Lost Horizon

by Michelle Hercules

  “Our test was in the real world. The shield went up an hour before the Raven Witch sent her horde to attack us,” Prince Lennox answers, increasing his pace.

  “Talk about a Hail Mary,” Reo replies.

  “I don’t know what that means,” Darius confesses.

  It’s easy to forget that Darius and the prince have completely different backgrounds than Reo and me. It’s the fact that they speak the same language as we do that keeps tripping me. I wish I had more time to discover the origins of Oz’s settlement. Like, for instance, which colony ship populated this planet. But, unfortunately, time is not something I have.

  “Ignore Reo. So, where are we going?”

  “To the heart of Emerald City.” Prince Lennox leads us through a maze of corridors and stairways until we reach what I assume is the ground level.

  We didn’t come through here when we arrived at the palace.

  There are guards stationed here as well, all displaying their disk-shaped weapons. The tension is palpable when the prince gives the guards orders to make sure all citizens and workers currently inside the palace go somewhere safe. Then, he heads out through thick doors that have metal rods running along their lengths for reinforcement.

  “I thought the palace was the heart—a giant green eyesore of a heart,” Reo whispers near my ear, giving me goose bumps along with aggravation.

  How is it possible to loathe and enjoy someone’s presence so much?

  I’m tempted to elbow him in the stomach again, but I remember he has abs of steel. I wonder what other parts of his anatomy are like that. I gasp out loud, making all men near me glance my way. I refuse to peer at either Darius or Reo, so my eyes land on Prince Lennox’s masked face. His lips are curled upward in a grin, making me suspect he read my mind.

  He can’t, can he?

  Now, my face must be flaming red with the way I’m blushing.

  The prince focuses on the way he’s going once more. We’re in a small courtyard surrounded on all sides by the tall green walls of the palace. The blue sky is as striking as ever, but my wonder over Oz’s rich color palette vanishes when the sky seems to vibrate, followed by the terrifying sound of something exploding somewhere nearby.

  “Was that the shield?” I ask.

  “Yes. That’s not good. Those vibrations mean it won’t last that much longer if it keeps getting hit like that.”

  “Damn it. If I had a fighting cruiser, I could knock some of those airspeeds down,” I say.

  “You are a pilot?” The prince turns.

  “Yes. One of the best.” I proudly puff my chest out, but I realize quickly that that part of my life is over, and just like that, my entire body deflates.

  “If we can restore the shield’s capacity, we’ll see about getting you airborne. We need all the military personnel we can get to fight against the Raven Witch.”

  “I’m a pilot, too. It’s the reason I came to Emerald City,” Reo adds.

  “I thought you came here to speak with the Great Wizard,” I say.

  With eyebrows furrowed, Reo watches me.

  “What? That’s what you said.” I shrug.

  The prince stops suddenly in the middle of the courtyard. He pulls a medallion hanging from his neck while peering at Darius. “Do you still remember what to do, cousin?”

  Darius’s lips turn into a slash on his face, but he nods. Prince Lennox walks to the middle of the mandala design on the stone floor and presses his medallion right in the center. The piece of jewelry locks in place with a sharp click. Quickly, the prince retraces his steps.

  Lifting both hands palm up, Darius closes his eyes for a brief second. His hands begin to glow a soft green light. Two small light orbs erupt from his hands, converging in the middle to merge into one. Pushing his hands outward, Darius sends the orb straight to the medallion on the floor. The emerald embedded in it absorbs the energy, and then neon-green light spreads through the design on the stones. The distinct sound of gears working can be heard from where I stand. Darius must have activated some type of mechanism.

  The stone floor sinks, gradually revealing a set of spiral steps going down.

  “It seems we’re going to another dungeon,” Reo says next to me.

  “I hope one not filled with Halloween props,” I reply.

  “How can you know about Halloween?” Reo raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t think the tradition survived on New Earth.”

  “It didn’t. But my cousin Adrian and I loved to watch vintage movies from before the age of space expansion. The Nightmare Before Christmas was one of our favorites.”

