Legacies Read online

  “What?” Ryker gasped, raising his eyebrows. I turned the wheel, preparing to enter the freeway and head back to campus. “Morgana finally had a daughter?” I shook my head.

  “Granddaughter. Her daughter is human.” I replied, giving Bethany a sharp look through the rearview mirror.

  “Whoa, this is . . . Big.” Ryker stated. That was the understatement of the millennia. Though Emrys and Pendragon legacies had been together since the time of Arthur and Merlin, this was the first time a Le Fay will be added to the mix since that time. No wonder why they were so excited about her.

  “I mean, she’s super weird,” Beth interjected. I was so mad I jerked the wheel accidentally. The car next to me honked as they sped past, the guy flipping us off.

  “Beth, if you don’t shut your fucking mouth I swear to the universe that I will crash this car,” I warned her.

  “Hey, don’t talk to her like that,” Ryker said in that stern but calm tone. That was why I tried not to insult her around him; I didn’t want to give him an excuse to defend her. I gave Ryker a long look, showing him exactly how infuriated I was at his current choice of mate.

  “Beth only met her once, this morning, for like a minute. How could she know anything about Ivy?” I demanded.

  “I’m just saying that you’ve known Ivy for about fifteen seconds and you’ve known me for about fifteen years, so I don’t know how you can take her side over mine.” Beth snapped. I was so shocked at her words, I was actually silent for a moment.

  “Oh, what sides?” I demanded. Bethany gave me a sharp look through the mirror. “I had no idea that lines were being drawn.”

  “What did Ivy do?” Ryker asked.

  “She . . .” Beth couldn’t even put into words what Ivy had done to her because she was too stupid to realize it. “She just irked me, I guess.”

  “What do you think about her?” Ryker then asked. I knew he valued my opinion above all others, including Beth.

  “Well, first of all, she is banging hot! I mean, hot as fire.” I grinned knowing that would tick off Beth.

  “She’s not that hot,” Beth argued.

  “Uh, excuse me, that white blonde hair, those big emerald eyes, plump red lips, and that body. She’s smoking.” I argued.

  “Wait.” Ryker grabbed my forearm as if he was trying to get an actual handle on the situation. “White blonde hair . . . Emerald eyes, tilted up at the sides, and oval-shaped, almost like a cats’?”

  “How do you know that?” I demanded. Ryker became silent. I mean utterly and completely mute. I knew what that meant, he didn’t want to say whatever he was thinking in front of Beth.

  “Anyway,” I went on, “She’s super witty and smart, a little odd, but I think that adds to her charm.”

  “She’s certifiable.” Bethany snapped. “Talked in circles and nonsense while I was there.”

  “That just proves how stupid you are.” I snapped, not being able to help myself. Beth let out a big huff, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Ryker, are you going to let him talk to me that way?” Beth then shrieked. Ryker shook his head, lost in his own thoughts.

  “Sorry, don’t call her stupid, dude.” Ryker waved off but then turned to stare out the window. I wondered what he was contemplating so hard, but I couldn’t ask because of the harpy in the back seat. Ryker was always a bit off after these missions. He had probably seen and done some shit, but he’d never been like this.

  “So, there’s a big party tonight.” Beth started, leaning forward to wind her arms around Ryker’s shoulders. She was like Ursula, the sea witch, winding her tentacles around him.

  Ryker and I had been together since basically birth. Our fathers, of course, work together and had been friends since they were infants, as the pattern goes. Emrys and Pendragon together for millennia. My father, though he’s a bastard, did teach me that it was the Emrys line’s job to always protect the Pendragon. That’s what Merlin did for the duration of his life, and that is what we will do for ours. I had no problem with this calling. Ryker, like Arthur, deserves such devotion, as he was honorable and fair in everything that he did. He was capable of greatness, we were capable of greatness, I just had to get him to ditch the leech.

  “Did you see my brother?” Beth asked after a moment. Beth was from a magical family, but the magical gene can only be passed on to one child from each parent. For example, if a knight and a witch had children, the first boy would be a knight, and the first girl would be a witch, any children after that would be human. Beth’s father is a knight under the Legacy of Charlemagne. Her older brother was, of course, also a knight and worked for MBI as an operational commander.

