by Brian Olsen
I smack my poor lovesick servant on the backside. “But no, as wonderful as Zane returning to my service would be, I can’t count on it.”
Tes furrows her brow. “Then what are you counting on?”
I wink at her. “History repeating itself.”
She huffs. “You enjoy being cryptic.”
“I do!” I kiss her cheek. “I truly do. Now, let’s take our places. Time for the next act.”
I return to my throne. Tes, shaking her head, takes her seat next to me.
“Let our guests in, Dante,” I command. “I have one more performance to play before this night is done.”
Seven
Dante drops the spell that’s been hiding the ballroom from detection since Zane revealed himself to me. A few moments later, a muffled voice in the hallway shouts, “Hey, did we look in here already?”
“By the Logos.” I shake my head. “I’m embarrassed for them. Honestly.”
One of the doors swings open and the girl who can make copies of herself looks in. She takes a sharp breath when she sees us and ducks back out of sight. “Here!” she shouts. “I found them!”
I lean over to Tes. “What’s that one’s name again?”
“Lily.”
“Lily. Right. Wine?”
“Oh, thanks.”
Tes and I share a glass while we wait for our enemies to arrive. It takes forever, but finally I hear more voices in the hallway.
Someone shouts “Disrupt!” before striding boldly into the room. I know him. Jown something. I don’t remember the family name. An older man, of fifty years or maybe more. Brown skinned, with tufts of white in his short black hair. Clearly once muscular, but age and lack of exercise have softened his bulk somewhat.
“And this one?” I ask Tes.
“Mr. Ambrose. He was Chris’s lacrosse coach.”
“Ah.”
The logomancer now known as Mr. Ambrose was Liefer’s right-hand in the rebellion against me, and if I remember correctly he fought for King Yar during the war as well. His power to disrupt magic could have been an effective thorn in my side, but we rarely faced each other directly.
He holds his hands out towards Tes, Dante and me. “Disrupt! Disrupt!”
I accept the glass back from Tes and take a sip of wine. “I’m sure that would be very impressive if any of us were using any magic at the moment.”
Ambrose calls out, “Now!”
The little band of rebels trudges into my grand ballroom. Some of them, anyway. There’s Lily, of course, and Alisa, the truthteller, and the strong one with the burnt face, Andy. No Liefer. I’d expected him to teleport them here, but perhaps they used Zane’s shadows instead. Hm. That might complicate matters.
The four of them line up facing us, about halfway down the ballroom.
Dante leans forward between the two thrones. “Should we be fighting them?”
Tes giggles. “What are you going to do, Dante? Hide them to death?”
I lift a finger to quiet them, then raise my voice so my new guests can hear. “There’s no need to fight. These are our friends, Dante. They won’t hurt us.”
Dante mutters, “I don’t know any of them,” but steps back into his position.
“Where’s Zane?” Alisa shouts. “What have you done to him?”
“He left,” I yell back. “Unharmed. We had a little chat, that’s all.” I clear my throat. “Why don’t you come closer? I hate all this shouting. Although the acoustics in here are perfect, you have to admit.”
They don’t move.
“What are they waiting for?” Tes whispers.
“There’s at least one more of them here. They’re waiting for that person to join them.”
“How do you know?”
I don’t answer. I don’t want to risk my enemies hearing. But the fact that all four of them are empty-handed tells me they haven’t completed the mission they came here for.
I thought this would move faster. They’re probably growing suspicious about why I’m not attacking.
“You know I could kill you all where you stand.” I swirl the wine in my glass. “Disruption or no.”
“Then why don’t you?” Alisa asks.
“Well, I could say you’re not worth the effort.” I hand the glass back to Tes. “Or that I prefer to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. But the truth is…” I stand and take a few steps forward, then throw my arms out wide. “I adore this ballroom and I don’t want to damage it. I mean, look at this carpet! Isn’t it gorgeous?”
Andy clenches his fists. “Has he lost his psychopathic mind?”