  Reo chuckles, surprising me. “Yeah, that’s a good one.”

  “Are you coming or not?” Prince Lennox asks from the stairs. He’s already halfway down.

  My head snaps back in the game. Emerald City is on the verge of falling at the hands of the enemy, and here I am, reminiscing about old movies with Reo of all people. As I hurry to the steps, I find Darius watching me with a serious expression. It’s hard to tell if he’s mad at me or worried about the city’s barrier.

  I push my concerns about his mood to the side. Another blast above ground reminds me that this is not a drill. We are in terrible danger. I’ve only had one brief encounter with the Raven Witch’s counterpart. It was bad enough. I would like to avoid the biggest menace if I can help it.

  We don’t have to walk long until we reach the end of the stairs. It leads us to a small, round chamber with a low ceiling. Reo, who is the tallest in our party, almost has to walk hunched forward to avoid bumping his head.

  “Why is this room built for munchkins?” he asks in his blunt manner.

  “We didn’t have a lot of time to create this place. It’s not our fault you’re freakishly tall,” Darius grumbles.

  “I’m average height.”

  “Where? In the land of giants?” I snort.

  “I can’t believe I agreed to bring you lot here.” Prince Lennox sends a glower my way.

  I could reply with an angry retort, but I am acting like an idiot. An odious condition that afflicts me when I’m nervous.

  He whirls around, stopping in front of a polished metal sliding door. Its clean and modern lines are at odds with what I’ve seen around the palace above. It reminds me of the Kansas Space Station.

  “Oh, wow, the absence of green. I must be dreaming,” Reo says.

  The moment the sliding door whooshes open, the brightest green glare hits us. I have to lift my arms to shield my eyes.

  “Oops. Spoke too soon,” Reo adds.

  “For all the stars. How can you stand to look at this without glasses?” I ask.

  “Monkey feathers. I forgot about them.” Prince Lennox rummages inside a box sitting just outside the room.

  When he finds what he’s looking for, he lobs at us dark-tinged safety glasses. He doesn’t bother with a pair. I realize he would have to remove his mask to wear them. Instead, he enters the room without eye protection, making me judge his call. Is keeping his identity a secret more important than protecting his eyesight?

  “He’s used to the glare already,” Darius explains as if he was reading my judgmental thoughts.

  After I adjust the glasses strap behind my head, I follow Darius in. Even with the glasses, my eyes burn with the intensity of the light emanating from the emeralds and crystals grouped together in the center of the tiny room. A short, circular, metallic wall separates them from the rest of the space left. I’m glad Kevvan is not here. He wouldn’t appreciate being confined in such a small space.

  The crystals in my pocket react when I move closer to the bigger stones, turning unbearably warm—a stark contrast to the coldness in the room.

  Shivering, I rub my arms to try to keep warm. “Do you see anything that’s amiss?”

  Darius and Prince Lennox circle around the island of crystals, which not only illuminate the room, but also pulse from within, as if they had heartbeats. They have been placed in a way that their sharpest ends are pointing at a great openin
g in the ceiling. Narrowing my eyes, I notice the energy field erupting from their ends and disappearing through the hole.

  “No, everything looks fine.” Darius circles around the island, scanning the structure.

  “So, the crystals and emeralds power the shield?” I ask.

  “Yes,” Prince Lennox replies.

  “How?” I take a step closer, my hand outstretched.

  The prince grabs my wrist, stopping me before I can touch anything. An electric current runs up my arm, making me gasp.

  “Don’t touch them. It’s extremely dangerous.”

  My heart is beating so fast it might just take flight at any moment. I stare into the prince’s eyes, noticing the flecks of gold in his cerulean blue eyes.

  He doesn’t break eye contact, nor does he release my arm. I honestly can’t say how long we stay frozen like that until Reo snaps his finger in front of my face.

  “Oz to Dorothy,” he says.

  The prince drops my arm and takes a step back, turning to look at the stones.

  Blinking my eyes fast, I turn to Reo. “What?”

