28

  Cody

  It was that first great weekend between finals and graduation. Parties were being thrown, celebrations were being planned, but we decided to celebrate Somewhere Else, no big parties this weekend, everyone was busy crashing and relaxing after the stress of finals, so we decided to relax too. Susie brought a picnic basket and some sandwiches she made with her mom and Brad was able to sneak away a six pack of bud light. He tossed me one as Christian and Susie laid the blanket out and we all took a seat.

  “So glad that’s over,” Brad said, “Got to thank you again, Christian, would have never aced pre-cal without your help, course granted I’ve probably lost all the information you were able to drill into my head, now that schools over and I’ll probably never need it again,” he said.

  “I know, it’s such a load off my mind,” Susie said, “I actually got my application from State back, I got in, and I’ve already got a scholarship lined up to help cover the cost,” she said.

  “Not that you would need one, how many coins have you stacked up? With that little salon you set up in the castle,” I asked, laughing and taking another drink of beer.

  Susie blushed, “Christian, how much did you say that these coins are worth? I’ve got about forty of them,” she said.

  “It depends,” Christian said, “I’ve been shopping around pawn and coin shops, they all ask me where I got them, and I just tell them I found a few in a shoe box when I was cleaning out my grandpa's house. They say they’ll give me about fourteen hundred for them, but they think I only have three or four, I’m kind of worried about trying to move as many as we have all at once,” Christian stroked his chin, “We’ll probably have to sell them online, one at a time. We can make more off each coin that way, but they’ll be a paper trail that we can be taxed on, whereas if we just sell them in small clusters to pawnbrokers we’ll make less but it’s all in cash,” Christian tilted his head, “But on that hand, moving that much cash into a bank account where we can actually use it brings its own set of problems. We can’t put more than ten thousand cash in at once, and even if we avoid that, we could be flagged if we’re coming to the bank every other day with eight or nine thousand,” he said, looking up, thinking, “I’ve been trying to figure out how we can launder our money, what we don’t keep as gold at least,” he said, then turned to Susie, “You say you have about forty, every coin weighs about an ounce, that’s another issue. It’s not like they stamp these out, in this world they hand pour and print the coins, they’re not exact, some weigh a little less, some weigh a little more, that could be a problem with some of the sellers who know what they’re doing,” he said.

  “What about you, Brad,” I turned to him, “How many do you got?”

  “I got sixty,” he said, “And I’m not selling them, I’m keeping them, my aunt invests in gold, says it’s the best investment she’s ever made, holding on to them in case of societal collapse. If World War Three breaks out and we start living in Mad Max world I can trade these coins for food, toilet paper, goats, women,” he turned to Susie and grinned.

  “Oh, shut up,” Susie laughed, “What about you Cody, how much have you racked up?” she asked.

  “I got about sixty, maybe sixty-five, I’m keeping them in the same shoebox where I used to keep some pot. I figure since my parents have never busted me for pot it must be a good hiding place, the one thing though is that it’s so heavy, I mean, I know gold is supposed to be heavy, but you never really realize how heavy it is until you’re holding this much of it, it’s kind of surreal,” I said. I turned to Christian, “What about you, Christian, you’ve spent more time here than any of us, I can’t imagine how much you’ve gotten saved up, you take any job these people come to you with,” I said, taking another drink of beer.

  Christian pursed his lips, “I think I have,” he looked up, did some math in his head, “I think I have about three hundred coins, what I haven’t spent on luxuries here I’ve been keeping under a floor board, not like I have parents that would bother taking more than a cursory look at my room, but god knows I don’t want to explain how I have half a million’s worth of gold in my possession,” he said.

  I choked on my sip of beer and almost dropped my can, “Wait, you have half a million dollars, Christian, what the fuck?!”