“He’s telling the truth.” Alisa curls her lip. I can’t quite tell if it’s in disbelief or disgust. “He’s actually concerned about the rug.”
It’s difficult deceiving someone who can detect lies. The trick is to pay close attention to what you say, and what you don’t say. She can tell if my words are the truth, but not whether they’re the whole truth.
“So it seems you have me at your mercy.” I bow to them with a grand, swooping arm gesture. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to move this to the breakfast bar area? I was planning on having it remodeled anyway.”
“I only want to know one thing from you,” Alisa says. “Is Chris Armstrong still in there somewhere?”
“No.”
The word slips from my mouth before I can stop it, but my wanting something to be true doesn’t make it true.
She smiles.
Damn it. I wanted them to leave here unsure, only to have Zane tell them that my performance as Chris was all an act, that their friend was gone for good. Ah, well. It doesn’t matter. Let them have hope. Let them think I’ll go easy on them out of some remnant of affection. It’ll only make it easier to kill them after they’ve served their purpose.
Liefer appears in the room, at their side. My spirits soar when I see what he cradles in his arms. I was right. Of course I was. I predicted their actions perfectly. I might as well have planned their mission for them myself.
“I have it.” Liefer shows them the book he holds. “I’ve got it.”
While his associates have been stalling for time, Liefer has been searching the hotel for a magical tome I’ve had in my possession ever since my reawakening. Creatures of Myth and Legend. It looks innocuous enough, on the surface. Thick and hard-backed, with an illustration on the cover of a unicorn in a glade. But in its pages lie the key to my return to power.
When the traitorous logomancers cast the Moment, they imprisoned all non-human species who depend on or were created by magic. My enemies banished them to shadow realms where they could survive, safe from this new world in which they had no place, no history, no existence. They were trying to save the creatures from me, but from what Tes has told me, they didn’t bother to ask anyone if they wanted to be so saved. On top of that rather alarming breach of etiquette, the creatures’ new homes are horrible places, faded echoes of the real world, devoid of life. Dante would call the whole endeavor an “epic fail.”
The realms are accessed via seemingly ordinary objects, scattered haphazardly around the world. The book allows a logomancer to identify these artifacts, and provides access in and out of their prisons.
That my enemies risked everything to steal Creatures of Myth and Legend from me confirms what I suspected about their plans. But they can’t leave here with it. I need that book. And I need my enemies to know that I need that book.
I form flames around my hands. “Return what you have stolen. Return it and I may let you leave here alive.”
“You need it, don’t you?” Alisa grins. “Whatever your plan is, you need this book to accomplish it.”
“Yes. I need it to regain my rightful throne.” I add a fiery crown around my head. “And I’ll have it back.”
And now she knows for sure that this is true. Perfect.
Kelle runs into the room, out of breath. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I couldn’t stop him.”
“We’re leaving,” Liefer says to his companions.
<
br /> “No!” This comes from both Lily and Alisa at the same time.
“We have the book,” the teleporter snarls at them. “That’s what matters.”
“Stick to the plan!” Alisa barks. “Mr. Ambrose, if Liefer tries to teleport us away, disrupt him.”
Hm. Dissension in the ranks. I’m not sure what else they could be here for, though. To rescue Kenny, perhaps? Or Shonda? Or to make another misguided attempt to sway Tes or me to their side?
Liefer acquiesces to whatever the truthteller has in mind. The five of them tighten up, standing closer together in a line facing me.
Better play it safe and move this along. “Shonda!” I shout.
One of the doors leading to the servants’ area opens and Shonda joins us, followed by Kenny.
That’s not the plan. Kenny is supposed to stay out of sight.
“Shonda!” Alisa shouts. “Kenny! Get over here with us!”
Shonda plays her part. She holds her hands out towards Liefer and says her word. “Conjure.”
The book disappears from his hands and appears in hers. Liefer is caught by surprise, but reaches out to teleport it back.
“Dante!” I shout.
“Hide!” comes the command from behind me.
