are you doing here? And why are you squishing me?"
"I asked you first. But hurry. Hit me."
"What?" I froze. Kato outweighed me on his own, and the armor easily doubled his weight. "Have you gone and got rabies?"
"Fight back or you"re going to screw up. Again."
My heart pounded. If he wanted a fight, he was gonna get one.
"Get. Off. You weirdo." There was a spot on his shin where his armor plate separated. I shoved the heel of my boot in the s.p.a.ce as hard as I could. While he yelped and grabbed at his leg, I rolled away. "Now, seriously. What is-eeeee." Mordred"s ax crashed down next to my head, taking off a pinch of my hair.
"Stay out of it!" Kato staggered over and yanked Mordred"s ax out of the ground. "This is a matter of honor. But I"m going to borrow this."
"Aye, if that"s what you want, but don"t hold back. He"s a sc.r.a.ppy one." Mordred backed away. "Appearances are deceiving."
"You have no idea," Kato said under his breath and charged at me again.
I took off running, but the ground was sloshy and my boots sunk, throwing off my balance and sending me sprawling in the mud. Within seconds, Kato was on top of me again.
"That"s good," he said. "Keep acting like you"re struggling."
"It"s not...an act." I squirmed to get away, but he put more weight on my legs, so I couldn"t repeat the same move.
"Listen. We don"t have time before the orderlies get here." With a swift flip, he rolled so that I was on top. The new vantage point made it so I could see the line of knights in white armor headed our way.
"What are you doing, Kay?" Mordred called.
Kato groaned. "Sorry about this, but we"re running out of time," he said and threw me off, harder than he had to, in my opinion.
"Out of time until what?" I whispered.
He waited until I regained my feet and then tossed me the crossbow. My only choice was to use it to block his fake parries with the ax. With each clash, we continued our out-of-breath conversation under the guise of sparring.
"They"re going to take us to Gwenevere."
"Isn"t that good?"
"No!"
"But isn"t that Hydra?"
"Sorta. It"s different now. I don"t have time for an explanation, and you"re not sticking around long enough to need one. Just get away from here as soon as they let you."
"And if I can"t do that?"
"Argh. You are impossibly stubborn. Just watch yourself cuz I can"t protect you."