Pushing His Luck

Greg thought nothing would be cooler than seeing the fairy world that was part of his childhood bedtime stories. But what he doesn't expect is the dragon he's about to come face-to-face with, or the fact that Mordred—King Arthur's nemesis—wants to be best friends.

But when a new enemy arises, it takes everything Greg's family has to come together and fight. Can they win against one of Merlin's greatest foes, or will their lives be turned upside down by legends that should have stayed in the past?

Help, Greg! I need you! I’m trapped.

Greg jerked out of his sleep and sat
upright. The snores from his siblings rose and fell around him, and it took a few seconds to figure out if he was still dreaming. He blinked hard, but the castle walls were still there. Shouts from patrols were faint as they went up and down the hallways.

The voice still echoed in his head,
begging for help. This had happened every night for weeks now, and every time he woke up, the voice was still there, waiting for him. Someone was trapped, and he had no idea where to start looking—or if it was just part of his dream.

Brittany lay sprawled out in the other bed in typical Brittany fashion. Greg thought of the blackmail he could get with a picture, but his sister would have his head if he even tried. Mom and Dad were nowhere to be seen, as usual. They’d barely seen their kids since arriving here, and Greg hoped they could all go home soon.

Home from the Fairy World. Several months ago, Greg’s life had been turned upside down when he learned that Mom and Dad’s bedtime stories of fairies, leprechauns, and dragons were actually real and had happened to them. Yeah, his parents. So, now he was in the Fairy World trying to sleep while his parents met in secret with the fairy queen. This was
supposed to be a vacation.

After lying there for another half an
hour, he sighed and climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Ronnie. He crept to the door and poked his head out. A group of soldiers walked past talking about some battle that was supposed to happen. Greg perked up. Battle? Is that what his parents were doing?

He slipped out into the hallway and
followed them, collecting armor from statues as he passed by. He was bigger than most of the elves and fairies, so the equipment was snug, but he could make it work. If he didn’t break it with his lack of luck, that is.

The group stopped in front of the rooms and went inside. Greg barely made it in before the door closed. A few of the fairies in the back glanced over, but they knew who he was and didn’t question his right to be there.

Mom and Dad stood in the front of the group, looking at a large map and speaking quietly with a few others. Dad shifted, and Greg gasped at the woman standing by Mom. She was breathtaking. Her skin almost shimmered, her eyes were a piercing blue, and her hair was literally golden. By the crown on her head, this had to be Catriona, the fairy
queen.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” the
leprechaun next to Greg whispered. Eoin.

“Yes.” Greg tore his eyes away from the fairy and looked down. “I thought you were supposed to be guarding a prison or something.”

Greg had spent months with someone he’d thought was Eoin only to find out a month ago that it was actually Nimue, an enchantress who’d tried to steal Merlin’s wand from Greg’s dad. Now that Greg
was actually with Eoin, he didn’t know what to say, and apparently
bringing up the prison was a bad idea.

Eoin’s face turned bright red. “I was, but Da gave the job to someone else.”

“Oh.” Greg frowned. “But it wasn’t your fault the guy got out. I thought they overpowered you or something.”

That only seemed to make things worse, as the redness traveled to Eoin’s ears. “That’s the problem. I wasn’t big enough to stop them. Now there are several trolls and ogres keeping Morgana in. I told Da they would turn on us, but he doesn’t believe me.”

“Have to say, I agree with you.” Greg
patted the leprechaun’s head, nearly knocking him over. “Oh, sorry.”

Eoin shot a glare at him, then pointed to the front. “They’re starting.”

Queen Catriona stood back from the map table and smiled at the crowd. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. We have much to talk about, but don’t have much time before we must act. Before we start, though, we’d like to welcome Jared and Megan back into the fold, and I
do believe their son is in the back.”

Mom and Dad’s heads jerked up as they searched the crowd. Greg tried to step behind one of the fairies, but he was too tall. In his haste, he knocked over Eoin, a small table, and a stack of swords that had been leaning against the wall. Fine time for his lack of luck to shine through.

Mom laughed. “I guess we know where he is now. Greg, come up here.”

“Uh, I think I’m fine staying here. In
fact, maybe I should go back to bed.” Greg inched toward the door, stepping on several more toes and knocking Eoin over again. “Sorry.”

Catriona’s laugh froze Greg in place. It had a musical quality to it, the tinkling of bells. “Come. Join us.”

Greg’s legs moved forward before he knew what he was doing. He didn’t know what power she had over him, but he was pretty sure Becca, his girlfriend back home, wouldn't like it too much. Those in front of him moved out of the way, staring at him. The strange boy who had no obvious
magic—the son of former Queen Megan and King Jared. That’s right. King and queen. Who knew his parents were the coolest?

The map was nothing like anything he’d ever seen. It was 3-D, and creatures covered it. Armies were in different parts of the fairy world, camping and practicing combat.

Mom put an arm around Greg’s waist. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I couldn’t. Not with Ronnie’s foot in my ribs.” Greg nodded toward the map. “What’s going on?”

Mom glanced over at Catriona before
answering. “There are rumors of an ancient force that is threatening to
terrorize these lands. If it conquers here, it will be able to enter our
world.”

Greg’s eyebrows shot up. “Ancient force? Like Mordred? We already knew about him.”

“No. Not Mordred. No one has heard from him since he escaped.” Mom pointed to a cave. “A dragon. He’s been asleep for hundreds of years. We’re trying to figure out why he’s waking up.”

“Whoa. So all these armies are going after him? Wouldn’t that just tick him off?” Greg leaned closer as a group of soldiers loosed several javelins at once.

Dad chuckled. “Those were my exact words.”

Mom patted him on the shoulder. “Which is why Adam is in charge—”

“Wait. What?” Greg jerked up, knocking several papers off the table behind him. “Where is he? And where are Beth and Maddie?”

“Maddie is with April, trying to gather
the fairies. Adam and Beth are part of that little group right there. They
wanted to check with the gnomes to see if they could find another way into the cave.” Mom pointed out Adam. “He just kinda stepped right back into his position as soon as he got here.”

Greg shook his head. “And when were you going to tell us about this?”

Mom glanced at Dad. “Well . . . we were hoping we wouldn’t have to. Tomorrow morning, we’re taking you home so you can go back to school. Grandma was going to watch all of you—”

“No.” Greg glared at his parents. “We need to stay here and help. No more leaving us out of everything, remember?”

“Greg, we can talk about this later. Right now, we need to divvy out the assignments for those who are still here.” Mom’s eyes pleaded with him to obey.