Fort Morgan (9 page)

Sandy threw down her hairspray flame thrower
and took out the USB drive. The tiny serpents were on her. Perses
used his sword like a bat to knock them away.

“
Go on,” Perses
said.

Sandy opened the USB drive and held the end
to the sword.

Nothing happened.

The tiny serpents attacked Sandy. Perses
threw down his sword to grab a canister of hairspray. He fought to
keep the tiny serpents away from Sandy.

“
Don’t give up!” Alex
yelled.

Straining to hear anything, Sandy heard only
the steady stream of hairspray, the louder gas-propelled flow if
the military flame throwers, and the grunts from the fighting
people around her.

Then there was a
“
tap, tap, tap
”
sound.

The hairspray streamed. The flame throwers
burned gas. The people grunted.

And the symphony began. The music rose in
volume until it echoed through the bowl.

“
What
the . . .?” Hera asked.

The tiny serpents were not motionless. They
floated in the air. The soldiers burned swathes of them. King
Manannán and his army batted them out of the air.

“
Are they dead?” Jill
asked.

“
Asleep, Mommy,” Katy
said.

“
Look at Celeste!” Abi
screamed from her tiny form.

Celeste had also stopped moving. She seemed
completely overcome by the music. Her magical beauty enhancements
slipped to show a plain woman with a slightly hunched back.

“
She must have one of
those creatures inside,” Fin said.

“
You’ve said as much
before, son,” King Manannán said. “You were right.”

“
Hedone?” Hera asked.
“It’s your turn.”

Heather nodded.

“
You
know . . .” Hera started.

“
I’ve got this!” Heather
said.

Heather closed her eyes.

“
You have
to . . .” Hera started again.

“
I’ve got this,” Heather
snapped.

Heather gave Hera a hard look and returned
to her meditation. After a moment, she opened her eyes.

“
Hey!” Jill said as Perses
stepped out of the amber sand.

Perses walked to Jill and helped her out of
the amber sand. He then helped Sandy and Hera.

“
Jill!” Heather yelled.
Perses helped her out of the sand. She nodded her thanks, and then
called, “Sandy! Tanesha! I need your help. Yours too,
Perses.”

“
Of course,” he
said.

“
What can we do?” Tanesha
asked. She flew over and landed on Heather’s shoulder.

“
We need to pull our
friends from the Sea of Amber,” Heather said. “Our friends and
family first, then anyone else before the symphony
ends.”

“
Hurry!” Hera
yelled.

“
First,” Heather said,
“Perses? Hera? On my mark, we must call to him.”

“
Who?” Tanesha asked, but
her words were lost.

“
Zeus! Hear me now!” Hera
called.

“
Zeus!” Perses
said.

Heather clapped her hands together. Much to
their amazement, the torso of a man appeared in the sand. He was
emaciated. His hair was long and disheveled. Perses grabbed his
arms and pulled him from the sand. He shook himself from head to
toe like a dog. Liquid amber came off him and hung in the air.
After a moment, it dropped to the ground.

“
Hera,” Zeus
said.

“
That’s Zeus?” Sandy
asked.

“
He’s been stuck there for
most of time,” Heather said.

“
All those stories about
him?” Sandy asked.

Zeus gave Hera a tender hug. In her arms, he
was restored to a handsome man.

“
Some are true. Hera made
up about half of them up to cover for him being here,” Heather
said. She cleared her throat. “We don’t have a lot of time. Hera!
Zeus!”

The Olympians turned to her.

“
Jacob! Delphie! Keenan!
Rodney!” Heather called. “Come to my voice!”

Nothing happened.

“
Join me in the call!”
Heather said.

“
Jacob!” Jill yelled at
the same time Katy screamed, “Daddy!”

Nothing. They stared in shock and despair at
the spot of amber goo. Suddenly, a hand the size of a frying pan
shot out of the sand.

“
Dad!” Tanesha
yelled.