  “No, he wasn’t there.” Ryker shook his head. Beth pursed her lips together and sat back. Though she was a banshee, I did feel for her in her worry for her brother. He called maybe once a month, but that was because he was always off on one mission or another.

  After dropping Bethany at her house, with the promise that she would see Ryker at the party tonight, we made it back to campus. Even though it was Saturday, Ivy and I were scheduled to meet our new magic instructor. I had to admit, I was excited for Ryker to meet Ivy. Even though she had only been around for a week, she already felt like an integral part of the team to me. I hoped that Ryker would feel the same.

  I promised her we’d have lunch with her and would meet her in the cafeteria. Making our way there, several people stopped us to fangirl/boy out at Ryker. He was descendent of the King of Knights, after all, so everyone wanted a piece of him. Ryker handled it well, but sometimes it got on my nerves. I just wanted to go eat, not be accosted by prying fans. Ryker may be the leader of the knights, but I was the leader of the warlocks. Though history is full of powerful wizards, Merlin was by far the most powerful one, and therefore, his Legacy leads the others when needed. For the most part, everyone left me alone, which was what I wanted.

  Finally, we made it to the crowded cafeteria. Everyone stood around like sheep, as people tend to do when grouped together. I spotted the top of a bright blond head. Pointing her out to Ryker, we pushed through the crowd together.

  “Ivy!” I called when we were in earshot. She turned, a smile brightening her pretty face as she looked at me. And then her eyes went to Ryker. Her smile diminished as her eyes widened. Her hand clamped over her mouth as if she was stifling a scream, and her eyes brightened with terror. With one last glance towards me, she turned and fled.

  “That was odd.” I chuckled. “I told you she was a weird duck.” I then turned and looked at Ryker. His expression mirrored hers as he stood dumbstruck, staring in the direction she had retreated.

  “Or there is more to this story.” I prodded.

  “I have to go,” Ryker said and then turned on his heel to leave the cafeteria.

  “No, you don’t.” I snapped, grabbing his arm. “What the hell is going on?”

  “None of your business.” He snapped, yanking his arm from my grasp. “I’ll catch up to you at the party.” He then said and left. So there I stood, in the middle of the crowded cafeteria as Ryker and Ivy fled from each other. It was an odd sort of realization, as logically, that is what happened, they saw each other and ran but, for the life of me, I had no idea of the cause. But then, of course, I grew up in a strange world of magic and fate and coincidences, so I also knew it would not be long until the answer revealed itself to me.

  An hour later, I caught Ivy just before she walked into the gymnasium. She looked nervous and a bit pensive. Ivy bit her bottom lip, her straight white teeth contrasted off of her deep red lips. They were naturally red too, with no lipstick marks on her teeth.

  “So that was odd.” I started, giving her a smile. She wrung her hands together.

  “Can I tell you later?” She asked, her wide eyes full of fear and confusion. “I just want to get this over with.”

  “Yeah, alright.” I nodded, giving her shoulder a rub.

  “Thank you.” She smiled and then led the way inside the gymnasi
um. The gym was a four-story complex that held four weight rooms, an Olympic sized track and swimming pool, a basketball court, four cardio rooms, and several protected magic practicing rooms. That was the only place we were really allowed to practice.

  I led Ivy down the western wing, which solely contained practice rooms. We were supposed to meet our new instructor in room 201. I have had several magic teachers throughout my life, but no one was quite qualified enough to teach an Emrys. My father, the bastard, taught me most everything I know along with Merlin’s journals and grimoire. I wondered who could possibly be qualified enough to instruct both an Emrys and a Le Fay.

  Opening the door, an older woman stood in the center of the room. The floor was covered with training mats, and mirrors hung on two walls. The woman was beautiful, with emerald green eyes and her silver hair pulled back into a loose bun. Though she had wrinkles around her lips and eyes, she was still stunning. I’d bang her.

  “Grams!” Ivy ran forward and hugged the woman. It took me a moment longer then it should have for me to realize that I was standing in the presence of Lady Morgana Le Fay. Though legend painted her as a villain, in actuality, she’d spent the rest of her extremely long life trying to atone. She worked with governments and charities helping people and using her magic to make the world a better place. She even taught my father while he was at the MBI academies. I immediately fell to one knee, as I knew I should.

