The Paladin Prophecy

THE BOATHOUSE

The foul smell brought him around, then voices getting gradually louder, as if he were emerging from a tunnel.

“What should we do with him?” someone asked.

“Wait,” said the filtered voice of the Paladin. “Wait for it to imprint on him. It works better that way.”

Will was careful not to move so they wouldn’t know he’d come around. He was lying on his side on the wood plank floor of the boathouse attic. They’d secured his wrists behind his back with one of his own plastic ties and connected them to his ankles; his legs were bent back uncomfortably. His whole body ached from the Taser charge. His mask had slipped, covering his eyes so he couldn’t see a thing.

He summoned his sensory grid. Two Knights stood over him along with the tall, stooped figure of the Paladin. Brooke was in the next room, still bound to a chair. The horrible smell was coming from a thermos-sized black container resting on the floor less than a foot from Will’s face.

Will felt energy flowing from the vile thing moving inside the container and knew it was a Ride Along, somehow “tuning” into him, getting ready to merge. He moved his hand down a few inches to the Swiss Army knife he’d tucked into the back of his boot.

“What about her?” asked one of the masks.

“She’s going to watch,” said the Paladin. “One last chance to come to her senses, or she’ll get one, too. Bring her in before I open it.”

Will heard boots scuffle into the next room. He flipped the knife into position between both hands, flicked open a blade, and with as little motion as possible started sawing at the ties. The plastic started giving way; he needed ten more seconds—

Then a voice slid into his thoughts: “Are you upstairs?”

Elise. At first it made no sense. Then it made all the sense in the world.

Will tossed out the net of his senses and let it filter down through the building until he found her one floor below, just inside the front door.

“Yes,” he answered.

Will heard the Knights head back his way, dragging Brooke with them.

The first tie snapped under the blade. He moved to the second—

“Stand back while I break the seal,” said the Paladin. He reached down to open the black canister. The creature inside rustled in anticipation.

Will heard footsteps running up the stairs: Elise charging hard. He could see her shape flowing through space, growing brighter and stronger, filling with some kind of vibrant power.

The walkie-talkie in Will’s pocket crackled, and he heard Ajay’s voice, low and urgent: “Will. Cover your ears.”

Two of the Knights rushed to the stairs: “Who’s there?” Another reacted to the walkie-talkie: “What was that?”

Will cut the final tie, clamped his hands to his ears, and called out, “Brooke, cover your ears!”

A wave of energy burst through the doorway. Will’s first impression: a single note encompassing every known frequency, above and below the range of human hearing. Then the note exploded throughout the enclosed attic space like a sonic boom. Even with his hands pressed tightly against his ears, Will felt as if a howitzer had gone off beside his head.

The windows blew out, the planks beneath him rippled, and at the center of this gash in the surface of things he saw Elise standing at the top of the stairs, jaws wide open, arms spread, palms up, her body a field of wild energy, the epicenter of this concussive shock wave.

And it all made sense to him: Elise had talents, too. And she was Awake.

Crouching near the porch, Ajay had waited exactly a minute, like Elise had told him to, his eyes glued to his watch. “Will. Cover your ears,” he said into his walkie-talkie.

He’d taken two steps forward before it occurred to him: Oh, dear, I should probably cover mine as well.

He raised his hands to his ears just as all the windows in the boathouse exploded and the whole building shuddered. The blast wave knocked Ajay backward into another snowdrift.

“Mother of mercy,” said Ajay.

He wobbled to his feet and staggered onto the porch. He opened the front door and walked straight into the sill before he course-corrected and made it inside.

“Elise? Will?!”

“Up here!”

It was Will’s voice. He sounded miles away. Ajay’s ears were ringing louder than at a rock concert. Ajay launched himself at the stairs, weaving from one wall to the other.

“Good grief,” said Ajay. “A direct hit to the gyroscope.”

As he passed a window in the stairwell, Ajay looked down and saw a snowmobile pull out of a garage and head for the woods. The Paladin was driving. Ajay stumbled through a door at the top of the stairs, where he found Will crouched over Elise, who was unconscious and pale on the floor.

“Is she all right?” asked Ajay, but couldn’t hear himself, so he repeated the question, much louder than before.

Will didn’t seem to hear him either time. He said something and Ajay saw his lips moving but couldn’t hear a word.

“What?!” yelled Ajay, moving closer.

“Use the phone! Call for help!”

“Okay! Where’s Brooke?!”

“In here!”

Will led him to a doorway, where Brooke lay on the floor just inside. Two Knights—Pigtail and Pirate—were slumped crookedly against a wall, out cold. They looked like they’d been hit by a bus. Their masks had been knocked off. They were Hodak’s attack dogs from the cross-country team: Durgnatt and Steifel.

A trapdoor in the middle of the room stood open, and a rope descended to the floor below. Will pointed to the rope and said something.

“What?!” shouted Ajay.

Will yelled into Ajay’s ear, “There’s a phone! In the office downstairs! Kidnapping! Attempted murder!”

Ajay gave the “okay” sign and said, “One of them got away! Snowmobile!”

“I know!” shouted Will. “Lyle!”

Ajay grabbed the rope in the trapdoor and tried a heroic slide to the floor below. He lost his grip halfway down and crash-landed on his rump. After making sure Will hadn’t seen him, Ajay lifted the receiver of the black phone in the office. He had to assume an operator answered because he couldn’t hear a thing.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to yell!” shouted Ajay.

Upstairs, Will gathered Brooke in his arms, carried her into the other room, and laid her gently beside Elise. He covered Elise with his jacket. Will stripped the winter coat off one of the downed Knights and was about to cover Brooke when she opened her big blue eyes.

“Who wins the Drama Club Award now?” he asked.

“You came for me,” she said.

“What?!” he said.

She threw her arms around him and closed her eyes and said into his ear, “You came for me.”

He heard her that time.

Downstairs, Ajay had to shout to make sure he got the message across. He was pretty sure the operator told him help would be there in fifteen minutes.

“I’m sorry!” he shouted to her. “I feel like I’m inside a large bell! Actually right inside it! In a bell tower! And it’s ringing incessantly!”

Ajay hung up the phone and left the office as Will leaped down through the trapdoor, grabbed the rope, and landed—without falling—right beside him.

“You stay here,” said Will. “Take care of the girls, wait for help.” Will headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” shouted Ajay, following him.

“I’m going after Lyle.”

“On foot? Wait, Elise brought her horse. You could take him.”

“I won’t need a horse,” said Will.

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