Uma had screamed herself hoarse by the time she finally collapsed into the chair behind the desk. Upon her return to the palace, she had sent Harold and Jason to check on Harry in the dungeon while she located her brother and Gil. But, she could have never prepared herself for the grave news they reported back to her.

Harry was dead. Again. Her brother was dead too, with most of one of his arms melted off and a gunshot to the head. Gil was nowhere to be found, and neither were any of the prisoners she had taken for leverage. She had nothing. Nothing! If she ever got her hands on Gil, she would strangle him. This was the ultimate sign of his betrayal. She had no solid proof he had shot Harry, and from the looks of it, her brother's death had been a mercy killing. But that didn't change the fact he had let her prisoners go and ran away with them.

She sighed and buried her face in her hands. She had spent the last hour or so sobbing and throwing anything and everything breakable in the study. Harold and Jason were nowhere around, having taken her mood to be a sign to book it to the other side of the city most likely. She couldn't blame them. She wanted to hurt something. She wanted to punish someone for this pain she was feeling now.

Jane was incredibly relieved to reach Roger and Anita's manor the following morning. She had spent several hours sitting stiffly in the truck beside her father, unsure what to say or do. It seemed like there was nothing she could even think of to try to console Merlin. All he did was keep his eyes on the road ahead. Occasionally, she would look over and see silent tears running down his face.

When they stopped for food before dawn, Jane switched to riding in the van with Mal and Chad. She figured maybe it was best to give her father some time alone. She didn't know him well enough to say anything to comfort him. Even if she did, she wasn't sure it would help.

"You said Carlos is here?" Mal asked as they neared the driveway.

Jane nodded. She was sitting in the front bench seat so that Mal sat between her and Chad. "He was injured in the fight with his parents, but he's said he's fine."

Mal rolled her eyes. "Well, we'll be the judge of that." She laughed, but immediately gasped as Chad slammed on the brakes and threw her and Jane forward. "What the-"

Chad huffed and nodded to Merlin's truck in front of them. He had stopped at the edge of the driveway suddenly, causing Chad to brake just as quickly to avoid rear ending him.

"Look!" Merlin shouted out his window after he had rolled it down. He pointed to one of the large statues by the driveway.

Jane leaned forward to see around Mal and gasped. "Is that…"

"Excalibur!" Merlin called. "Hurry, let's get inside to talk!"

Within minutes, the four of them were in the foyer of the manor. Anita was offering them a selection of tea, lemonade, or water while Roger hovered nearby, listening to Merlin.

"Excalibur is prophetic," Merlin was saying. "It appears exactly where it needs to be, positioning itself in a location for the next heir. I just assumed it would be in a forest or lake like last time."

"Those are two very different locations," Mal said. "I thought it's only had one owner."

Merlin waved a hand dismissively. "It's a long story. But, I just thought Excalibur was drawn to nature. I never thought…" He shook his head, laughing, and Jane was glad to see him smile for the first time since the news of Arthur's death. "A Dalmatian statue of all things. It must be meant for one of you kids after all."

"And who do you think it's for then?" came a voice from the doorway to the parlor.

Jane looked over and gasped. She immediately ran into her mother's arms, tears springing to her eyes as she did so. "Mom!"

"Hello, Jo," Merlin said softly. Her stared at her like she was an entrancing jewel of great beauty that he didn't want to let out of his sight.

Mal huffed. "Look, reunions are great, but can we focus? We have an army to un-enchant, and we need the owner of Excalibur to do that."

"Right," Merlin said and tore his eyes away from Fairy Godmother finally. "We will try everyone in this house with the sword. It will not budge from the stone for anyone but the rightful heir. We'll start with you kids, then the adults, and hopefully by then, the other six will have emerged from the tunnel."

Several heads around the foyer bobbed in silent agreement. Jane had called ahead to inform the party at the manor of the situations that had arisen in the past few days.

"Where's Carlos?" Jane asked, pulling away from her mother a bit to look at her face.

"Upstairs," she answered as she released her daughter.

Jane kissed her cheek and then took off up the stairs that were positioned behind Roger.

Mal crossed her arms over her chest once Jane had disappeared. "And where's Gil? I'd like to speak with him. What's this about Harry being revived by Facilier?"

Fairy Godmother shook her head. "I'm sure he will explain, but that situation has already been resolved again. But, if you'd like to speak with him, he's in the back field with his siblings playing with the dogs."

With a final heave, the trapdoor opened, and Ben was able to push it back over his head. It fell back against the forest floor with a muted thud. Ben rolled his shoulder, attempting to work out the pain from having rammed it against the trapdoor repeatedly for the last few moments. He climbed the last few steps and blinked against the bright daylight of the morning sun filtering through the trees. Turning back to the opening in the ground, he began helping up his friends one by one.

"Where are we?" Evie asked, collapsing against the grass and closing her eyes against the light.

Audrey tapped on her phone. "GPS says the edge of Sherwood Forest."

Audrey's phone was the only one still with enough battery life to function. The other three cell phones they had had were dead. The passageway had been dark, and they had used the flashlights on their phones one by one to light their way. They had chosen to keep Audrey's phone untouched so they could make a call once back above ground, so they had been forced to traverse the last few hours of the journey in darkness by holding hands and feeling along the walls with their shoulders.

"I have a signal!" Audrey chirped after a few moments of walking around.

"Good," Lonnie said from where she lay in the grass next to Evie. "Call Jane."

The call to Jane was put on speaker phone, and initially started happy. Jane was so relieved and excited to hear from them. But, the conversation quickly turned dark as she explained that Lonnie's parents had been confirmed dead, Uma had killed Arthur, and the Camelot army was entranced. When she got to the part about Excalibur appearing at Roger and Anita's house and Merlin's plans, the group crowded around the phone all looked to Ben.

"What?" he said.

"Well, you're the most likely to pull the sword," Doug said.

"Why?"

Doug shrugged. "You're already a king. You're brave and a natural leader. Why wouldn't it pick you?"

Jane cut in before Ben could respond. "Listen, just get here soon. You shouldn't be too far from what Audrey said about your coordinates. The sooner we find out if one of us is the heir to Camelot, the sooner we get the upper hand on Uma."

"Right," Ben said with a nod to the phone. "We'll be there."

It took over an hour for the group of six to pick their way through the forest and the field of Dalmatians. The dogs kept wanting to be petted and repeatedly jumped up on their legs for head scratches.

When they finally reached the manor, Evie hugged Mal in a tight embrace and neither girl let go for several long moments.

The tension Mal had been feeling immediately eased. Her friends were back. They were all together finally.

But, the reunion and chatting didn't last long as Merlin ushered them all outside and down the driveway to the dog statue with Excalibur in its back.

"Sorry, but we need to know if someone here is the heir to Excalibur and the kingdom of Camelot immediately. If not, we need a new plan within the hour," Merlin explained. "No doubt that the Camelot army has already crossed the border and is searching for the sword on their way to Uma in the capital."

Several people nodded.

"Ok, so who's up first?" Merlin asked, surveying the teens surrounding him. Gil's siblings, Fairy Godmother, Roger, and Anita all stood back from the group since Merlin had wanted the adolescents to be the first ones to try drawing the sword.

Several of the group looked at Ben, and the young king sighed. "I guess I'll get my turn over with," he said and moved to hoist himself up onto the stone pedestal where the carved Dalmatian sat.

Another chapter this soon? Right? Haha, anyways, who do you think the heir to Camelot will be?! Tell me your thoughts in a review! Fave and follow!

Foarrin