  Christian took a can and popped it open, I saw a bit of pride welling in his eyes, “I mean, yeah, three hundred coins, worth about two thousand US dollars each, accounting for dealer fees and the time value of money over the course of me actually cashing out when, if, I sell them, yeah it would all probably come down to about five hundred grand give or take,” he shrugged his shoulders, “Why do you think I’ve been doing so much research to find out exactly how we can move these things. I was able to sell one for fifteen hundred, just as a dry run to see what unloading these things would come with. It’s actually pretty complicated, especially with the amount we’ve accrued. I know it seems like a lot of money, but the logistics of selling this much physical gold are proving to be a real challenge. On top of those challenges is the specter of the tax man, I don’t mind paying my share, but I’m just worried that if the tax man starts asking questions, other government men might start asking questions, one random coin with a weird pattern is an anomaly, a curiosity, not worth looking into. But if all of a sudden, we sell our entire collections tomorrow and these coins get out in the market, people are going to start asking questions about where they came from. The fact that where they came from was four teens in Nebraska, that’s going to raise some questions,” Christian shook his head, and he downed another drink of beer. He was used to alcohol at this point, he had had his first thirty, only instead of the fine artisan-crafted flavors of Budweiser and Miller, Christian cut his teeth on the finest old-world mead that Somewhere Else offered us brave heroes after we drove evil from their lands. He had more of a taste for it then our world’s drinks. I must admit that mead and grog we were having while Somewhere Else did have its charms and was a pinch stronger. I guess it was just another part of that world that made more sense to Christian then ours.

  “I’m saving this,” Brad said, “Gold is defense against inflation,” Brad said, “Going to bide my time, this gold is my retirement, going to community college, get a few credits for cheap to start me out, maybe sell a piece or two and I can get my two year, then transfer to State, get a degree in something, then just work knowing I already got a hundred grand in something that’s going to outperform any 401k a company could give me,” Brad said.

  I thought about my future, I still wasn’t sure what I should major in. My dad was an engineer, I thought maybe he could help me, I loved working in the garage with him, he knew how to fix a machine that bent wings for 747’s so he sure as hell knew how to fix a carburetor, “I’m thinking of State, they got a good engineering program, I’ve been doing some research into it, it’s really cool, those big machines, doing the crazy work they can do. If I’m a guy who can fix those things, I would probably always have a job,” I turned to Brad, “Save if that societal collapse you mentioned ever happened,” we laughed together, “And if it did, it would be up to guys like me to get machines working and make sure the trains run on time again,” I said, taking another drink of beer. I grabbed one of Susie’s sandwiches and took a bite, it was just turkey and ham but it was so good, “Woah, Susie these are awesome,” I said.

  “I sold a coin a few weeks ago, I could afford the good meat for them, not exactly a sack lunch is it, I got the really good stuff,” she said, “I’m thinking of studying fashion, I mean, I know it’s a hard field, but if we really can get more gold out of this place we can pay for our living expenses, get enough coins maybe we can even buy houses, I figure if we have the kind of safety net this much money can give us, why not chase your dreams,” she smiled.

  “Hey, Christian,” I finished my beer and grabbed the second to last one as Brad grabbed another from himself, “What colleges have you applied to? You probably have straight A’s, I mean, I’m not saying that Yale or Harvard is out of the question, but you could probably find a school no problem,” I said.

  “Why do I need to go to college?” Christian asked, “I just told you I have about half a million dollars. I could sell off one coin a week and get paid more than any salary man in the state, why bother, I’ll just keep coming here, keep making gold. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but it’s everywhere here,” he looked down, looked like he was contemplating for a second, “there’s no reason to bother in the other world,” he said. The other world, our world, his world, the real world. That should have been yet another warning sign that the poor guy was going native.

  “You know, if anyone can figure out the best way to convert all these coins to cold hard cash it would be you. You have a talent for this financial stuff, if you set your mind to it, you could probably really use those skills and find something to do with them. You said yourself you would have plenty of money, you should go to school for economics or something, learn how to take the crazy amount of money you already have and turn it into even more, all without even having to get more coins out of this place, move to New York with all those other money man, you could really clean their clocks if you gave it a go,” I said.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Christian shifted himself, he looked a bit uncomfortable at the idea of not being able to come her every weekend., “Sure, but I could see staying here, in Nebraska I mean, I could get a place in the Omaha, get a nice place, cost of living is so low that even in the nicest place I could find enough gold to last me the rest of my life, and a pretty nice life at that,” he said.

