Chapter Thirty

 

Midas Skycast will formally and legally adopt Avalon Skycast (a minor) and have all the rights and responsibilities of a biological father.  He will try not to spoil her too much.

 

Clause 24- Adoption of Avalon Skycast (a minor)

(Containing Nullification of Clause 3- Care and Protection of Avalon Pendragon (a minor) and Clause 17- Instance of Guinevere’s Pendragons’ Death)

 

Midas opened his eyes and saw his daughter …and almost instantly knew he would have to kill himself.

Avalon was sitting across from him in the cell, humming happily as she played with her dolls.  The pink backpack was sitting beside her.  He had no recollection of how he’d come to be locked in a sterile room with Avi and an army of plastic toys, but he could take a real good guess.

The fucking Scarecrow had finally figured out how to make the fucking formula airborne.  He’d brainwashed Midas and Avalon into coming straight to his fucking Dark Science lab.

Son of a fucking bitch.

Midas looked around and saw nothing but smooth, beige walls.  No furniture or objects he could use as weapons.  Above him, there was a mirrored window that he guessed was one-way glass.  He instantly thought of the cell Trystan had describe being kept in, back at the WUB Club.  Apparently, the Scarecrow had borrowed the basic concept, adapting it to his psychotic needs.

Midas slowly sat up.

He had no idea where Gwen was. The formula only worked on Bad folk, which meant she was probably still in Celliwig.  Alone.  Shit…  His mind caught fire with horrible images of what could happen to her.  Shit…  What was he going to do?  Nothing.  He was locked in a goddamn cage, while his wife was in danger and he couldn’t do anything to help her.

Trystan.

Midas seized on the name like a lifeline.  Trystan would go for Gwen.  He would realize what was happening and protect her.  That was the only ray of hope Midas could cling to.  Trystan would kill half the kingdom to save their family.  More than half.  He needed Gwen and Avi nearly as much as Midas did.  He would make sure no one in Celliwig put their hands on her…

And that’s when Midas noticed his gloves were missing.

He stared down at his bare palms.  For a moment, he was too astonished to understand.  He so rarely saw his fingers uncovered, because they were weapons.  They were deadly.  Why would anyone be stupid enough to remove his gloves, knowing the damage his touch could do?

Unless they wanted him to touch something.  To make him touch something.

Midas’ eyes very slowly traveled over to Avalon.  …And that’s when he knew he’d have to kill himself.  It was the only path he could take.

“Avi?”  He cleared his throat, trying to keep his voice calm.  “You okay?”

“Hi, Daddy!  I’s fine.  You be sleeping.”

“I know, princess, but I’m awake now.  Do you know what happened?”

She nodded earnestly.  “Mean men are mean.”

“Yes, they fucking are.”  Midas ran his hands through his hair.  His golden touch didn’t work on his own body. If it did, this would be a lot easier.  How was he going to kill himself without a gun or a knife?  “Sorry.  Yes, they p’don are.”

Avalon didn’t mind the swearing.  “Wanna play?”  She held out her favorite doll, wanting to cheer him up. “You can be Lyrssa.  She’s brave, just like Mommy.”

Midas tried a soothing smile, not wanting to upset her.  “No, I…  ” He broke off mid-word, a new idea occurring to him.  A solution that would save his daughter.  “Do you have Lyrssa’s sword in your bag?”

Her head tilted, blue eyes studying him.  “Why?”

“I’d just like to see it.”

“Why?”

She knew why.  Shit.  Avalon could read his thoughts, past, present and future.  “I need the letter opener, Avi.”  He’d try to grab it out of the backpack himself, but he was afraid she might try to stop him.  Even a tiny touch could be disastrous.

The Scarecrow could control Midas’ actions and had taken his gloves.  Midas was trapped with his baby four feet away and he could turn her to gold with a single brush of his fingers.  There was only one way to keep her safe from his curse and the letter opener would allow him to see it through.

He was going to stab himself right through the heart.

If he was dead, he couldn’t be compelled to hurt his daughter.  The thought of her little body going still…  Every special, perfect thing about her replaced with cold and worthless metal…  Her bright, pure spirit gone from the world forever…  No.  Midas wouldn’t risk that.  Not for anything.

“Avi?”  His tone became more intent when she just silently stared at him.

She popped her thumb in her mouth, distressed.  “Love you.”  Her lower lips trembled.  “Don’t leave.  You promised you wouldn’t.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Midas squeezed his eyes shut, close to tears.  Hurting her was the worst torture anyone could devise.  “Avalon.”  He cleared his throat.  “Am I your daddy?”

“‘Course, Daddy.”

“Well, it is a daddy’s job to keep his little girl safe, isn’t it?”

Another nod.

“So, you need to trust me, now.  Give me the letter opener and look that way.”  He pointed at the wall.  “Pretty soon, your mommy and Trystan will come for you.”  He believed that.  He had to.  “They are going to take you home and…”

Avalon cut him off, shaking her head so hard her blonde curls swung.  “No!  The Mean Thing will get us if you’re not here!  I seen it!  It’s coming.  It hurts me and Mommy!”

