They weren’t just eyeing me, but my swords as well. They were going to snatch my blades. That’s what I would do if I were them. And they were me. Sorta.

Instead of playing into their game, I let them have the swords. Then I remembered the black thing jutting out of my pocket. I whipped out the 9mm Glock handgun that I’d gotten off of José.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

I hit the Fetch several times with the 9mm. The shots didn’t seem to faze him, no more than getting shot with an airsoft pellet would sting, but not stop anyone.

The Fetch rolled and came up with Fragarach.

I spun and shot at the Ban-he.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Ban-he corkscrewed through the air, twisting through the lines of fire, just like I would have.

He landed and rolled as well, coming up with Jade.

Mossberg time.

If I had it.

With all the blacking out I didn’t know where it was now.

Fetch and Ban-he alike doubled back. One backflipped, the other butterfly twisted. I had to admit, I looked awesome. But I’d never asked to fight myself. It made things complicated.

At the same time, I had something they could not access. Good Luck. With Ban-he Sean ripped out of me, my Celtic magic no longer had to war against the darkness just to keep me alive.

My hands glowed with emerald light. Time to use it.

Intertwining Celtic knots laced down my arms. Both imposter and inversion rushed me, swords raised high. Severing me in half was the plan. I lashed out with my Luck knots. Ban-he Sean did a knee-high, and my Luck strands passed under him. But I kept the momentum and swung the strands of Luck into Fetch Sean. He tried to slice the magic, but the Celtic knots simply weaved around Fragarach altogether, lacing up his arm and around his phantom neck. I tugged on the Luck lines and dragged the Fetch across the forest floor, then spun around to focus on nega-Sean.

Jade didn’t glow emerald like it did in my hands. Instead, true to his name, Asen Scáth made Jade glow black, like the void of space, not emanating light, but sucking it in. He rushed me and I leapt into the air with Luck empowered strength. I tucked my knees into my rib cage and cleared Jade’s arc. The sword edge almost took the tread off of my Chuck Taylor’s.

“Try harder,” I mocked shadow Sean.

I spoke too soon. He screeched, leveling me with sonic blast. I flipped through the air, arms flailing to try to find my balance. In the corner of my eye Fetch Sean twirled Fragarach, summoning an onslaught of water from the nearby river. He redirected the flow of the current right at me. The force of several fire hydrants hit me, water enveloping me. The stream blew me into a tree. I closed my eyes waiting for the force of the current to stop. My back cracked as the force pressed me against the tree harder and harder. Bubbles of air left my mouth on their own accord. I wanted to collapse under the force but couldn’t. Stars formed behind my eyes.

When the flow of water stopped I collapsed to the forest floor gasping for air. My mind was mush. All I knew was that one of me was hard enough. Being double teamed by murderous versions of myself was impossible.

Gavin’s warning echoed in my head again.

Get rid of the Keening or get yourself killed in the process.

I wish I’d listened to my brother. I wish he hadn’t gone home right away. He might be able to help me now. He and I had both trained in the art of Kenjutsu for years under Sensei Hector. I’d literally spared hundreds of times with Gavin. And he’d beaten me a fair amount of times. If he were here right now, he’d know how to take out at least one of these overpowered wannabe Seans. But my brother was another world away and two states removed.

What I’d give for anyone of my friends at my side right now. Even Rob.

The Morrigan had done the bare minimum and left. And I’d attacked my friends, the very ones trying to help me. They weren’t coming for me. It was looking like Fetch was right. I’d cheated death too many times. I just had to face the odds and die swinging.

Fetch and Scáth charged me, the phantom with a low swipe and the shadow with a high stab. I’ve never been one to give up even with the odds against me. But let’s be real, there was no way for me to dodge two dark magic attacks, Good Luck or no.

I prepared myself for a painful death while summoning my Luck anyways.

A glowing line of lighting and fire pierced reality. A tear in space time opened up.