Fin grabbed Rodney’s hand and pulled. His
father took the other side. Soon, Rodney’s head was above the amber
sand.

“
I have them all!” Rodney
said. “You have to help!”

“
Just love them,” Heather
said. “I love you, Rodney Smith!”

He shot out of the sand. He reached his hand
in and pulled Delphie out. Tanesha grew to human size and hugged
her father.

“
Love them!” Heather
yelled.

Delphie tugged on a small dark hand and
Keenan came out of the sand. King Manannán picked him up and
twirled him around.

“
Jacob?” Jill
yelled.

“
He’s got the rest,”
Rodney said.

Rodney let go of Tanesha and bent down.
Delphie knelt down next to him.

“
You have to help me love
them!” Heather yelled.

Jill set down Katy and Paddie. She ran to
Rodney and Delphie.

“
I love you, Jacob!” Jill
said.

Jacob shot out of the amber sand and into
her arms. Katy rushed to join them. Sandy held Paddie back so that
the symphony wouldn’t be disrupted.

Without warning, people began to shoot up
out of the amber sand. Everyone, including the military team, began
pulling people out. Within minutes, the entire bowl was filled with
thousands of people.

“
Send them home, Hera!”
Heather said.

“
Go home,” Hera waved her
hands in the air. “Go back to the moment of your capture. Return to
your time and your lives. Be well.”

One at a time, the people began to
disappear.

“
We’re almost near the end
of the symphony!” Alex jogged over to them.

“
Go!” Heather
said.

“
How will
you . . .?” Alex asked.

Fin clapped his hands, and all of the
military people disappeared. A cheer came from the helicopter
hovering overhead.

“
I’ll stay,” King Manannán
said. “I have some business with the serpents.”

“
I’ll stay with you,” Abi
said.

“
It would be my honor,”
King Manannán said. “Son? Send these people home.”

In a flash, Jill and Jacob were standing in
their bedroom in each other’s arms. Katy held onto one side of
their legs and Paddie the other.

“
Sandy?” Aden’s deep voice
resonated from below them.

There was a
“
Yahoo!”
from Sam
as Delphie reappeared in the Castle living room. Across the city,
Tanesha returned to her bedroom to find Jeraine and Jabari hogging
their bed.

In an instant, Heather was standing on the
landing at her and Blane’s home. Ivy was asleep on the floor while
Tink and Mack were asleep together on the couch in her room. The
phone rang.

“
Hello?” Heather
asked.

Tink and Mack woke up. Heather carried the
phone over to the couch and picked up Mack.

“
Heather?” Blane
asked.

“
Blane,” Heather
said.

“
I don’t really know what
happened, but I’m back,” Blane said. “Thank you.”

“
My pleasure,” Heather
said.

“
They want to run some
tests,” Blane said. “So you can’t come for a while,
but . . .”

“
We’ll be there,” Heather
said. “I love you, Blane.”

“
I love you, too,” he said
and hung up the phone.

Heather grinned.

“
Everything fixed?” Tink
asked in a sleepy voice.

“
Almost,” Heather said.
She turned to look at the girl, but she was already asleep. Into
Mack’s hair, she whispered, “Almost.”

She set the child in his crib and went to
shower.

In Arizona, Rodney found himself standing at
the foot of a queen sized bed in a secure hotel room in
Phoenix.

“
Rodney?” Yvonne asked as
she opened her eyes.

He sat down on the bed next to her.

“
How . . .?”

“
Just missed my girl,”
Rodney said. “I should shower.”

“
Don’t you dare leave this
bed,” Yvonne said.

She pulled him into bed.

After depositing everyone at the right
place, Fin returned to the bowl one second before the music
ended.

“
Ready, son?” King
Manannán said.

“
Yes, sir,” Fin
said.

“
General?” King Manannán
asked Abi.

“
Sir,” Abi
said.

“
Here we go,” King
Manannán said.