  “I mean, yeah time here is fun, but it’s not real,” Susie said, “The lake is the only way here, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want to spend my life in Nebraska even if it does mean I’ll have access to all the gold I could need,”

  “Yeah, but if we’re ever short we could come visit,” Brad said, “I know none of us want to spend the rest of our lives here, but why don’t we make a thing of it, every year we come back, go down for an adventure, bank some more coin, that could be fun,” he smiled, finishing off his beer.

  “Yeah, we’ll come once a year, it can be our secret,” I said, looking up at the grand view of the mighty majestic mountains and the fields of grass greener than any pasture you could ever find in the real world, “Sounds fun, doesn’t it Christian?” I said, reaching over and giving him a pat on the back.

  “Yeah,” Christian fiddled with the beer can in his hand, “Yeah, once a year, just our secret getaway, I guess that would be fun,” he laughed with a bit of nervousness on the end of voice.

  “Deals a deal then, hey, we’ll do it at the start of every summer, to commemorate,” Brad said.

  “Yeah, like a high school reunion,” Susie smiled.

  “Once a year, yeah,” Christian was looking past us, his eyes had this thousand-yard stare, just absorbing the natural beauty of Somewhere Else. He turned to the small village below us, looking over it’s fine stone buildings and it’s humble charms.

  “What was the name of that village again?” Brad asked as he turned his head to see whatever it was that Christian was engrossed with.

  “Chelovy,” Christian said. He seemed to remember the name of every town we visited in our time there. I’ve seen him struggle to remember street names and just stare at you wide eyed if you tried to give him directions via local landmarks. I got the feeling that Christian just kind of wandered through his life before we found Somewhere Else. That he cared not for the things that made the real world so special for other people, as they would never bother to make him feel special back. But in this world, Somewhere Else, Christian was so engrossed with the name of every village, every landmark, every person he met. He knew that the tree outside Levenby had been planted over a century ago to commemorate the birth of the some King’s daughter, he knew the name of almost every barkeep, though it didn’t hurt that almost every barkeep was named Anthony for some reason. Just another proclivity of that world, I guess.

  “I got to hand it to you Christian,” Susie sighed and smiled, “This place really is beautiful, I could definitely see wanting to make the occasional visit back here, I’m in, once a year we come back here, have a nice little adventure, have some fun, I think it will be good for us, good for you too,” she reached over and rubbed his shoulder, “I can see why you’re so fascinated with it,” she smiled. Her relaxation was interrupted by a loud buzzing sound, it sounded like a fly only bigger, and at that bigger than a fly that was bigger than usual. She felt something brush her hair and reached up on instinct to bat it away, swatting something big out of her hair and crushing it against her shoulder.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Cody, Cody!” she said, looking down at the ground and quickly backing away, terrified at what she had seen.

  “What is it!” I turned to her, concerned.

  “I don’t know,” she said, looking down, backing up further and further away from whatever it was that was disturbing our picnic. I looked down and saw it, I jumped back with the same fear that Susie had. It wasn’t a fly. It wasn’t a beetle or other such giant bug. It was a tiny, thing, I don’t even know how to describe it. It looked almost human. It had two legs, two arms, black feathers going all up and down its body, but it wasn’t a bird, it had a twisted and macabre looking face and as it struggled to recover from Susie’s slap it screeched out in a blood cuddling gasp.

  “What the hell!” Brad jumped up and without even thinking took a great stop to smash the creature.

  “Christian, what is that? You’ve been in this world longer than any of us,” I said, “What the hell is that thing?” I said as I took a careful step forward to the crushed corpse of whatever creature it was that Brad stomped on.

  Christian looked at it, leaning in, inspecting it with the careful eye only someone who was either a native or had spent as much time as he had in this world would have.

  “I heard about these,” Christian reached for his sword and tilted the creature up to get a better look at it.

  “What the hell is that, is it still moving?” Brad said, ready to stomp again.

  “It’s a fairy,” Christian said.

  “A fairy? Oh no I swatted a fairy, I didn’t mean too,” Susie said.