Rushing wind sucked into the portal as my Black ‘69 Fastback erupted through the rift. Headlights beamed on the sucka Seans as my car plowed into them like unfortunate deer prancing across the road at the wrong time. Fetch Sean went full phantom and the ‘Stang passed through him. Asen Scáth wasn’t so lucky. The ‘Stang flung him through the air and he lost grip of the Jade. He landed on his back against a tree. He didn’t have time to move out of the way as Jade spun end over end and pinned him to the trunk through his heart.

One second I’d been a goner, the next my car was driving itself through rifts into the Otherside smashing into my enemies. Because we ride on our enemies. Thanks 2Pac.

The car spun ninety degrees to a halt. Tain’s shaggy head barked a greeting to me from the shotgun window. Who was driving my car? Had my brother somehow known I was in trouble? Had my Luck summoned him some way? Had he really come for me?

That’s what I thought for a millisecond. Can you blame me? I’d gotten tossed around, had my back blasted into a tree, and almost drowned. I wasn’t thinking clear thoughts.

From the driver seat Charice emerged, followed by Tain and Rob. She spotted me and wings spread from her back.

“Sean!” She leapt into the air and glided over to me. The wind still howled as the rift inhaled greedily. “I couldn’t see through the mist in the rift. I thought I hit you with the bumper.”

“You kinda did. You nailed the other Sean.”

She looked confused. But I didn’t have time to explain. Movement near the rift caught my attention.

From the depths of the portal the wizard strode, trench coat billowing. His eyes glowed purple, one hand spinning the Dullahan’s bone whip. In the other he wielded his new birch wand. Crackles of amethyst lightning exploded with each step of his steel toe boots. Chills ran up my arms at the sight of my friend. He filled me with both courage and nervousness. He wasn’t Gavin, but I’d take his help any day. I’d hate to ever be on his bad side though. In a way I would be. The other Sean’s didn’t know what they had coming.

Charice’s beautiful eyes caught mine.

“Ya’ll came through? For me?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

“Why? I went all psycho on you guys.”

She shook her head as if I was a big idiot. “We’re friends Sean. You’d do the same for us.”

I kissed Charice on the lips. “Good to know that my friends still want anything to do with me.”

Emboldened by their spectacular arrival I got to my feet with Charice’s help.

Fetch Sean was not impressed. He materialized right in front of Nehemiah, slugging the wizard in the face with a sucker punch. The blow turned my friend’s head on a swivel, but he stood rooted to the same spot. Slowly his head turned back to Fetch Sean. The imposter stepped back. Nehemiah dropped his shoulder and uppercut the Fetch while still holding his wand. The Fetch’s head flew back and his whole body was lifted into the air. Before gravity could pull him back to the ground and before he could evaporate the spinal whip lashed out, wrapping around the Fetch almost with a mind of its own. With a strong tug the wizard whipped the Fetch into the dirt.

My eyebrows came together. “Time to finish him!”

I was up and at ‘em, Charice and my animal friends followed in my wake. José’s 9mm handgun found its way to my palm.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

I unloaded the remainder of the clip on the Fetch. He convulsed under each shot. From my side Charice clapped her wings together flattening the Fetch to the ground with a gust of air. Dirt billowed into a cloud. When the dust settled Nehemiah’s whip went slack. The Fetch disappeared. A glowing eyed wisp of dark smoke rose from where he had been. The wisp snaked through the air circling us, eyes searching.

“Huzzah!” yelled Rob.

I almost thought we defeated it.

Almost.

But apparently my death was still imminent. The phantom smoke remainder of the Fetch snaked through the air to hover over the dead Ban-he Sean like a black storm cloud.

I groaned. “No. Don’t do it,”

All at once the black wisp plunged into the corpse of Asen Scáth, crawling through the dead nostrils, mouth, ears, and eye sockets. Everything went still. Nothing happened.

Then Ban-he Sean’s chest heaved. He’d been brought back to life.