TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains themes of depression, anxiety, self-hate, and attempted suicide. Please read with caution.
[Queenie]
Hiding out in the Marriott isn’t nearly as fun as you might think. Especially when you are trying to hide from one of the most powerful men in the city.
Not to self: do NOT piss off Gunner Drake. Again.
Even my parents aren’t talking to me at the moment. Apparently, just one nasty phone call from one of their best clients and I’m on my own with a canceled credit card and nowhere to broadcast my latest vlog.
[Queenie] “Are you quite done?” drones a crystalline voice, a touch of laughter in her lilting tone. “I assure you, this is no illusion.” “This cannot be real.” I'm still not sure this isn't a terrible dream. This could all be a terrible side effect of the medication I just ingested. I've never taken that much at once before. Sometimes I swallow 4, but there had been at least 12 tablets in my hand before I swallowed. “Of course it is real.” Irritated, the voice continues, ringing in my ears, my head pounding. “Now spit out whatever vile concoction you just ingested. We have work to do, and I need you to be clear-headed.” “Listen, bitch, I don’t know who the fuck you are, but nobody talks to me like that, not even my own imagination.” Something jolts me, I scream. “I don’t have time for your tantrum.” The voice screeches. “Get yourself together, Queen Guinevere.” “Queen who?” The jolt rushes through my body. I almost vomit as I fall hard onto my knees. “Spit that vileness out
[Faye] "Faye!" Arthur shakes me. "Oh, my god, Faye!" My body convulses as I scream, the feeling of someone ripping my heart from my chest overwhelming all my senses. My body bucks as my vision blurs, Arthur seeming far away, his voice fading. As my vision fades to black, I see Devona on the ground, bleeding, a glowing sword stabbing her through the center of her torso, her eyes losing their shine as the blade pulsates, glowing with the green fire of her soul slowly draining from her body. Just a few feet away from her, Embyr was being held back by Garreth, his eyes glowing gold. The clock on the wall reads 12:42. I come back to myself and see that I'm lying in a large bed, Arthur lying next to me, holding onto me. Feeling the changes in my body, he sits up and touches my face gently, checking me over to make sure I am okay. "Faye," he sighs. "Thank god." He seems satisfied with what he observed. "How do you feel?" "Like someone stabbed me in the heart." "Faye..." "What time is
[Embyr] That fool Arthur texted us about an hour ago, some nonsense about Faye and a vision and us dying. Anyhoo, Hot Chick and I have been working ever since to "add wards" to the house or whatever. Damned if I know what the heck she's talking about. All I know is that Devona can be scary when she is serious, and right now she's as serious as fuck. She tasked me with securing the house itself while she secured the greater perimeter. She gave me a large bowl of what she told me was sheep blood (I don't even want to ask) and sea salt that she mixed together with babies' tears or whatever the heck she said. "Make sure that every windowsill and every doorway has been rimmed with the salt and blood mix
[Devona] I felt the change in our perimeter before it became visible with the flashing light of a broken spell. Someone has crossed the threshold of my outer wards, breaking them as if they were nothing. And they are still moving towards the house as if pushing aside my magic did not affect them. A dark cloud descended on the house, blocking out the sun. From a distance, the miasma hanging above us might seem like a thick fog, but up close there was fire in these clouds, flame born from anger and death and the claiming of souls. The horsemen have arrived. Nine men on nightmare horses made of pure black smoke, both
[Faye] The house is burning. We don't even park the car properly before Arthur and I bolt out the doors and rush to the house. The flames are growing around us, glowing an unnatural hue, a strange black and violet and green--one part fire and one part spell. There is no way that anyone is alive inside. I feel my legs go weak as they collapse to the ground. "Oh god," I moan. "we're too late." Arthur doesn't hear me. He rushes inside
[Faye] As Arthur stands there, gleaming sword in hand, it lights with divine power, glowing blue and lavender and green, flowing around his arm in waves. He points the sword at Embyr’s chest and she backs away, her eyes wide with fear and shock and something else. For a moment, the black slithers away from her eyes, her beautiful brown orbs staring directly at me. My friend is still in there, trapped in a body that has been taken over by a curse and a specter of her former self in an unholy possession created and controlled by the Queen of Light. Embyr. She blinks at me, her eyes pleading.
