Page 202 of Keldori By Daybreak

“Good news, Dad,” I said evenly, “You’re going to help us save the world.”

41. Advanced Paleomagnetism

Maxwell Brenton, PhD was not prepared for Ciarán’s eyes. He pedaled back in his desk chair, stopping only when he crashed into the filing cabinet behind him. His reading glasses slid from his head to fall to the floor, and his knuckles turned white where he gripped his armrests.

Ciarán smirked and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose, then made a show of procuring a glowing, orange scythe in his hand.

“You did something to me.” My father was looking at me now. His face was full of panic and rage, but his chin, nose, and the color of his hair where it hadn’t yet started to gray—it was all mine. I hated how much I looked like him. “The nightmares and the blackouts—it’s all been you. I don’t know how, but it has to be.”

“The nightmares?” I looked to Ciarán, and his brows furrowed over his sunglasses.

“Is it drugs?” Maxwell threw out a haphazard guess. “You’ve been drugging me, haven’t you? Because of what I said after the lecture—”

“I can’t have drugged you because I haven’t even been in this plane of existence since your lecture at Von Leer.” I cut him off before the memory of the cruel words he’d spoken could needle me too much. “And that’s part of the issue. An evil Magician is trying to break free from his world into this one, and my grandmother and mother are the only ones standing in his way at the moment, so I need you to give me and my friends a ride to my Gams’s house in Keel Watch Harbor so we can help them.”

The fear on Maxwell’s face gave way to disdain and confusion.

“You’re insane,” he said simply. “What the hell does any of that even mean?”

“It means I hope you have a van that seats five extra people and a cat because you’re going for a drive.”

“First,” he sneered, quickly regathering his wits, “Keel Watch is over twelve hundred miles away. Second, if I’m to drive you anywhere, it’s going to be the hospital because you’re talking absolute nonsense.”

“Nonsense?” I grinned and stepped closer, trapping him in his chair. “You don’t think anything I’m saying is real?”

I leaned down, placing my hands over his on the armrests. He tried to pull away, but I had his wrists pinned.

“If you think what you’re saying is real, then you are sicker than I thought,” he said.

“Do the nightmares not feel real?” I whispered.

His sneer faltered, and his eyes widened. “You have been drugging me!”

“They’re quick, right? Waking up, suddenly lucid in a world that feels so real that you’re sure you’re awake, and then you die.” I remembered the way his eyes had widened in sudden lucidity just as I killed his Nightmare in Skalterra, and I was sure he was remembering it too. “And the dying part feels real too. The blade in your gut. Put there by me.”

Maxwell’s twitching lips confirmed my suspicions, and his brown eyes wavered back and forth as he tried to choose which of my eyes to focus on. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard.

“And the blackouts?” he finally hissed.

“I don’t know about the blackouts. That’s a question for your doctor.” I straightened up. “But you know what? It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. You’re going to drive me to Keel Watch Harbor anyway.”

“And why would I ever agree to that? The moment I get the chance, I’m calling the police—”

“You think the police can stop me? You think they hold any power over me?” I let the smallest amount of Skal swell, and my eyes warmed. Maxwell was washed in blue as my glowing retina guard fell in place, turning my irises bright and my sclera black. The Sentinel mountains, an entire world away, pressed back, but it was worth the look on Maxwell’s face to use this small amount of magick. “There is no power in this world that can hold me. You will drive me to Keel Watch Harbor because it is the only way you will ever be rid of me. And also, because Ciarán will break your fingers if you refuse.”

I shifted to the side so my father had a better look at Ciarán where he continued to lurk in the corner.

Maxwell gulped a second time.

“If you take too long to decide, Ciarán will break your fingers anyway,” I warned.

Ciarán stepped forward, and Maxwell put his hands up in surrender.

“Fine! I’ll go! I’ll go! Where are your other friends?”

“I’ll take you to them. But first, where’s the nearest mall?”

I had no qualms about running up Maxwell Brenton’s credit card. It wasn’t as if I was choosing expensive clothes for us. Still, even simple t-shirts, jeans, and fresh socks for five people added up quick.