Shonda vanishes, along with the book.
“Disrupt!” Ambrose, the one-time lacrosse coach, grits his teeth. “Disrupt!”
“You’ll find our magic hard to interrupt now,” I explain. “Thanks to Kenny’s amplification.”
Time to end this while it’s still going my way. This last bit might be tricky. I need them to flee empty-handed, without realizing that I don’t intend to kill any of them yet.
I let the halo of flame around my head spread out over my whole body, then I float a few feet into the air.
“Carpet be damned!” I shout. “I’ll incinerate you all for this effrontery!”
“Your Majesty!” Kelle forms an ice javelin and makes as if to throw it at the rebels.
She already knows not to attack, but to keep up the pretense I bark at her, “Stand down! They’re mine!”
“Kenny!” Lily cries out. “Help us!”
Kenny shifts his weight from foot to foot, as if he wants to run to them. What is he playing at?
“Are they safe?” he yells. “Do you have them?”
“I got them, Kenny,” Liefer shouts back. “Your family is safe!”
No. That’s not possible.
“Kenny! Listen to me!” I shoot a blast of flame at his feet. “Your family is—”
“Amplify!”
I lose control of my flight and rocket upwards. I crash into a chandelier, shattering some of the electric lights, then slam into the ceiling and flatten against it as my out-of-control magic forces me to rise. I can’t breathe.
And then it stops. I drop like a stone and hit the thick carpet.
Everything hurts. My head is bleeding. My enemies stand over me.
“Sun,” I choke out, forming fire in my eyes.
Ambrose waves his hand at me. “Disrupt!”
My feeble flame flickers and dies.
No. No. Not like this. I am stronger than them. I am stronger than all of them together, amplified or not.
They should kill me now. They’ll regret not doing so.
Hear the Logos. Hear it.
Hear the voices. All the words that have ever been spoken, in every voice that has ever been heard. Find my word. Find my voice.
There.
“Sun.”
Physically I’m too weak to get up, so I float to an upright position.
My enemies stand before me. Six of them, holding hands. The fear on their faces is palpable.
I’m on my own. Shonda and Dante have left to take the book to a safe distance, as instructed. Finlay is off-site, guarding the Pillmans. Tes and Kelle are trapped in ice, victims of Kenny’s amplification magic.
Kenny’s too strong. Plan be damned, he has to die first.
I point at him.
They all say their words at once.
“Truth.” “Space.” “Disrupt.” “Body.” “Split.” “Amplify.”
Pain! Pain like I’ve ever known. Agony drives the sound of the Logos from my head. I arc backwards. I would collapse, I want to collapse, I want to curl up and tremble but something in their magic holds me upright, on my feet.
I can’t scream. They won’t let me scream. My mouth is open so wide but nothing comes out.
Pulling. Every part of my body, inside and out, pulls in every direction.
They’re ripping me apart. Shredding me.
I can’t. I can’t do anything.
“Truth!” “Space!” “Disrupt!” “Body!” “Split!” “Amplify!”
I stay conscious. They’re keeping me conscious. Torturing me.
Logos, please, take me away from this. Put me back in the floating room. Anything.
Grant me an end.
I’ll die. Let death come.
Let it end! Let it all end!
Someone help me!
“Truth!” “Space!” “Disrupt!” “Body!” “Split!” “Amplify!”
My body is bending! Breaking!
My flesh is bubbling! Growing! Changing!
The pain is worse how can it be worse
I am shedding skin muscle bone
I am shedding myself
I am
“Truth!” “Space!” “Disrupt!” “Body!” “Split!” “Amplify!”
The pain stops. Finally, it stops. I fall, and scream.
There is someone else here. Someone screaming with me.
I push myself up onto my hands and lift my head.
So does he.
Our eyes meet.
I’m not in the floating room.
I’m in the real world.
I’m in the ballroom, on the floor, surrounded by enemies.
And Chris Armstrong looks back at me.
Eight
The Common King looks back at me.