[Arthur] Embyr. Embyr is Sir Kay. My brother from a lifetime ago, reincarnated who knows how many times. But I can’t take care of that right now, I need to take care of my wife. Faye is kneeling on the ground by my feet, staring at the place where her best friend just disappeared into darkness. She keeps reaching out as if she can pull the shadows back to her, opening the way again, but she keeps failing. Giving up, she begins pounding her fists again and aga
[Devona] I woke to the sound of a beak tapping on the remnants of the window. I waited, slowly unwrapping myself from Arthur’s arms, the weight of them stretching across Faye and myself as he spooned us both. The tap came again, more insistent, a steady rhythm. A messenger. Pulling myself free from my lovers, I dress quickly and head outside. The crescent moon is high. The night would be almost completely black in Avalon, but here, in this world, the bright city lights make a perpetual twilight. This makes it easy for me to spot the messenger, a small raven sitting across the way on the small metal rai
[Kaydence]I place a hand on her wrist. "Stop."She blinks up at me. In my mind I trace the rune for "peace" and watch in amazement as her body begins to relax, the flames melting away as her breathing stilled.Queenie's first reaction is relief. Her face goes still, every crease leaving her features. But then just as suddenly her relief turns to anger."How dare you!" she screams pushing over the table and running for the back door. The other players stand in a rush as drinks, cards, and chips go flying. Shouts chase her retreating form as she dashes between players."Balance," I call out, tracing the rune with my hand and watch in amazement as Queenie falls backward, her arms pinwheeling."Tranquility," the room goes still, everything stopping as if time itself couldn't be rushed. The people who were once angry and pushing their way towards us stopped moving. Soon Queenie and I are the only ones moving."Grace," I finish the incantation, moving with the speed and agility of a dancer,
[Queenie]We are getting low on supplies. It takes quite a bit of baneberry juice to make the sleep potion. Because we need to keep him perpetually asleep, I need a constant supply. In Torq, baneberries are not very common and the cost of exporting them is stretching our finances thin, even with Mab’s hidden stash of gold.“This is why we should have stayed in Delas,”Mab argues.“We didn’t need to buy anything when we were still there and…”“It was teeming with knights. I had to stay indoors the entire time,” I argue. “Torq is better. I can actually go outside and talk to people here.“You
[Kaydence]The morning is bright. Too bright. My eyes hurt from too much mead and not enough sleep and I find myself for not the last time wondering why I let Devona trick me into this quest.I must have been getting on her nerves. Either that or she just needed me to find something to do so that she could focus all of her attention on the queen. It doesn’t matter.“Are you still with us, Sir Kay?” Gawain is annoyingly chipper. He’s a morning person. He also has this annoying habit of deadnaming me that is getting under my skin.“It’s Kaydence, you dumb ass,” I grumble, blinking at him while I shield my eyes, my other hand firmly placed on the pommel of my saddle.He
[Kaydence]It's been two months since we lost Arthur in the battle for Avalon.Two agonizing months since my best friend fell into an enchanted sleep. I watch my mentor, Merlin Devona, cry over her every night. She tries to hide it from everyone else, but I know. How could I not? We spend most mornings together working on my skills as a paladin. I'm getting stronger, and more skilled, but not nearly as strong or as skilled as I was in my past life as Sir Kay. Kay had a lifetime to learn. I've only been at it a couple of months, and I know this, but it still doesn't keep the whole situation from feeling pointless and frustrating."Tell me why I have to do this?" I whine as Devona grinds some herbs in her pestle. "This has nothing to do with fighting.""All g
“Good night, my love,” I kiss her brow before sitting by her side in an old wooden chair, its velvet cushion long shredded with time. Faye does not respond, her eyes closed tight, her breath shallow. She has been like this since the night of the battle, unresponsive and unmoving, preserved by her own magic, for the last three months. Technically we won; Mab is dead, her forces are scattered, and I am serving as regent, bringing the powers of Avalon back together once more as we work together to reconstruct our world. But we also lost. Arthur is gone, missing. I cannot feel him through the bond, not since I saw Mab pierce him through the heart with her bone blade. Nobody is sure why his body was taken. Some suspect that Mab had one final plan in place and that somehow he plays a part in it. We are searching for him, following every lead throughout this world and the next, but each time we th
[Faye]I can't breathe. Something is in my throat. Choking, I sit up. Monitors in the room begin to ding erratically as I continue to gag, my heart beating fast."Hold on, Mrs. Drake" an agitated voice advises. "We just need to remove your breathing tube."Breathing tube?"Heart rate is elevated," a nurse records. "All other vitals seem to be within normal ranges."The long tube is removed from my lungs and I almost vomit at the pulling sensation. Like a fish caught on land, I begin to gasp."Breathe, Mrs. Drake, breathe," a calm hand rubs my back. “You’ve been incapacitated for a few days. We had to put you on a ventilator when you stopped breat
[Queen Mab] The moon is rising full and bright over the fields of Camelot. My head is light, heady with the power of nearly a thousand souls, freshly harvested. The blade I carry was crafted from the very bones of my enemy, Morgana, whose rotted corpse lay buried beneath the tower itself, along with her granddaughters, the famous oracles who predicted my doom. There is something satisfying about destroying their legacy with their own bodies that provides me with a sense of peace. Stretching my limbs, I feel invincible, unstoppable, as I prepare to move through the battle. My agents have served me well. Guinevere, ever the loyal servant, was more than eager to take her position mixed amongst Arthur's trusted advisors, staying invisible, passing the corruption of my curse onto those two gullible knights as she waited for my signal to attack. She knew that she’d
[Arthur]A page helps me into form-fitting leather armor I’ve never worn in this lifetime as I suit up and prepare for war. It doesn’t matter that I am only 19 years old. I am the king, whether I want to be or not. I was born to this, it is my destiny. It doesn’t matter that I have no memory of living this life. As soon as I pulled Excalibur through time to my hand I became the leader of these troops in the fight that has been building for centuries. No, millenia. Now the enemy is sitting just beyond the gates, setting up camp, watching and waiting for the right opportunity to strike.It is my duty to lead these soldiers, these knights into battle. But what do I actually know of war? I have tried to access the memories of my previous life, but unlike Faye and Kaydence, I do not have a deep connection to the King Arthur I was. I have flas
[Lance]Holding my head, I scream, falling to my knees.“Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot”“Monsieur,” a hand shakes my shoulder, “Est-ce que ça va monsieur?”“Non,” I shake my head, “non…non…non…non…”The earth starts to shake. Glasses on tables begin to rattle, some falling to the stone floor of the cafe. People sitting at tables continue their conversations, laughing as if they do not see or hear everything else happening around them. Even my screams, echoing through this restaurant, are something they are trying to ignore.On the edge