Long Hot Summoning

“What’s with the elves in hockey gear?” Lance demanded, bouncing up onto his feet, panic forgotten.

Actually, that was a good question.

White, plastic shoulder pads gleaming under the store’s florescent lights, the mall elves pushed their way between the washers and dryers and surrounded the open area in front of the toppled fridge. Whatever they’d been doing, it had certainly got them worked up; Claire’d never seen them so excited. They were in constant movement, all talking at once. Half a dozen hands reached down to lift her to her feet.

“Thank you, okay, that’s great, I’m fine, yes it’s good to be back…Hey!” An elf she didn’t recognize backed away, hands in the air. Sure, he could have just been smoothing down the back of her skirt and she could have just spent a couple of hours with the gods of ancient Egypt. Oh, wait…

“They’re happy to see you!” Lance pointed out, accurately but unnecessarily.

“He’s not Australian?” Stewart asked, shooting a disbelieving glance up at the taller blond.

“Not so that you’d notice.”

“Weird.” He handed over her sandals. “You left these here.”

Claire thanked him, bent to slip them on, and straightened as the surrounding babble rose in volume.

Lance’s fingers closed over her shoulder. “Meryat!”

She sighed. “Arthur.” And stepped forward to meet the Immortal King.

He clasped her wrist in a warrior-to-warrior move Claire’d only ever seen performed in old movies. It was moderately reassuring that he hadn’t changed enough from his basic parameters to greet her with a high five. “I am truly glad to see you back, Keeper.”

“I’m truly glad to be back.” She glanced at his chest. “Decided to have a sports day while I was gone?”

“We are armored for battle.”

“Battle? The darkside is attacking?”

“No.” Blue-black hair fell over his eyes as he shook his head. “We take the fight to them.”

It seemed like she’d managed to find the mall just in time. “No, we don’t…”

“Your sister, the Keeper Diana, and Kris, my captain, have been captured.”

“Yes, we do. How do you know this?”

“A budgie mirror gave the news to Sam.”

“Okay, then.” That was just ludicrous enough to be a reliable source. She waved toward the various bits of surrounding padding. “Can I assume you were about to leave?”

“We were.”

“Just let me get my stuff…”

“Claire?”

Right. Lance. Her own personal albatross. Except that an actual albatross would be significantly less annoying. Still…Bystander. Keeper. Responsible. Yadda. “Lance…” She reached back, got a good grip on his sleeve and dragged him forward. “…this is Arthur. He’s in charge of the elves.”

“The Arthur?”

“Yes.”

Lance frowned. “I would have thought Oberon…”

“Apparently not.”

“He’s younger than I imagined him being.”

“That’s because you didn’t imagine him.” She gestured toward the kids. “They did. Arthur, this is Lance. He’s a very confused grad student looking for his professor and a reanimated mummy.”

Arthur stared up at the large, blond man and his pale cheeks paled further. “Lance?”

“Yes.”

“Du Lac?”

“Benedict.”

The Immortal King released the breath he’d been holding. “Thank God.”

YOU’RE WELCOME.

THIRTEEN

“YOU LOCKED SAM IN A CRATE?”

“With both you and your sister missing, I felt responsible for his safety. I asked him to give me his word that he’d remain here, in the store. He wouldn’t.” Arthur glanced over at Claire, his expression somewhere between concerned and defiant. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“You were,” Claire told him reassuringly. “But that’s not actually relevant. If I were you, I’d check your bedding before getting into it and your shoes before putting them on.”

A quiet voice murmured “Ooo, shoes…” from around ankle height but when Claire looked down, Sam was nowhere to seen.

“Sorry.”

Arthur waved it off. “It’s all right…”

He was lying, but she appreciated the effort.

“…we have greater troubles now facing us than possible retribution by one annoyed cat.”

And if Arthur was very lucky, Sam hadn’t heard that. “So you’ve armed your people and are about to…?”

“Meet the enemy head on, rescue your sister and my captain, and end this once and for all.”

“That’s the plan?”

“No, those are our objectives. How we achieve those objectives—that’s the plan. Once we have drawn the enemy into battle, Teemo and Kith will take the scout’s route in behind their lines and effect the rescue.”

“And ending this once and for all?”

“I will be leading my people. Once I am on the darkside, I do not doubt their leader will personally try to kill me. We will meet in battle and in single combat decide the fate of this mall.”

Claire stopped walking and turned to stare at Arthur. “I beg your pardon?” She could almost hear Diana asking him if his baseball equipment was cutting off the oxygen supply to his brain.

“I have been in these situations before, Keeper. This is what always happens.”

“Yes, and you lose.”

His smile was almost condescending. “There is no Mordred in this reality.”