Life After Death

Juliet: vanished

                 

{Juliet}

Corryn floated back down, and dusted his hands.

"No transport spells," he said. "Which admittedly, is surprising. Are we headed out?"

"Please let me come," Lancelot pleaded again. "I'll be helpful, but very quiet."

I didn't quite trust the boy, but was quickly understanding that Lancelot and Arthur were, in fact, not the same. Additionally, Arthur and Lancelot together were different than each of them apart. Or I would assume, until we found Arthur.

"I can stay at Vercyne," Parsifal offered. "Conduct the search of Donlin, talk to Blaise and Dimitri. You can take Corryn and Lancelot."

Lancelot looked at me, but didn't speak; I suppose trying to prove that he would be quiet.

"If they went on foot, then we should as well," I said. "Or least, not via transport spell. Lancelot, you can come if Parsifal stays. Quinn and Corryn, come on."

I turned on my heel and headed out to the front door.

"I'll contact you if they show back up here," Mikaela called. "I'll talk to Galahad, see if he has seen anything."

Parsifal vanished with a whoosh of a spell and Lancelot looked nervously at Corryn.

"I guess we can go to our old stand by," Quinn mused. "Who's ready for a flying carpet?"

Lancelot knelt down on the ground and produced a carpet out of a rock. We clambered on and Quinn lifted the carpet up into the air. Corryn expended a little bit of magic to hold on, and he was doing so grimly.

"So now what?" Quinn asked. "Back to Satrech?"

"It's the only place I can think they would go," I replied. "Other than Donlin. And Parsifal can cover that city without us."

"They were there," Corryn agreed. "But the Torninc's tracking was lost from there."

"Our manor was tracking my brother?" Lancelot asked, but then clapped his hands over his mouth.

"It was," the ghost said. "Until it lost them at her shop in Satrech. The town could have just been out of range."

"The Torninc's magic is strong," Quinn mused. "I don't think it has a range problem."

I hadn't known that Corryn knew Nick, but it didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was that I still hadn't seen Nick since the first time. Mikaela had told me he was frightened of me.

"Well, it's a place to start," I pointed out. "Lancelot, does your brother have any hang outs, any friends that he might go to?"

"No one I can think of," he replied. "But I don't think I knew my brother as well as I thought."

"Juliet, he is a shape shifter," Corryn reminded me. "He can shape food and shelter and money if need be. He's not going to need contacts."

Quinn sighed. "In case anyone hasn't noticed, Otherworld is a bit extensive. And the barrier isn't exactly closed."

"And this was by his own volition," Corryn added. "He's not being held against his will, by any means."

"I get it, this is almost impossible," I told all of them. "But we're going to do our best, because Mikaela will kill me otherwise and Lancelot looks like he is about to have a stroke."

They turned at the boy who was staring out at the passing scenery. His hair was blowing into his face, and he was silent.

"I can still try a locating spell," Corryn said finally. "I don't have enough magic to sustain it. It will give us one location and then I won't have any more magic left."

"You're a bit useless dead, aren't you?" Quinn said.

Even Lancelot smiled slightly at Corryn's scowl.

"I wouldn't be here if I was alive," he pointed out. "Do you want me to do the spell or not?

I frowned, thinking about how ridiculously impossible this is. I had no idea this was going to be how I began my day.

"Wait until we get to Satrech," I decided. "Who knows, we might find something there."

"My damn brother," Lancelot muttered.

His father patted his shoulder. "We'll find him. And if we don't, then you can pick Lancelot or Arthur to go by."

"Dad, that's hardly encouraging," he grumbled.

It was past noon by the time we got to Satrech. The town was small, at least compared to Donlin. Quinn led us to Larachime's store, which was still open. We just walked in. I could feel the magic held within the potions covering the shelves. Larachime had more magic than I gave her credit for. She had only been in Otherworld for twenty years. Based on her history, she had only learned in the past fifteen years.

It worried me how well Arthur and Larachime had disappeared; this explained it.

"This is all Larachime's?" Corryn asked, looking at the potions on the wall. "Because I'm going to say right now, good luck finding her. She has..." he paused. "Rare, powerful potions that Dagonet would sell his soul for."

I was glad that Corryn was a ghost, as he brushed several bottles reverently.

"Lancelot, do you see anything of your brother?" I asked

"He is a shape shifter," Lancelot complained. "I don't know what you expect to me to find."

"I know that you don't think you know him," Corryn told him, pulling himself away from the potions. "But you know him better than we do. Can you ascertain if your brother used shaping magic around here?"

The boy sighed and looked around before ducking into the back. Quinn watched him go before sidling up to me.

"Juliet, what it the actual chance of finding them?"

"None," Corryn said for me. "Nick couldn't find them, a being who should by all rights, be more successful with this than we are."

I turned my ring, calling Mikaela, who answered promptly.

"Galahad can't find them," she said, before I asked. "He says they used change magic or something similar, because it's like they aren't there."

"Thanks Mick." I turned my ring back. "Corryn, now is the time for that locating spell."

The ghost held out his hands and knelt to the ground. I watched, but didn't speak. A glowing light appeared between his hands, and he closed his eyes.

"They don't plan to leave Otherworld," Lancelot called. "Dozens of transport spells are back here, untouched."

"They are in the mountains," Corryn agreed. "I wouldn't worry about them."

"So this was a wasted trip?" I demanded.

"They just stopped, we wouldn't have found them earlier," Corryn replied. "And we can leave a spell here to alert us if they return."

He signed a rune on the ground, and stepped back, admiring his handiwork. "All done. "We can go, whenever you're satisfied that we won't find them here."

"You are nearly useless dead," Quinn said again.

Annoyance past over Corryn's ghostly features, but he didn't reply.

Lancelot came out of a back room.

"My brother was here," he said. "I recognize his magic in one of the bedrooms. But they are long gone."

"But if Arthur hasn't left Otherworld, and he's not going to, we'll see him again," Quinn told him. "Come on son, let's go home."

Lancelot blinked his strange green eyes at us, and then shook his head. "Please."