"Uh..." My sleep fogged brain almost thought the sword itself was complaining about being stranded. It took me a second to realize that someone was just using the thing to communicate. Fortunately, I am both intelligent and suave, and I barely sounded confused at all as I responded, "Hello?"

"Jasper? Jasper!" The voice on the other end sounded both annoyed and relieved. "It's about time you picked up the bloody thing. How soon can you get to the colonies?"

Jasper? Oh. Right. The guy that had owned the sword originally. I finally managed to clear out the cobwebs in my brain and sound somewhat confident. "This isn't Jasper," I told the voice. "Who am I speaking to?"

"Who the bloody hell do you think you're speaking to!?" the voice almost shouted. "William Hardy, the Green fucking Knight. Now stop fucking around and get Jasper over here, now!" Another voice could be heard in the background, but I couldn't make out what it said. Nor could I understand the Knight's response.

I waited until the mumbling sounds stopped, then answered. "Jasper can't come to the phone right now."

"Why not?"

"Because he's dead."

"Dead?" the Knight swore. "How?"

"The Lady came to him for help," I explained. "He died in her defense."

"The Lady?" A pregnant pause. Mr. Hardy (Sir Hardy?) lost his annoyed tone. When he asked his next question, his voice was grave. "The Lady of what?"

"The Lady of the Lake."

There was more swearing, followed by a mumbled conversation between the Green Knight and someone else. When it was finished, Sir Hardy asked. "Where is the Lady now?"

"She's upstairs," I told him. "Sleeping, I think."

I missed what the Knight said next because the door to the bathroom burst open. Alex Finder barreled down the hallway in nothing but a towel. A very large knife was in his hand.

He skidded to a stop halfway into the living room, eyes darting around. "What the hell?" His gaze settled on me and the glowing sword. "What did you do?"

I shrugged. "The sword's also a cell phone, apparently."

Another door opened down the hallway, and a groggy Mike stumbled out with a pistol in his hand. A moment later, I heard shuffling, and Lady slowly clambered down the ladder that led up to the loft. Stephanie shifted in her sleeping bag, then rolled over and continued to sleep.

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"Answer, me damn you!" Sir Hardy's irritated growl reminded me I was on the (phone?) sword.

"Hold on a sec." I took my hand off the sword, not waiting for a reply.

"What's going on?" Mike shuffled into the living room, rubbing at his eyes.

"The magic sword," I informed him, "was talking to me."

Mike grunted. The Lady rushed to the bottom of the ladder. Hope and fear warred their way across her face. I noticed that her bruises had faded into mottled yellows and purples. She seemed to be moving around a lot more easily than someone with a broken collar bone should. Odd. She asked me, "Who?"

"The guy's name is William Hardy," I told her. "Says he's the Green Knight."

"William!" Relief flooded her features. She started forward, but stopped when she noticed something on Finder's bare chest. Her eyes went wide. "Is that...?"

"Don't say it," snapped the man. He tilted his head, listening. I followed the Lady's gaze and saw she was staring at Finder's dog tags. On the same chain as the dog tags hung an old brass key. He fixed Lady with a glower and growled, "You of all people should know better."

Lady flushed. "Right. Sorry." She turned away from the man and put her hand on the sword. "William?"

I didn't hear anything, but Lady frowned. "Stop swearing at me." She picked up the sword, grimacing with the effort. She brushed past Finder, went down to the room Mike had stumbled out of, and shut the door.

I could still hear her muffled voice, but not enough to make out what she was saying. I glanced over at Finder and his bigass knife. "You keep an knife in the bathroom?"

"I keep a weapon in every room."

"Is that a kukri?" Mike asked.

Finder ignored the question. "I'm going to go finish my shower."

"Do you mind if we make breakfast?" I asked.

"Whatever." He grumped his way back to the bathroom.

Finder's fridge didn't have much, but there were bacon and eggs and I figured that would do. Mike watched me attempt breakfast with a pained expression, then took over. I protested (the man had a hole in him, after all) but he refused to let me murder perfectly good eggs. I did put on a pot of coffee, the smell of which finally roused Stephanie from her sleeping bag.

Finder came back, dressed now, and opened a kitchen cabinet. "I thought I told you not to drink all my booze."

"I couldn't drink all your booze if I tried," Mike pointed out. "There's like, ten bottles of jack in there."

Finder grunted. "Move over. I'll cook."

"I've got it." Mike tried to wave him off.

"You've got a bullet wound, Cross," Finder reminded him. "You shouldn't be moving around at all." He pointed at the recliner. "Go sit down."

Finder turned out to be a pretty good cook. We'd all finished eating by the time Lady joined us. Stephanie gestured at the plate we'd saved her and vacated the only chair at the small table she'd been using to eat. Lady set the sword against a wall and made a bee line for the food.

"So what's the deal?" Mike asked. He was still sitting in the recliner, which had been turned to face the kitchen.

Lady swallowed her mouthful of bacon. "William is in Las Vegas. Patrick is with him."

"And they are?" I prompted.

"Knights of the Partition," she said it casually, sipping her orange juice. "Defenders of Avalon. Protectors of the Veil."

"Sounds fancy," Mike scratched his head. "They tough?"

"They have power." She bit into a slice of bacon. "I doubt Avalon would have fallen if they had been at hand."

"Why weren't they?" I asked.

"They went missing fifty years ago." Lady shook her head. "All of them. William and Patrick are the only two that made it back."