Chapter Text
Langdon sat reading student emails in his office when he heard urgent raps on the door. He glanced at the clock on the bottom right corner of the laptop screen, and grimaced with puzzlement. It was almost half past seven in the evening, nobody should have been aware that he was there.
The raps were louder and quicker the second time, definitely more intense.
"It's open, come in," he said with some confusion lacing his tone.
He blinked in surprise however, when he recognized the tall dark youth rushing into his office and throwing the door closed behind himself breathlessly. He was flat against the door as he caught his breath, and chanced a worried look out through the small tinted window on it.
"Mr Kane?"
Hearing his puzzled and bewildered tone, the young man turned to look at him. "I'm sorry Professor," he said, body rigid with tension. Langdon couldn't fathom what could have brought him here today, in this nervous state.
"Sorry for what?" Langdon rose from his seat to meet Carter in the middle of his office, searching his face for some form of explanation.
"Time is short. You have to come with me."
This was not what Langdon had expected to be the answer. He pulled his lips into a grim line, suspicious. "Is this some kind of college prank? If so, I'd rather you leave me out of it. I've had my fair share of those already and I had a long day."
"Gods...okay. Here's the thing: I came to get you because some very dangerous people are looking for you. They think you can help them find something powerful and invaluable."
Langdon waited for the punchline to drop, or something. But Carter was just looking at him with big brown eyes, unwavering. "Alright. I'll bite. Why shouldn't I just call the police then?"
"Because they'd get killed and you'd be captured."
Under normal circumstances such a statement would have sounded ridiculous, dramatic even. But somehow as Carter looked into his eyes with a steely expression of determination, Langdon felt he was telling the truth. Or what he believed to be the truth.
He was about to open his mouth to argue further when he heard a faint scream from outside. His first thought was that these college pranks were getting pretty damn elaborate, but seeing Carter's expression of horror he quickly shut his mouth.
"Come on, we're sitting ducks here. We gotta MOVE." he grabbed Langdon's wrist and tugged him towards the windows.
He pulled one open and looked out and down. His office was in a two story building, and it wasn't a huge drop from up there, but the professor felt his heart jump into his throat anyway when he saw Carter move to climb out onto the windowsill.
"What are you doing?!" he exclaimed, grabbing the young man by the arm.
"This is our only way out." Carter answered matter-of-factly and shook him off.
Langdon was left gaping after him, as he brought both of his long legs over the window and then pushed himself out, landing below on the ground with ease the older man didn't think should have been possible. Just who is this guy?
"Come on! I'll catch you!" he urged from below, arms upstretched.
"You can't be serious!" Langdon replied as loudly as he dared, leaning out the window.
"We don't have time Professor!" Carter hissed, wildly gesturing.
There was noise outside. Langdon looked at the door as he heard the sound of very loud feet down the corridor. His heart lept to his throat for the second time. The handle jiggled violently, someone was trying it from the other side, but Carter must have twisted the key Langdon had left in the lock.
"Professor Langdon!" A male voice shouted outside as someone banged on the door, rattled it on its hinges. It was a voice he wasn't familiar with, and his gut tightened as his brain flared with DANGER DANEGR DANGER. Somewhere deep in his mind he had already discarded the suspicions of this being some college prank.
He quickly climbed through the window, and sat on the outer edge, legs dangling. His stomach rolled as his vision blurred and titlted, he blinked as the ground suddenly appeared to rush ahead to meet him.
"You can do it Professor, I'm right here." Carter gave a small encouraging smile and a nod.
Taking slow breaths, Langdon was trying to psych himself up. Then the door behind him gave away with a loud crash and he pushed himself off with a panicked yelp.
It was as if his body grew weightless for a moment, falling freely. Alice falling through the rabbit hole briefly entered his mind.
Then he landed in a pair of strong arms that clutched him to a firm chest. He was pressed so close to Carter for a second their breaths mingled. A shiver went down his spine at the sensation, but he felt too out of breath and high strung, he didn't have the faculties to analyze the feeling at the time.
"You alright?" Carter asked, as he carefully peeled Langdon from his body.
The professor was only capable of nodding for the moment, breaths coming shaky. They both looked up at the shouting and cursing drifting out from above, through the open window of his office.