Midas’ insides dropped.  “What Mean Thing?  The Scarecrow?”

“Nooooo.”  She was frantic now.  “Please, Daddy.  Maybe even the birds will eat me, if I’m all alone.”  She pulled her knees up so they were tucked under her chin, rocking slightly.  “I don’t see them and I’m scared.  Mommy is going to fight them, but you have to keep her safe.”

Rage flickered through him, watching his daughter hug herself into a ball.  All he wanted to do was pick her up and hold her, but he couldn’t.  His goddamn curse wouldn’t let him.

“You don’t need to be afraid, baby.  Not ever.  I love you so much there aren’t words for it.”  Midas tilted his head, so he could meet her damp gaze.  “Luckily, I don’t need words, because you can look into my head and you know what I feel, right?  How deep it goes.”

She sniffed and nodded again.

“So look into my head, right now.  You will see everything you need to know.”  It was a vow.  “You will see how far I’m willing to go to keep you and your Mommy safe.  It’s the mean people who need to be afraid, princess.  Not you.”

Avalon swiped her wrist under her nose.  “Stay.”  She whispered.

She was ripping his goddamn heart out.  “Baby, please…”

“You’s can’t protect me and Mommy if you go away.”  She interrupted.  “You supposed to protect me and Mommy from the Mean Thing.”

“I am protecting you.  I will always protect you.  My curse is dangerous…”

She cut him off again, brightening.  “You should fix the curse!”  She clapped her hands like she’d just solved all their problems.  “Then, you’s feel better.  Good idea, Daddy.  You so smart.”

“I can’t just break the curse, Avi.  If I could, I would’ve done it long ago.”

If she was right about a “Mean Thing” coming (and Avalon was always right), then he also couldn’t kill himself, though.  His death would leave her all alone there.  Midas would never leave his baby on a fucking porch, even if it was a science lab.  He needed to find a way to rescue her and get to Gwen.  His eyes cut around the perimeter of the lab, vainly looking for a way out.

“How come you can’t break the curse, Daddy?”

“Because the woman who cast it made sure it would last forever.”

“Vivien?”

Midas shot her a quick look and, despite everything, his mouth curved.  His daughter. “Vivien.”  He agreed, softly.

“She wouldn’t do something so mean. You’s mine and she likes me.”

“Well, I don’t think she liked me.  She said the curse will last until I have everything.  And not even Daddy can buy everything.  Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“Oh yeah, you do a real great job of trying!”  She praised.  “You got lots a stuff.”

“For all the good it does me.”  He tried to climb up the smooth wall, towards the window only to fall back down again, cursing graphically in the gryphons’ language.

Avalon made a ‘tsk’ sound.  She generally let Midas say whatever he liked, but the vulgarity of that oath was too much even for his ‘best friend’ to let slide.  “I know what that word means, you know.”

Fucking hell… so much for his attempts to bypass Clause 3. Midas shot her an incredulous look.  “Trystan taught you that word?”

“No, not him.”  She leaned closer and lowered her voice.  “Sometimes I talk to the gone-away gryphons in my dreams.  They tells me lots.”

Midas wasn’t even going to try and figure that one out.  “Do they?”  He asked, not doubting it for a moment.

“Oh yes!”  She grinned.  “They say I will be the Great Queen and help they’s people.  They like me, too.”

“Well, that’s good, baby.”  The child loved gryphons.  If she wanted to discuss them, he was game.  Anything was preferable to her crying and scared.  Tales of Trystan’s people calmed her.  “I’m not surprised.  Everyone likes you.”  Midas stared up at the window.  How the hell was he going to reach it?

Avalon nodded, like he was speaking deep wisdom.  “Trystan was wrong about what ‘ha’na’ means, Daddy.”  She told him importantly.  “Did you know that?  I don’t think the gone-away gryphons taught him it right.”  She let out a little giggle.  “Trystan’s silly.”

Midas gave up on reaching the window.  Unlike Avi’s winged heroes, he couldn’t fly.  There had to be another entrance.  The Scarecrow hadn’t just dropped them into the room from way up there.  And if there was another way in, there was another way out.  Unfortunately, it seemed to have been hidden and sealed shut with some kind of locking spell.

“Ha’na doesn’t exactly mean ‘light,’ he allowed distractedly, “but it’s hard to put into our language.  I think Trystan wasn’t sure how to translate it properly.”

“How do you say it?”

“Um… I don’t know.”  Midas began looking along the walls for a hidden door.  “‘True Love,’ maybe?”

No, that wasn’t quite right.

True Love was two people who were really one person.  Ha’na was more about all the connections those two people made.  Gryphons were born without emotions, so their bonds with their mates were different.  Broader.  Ha’na was when a male gryphon found his woman and beheld how all the strands of his life that would intertwine with hers.  The family they’d build and the future they’d share.  The vastness of everything he experienced when he saw her, from their very first meeting until he drew his last breath.  Ha’na was about… everything.

Ha’na meant everything.

Midas went still.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, baby?”  His voice sounded faraway in his ears.

“I don’t think Vivien cursed you.  I think she was helping you.  Sorceresses is nice.”

