Discord's Apple

“Phone lines are down. Electricity’s out. I’m worried about my dad.” She wondered if she’d have to explain telephones and electricity to the ancient warrior, but he didn’t seem confused.

“My lady, if my sword may be of any use to you, command me.”

She felt dizzy, lurching with a moment of displacement. Despite the leather coat and blue jeans, he was a knight. He held his sword like he knew how to use it, his stance was ready. He had said “my lady” like he meant it. The late nights reading Tolkien and dreaming of kings, her thirteen-year-old’s daydreams, came rushing back.

“Thank you,” she said. “I think what I really need to do is find my dad, to make sure he’s all right. I’m sure you all have . . . better things to do. Than hang around here, I mean.”

Merlin crossed his arms. “Do you think it coincidence that such a tremor shook the earth at the very moment he—” He gestured significantly at Arthur. “—claimed his birthright? I believe our destiny lies here.”

Evie considered, and for some reason thought of Hera on her doorstep. If she had to blame the earthquake on anyone, it would be her. “Yeah, actually, I think it is a coincidence. Sorry.” Merlin scowled. Evie found her car keys and headed for the door.

Mab bounced in place beside her, bumping her nose against Evie’s hip, whining, and shoving all the way to the door. With her bulk, the wolfhound significantly impeded her progress. “Mab, get out of my way! Back off!”

Mab dashed ahead and planted herself in front of the kitchen door. She wasn’t so impolite as to growl, but Evie thought she looked like she wanted to. Her ears were flat, her gaze threatening. Mab didn’t want her to leave.

Gently, Arthur said, “Wouldn’t he come home, if something were wrong? Wouldn’t someone contact you? Perhaps you should wait.”

What a sane and reasonable suggestion. She rubbed her face and slumped against the wall. Mab wagged her tail apologetically.

“We could look for him, if you like.”

“No, we can’t,” Merlin said. “Mr. Walker can take care of himself, I’m sure.”

His face alight and eager, Arthur was almost bouncing. “It’s a scouting mission, Merlin. I won’t have a chance to do anything like this once the troubles start.”

“We don’t know this town, we don’t know what’s out there—there may be more earthquakes. Besides, you have a destiny.”

“And what am I supposed to do—camp out here until that destiny sneaks up on me and pounces? I’d rather be doing something.”

Merlin glared at the warrior for all the world like a parent with a hyperactive child. He straightened, and said with utmost patience, “What does Miss Walker say?”

Arthur turned that brilliant, boyish expression on her. She couldn’t help but smile back. She was beginning to understand what it meant to have a destiny sneak up on you and pounce.

“I’d really appreciate it if you could find out if he’s okay.”

Arthur lifted a brow and grinned at Merlin, as if saying, You see?

Merlin grumbled under his breath for a moment. “A scouting mission, eh?”

“A short one.”

Exhaling a long-suffering breath, the old man said, “All right.”

Evie swore Arthur did a little celebratory arm-jerk, like a teenager who’d gotten the car for the night.

She found the belt and scabbard for Excalibur in the Storeroom. Arthur wouldn’t be parted from the sword, no matter how strange he’d look striding down Main Street with the weapon slung on his person. “I’ll tell them I’m in a play,” he said, as if he’d had to deal with the problem before.

She saw them off from the front porch.

“We’ll return as soon as we have news,” Arthur said. He bowed, a gracious gesture that made Evie’s heart flutter. Where was this guy when I was in high school and giddy?

The earthquake was the signal to move.

It quickly put the town in an uproar. People weren’t used to this sort of thing here. Once the phones cut out and the power lines went down, chaos took over. The Curandera had promised only that the main roads leading into town would be impassable. The rest worked nicely, however. No one could reach the town by any other method, either.

Robin watched the park in front of Town Hall from an unobtrusive doorway.

The police officer with Frank Walker dropped the old man off at the police station, to assist with the Red Cross. Frank complained, argued, and harangued the younger man, who had thought he was being sly about putting Frank in the least-strenuous job possible. Frank, it seemed, was doing his best to deny his illness. The officer—his name was Johnny—kept trying to tell Frank how much he was needed at the station. It turned out, when people started gathering at the station because the power was out and their phones were dead, Frank really was needed to help settle them down, while the uniformed officers patrolled the town to assess the damage.