  “My lady, I am honored,” I said, bowing my head towards her. If there was still royalty in this world, she was one of them. Not to mention, Merlin gave avid instructions that the Emrys line must always respect and assist Morgana.

  “Oh, you Emrys boys are so flattering.” She giggled and grabbed my hand, pulling me to stand. I felt like a giant compared to her, but I also knew she could magically kick my ass with just the swish of her finger.

  “You’re going to be our instructor?” Ivy asked excitedly.

  “Well, who else is qualified to teach such high profile students?” She smiled, squeezing Ivy’s hands.

  “Now, Ivy, I want you to keep working on your dimensional magic while I work with Owen.” She said. Ivy nodded and bounced towards one of the mirrors on the wall. Morgana then turned towards me.

  “You have Merlin’s magic, I’m assuming.” She started; I nodded. “So then you have quick-exchange-sorcerers magic.” That was what my type of magic was called. I could literally turn anything into anything and also make objects appear.

  “I also inherited the elemental magic from my mother,” I added.

  “Who is your mother?” Morgana asked, tilting her head. I didn’t want to tell her, because I knew as soon as I did, her emerald green eyes would shadow with pity.

  “Constance Emrys,” I muttered. My parents were technically cousins, and both of the Emrys lines, but it was so far removed that it wasn’t a big deal.

  “Oh,” Morgana said in a quiet tone. “She is quite the powerful witch.” Her eyes didn’t show pity; instead, they reflected interest. “I hope I am not the first one to tell you this, but you are the first Emrys heir to have all of Merlin’s powers.” I tilted my head, showing that I had never heard of that before. “As I’m sure you know, Merlin had two children, a son, and a daughter. He split his magic between them, dividing his sorcery from his natural druidic powers. Merlin did this so that his power would not be abused, but he did foretell that someday his line would meet again, giving a witch or warlock all of his magic.” I had heard that Merlin split his line, but I guess I had never put together that I was the only one with both.

  After that, Morgana had me show little select examples of my powers. She had me turn a cup into a toad and then back again, easy stuff. Then she moved on to my elemental powers.

  “How comfortable are you with them?” She asked.

  “Not very,” I admitted. My mother had . . . Well, she never got a chance to teach me.

  “Alright, I remember Merlin loved lightning as his main conduit, I want you to work on sparking some in your hand until we meet again on Monday.” Morgana assigned. I nodded, staring down at my hand. She then set her hand on my arm, waiting for me to look at her again.

  “Do you have a conduit?” She then asked. Magic didn’t just manifest, at least not on a large scale. Since it was an energy of the universe, a wave of energy, that only certain people could access, it took a conduit to actually manifest the power into physical form. Reaching into my pocket, I took out my most prized possession. It was a fat, wooden stick, about as long as my palm. Morgana’s eyes widened as I showed it to her.

  “Is that what I think it is?” She said in awe, hovering her hands over it, feeling the energy.

  “It’s a piece of Merlin’s staff.” I nodded. Legend said that Merlin harvested the wood from the Yggdrasil tree, the Tree of Life.

  “Do you know how to access the magic?” Morgana then asked. I shook my head, not really understanding what she meant.

  “May I?” She then asked, offering her hand to me, palm up. I dropped the piece of wood into her hand, and she closed her fingers around it. The air in the room grew thick with static as she moved the magical energy around. Before my eyes, the stick grew. Green energy started to protrude from either side of her fist and extend outward. In less than a moment, she held a full-length staff.

  “How did you do that?” I gasped. My father hadn’t even shown me that.

  “Merlin liked his tricks and puzzles.” Morgana winked. Inhaling again, the energy subsided, and the staff began to shrink. After a moment, she handed the piece back to me.

  “I want you to practice that.” She said. “By Monday, I would like to see you with the full staff.” I nodded, looking at the piece of wood in my hand. With that, she then moved across the room to Ivy.