A minute ago I was in the floating room. Then pain. So much pain. Something pulled and pulled at me and wouldn’t stop and now I don’t know where I am. I’m lying on a blue and gold carpet. I have just enough strength to push myself up on my elbows.
I’m looking into eyes identical to my own, except so much angrier.
Voices screaming all around us.
“It worked!”
“Get him!”
“Which one is Chris?”
“That one!”
“How do you know?”
“We have to leave! Now!”
“No.” Fire flares deep in the Common King’s eyes, but his voice is weak and tremulous. “No. I won’t allow this.”
The fire glows brighter.
“Space!”
I’m somewhere else again. The Common King is gone but the voices are still yelling.
“Is that him? Is that really him?”
“The book! We didn’t get—”
“Kenny! Where’s Kenny?”
“Oh my god, did you leave Kenny behind?”
“Chris? Chris?”
Too weak. Can’t hold myself up and I fall flat. No blue and gold carpet. Grey cement.
“Chris?”
So tired. I never slept in the floating room.
Sleep. Darkness.
I don’t dream.
I wake up but don’t open my eyes. Feels like it’s only been a few seconds but nobody’s yelling anymore and I’m not lying on the hard floor. There’s a pillow under my head and a blanket over me.
Some people are talking quietly but I can’t make out what they’re saying. I shift my weight a little and they stop.
“Chris?”
I keep my eyes closed. Not ready yet.
I don’t understand how I’m me if the Common King is still me.
I press my hands to my face. Solid. Flesh. I have weight. I have substance.
“Chris?” The same voice. “Chris? That’s really you, right? Please tell me it’s you.”
> I slide my hands back under the blanket. “Yeah.” Raspy. Hard to talk. I clear my throat and try again. “Yeah, Nate. It’s me.”
Whatever I’ve been sleeping on bounces as he sits and hugs me. He rests his head on my chest and slides his arms underneath me.
I blink my eyes open. Metal pipes run along the ceiling. Alisa’s here.
Feels like canvas under my hands. I’m in a cot, not a real bed.
Alisa sits and folds herself over Nate, wrapping her arms around us both.
They probably want me to hug them back. I put one arm around Nate, one around Alisa.
I don’t cry, but I wait while they do.
Finally they grow quieter. They sit up. Nate wipes his eyes. Alisa laughs a little, to break the silence.
“What did you do?” I ask quietly.
They don’t answer right away. I try to push myself up to a sitting position but there’s nothing behind the cot, nothing to lean against, and I’m still so tired. They help me.
We’re in a basement, I think. I don’t recognize it. It’s big. Dark. Small windows, up near the ceiling, have been painted black. Tubular fluorescent lights in the ceiling are off, but lamps have been placed around the room, lighting it with patches of dim yellow glow. Cardboard boxes are stacked against the walls. Sleeping bags and cots. Duffel bags and suitcases, mostly open with clothes spilling out. I don’t see a staircase but there’s one exit, an open hallway with no door. I can’t see where it leads.
“What did you do?” I ask again.
“We pulled you out of him,” Alisa answers.
“It was my idea,” Nate adds. “I wanted to do it for Jasmine, too. Split her off from the Nightmare Queen.” He slumps a little. “But—”
Alisa rubs his back. “But it wouldn’t have worked on anyone but Chris.” She rests a hand on my leg. “After the Common King took you over, Zane told us everything you told him about the floating room. You were unique. The only person whose memories and personalities were kept distinct by the Moment. The rest of us, our memories are too blended together to be separated cleanly.”
I shift my leg away. “But how did you do it?”
Alisa frowns, her hand hanging in the air for a moment, before she explains. “We combined our logomancy. We each had a part. Me, to find and isolate your truth, inside his head. Lily, to split you in two, with Andy making your duplicate body strong enough to survive on its own. Mr. Ambrose, to disrupt the bond between you and the floating room. Liefer, manipulating space to bring you into the real world. And Kenny, to amplify our powers enough for this incredibly difficult magic spell to work.”