"So young, so beautiful," Morgan said, admiring Veronica's reflection in one of the fountains, "I can see why you fell for this one."
Horvath said nothing, simply stood at attention. It was strange to hear Veronica's voice with Morgana's tone. There was something cringe-worthy when the two of them combined. And Veronica was still in there; he could tell. Morgana would swat at the air with her hand sometimes and mutter under her breath. Drake had noticed it too, but the fool had been too cowed by Morgana to utter a word. He was glad. When he had first met the foolish boy he hadn't been able to stop talking.
And on top of that he knew that Veronica was enduring all the discomfort for Balthazar's sake. Oh, he had no doubt that she had done it for Dave and that Becky girl too. Yet, she barely knew them. Balthazar was, and it made him want to wretch, the love of her life. She would even let Morgana possess her body in order to protect him.
Morgana stood and climbed up the steps of the fountain.
"I cannot complete the spell until the circle is complete," she said.
He understood. Until then he was to make sure that no one was to interrupt her. She started chanting and he could feel the heat of flames. Horvath clutched his cane where he'd added Merlin's ring. He saw it as a trophy, a way to remind himself that the core of the fight was over. He closed his eyes and smirked. Softly he whispered to himself;
"You made the wrong choice Veronica."
.
.
.
"Horvath took my ring," Dave said, jerking the steering wheel to the left, "He probably still has it. He's vain enough to have a cane for crying out loud, so that probably means he's vain enough to keep it. So that means he's twice the conductor that the average sorcerer is since the rings conduct energy. Is any of this making sense to you?"
"I'm an English major Dave," said Becky.
He blew a frustrated breath of air; he didn't know how else to explain it. Dave jerked the steering wheel again. Balthazar's car was in rough shape, but at least it had allowed Becky to get them to the Arcana Cabana. He hoped that it would be enough to get them to Battery Park. It had to balance a large Tesla Coil on the front of it in addition to carrying two passengers.
She'd made a rather good assistant despite claiming ignorance of physics. It was just one more thing about her that he found so incredibly attractive.
"Think of him as a tree," Dave said, "And lighting's going to strike. Now imagine that the tree gets bigger. It's going to take more damage."
"I get it…I think," said Becky.
Nodding he looked at the street signs. They weren't too far now. He felt himself relax a little until he saw fire streak through the sky. It bounced off a satellite on top of the building and left a stream behind it. Dave nearly stopped the car in his surprise. He didn't know what that meant, but it couldn't be good.
"Did you just see that?" he asked Becky.
"No, what?"
"How can you not see this?" Dave asked, "The satellite. That building there."
She leaned forward and strained her eyes.
"I don't see anything Dave."
His mind raced, trying to remember what exactly the Rising entailed. He'd only seen the two halves briefly.
"I think they're using the satellites to bounce a signal," he said.
Pulling over he slammed on the brakes. He turned and looked at her.
"I need you to do something for me," Dave said, wincing through the words, "I need you to climb to the top of the building and do something to the satellite, disrupt the signal."
She stared at him.
"Climb up that building?" repeated Becky.
He wished he didn't have to ask her to do this. She'd been through so much lately and yet stood so strong. Becky had been braver than anyone would have cause to ask. And now he was asking her to face one of her biggest fears for him. Dave didn't think he was turning out to be such a great boyfriend.
"Okay," she said, "Okay."
Setting her face she started to get out of the car. Dave grabbed her hand.
"Becky?" he said.
She stopped and turned.
"When we were little," he said, "I really wanted to stay with you."
Becky smiled.
"So did I," she said, "But I think life had other plans for us."
With a smile she squeezed his hand back.
"For what it's worth though, I think our future didn't get disrupted too much. And if we survive this I don't think it will either."
Smiling once more she let go and shut the car door. He wanted to watch her leave but he had to continue on. He really wanted to have a future for Becky to be in.
.
.
.
Another stream of fire shot forth from the fountain. Balthazar watched as his worst nightmare came true. Still, he was Balthazar Blake, sorcerer of the 777th degree, Merlin's apprentice. He had spent centuries chasing a promise and a hope. He wasn't going to go down without a fight.
He scanned the area for Drake. The two-penny Morganian had never struck him as a big threat, but he didn't want to be surprised when he was in the middle of a real fight. When he didn't find him he figured that Horvath had him doing some mundane task. Morganians weren't known for their gratitude.
From the inside of his pocket he took out the Grimhold. His plan, and he admitted that it wasn't a very solid one, was to defeat Horvath when Morgana was distracted by the spell. Then he would lock Morgana into the Grimhold. Balthazar didn't want to imprison Veronica as well, but he was sure that once Dave got his ring back they could figure something out. It would only be temporary.
Putting the Grimhold back into his pocket he walked into the park. Horvath raised his eyebrows at the sight of him.
"Come to die like a man?" asked Horvath, "I wish you'd stop making these hopeless gestures Balthazar."
Balthazar summoned a plasma bolt with his hand.
"As you wish," he said.