  “Didn’t mean to stomp on a fairy man,” Brad looked over Christian’s shoulder to see the deformed, black, bloodied and pretty ugly for something that someone would call a fairy.

  “It’s not just any fairy, I heard about these,” Christian closed his eyes and sighed, “I didn’t want to tell you guys, I didn’t want you to worry, I was hoping it was just another legend about this place, I figured with all the other legends and rumor we’ve heard this was just another one,” Christian took another deep breath, “This is a Dark Fairy, at least it is if what I’ve been told about them is true,” he said.

  “A Dark Fairy? That sounds,” Susie shook her head, “I don’t know what that sounds like, what on earth is a Dark Fairy?” she took a step back from the still shaking creature.

  “Morgan LeFaye,” Christian said, he closed his eyes and looked down, sheathed his sword, “It’s real,” he said.

  “Wait I know this one,” I spoke up, “That’s from King Arthur, that evil witch from Once and Future King, we’ve been reading that in Mrs. Pate’s class, hold on,” I took a second trying to figure out what was going on, “You said from everything you’ve learned about this world it’s all based on the Grimm Fairytales, Morgan LeFaye is from a completely different mythos, what is Morgan LeFaye doing in the Grimm fairy tale world?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, I thought it was just another legend,” Christian stroked his chin and paced back and forth, trying to piece together how this could work. “I figured since Morgan LeFaye is from Arthurian legend, it predates the time period of the Grimm stories so it would make sense that there world would have the similar myth as our own,” he shook his head, folding his arms trying to reconcile this, “But if Morgan LeFaye is really here, I have no idea what this could mean,” Christian looked up to the sky.

  “Wait, I’m sorry I haven’t gotten that far in Once and Future King yet, we read Beowulf. What are you going to say next, Grendel is going to jump out and challenge Cody to a one on one fight?” she said.

  “You think I could take Grendel? Thanks,” I smiled, forgetting about how dire Christian thought this situation was.

  “Morgan LeFaye is the Queen of Air and Darkness, she’s a powerful sorceress and from what I’ve heard in the legends people of this world have told, at least what I thought were legends, she commanded, or commands it would seem, and army of dark faries,” Christian closed his eyes.

  “What is a Dark Fairy? What is that opposed to the good kind of faeries, like the ones that give you dresses and bring Pinocchio to life,” Susie asked.

  “I heard about a town that was destroyed by them,” Christian said, “But they said it was a far off town, on the other edge of the land, far from us, far from the peaceful lives lived here, I thought it was just another ominous fable, a story that mothers tell their children before bed,” he said, “I’m sorry,” he sat on the ground, buried his hands in his face, “I’m sorry, I thought I understood this world, I thought I finally found a place I understood,” he said.

  “Hey, Christian,” I went to his side and got down to put a hand on his shoulder, “It’s okay, it’s just dark faries, I mean we fought the Big Bad Wolf. How threatening can they be if we stomp one out no problem?” I said, not like I had any idea what a Dark Fairy was, or even how Christian was able to kill that beast.

  “One isn’t threatening,” Christian said, “From the legends about her I’ve heard, this Morgan LeFaye is a terror. God, I thought they were just stories, stories about a witch who summons legion upon legion of dark faries that devour everything that humble people hold dear, just a legend I thought. Something that happened far away, far away from this perfect world, if they’re here, they’re trouble,” he said, he looked to the horizon. Then I saw him draw his sword, I looked up and I saw what made Christian so anxious and ready for war. A great cone of darkness started to rise upon the small village of Chelvoy.

  “Dark Faires, great,” Susie said, I could see her wringing her hand in her hair.

  “We’re the only ones who can stop it, Brad, Cody, get your arms ready, they’re coming,” He said.

  We drew our weapons but had no idea how to fight this great swarm that was coming over the hill, a swarm of dark fairies.

  “I am the greatest hero this world has ever seen,” he held true to his sword, the sword gifted by a great Lord. I had seen what he could do with a sword, and would later come to see that swords wielder capable of so much more. I readied my Axe.

