Camelot, NY: The Once and Future King by Vanessa Cortese

Author:Vanessa Cortese [Cortese, Vanessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-20T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Early the next morning, a knock on her bedroom door awoke Elaine. She threw off the covers and hastily opened the door. Merlin stood there, looking almost cheerful. “Good morning, Elaine.” She had the urge to slam the door in his face,

“It’s still dark out,” she mumbled.

“Best time to begin,” Merlin said, “is early.”

“What is the likelihood that I am going to be able to talk you out of this?” Merlin just smiled and shook his head. Elaine rubbed the sleep from her eyes and closed the door to attempt to get ready for her magic lesson. She was exhausted. Physically. Emotionally. If there was a third type of exhaustion, she was that too. She had called Lacy before she had gone to bed, and she'd filled her in on a bland version of the day's events.

She was not going to tell her sister what had happened, so she had come up with a reasonable cover story. Mr. Merlin had taken ill, and his great-grandson, Geoffrey Merlin had come to stay at his house to help his grandfather, bringing along his friend Arthur to stay. After more than a few jokes about Geoffrey Merlin and his friend Arthur, Elaine hung up with her sister, guilt forming a rock in her stomach. She hated lying to Lacy. She wasn’t any good at it, but there was no way that Elaine was going to drag Lacy into everything, not until she knew more. Elaine sighed as she brushed her teeth, washed her face, pulling on whatever clothes she could find, and making her way to the kitchen where Merlin sat reading his tablet.

“At least you had the decency to make coffee,” she said, as she poured herself a large cup, adding milk and hastily drinking it. She had learned that she didn’t often get the chance to finish a warm cup of coffee at the hospital unless she did this. And it had become somewhat of a ritual for her. She poured a second cup and sat across from Merlin at the kitchen table. As soon as she did, he clicked off his tablet and set it down in front of him.

“What do you know about magic?” he asked.

“That Voldemort is evil and must be defeated,” she smirked.

“How terribly funny,” Merlin said, in a well-practiced deadpan.

“I thought we had already established that I knew nothing,” Elaine took several gulps of coffee.

“I was hoping that after a day's reflection,” Merlin said, his eyes never leaving her, “that you had perhaps remembered something.” She shook her head. “Magic is…” he paused to think, his eyes drifted down to his tablet, “magic is like the internet.”

“Not following,” she shook her head.

“These days,” Merlin continued, “The internet is everywhere. In our homes, our coffee shops, hospitals, in our pockets,” he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, placing it next to the tablet on the table. “It’s always there, only waiting to be directed how we wish it to be.”

“Ok,” Elaine said, trying to keep her judgment out of her tone.

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