"Welp. Time to go."
He grabbed the older man's hand this time and they were running now. Langdon gulped from the chilling evening air, brain fuzzy with confusion and the adrenaline thrumming in his veins.
God, when can I stop running from maniacs trying to kill me?
After the kind of crazy scenarios he had been through only in the past few years, one would think he'd be better equipped for this kind of thing, but no. Only thanks to his strict swimming regimen was he able to keep up with Carter, and even with that he felt his lungs burn from the intensity of the past few minutes.
Carter adjusted his grip on Langdon's hand and pulled him on towards the gate leading out of campus. "We're almost there!" he tossed at the other man as they ran out through the gate and across the empty street.
Almost where? Langdon wanted to ask, but thought better of it. There was nothing around them, and the younger man was leading him towards an empty parking lot, the professor realized with some mortification.
Was he being pranked afterall?
Carter suddenly yanked on his hand and he skidded to a stop. Langdon was about to ask what the matter was, when a shadowy figure stepped onto the sidewalk in front of them. The young man came to stand in front of the professor, arm outstretched protectively.
"Hand the scholar over, boy." the figure rasped in a very menacing tone, a pair of blades sliding into his hands, reflective and very sharp looking.
Langdon swallowed anxiously.
"That's Leader of the Twenty-First Nome to you," Carter retorted, and the next second he was holding a curved sword in his hands, as if it had been conjured from thin air. Langdon recognized it as a khopesh, an old Egyptian weapon. Only it seemed to be glowing faintly.
Langdon was starting to think he was dreaming. He wasn't sure what the young man was doing in his dream, as he hadn't thought about him in some weeks, but maybe this was his brain's way of trying to remind him of his odd fascination.
No such luck.
The shadow cloaked man came stalking forward, blades raised, and Carter met him with his sword at the ready. Metal clinked and shrieked as they traded blow after blow, Langdon watched them twist and turn their bodies as if engaged in some form of dance. A deadly one at that, he was reminded when Carter made a slash on the shadowy figure's side, heard his yell of pain.
Then Carter did something very weird.
He began to glow, very bright neon blue light wrapped around his body. And then the light became a transparent figure that outgrew Carter's form, took a shape of its own with a hawk's head, remaining blanketed around his body. If he didn't know better, Langdon would have thought it was the replica of an Egyptian statue.
The neon coloured and transparent 10 foot figure outside moved the same way Carter did inside it, following his body and limbs. It picked up the injured stranger and tossed him to the side effortlessly. The man flew and crashed against a parking car next to the sidewalk, which now had its alarm triggered and made a lot of noise.
"We gotta go." Carter was back to looking normal and his sword seemed to be gone when he approached Langdon, as if something absolutely insane hadn't happened just now.
"What–?"
"Run now, questions later."
He let himself be dragged into the empty parking lot, where Carter let go of him and let out a loud whistle. Langdon almost fainted on the spot, when a big winged beast came flying towards them through the air.
That's it. I must have been drugged. He thought to himself faintly, the colour draining from his face as the beast landed right in front of them, letting out a loud screech as it flapped its wings.
"Easy boy," Carter went to pet the beast's feathery head as if it was some kind of pet. It was almost as big as a horse, and while its head resembled an eagle's and it had wings, it stood on four legs and the rest of its physique more resembeld a big cat's - a lion's perhaps. And it appeared to be pulling a boat.
Langdon felt a migraine jabbing at his temples as his brain tried to process the mythological monster he recognised to be a griffon, standing a few feet away from him in the flesh.
"He won't bite, come on." Carter said as he ushered him behind the beast and onto the boat, where Langdon finally sank to his knees with a dazed look. "Hold on tight. This will be a rocky ride." the young man told him while he sat down next to the professor, and then made another loud whistle.
Langdon scrambled to grip the side of the boat behind him as the griffon unfolded its wings and launched itself into the air, pulling the boat with itself.
Surely, I'm dreaming. He thought to himself, as the griffon and its two passengers shot to the sky, and he felt the cooling evening air rip at his blazer jacket and his hair, bite his cheeks.
"Are you okay Professor?" Carter asked with big concerned eyes, shaking him from his thoughts.