  Christian was the first to break into a sprint towards the humble village, his sword drawn. We followed. We didn’t know what we were supposed to do. We had power in this world, it’s true, but did we really have enough power to fight something like this. The great black crowd of Dark Fairies descended on the poor village. Once there we saw them eating away at not only the buildings but devouring the citizens. I don’t understand what these things were, but when they wounded someone there was no time for even blood, they ate at the people so fast that not a drop even had time to hit the ground.

  Christian stood proud with his sword as in a short distance from us a great column of fairies began to swirl around. I grabbed Christian’s shoulder to try to pull him away from being face to face with danger.

  “We got to get back to the lake, we can’t stop this,” I said, Christian stayed forward, a fairy buzzed and zipped through the air towards us, god they were so fast, Christian raised his sword and with some kind of inhuman skill that could have only been possible for one of us Somewhere Else he cleaved the fairy in two, as opposed to blood, the split creature just leaked this kind of ashy substance of pure darkness.

  “We have to get out of here, you can’t fight them all!” I grabbed him, tried to pull him away from the role of hero that he was so desperate to fill.

  “Christian! If you die here then these things really can take over, we need to regroup, Christian!” I said again. I saw him grit his teeth and turn to me, nodding. We both broke out into a run trying to catch up with Brad and Susie on the way to the lake.

  The swarm of fairies continued to grow and swirl, it casted a great shadow over us as it opened like the unfolded wings of a great bird of prey. We looked up and at the center of the great mass, sitting so comfortably at the top of the swarm, one leg crossed over the other, was a girl. A girl no older than any of us. Skin that kind of moon white shade that could only be possible for the most beautiful princesses of this world, raven black hair waving behind her.

  “Hear me,” she called out, her voice so soft but booming so loudly to make sure all who could see the great destructive cloud of fairies could hear her.

  “Know that the mighty Morgan LeFaye has come to liberate you, I have traveled across a great ocean of spirit and magics to learn your ways, and to bring you the ruler you deserve,” she raised her hands, we stood by the edge of the lake, we should have jumped in as soon as we could, but her voice must have had some kind of command and hold over us.

  “I come to bring your world order and prosperity you can’t imagine. Though my methods seem rough, sometimes a forest must be burned in order to build a new world upon its fertile ashes. “Fear not!” she called out, raising her arms as the seemingly endless army of fairies swarmed and covered the entire sky, casting a great shadow over the land.

  “Children of the day, bow to the queen of night, to the queen of air and darkness, and you shall be spared, resist, and your stories will end, and become no more than moral lessons to the children of those wise enough to concede to my just rule,” the fairies began to carry Morgan around as with a wave of her hand she commanded a great column of her monsters to rush forward over a small village and wreak havoc on it.

  The fairies destroyed everything. There was nothing left of that humble little hamlet of Chelvoly once they were done. Just the wooden splinter remnants of shacks, barns, taverns and shops. And bones, several bones laid scattered throughout the town with every bit of meat picked off them.

  The Fairies dispersed, carrying Morgan away with them. She had made her grand declaration and in a great booming shadow of pure blackness she was gone.

  “No!” Susie cried, turned to shield her eyes from it, “We have to run!” she called out, “Back in the lake, all of us!” she grabbed me and with all her strength pulled on my arm trying to rip me to the lake. Susie tried to drag me, and I was trying to drag Christian. Brad broke our game of daisy chain by bum rushing the line of us and tackling us all into the lake with him.

  The next thing I remember was the four of us slamming into the ground. Christian was already there, still wearing his Somewhere Else clothing but not a scratch on him. I was followed by Brad, landing right next to me. Last was Susie.

  “Susie!” I ran to her and helped her up, “Are you okay? What happened,” I asked.

  “Ask him!” Susie said, anger in her voice, an anger that was almost an accusation, “Ask him what we saw,” she said.

  I went to Christian, “Are you okay, Christian,” his eyes were glazed over, he was barely conscious, “Christian!” I shook him again.

  “I’m okay,” he took a deep breath, fell over as I grabbed him and helped him up, “I’m okay,” he said, “We need to find out what that was,” he said, “I’m going to find out what that was, the world is in danger,” he said.

