The Lost Knight (Volume IV) The Lost Prince

Chapter 8: Spider Web Dances

I pause, waiting to bolt upright up in my bed, sweat dripping down my back, heart ripping from my chest, but nothing happens. I can't wake up from this nightmare.

"It is part of your apparition. Not a dream. How did you acquire your plaque?" Sarpedon asks.

"Carfron gave it to me." At the mention of his name, he smiles and waves.

Sarpedon slithers back over to him and closes his eyes. He takes a couple short sniffs and one long one. "Carfron, why are you here?" he asks.

Carfron's eyes widen in surprise, or maybe it's fear. He opens his mouth to speak but then closes it. His hands clench and unclench. He shakes them out and blows on them as if they're cold. "I can't talk to him," Carfron says, turning his attention back to me.

"Why not?" I ask.

His face knits together in a mask of worry. Why is a ghost, or zombie or whatever, worried? "He is not you?"

"So."

"He is not you," he repeats. He means it this time because his face has returned to its contented smirk.

"What happened?" Sarpedon asks

"I think you scared him or at least startled him. He says he can't talk to you because you're not me." I wish someone else could see him. This is crazy person stuff. Of course, I'm talking with a snake man, so I guess crazy is all in one's perspective. "Hey, can you give him an appearance like you did with Ethan?"

"No, I have the feeling Carfron is a symptom of the Orb, or perhaps the plaque."

"I didn't think so," I say, hiding my disappointment.

I put my plaque next to the real one on the table. They're identical, white marble tiles about ten inches across and five wide. There's not a mark on them. I've done everything I can think of with the tile. I've stared at it for days. Slept with it and carried it around in my pocket. I've yelled at it and promised it everything, but it's just a tile. Even now, with Carfron behind me, it's not doing anything.

"I don't want you hovering over me," I say to Carfron.

"I beg your pardon. I will stand opposite you. Would that be better?"

"Carfron, why are you here? You ask me why I quit, but the answer is obvious, the plaque is blank. Maybe at some point, it had something on it, like a map or whatever, but it's been eroded by years of living in salt."

"It is incomplete?"

"Yes, it's incomplete. I can't read anything. I think you're part of it, but you're not helping."

Carfron nods. Is he agreeing that he's not helpful or that the plaque is broken?

"How are you?" Jonah asks when he enters. He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks at me. "Are you alright? Is the Orb hurting you?"

I smile at him. "I love it when you ask multiple questions. And yes, I'm fine, and no, it's not hurting me."

"Hey, you okay?" Dathid shouts from the door.

"Yes, I'm good. I'm not dizzy or anything," I say to the room. I break Jonah's hold and give a wave in Carfron's direction. "You all know Carfron, right?" I regret my carefree tone when pain crosses Jonah's face. "I'm sorry," I say. "I shouldn't have sprung that on you like I did. That was stupid."

There's a palpable pause. I don't think Jonah can talk. Dathid assumes the same thing and jumps in with a question, "Carfron's here?"

"Yep, I woke up, and there he was. He follows me, and we talk to each other."