Langdon wanted to be very mad and upset, but looking into the youth's soft and sincere eyes he couldn't summon the energy to be too angry. "I gotta be honest here, I'm very confused about everything and I don't like it." he told Carter instead, sounding as tired as he felt.
"I'm sorry, I have to admit the way we departed was very crazy. But you were in danger."
"Okay let's back it up." the professor held up a halting hand. "Start from the beginning. Who are you? I mean really. Are you actually a student? And what the hell happened?" The thought that Carter was different from the earnest and curious young man he had gotten the impression of all those weeks ago could have been a lie somehow left him disappointed.
"I am. Egyptology, like I told you. I didn't lie about anything. I promise." Carter was quick to reassure. It put Langdon a bit more at ease, even though he wasn't sure he could trust the young man. For some reason he really wanted to though.
"Okay...and what was all that with the man and the daggers? Why do they want ME? Whoever 'they' is. And where are you taking me?" He knew he was rambling but everything was just crashing down in his mind and he was having trouble processing it all.
"Easy, Professor." Carter put a hand on his shoulder as they settled back against the boat's side. "I don't know a whole lot about those guys, I just overheard them talking and that they were looking for you. They didn't know where your office was so I was able to rush ahead and warn you."
Langdon spent some moments searching his face doubtfully, but sighed and said after a pause. "Thank you for coming to my aid. But why did you think they want me to find something for them?"
"They said so. Well, they mentioned an old relief with symbols in some temple, and then your name. They were waving one of your books around asking where your office was. I kind of put together the rest."
"You couldn't have known they were dangerous though." Langdon pointed out.
"I could actually. I saw a glimpse of their weapons. And I picked up a murderous aura about them. It's kind of hard to explain."
Langond grimaced, rubbing at his temple. "I'll bet."
Carter's face softened apologetically as he shifted in his seat, the wind blowing through his messy curls. "I'm sorry Professor. I didn't mean to get you into any kind of trouble."
His tone eased some of the irritation and anxiety bubbling in the older man's chest. "Just call me Robert. I'm not your professor afterall."
"Not yet." Carter flashed him a grin. "You don't have to call me Mr Kane either by the way. That was my dad."
"Alright, Carter. Tell me one thing. How in the HELL are we sitting on a boat pulled by a griffon?"
That was a more awkward explanation. Langdon did his best to listen and take it in as Carter introduced himself as a magician with the blood of ancient pharaohs and kings, told him about his younger sister who's also a magician like him and the school they run for people gifted with abilities like them. He also told him the griffon's name was Freak, his favourite treat was turkey and the place he was taking them had many more weird things in store.
"Are you okay?" he asked once he was done speaking.
"I don't know." Langdon muttered quite honestly. "I'm too old to be going crazy now."
"You're not going crazy." Carter said, smile soft. "Or if you are, I'm right there with you. So is my family and my students."
"I'm not sure that's comforting." the older man answered, unable to resist the corners of his mouth twitching up. He shifted in his seat with a sigh. For some reason he felt less like his head was about to burst. The fresh cool air perhaps had something to do with it. "Where are you taking me then?"
"My home in Brooklyn."
Langdon lifted an eyebrow. "That's a long way from Harvard."
"It's not that bad. Freak makes pretty good time usually."
"What about my classes? My work?"
The younger man's expression turned troubled. "I'm not sure you should go back tomorrow. If you really insist on it Sadie can open a portal for you but...I'd rather you stayed with us until we figure out what's going on. You can call the university from Brooklyn House."
Right. Langdon had forgotten his phone on his desk in his haste. He didn't usually use the thing as much, but he'll probably miss a lot of calls and emails. It couldn't be helped.
"We do have computers though." Carter offered, as if able to read his thoughts. "So you could log in to check your emails and stuff at the very least."
"I'd appreciate that." Langdon answered with a small tired smile. "Thanks."
"Of course. I really am sorry Robert."
The professor felt something shift in his gut at the way Carter was looking at him, his big eyes reflecting the stars coming out onto the sky above. Hearing him say his name felt somehow different too. Not in a bad way necessarily.
He cleared his throat. "How long until we arrive?"
"Forty minutes, half an hour perhaps. Rest a little in the meantime. I think you'll need it before the day ends."
Langdon didn't object.