The Power (The Magnificent 12 4)

The cutter had guns. A .50 caliber machine gun and a three-inch cannon. Both erupted.

BOOOM!

BapBapBapBapBapBap!

Cannon shells flew and exploded against an invisible barrier. The bullets bounced off and dappled the water.

The ship was coming closer to where Mack and the others stood, near enough now that they could see individual faces on the deck. Near enough that they could see medical personnel working frantically on the bridge, where the tree-trunk spear was stuck.

The firing never stopped, but suddenly, as if in response, two massive Gudridan, impossibly strong, their fur pink with fury, leaped across the hundred yards of sea and landed with a resounding thump on the ship, which suddenly seemed much smaller than it had.

One of them yanked the massive spear free, tossed it into the air, and caught it in his paw in such a way that he could stab it downward.

The other Gudridan grabbed the guardsmen at the cannon and simply threw them into the sea. He did the same with the machine gunner, who had bravely turned his weapon on the Gudridan.

The firing stopped and the two Gudridan proceeded to rip the ship apart with brute strength. A single lifeboat was launched. Guardsmen leaped into the water, but others the Gudridan caught and . . . well, there’s no need to go into that, but it caused Charlie and Xiao both to look away from the horror.

The leading elements of the monstrous attack were now clearly visible. Mack saw Tong Elves, Bowands, Skirrit, Lepercons, and more Gudridan. And other creatures whose names he had never learned, terrible beasts with slavering red mouths and talons as long as ram’s horns and as sharp as razors.

And that was when the air force showed up.

Two F-18s roared high above, and their missiles flew with uncanny precision, hitting the stone causeway squarely in the middle of the monstrous army. The explosions were enormous. The shock wave knocked Mack back into Stefan, and sent Sylvie rolling into Rodrigo.

But the blasts had no effect. They exploded harmlessly against the invisible protective barrier. That barrier wrapped itself around the causeway as the monsters advanced. It was impermeable, except for a brief moment when the Gudridan leaped back ashore from the now-sinking Coast Guard boat.

Mack knew there would be more ships and more planes. But none of them would stop the Pale Queen’s army. In the battle of technology versus magic, technology wasn’t likely to win.

“We need weapons, not just spells,” Valin said urgently.

“But what can we use against the Pale Queen’s own magic?” Dietmar wondered.

“A magical weapon,” Charlie said. “Right? Like something that totally doesn’t exist. Something that isn’t about technology.”

“If it’s something big, we’ll probably all have to work together. That will leave us vulnerable for a while,” Mack said. “Okay. Who’s got an idea?”

Rodrigo said, “When we were trapped for days in the sewers of Paris, Charlie would spend his time drawing amazing things. Tanks with spikes, missiles that spray sticky bombs, jets that drop sharpened steel Frisbees. . . .”

This was not something anyone (but Rodrigo) had expected of Charlie. No one had realized he was an artist. That would have explained a lot.

“Okay, look, I’ve got an idea,” Charlie said. “But it’s crazy. And we’ll need some Vargran to build it and some more to penetrate that invisible shield they’ve got.”

He dropped to a crouch and began to quickly draw something on a flat bit of rock.

The monster army was closer now—too close for the Magnificent Eight to be sitting around drawing the kind of stuff that got you in trouble if you did it in math class.

“Cool,” Jarrah opined. “How’s it work?”

“It’s basically a Gatling gun, but with spears instead of bullets. Eight spear shooters arranged in a drum. And the cool thing is that the spears are on wires so they get yanked back and refired.”

For a minute he was just an enthusiastic kid showing off his crazy invention. And for a minute they were all, like, “Wow, cool,” with a touch of “This boy’s got issues” thrown in.

“I call it . . . the Spear Gun,” Charlie said. Then, when no one seemed all that impressed by the name, he shrugged and said, “I’m not good with names for things.”

Mack instantly saw that there was going to be a problem with this invention, but there wasn’t time for a plan B.

“Okay,” Mack said. “We keep the spell simple: make this drawing real. Le

t’s try it with Xiao, Sylvie, Rodrigo, and Charlie since it’s his idea. The rest of us are going that way.” He pointed toward the rapidly advancing wall of terrible creatures. “We’re going to see if we can poke a hole in the Pale Queen’s barrier.”