Girlfriend Corps

“
Wait, I was gone?” Jacob
asked.

“
For a couple weeks,” Jill
said.

Jacob shook his head. Jill knelt down to
Katy and Paddie.

“
You don’t remember?” Jill
asked. She glanced at Jacob, and he shook his head. She put a hand
on Paddie’s and Katy’s shoulders and said to them, “I bet you two
are hungry.”

“
Brownies?” Katy asked and
gave her “please” face.

“
Why not?” Jill asked.
“Paddie? What would you like?”

“
Pizza,” Paddie
said.

“
But only cheese.” Katy
nodded.

“
Cheese pizza!” Paddie
said.

“
We have some frozen
pizza,” Jill said.

“
You have what?” Jacob
asked. His voice rose with surprise.

“
We slipped into some old
habits,” Jill said with a smile.

“
We love frozen pizza,
Daddy.” Katy reached out her arms to him, and Jacob picked her
up.

“
Frozen pizza and brownies
it is!” Jill said. “But first, we need to call Paddie’s mommy and
Auntie Megan. They’ve been worried.”

Jill picked up Paddie and they walked to the
kitchen area. Jill found her phone and dialed Paddie’s mom, Julie.
She gave Paddie the phone and went to start the brownies. After
Jacob set Katy down, he stood in front of the freezer.

“
I had to see it for
myself,” Jacob said.

“
Very funny,” Jill said.
She took out the homemade brownie mix she and Katy had made and
started putting the brownies together.

“
Delphie’s been gone,
Daddy,” Katy said. “And almost everybody. We eat by ourselves now.
Well, the widdle bra-ders, too.”

“
Brothers,” Jill
corrected.

“
Delphie? Everybody?”
Jacob asked.

“
Noelle and Sissy are in
New York,” Jill said. “Charlie’s staying at Seth’s house. Tink’s
with Heather, and I think Ivy’s there or she was going to be there
tonight.”

“
I guess I remember that,”
Jacob said. “I feel like I just went to sleep
and . . .”

He looked at Jill and then at Katy. Jill
shooed him away from the refrigerator so she could get some eggs
and milk.

“
I had the worst dream,”
Jacob said with a smile.

He reached into the freezer and took out a
frozen cheese pizza.

“
I have a confession,” he
said as he pulled the packaging from the pizza.

“
You love frozen pizza!”
Paddie said with a squeal.

“
I do,” Jacob said, and
laughed.

With the brownies in the oven, Jill took the
phone from Paddie and called Megan. She walked away from their
happy kitchen to the sitting area. After a brief call with Megan,
she sat down. She lightly tapped her phone to her chin. She heard
Jacob chat with the kids as he put the pizza in the oven. After a
few minutes, she looked over at him. He caught her eye and gave her
a “what’s up?” look. Drawn to him, she walked back into the
kitchen.

“
I think you’re right,
Mommy,” Katy said and nodded.

“
How so?” Jill
said.

“
You need to go back,”
Katy said.

~~~~~~~~

“
Serpents and evil men and
fairies and . . .” Jeraine reached out to stroke
Tanesha’s bare shoulder. “I don’t know whether to be jealous or
frightened.”

They were lying naked in their bed. Tanesha
was on her back staring at the ceiling, and Jeraine lay on his side
facing her. Jabari was asleep in his little room.

“
Both,” Tanesha said. “I’m
just glad Mom’s okay. Both of our moms.”

Jeraine gave a slight nod. He leaned over to
kiss her lips.

“
How was it to be in the
fairy corps?” Jeraine asked.

“
I wasn’t really
in
the fairy corps,”
Tanesha said. “I was kind of their project. Plus, they sold me out
in a heartbeat to that awful Celeste. Abi was furious, but they
felt like they were doing the right thing.”

“
You can’t be in the fairy
corps anyway,” Jeraine said.

“
And why is that?” Tanesha
asked. She rolled onto her side to look at him.