  “That world is in danger, Christian, is that place even safe to go to anymore?” I asked. Adventures were fun and all, but after coming across something that harrowing, can you blame me for not wanting anything more to do with it?

  “The world is in danger, we may have put up good enough a fight to disperse her for a moment, but how long will that last? Time works differently in that world, the more time we’re here, the more time LeFaye has to wreck it, we have to stop her,” Christian said.

  “Christian, we barely survived one encounter, with whoever that was, I don’t think we’re going to be that lucky next time. Sure, we can get hurt and come through the portal fine, but if we get killed there…I don’t think I want to find out if that’s going to be our end,” I tried to reason with him.

  “Just let me do some research, try to figure out what, who, this Morgan LeFaye is, I can figure this out, and if I do we can beat her, there are people in that world Cody, good people,” Christian shook his head, “For all we know, we may be the only people in a position to stop her, we have to stop her. The stories I’ve heard, how the Queen of Air and Darkness wants to rend the entire world under her yolk, we can’t let that happen,” Christian said.

  “Christian, that world’s not-” Susie was cut off.

  “It’s not what!?” Christian snapped, “It’s not real, it’s not true, there are people there. People we’ve meet, people we’ve cared about, people we’ve fought for,” he said, “I know you don’t think that world could be as real as this one, but,” he closed his eyes, “We can help them, we can help them, we have to,” he said.

  “Christian, yes, that world does have some validity to it,” I said, “But we fell in that lake by accident, I can’t pretend to know who this Morgan LeFaye is but she seems to have real powers in that world, powers far beyond what even we are capable of, Christian we can’t-”

  “We can’t what?” he said, I never thought I could see this kind of backbone in him, “We can’t help, we have to try, if there is anyone in that world who could possibly stop her it’s us. More and more I’m starting to think it’s not an accident we fell in the lake that night, there must be a purpose, some morale, some parable, some reason we discovered this world. This could be it. We were sent to this world to save it. I must save it. Think of how beautiful it is, think of how amazing our experiences have been, if there’s a chance, we can save it we it owe it to that world to try,” Christian said.

  “Let’s just take some time and think,” I said, “Christian, none of us wants anyone in that world to die, we just need to take some time and figure out our next move, first thing we have to do is figure out who this Morgan LeFaye is, if we can find out who she is, what exactly her power is, we can stop her,” I said, “She’s a fictional character, just like everyone else we met in that world. She’s fictional, we’re real, we can beat her. I believe you, we can beat her, but we need to be smart about it. She almost destroyed us in one melee with her. We have to be smart,” I said, part of me wanted to defend that world just as much as Christian did. He was right, I must give him that much credit, it was a beautiful place and the thought of it being destroyed didn’t sit well with me either. “What Morgan LeFaye doesn’t know is that we have resources here, we should hit the library after school Monday, we can do research, you say she’s a character from Arthurian legend, and that it’s a world that operates on the Grimm Brother’s rules, if we do some reading it’s possible we could find a weakness we could exploit. So, we’re going to have a study session in the library, while we still have access to it, and we’re going to find something that can stop her,” I said, half wanting to win this unwinnable war, and half wanting to calm Christian enough to get some sleep tonight and leave the lake for at least a few days before he charged into something that could get him killed.

  “I have to save that world,” Christian was looking down, avoiding eye contact with any of us, just shaking his head, his lip quivering and so determined to save the first world that gave him a home. He looked at me first, “I have to save that world, I have to,” he said.

  “I know, Christian, I know,” I approached him, I rested both hands on his shoulders, “I promise you. We’ll stop her, I don’t know how but I know we can find out how, I promise you Christian, we will save that world,” I said, gulping just as unsure of myself as Brad and Susie were unsure of me.

  “We should get home,” Christian said.

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s a good idea, get home, rest,” I said.

  “I need to start researching, I need to find out how we can do this,” he looked up at me, “We will do this,” he said, taking a deep breath and holding a look on his face of a man determined to walk into hell itself if it could get him to his goal.