  Ivy’s powers were crazy! I knew I was supposed to be practicing, but I couldn’t help but watch them. Ivy was at a mirror, but it was not reflecting her image. Instead, it was like a portal to another world.

  “Ah, I see you’ve found Edenasia. What a lovely little world with so many fascinating creatures.” Morgana smiled. She could open portals to other dimensions? How powerful was she?

  “I still can’t access my world though,” Ivy muttered. Her world? Did she have her own dimensional plane?

  “It takes patience and focus.” Morgana encouraged her. “Speaking of that,” she reached into a pocket of her long robes. Out she pulled a necklace with a large emerald stone encrusted with diamonds hanging off of the extravagant chain. “This has been in my possession for, well, millennia. It is our conduit and will help you focus your powers.” She explained as she clasped the necklace around Ivy’s neck. “It will also protect you from those who wish to harm you.”

  Damn, having a millennia-old sorceress grandmother had its perks. I wished I could meet Merlin. It was odd standing in a room with a person who had known him. Perhaps, one day, I would feel comfortable enough with Morgana to ask her about it. Obviously, she had made some terrible mistakes, but she seemed to have learned her lessons and tried to atone. I believed that was what was most important about the character of a person. People make mistakes, but it was how that person attempted to remedy or make up for a mistake that showed their true nature.

  After the magic lesson, Ivy told me she’d catch up with me at the party that night. I still had no idea why she reacted strangely to Ryker, but I wasn’t going to question it in front of her grandmother. For the remainder of the afternoon, I secluded myself in my dorm. My cat, Archimedes, greeted me at the door. We were allowed to have pets here, especially cats, as they warded off evil spirits. Ever catch a cat staring intently at an empty corner of a room? Yeah, the corner wasn’t empty, and the cat just saved your soul.

  Archimedes was my favorite living creature in the world. He was a beautiful and majestic Maine Coon, weighing almost thirty pounds, with bright blue eyes and jet-black fur. I picked him up, throwing him over my shoulder as I walked further into the room. My dorm was just across the hall from Ivy’s. Ryker’s
was the next door over. Lying on the bed, with Archimedes on my chest, I stroked his soft fur and drifted off to sleep.

  The party was loud. Garret Percival and his family lived close to campus. His parents went out of town, so that meant a huge party. The knights threw great parties with high energy, good music, an ocean of booze, and the hottest chicks. Garret greeted me at the door. As the legacy of Percival, he was gigantic, standing nearly seven feet and weighing probably close to three hundred pounds of muscle.

  “Owen!” He cheered.

  The knights accepted me as one of their own because of Ryker. The first floor was already crowded. The stairs were filled with people, making out, crying or talking. In the living room, the furniture had all been removed to create an open space for a dance floor. Bodies moved in unison against each other creating a sea of hormones and red solo cups. In the kitchen, ten kegs lined one side of the floor, and on the island, hundreds of bottles of liquor covered the surface. The other counters were filled with mixers, juices, and snacks.

  “Owen!” A shriek came from behind me. Ivy bounced over, her cheeks pink, and a broad smile on her pretty face. She wore a black leather mini skirt that showed her long tan legs and a deep green top that accentuated her tiny waist. The eyes of every male in the room, and some female, followed as Ivy bounced towards me. She threw her arms around me and let out a series of giggles.

  “I’ve never had alcohol before.” She said with a giggle and then sipped from a red solo cup.

  “Who made that for you?” I asked. She peered around the room and then pointed out the Gawain Legacy. Hector was a good guy, and a knight, so at least I didn’t have to worry about anyone slipping anything in her drink.

  “There’s a lot of knights our age.” Ivy started to babble. “Especially from the Round Table.” I hadn’t thought of that. Looking around, however, I realized she was right. This party was full of knights, all twelve legacies were present in our age group. I had faced a lot of firsts that day, which was why my mind was so quick to make the conclusion that our generation was part of something special. I was the first Emrys to have both of Merlin’s powers. Ivy is the first Le Fay heir in existence. All twelve legacies of the Knights of the Round Table were present, and that was just from Camelot! Not all of them attended MBIA, as many of them went to academies around the globe, but they had all flown in from wherever their secret mission was. Even so, there were no answers to be found about it that night, so I shifted gears.