  I’m still feeling a little shocked by what transpired between Prince Lennox and me. I didn’t imagine the transfer of energy between us, nor could I attribute the phenomenon to silly, romanticized notions.

  There’s another loud boom outside. It seems the attacks are coming with more frequency. This time, the walls in the chamber tremble, and there is a visible crackling in the energy flow from the stones.

  “We’re running out of time,” Prince Lennox says, not hiding the hint of desperation in his tone.

  “I know. But I can’t find the source of the problem.” Darius yanks his hair back, pulling and pulling as he runs the perimeter of the cluster of stones.

  “Isn’t it possible your barrier is just not as good as you thought it was?” Reo asks.

  Prince Lennox ignores him. Instead, he walks to a multicolored control panel on the wall. There’s a digital screen showing numbers and a frequency graphic.

  “The power levels are at twenty-five percent. Another hit, and the barrier might disintegrate completely.”

  Biting my bottom lip, I stare at the center of the cluster of stones where the largest of all pieces is. The emerald is almost as tall as me. I can see the stone’s energy pulsing in a steady rhythm. It’s almost hypnotizing. Then, something strange happens. A flicker of dark mass appears and vanishes in the blink of an eye. I move closer, unsure of if my eyes are playing a trick on me. The lenses on the safety glasses are dark gray. Maybe what I saw was simply a speck of dirt on them. To be sure, I wipe them with my short uniform cape. I’ve always wondered about the practicality of it. Now, I’m glad it’s coming in handy for something.

  I see the flicker again. No, it wasn’t dirt on my glasses. I move closer, straining my eyes. The dark mass is small. It comes and goes so fast it’s easy to miss it.

  “There’s something inside the main emerald,” I finally say.

  “What?” Darius runs to my side. “Where?”

  “Over there.” I point. “It looks like some kind of dark energy. I’m not sure how to describe it.”

  “I don’t see anything.” Prince Lennox joins me on my left side, leaning forward. He stretches his arm, trying to touch the stone.

  “What are you doing? You said it was dangerous to touch it.” I grab the sleeve of his jacket.

  He glances at my hand for a second before slowly lifting his gaze until it meets mine. “Not to me.”

  Feeling foolish, I let go. Prince Lennox proceeds to touch the stone, pressing his palm against it. In an instant, his hand becomes enveloped by light. I wish I could see his entire face, but his jaw is locked tight, and his eyes are closed. He stays in that position for a few seconds before he yanks his hand back, as if he were electrocuted.

  With round eyes and breathing hard, he stares at me. “You are right. There’s a dark energy inside the emerald. It’s almost as if … it’s tainted.”

  “How is that possible? Only a powerful source would be able to taint an emerald.”

  Prince Lennox breaks the connection between us as he gives his back to the stones. In a nervous gesture, he rubs his chin. “I’m not sure how. Maybe that earlier attack sent something small enough that slipped through the barrier.”

  “The barrier doesn’t keep air out, right? So, what if the dark energy was like an airborne virus?”

  Prince Lennox turns to me again. “That’s an excellent theory. Darius, would something like that be possible?”

  Darius is not looking at us but at the tainted emerald. “I suppose.”

  I sense Reo’s stare almost burning a hole through my face. “What?”

  “You’ve purified crystals before.”

  Darius switches his attention to us, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline now. “You can’t expect Dorothy to risk her life. We don’t know what kind of malign presence is inside the emerald.”

  “It can’t be worse than the crystals from the Red Witch. Dorothy purified them without a hitch,” Reo rebuffs.

  I appreciate his vote of confidence, but he wasn’t there when I purified those crystals. But again, he has made it clear he doesn’t care about my well-being. Either way, I have to do something.

  “I’ll try,” I say. “Fair warning though: I don’t know how I purified the Red Witch’s crystals or the one I found on the creepy cyborg.”

  “Dorothy, are you sure?” Darius asks.

  “Yes. Remember what I told you earlier?”

  The sadness that crosses his face tells me he gets where I’m going with my argument. Risking my life in an attempt to save Oz is not such a big deal when I’m going to die soon anyway.

