Vane shrugged. “Convenient for you that I do all the dirty work, isn’t it, Merlin?”
“Because you’re so altruistic,” Matt said. “What are you thinking, Vane?”
Vane glanced at Oliver’s severed head. “You know we needed this decided. Tonight happened to be the night the fates chose.”
“I’m not talking about the gargoyles,” Matt said.
“I know,” Vane replied.
The soldiers pressed closer. Vane watched them with a derisive curl of his lips. Matt picked up Excalibur from where it had fallen beside the corpse of Oliver.
Vane signaled Leonidas. The mermaids turned to face the pond.
“Upari,” Vane commanded, raising his hand. Fierce wind blew, shaking the willow trees. Gusts howled across the small clearing, surrounded by a tall forest of high-rise buildings. The water on the pond rippled wildly. Mist rose and mingled with Vane’s magic to become a thick fog of mossy green.
“What is he doing?” Robin yelled.
“I think you’ll want to see the little discovery I’ve made. Your secret is no longer, brother,” Vane said lightly. “I had it brought here especially for you this morning. I have to say the gas accident to cover up digging was played quite well by the Regulars. I don’t think the townspeople of Derbyshire like the reopening of their quarries after all those years of protest. Your friends are nothing if not overbearing.”
Matt asked, “How did you find out?”
Vane took the seeing stone out of his pocket and held it up. “I convinced a spy of my own.” He grinned wolfishly at Robin. “Their allegiance was remarkably easy to buy. Something about surviving the end of the world.”
With a growl, Robin took a step toward Vane. The soldiers behind him gripped their guns and aimed at Vane.
“Wait,” Matt said to Frank, who motioned for the soldiers to hold.
Under cover of the mist, a truckload of black metallic rock in all different shapes and sizes emerged from the pond. Vane directed the rocks with his hand. Taking them from the water, he dropped them on the grass. The mermaids started singing. The soulful aria filled the air and increased in pitch. The sound became painful. Soldiers, wizards, and gargoyles alike held their hands to their ears. Some sank to their knees as the pressure became too agonizing.
The aria heightened even more. The windows of the ballroom rattled and then completely shattered in a booming explosion. Screams and yells followed as glass shrapnel scattered. Most of the blast went outward, directly at us.
As the mermaids continued to sing, the blocks of broken rock seemed to change state and become gel-like. They formed into the shape of the trilithon—two giant vertical lines and one horizontal slab. The structure reminded me of the Arc De Triomphe in Paris, on a much smaller scale. The vertical slabs stretched nearly two stories high, the horizontal as wide as football goal. The song stopped.
A mermaid took out the Fisher King’s trident and handed it to Vane. Leonidas went to a plastic bag tucked behind a willow tree. The label ‘MIT Bookstore’ marked the bag. Leonidas drew out a metal box from inside the bag. He opened it and held up the golden apple.
Matt stalked toward him holding Excalibur. He stopped close to me.
“Hand it back,” Matt ordered Leonidas.
The soldiers got to their feet and trained all their guns on Leonidas. With a bored glance, Vane sent a green wave through the crowd. The soldiers and Matt froze in place. Leonidas handed Vane the apple.
In one hand, Vane held the apple and in the other, the trident. He slammed the staff of the trident against the ground. The ground rumbled. A crack formed on the ground and ran along the green lawn. A tremor went through the area. Buildings around us shook and shuddered. Everything quivered as the power of the Earth Shaker was called.
The trilithon shuddered, but nothing happened.
Vane slammed the trident to the ground once more. The crack grew wider. Under us, the ground woke like a sleeping giant and growled. The lights of every building in sight flickered and burned out. With a cry, Vane fell to his knees. The monster rose.
Green flowed into Vane, but for a moment, the shape of the bull solidified. Around us, the mini-earthquake he was causing under the ground grew more intense. The high-rise buildings shook harder and for a minute, I was afraid they would crumble. People rushed out of the ballroom and the hotel. They stopped to stare at the imposing trilithon and the wide crack