Midas swallowed hard.  He suddenly remembered Gwen sitting on his lap, while they played dolls with Avalon. How he’d known that he’d found ha’na, right there in that room.

He’d had it from the moment Gwen walked into his house and upended his entire existence.  She’d rearranged every priority he had.  She’d given him a daughter.  Brought him joy.  Drove him crazy.  Made him laugh.  Dragged Trystan into their fold.  There wasn’t one piece of his life that didn’t intersect with Gwen’s and he would die before he ever unbound them.  Midas was connected to her and by her and with her.

In his head, Midas heard Vivien’s words from twenty years before:  And the magic it will go on and on and on, until you realize the truth.  …Until you finally have everything.

Gwen and Avalon were everything.

That was the truth.  That was what he’d been searching for when he went to the lake.  Not class or riches or power.  He’d wanted a family.  A place to belong.  It had taken a miniature sorceress and a blunt little queen with a handgun, but he’d finally been granted his wish.

He finally had everything.

Avalon smiled at him.  “See, Daddy?  I told you Mommy and me’d get you a gift.”

“Ah, good.  You’re awake.”  A voice echoed from up above, piped in over loudspeakers.  “Excellent.  It wouldn’t be any fun to do this, if you slept right through it.”

Percival.

Midas jerked out of his thoughts.  His gaze went up to the window, his eyes narrowing.  “Aren’t you dead yet?”

“Your little baby Baddie is the one about to die, actually.  The Scarecrow wants you as leverage, so Guinevere will agree to marry him.”  He paused.  “If you think about it, though.  He only needs one of you.”

“He needs the child.”  Midas said instantly, his throat going dry.  “Keep her alive.  I won’t fight you, just don’t hurt her. Gwen will do anything for Avalon.”

“Yes …and so will you.”  Percival taunted.  “Everyone in the kingdom knows Guinevere and her devil spawn own you, like any other brainless animal.  You might as well take out billboards advertising you’re theirs.”

“I’m already planning several, actually.”

“Ooooohhhhh.”  Avalon exclaimed, liking that idea.  “Can one have a robot on it?”

“Shut up!”  Percival screamed.  “You’re both pathetic.  Weak.  Inferior.  You belong with the gryphon.”

Midas took that part as a compliment.  “Yes.”

“Gryphons like us.”  Avalon agreed.  “Everybody likes me and Daddy, except mean people like you.”

“Do you think I’d ever allow a soulless savage like you to have Arthur’s wife?”  Percival ranted at Midas, ignoring Avalon.  “To put your dirty hands on a Good woman?  Even a bitch like Guinevere?  It’s a blasphemy against my kind.”

“Gwen is my wife and no one else’s.”

“Not for long.”  Percival informed him smugly.  “See, I think it’ll be far more satisfying to keep you alive and let the child die.  In fact, I’m going to make sure you’re the one who kills the brat.  Then you’ll lose them both.  Guinevere is a stupid slut, but not even she will keep screwing the man who turned her daughter to gold.”

A cloud of purple mist was released from hidden vents and floated down.  A small dose of the formula, but it would be enough.

Midas’ heartrate increased.  Even if he was right and Vivien’s curse had been lifted, he couldn’t prove it.  Couldn’t be sure.  Avalon was the only living thing in the room to test.

“My daddy won’t hurt me.”  Avalon scoffed, not worried about the gas drifting down.  “You only get one last chance to fix your behavior, and then you’re going to be in big trouble.  It’ll be too late, even if you start to see the truth.”

“Shut up!”  Percival shrieked again.  “God, I’m so sick of you!  Midas, shut her up.  Touch the little bitch, so I never have to hear her annoying little voice again.”

No.

No.

Midas felt the formula seeping into his lungs and fogging his mind.  Pulling him towards Avalon, wanting him to tap a finger against her skin.  Just one finger.  It took everything in him to plant both feet and resist the compulsion.  To remember who he was, and who she was, and why death was preferable to losing her.

No.  No.  No.

He chanted the word in his head.  Blood began to seep from his nose from the strain of standing still.  He wouldn’t touch her.  No matter what, he wouldn’t hurt his baby.

No.no.no.no.no.no.no.no.no.no.no.

“What the fuck…?”  Percival sounded angry and confused.  “How are you doing that? 

Midas fell backwards, hitting against the wall and sliding down it, his hands clamped over his ears like that would somehow help.  Or at least stop the blood from oozing out of them.  Red filmed his vision, making everything out of focus.  Inside his skull, his brain stuttered and began to shut down.  The formula didn’t like defiance.  His head throbbed, threatening to explode, and he knew he would die if he didn’t submit.

It didn’t matter.

Midas raised his bleeding eyes up to the window, full of hate and triumph.  Nothing could make him kill his daughter.  Nothing at all.  No power of man or magic or science went deeper than his love for Avalon.

“You have to obey!”  Percival bellowed, like Midas was somehow cheating.  “You have to touch her.  I order you to touch her.”

Midas’ jaw was clenched tight, but he still managed to grind out his simple and unequivocal response.  “No.”