  Letting out a loud exhale, I stretch my arm as far as I can, barely reaching the grand emerald stone. I only manage to brush my fingers against the cold surface, but it’s enough for me to sense the wrongness within the stone. I didn’t feel anything similar when I purified the other crystals. Whatever this thing is, it’s sentient. It knows I’m there to destroy it. But whatever special ability I have, it manifests automatically.

  On my command, the untainted energy flowing in the emerald surrounds the dark invader, trapping it inside a bubble of light. But the darkness wants to escape at any cost. It fights against my hold. It hurts me. My fingers turn cold and numb. The ice-cold wave spreads up my arm, making me grind my teeth. If I don’t destroy that thing, it will freeze me to death. With a final mental push, I crush the ball of light over the dark energy, obliterating it into nothing but little specks of purified dust.

  The entire room begins to spin, and my legs seem to have turned into jelly. I fall against someone’s arms. Soft and warm arms. Darius.

  “I don’t believe it,” Prince Lennox says from behind us. “The shield’s power is going back up. She did it. Dorothy purified the emerald.”

  “That’s great,” I say. Then, nothing.

  37

  Dorothy

  When I come back to, I’m no longer in that chamber with the giant stones. I’m lying in a bed, staring at a beautiful white glass chandelier. The sunlight pours through the window, warmer in color, telling me it must be past midday. It’s odd how the trajectory of the sun here in Oz is similar to the one on Old Earth.

  “Dorothy? How are you feeling?” Darius’s voice calls from my right.

  I turn and find him perched on his seat, watching me with a creased forehead. “You’ll get premature expression lines if you keep frowning like that.”

  “She’s spewing irrelevant information already. She must be fine,” Reo says from his spot near the window. He’s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed—not looking at me but at whatever has caught his attention outside.

  Resting on my elbows, I search the room for more company. Toto is lying by my feet, resting his jaw on his tiny paws. His eyes glow brighter when he notices I’m up. With a quick jump, he bounces awkwardly in my direction until I’m hugging him tight.

  “Where are
Kevvan and Prince Lennox?” I ask.

  “I’m here.” My friend emerges from the bathroom door, looking like his old self again.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Kevvan drops his gaze to the floor, running a hand through his glorious mane of hair. “Embarrassed as hell. I can’t believe I completely lost my shit like that.”

  “It wasn’t your fault Prince Lennox is a moron with a capital M.”

  “Wow, tell me how you really feel, why don’t you?” The man in question enters the room, carrying in his hands a tray with drinks and food.

  Heat rushes to my cheeks, but I refuse to take back what I said. “The truth can hurt sometimes, but it will set you free.”

  “Darius, you didn’t tell me the object of your affection was such a poet.” The prince smirks.

  If he wasn’t carrying food, I’d throw a pillow at him.

  “So, did we fix the protective barrier?” I ask.

  “What do you think, Sherlock?” Reo pushes himself off the wall. “We wouldn’t all be hanging out here and having tea if the Raven Witch had invaded Emerald City.”

  “I see you’re back to your annoying self.” I send a glower his way.

  With an eyebrow raised, he asks, “When did I ever act differently?”

  I could think of one instance when he tried to protect me using his own body as a shield. But I keep my reply to myself. I wish I were better at reading social cues from people. I don’t know if we shared a heated moment or if it was all in my head. Sabrina would know, but she wouldn’t talk to me right now even if there were a way to contact her.

  “Is that for me?” I point at the tray in Prince Lennox’s hand.

  “Yeah, I was hoping you would be up. It’s been almost a day since you collapsed.”

  “An entire day?” I rub my face. I can’t believe I lost so much time.

  “Wow, a prince who serves his own guests. That’s a first,” Reo says, not hiding his sarcastic tone one bit.

  “Why are you like that?” Kevvan asks, frowning as if he’s indeed trying to figure Reo out.

  I’d tell him to forget it. Reo is an enigma, and my guess is, he’ll stay that way until he wants to reveal something, which will probably be never.