The Common King

by Brian Olsen

  “I’m ready, I’m ready!” Nate slips on his already-laced sneakers. “I’m ready!”

  “Circle up.” Alisa beckons for us to take our places. “Facing out. Chris and Nate in the middle.”

  The logomancers form a ring around me and Nate. He and I stand back to back.

  “Mr. Liefer,” Alisa continues, “I’m telepathically sending you the spot I scried. It should be the exact location of the necklace. Do you have it?”

  “I’ve got it, Alisa.”

  “Okay. Let’s go save some lives.”

  The door at the top of the stairs creaks open. Mrs. Green’s groggy voice calls down, “You having a party down there?”

  “Now, please, Mr. Liefer,” Alisa whispers. “Before our parents get mad.”

  Seventeen

  “—exhausted. Let’s call it—”

  “Oh my god!”

  Shonda spots us first as we teleport into the hotel, and her exclamation cuts off whatever Mrs. Kumar was saying. I’m barely able to take in the room from inside the circle of logomancers. It’s not the ballroom where I was split off from the Common King, I can tell that much. It’s big, but not that big, and the floor is marble-patterned tile, not carpet. I think it’s a conference room because the only furniture is a big long table with rolling chairs all around it. There are random objects all over the table, though, and more on the floor.

  Mrs. Kumar, Shonda and Kenny sit at the table. At Shonda’s cry, Mrs. Kumar jumps up.

  “Kenny!” she yells. “Now!”

  “Amplify!”

  All the logomancers collapse, some to their knees, some flat to the ground. They moan and hold their heads, covering their ears, like they’re hearing something painfully loud. Even Shonda writhes in her chair, gritting her teeth in pain, incapacitated. Apart from Kenny, only Mrs. Kumar, Nate and I are unaffected.

  Mrs. Kumar will probably make a break for it to warn the Common King, so I run for the closed door, jumping over a prone Andy. Except Kumar doesn’t move from the table. She calmly presses a button on a fancy speaker phone in front of her. A dial tone sounds, and she reaches for the keypad.

  Nate dives for her, shoving chairs and logomancers out of his way. She pushes one button before he gets her wrist. She punches him hard in the ear with her free hand and he lets her go, but he recovers quickly and grabs the phone away from her. He rips it free from its cables, darkening its display.

  Now Mrs. Kumar breaks for the door. I charge her but she’s nimbler than I expect and dodges around me. I pivot and catch her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. She tries to stomp on my foot but I lift her up into the air. She kicks and squirms, knocking me off balance, and my shin smashes into something on the floor. My legs give out, and as we drop to the hard tile I lose her. She rolls onto her stomach to push herself up but Nate dives across her back.

  “Get off! Help!” She’s screaming at full volume. “Help!”

  I slap my hand over her mouth. She bites me but I ignore the pain and keep her muffled. Nate slides down to her legs while I swing around and put my full weight on her upper back. Together we keep her pinned and quiet.

  “Kenny!” Nate says. “Dude! You gotta stop!”

  “We’re here to rescue you!” I add.

  “Like before?”

  Kenny digs his hands into his chair’s armrests. Beads of sweat form on his brow as he splits his focus between talking to us and keeping seven logomancers out of action. Man. He’s gotten strong.

  “That was Liefer,” Nate explains. “We didn’t know he was gonna lie about finding your family. I’m sorry, dude.”

  “The king killed my mom!” Kenny spits out. “He killed my mom because of what I did! Because you didn’t save us!”

  “Oh, Kenny,” I say. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

  “He burned her.” Kenny’s voice gets a little quieter. “He burned her right in front of me. Made us all watch. Me and my father and my brother. He made us watch.”

  Nate swears under his breath, then asks me, “Can you handle our evil trig teacher?”

  I bear my weight down a little harder on Mrs. Kumar and nod. She’s only got a tiny little flap of skin from my palm between her teeth but it hurts like hell. Still, she’s a middle-aged lady with no magic. There’s no way she’s getting out from under me.

  Nate gets up and crouches by Kenny’s side. “Dude, I’m sorry. I am. That’s horrible. I wasn’t there but Alisa told me how Liefer lied to you to get you to help. That’s not gonna happen again. We’re here just for you and your family. That’s the whole reason we came back, I swear. We’re gonna get you out and away from him.”

  Kenny shakes his head. “You can’t fight him, Nate. I tried. I tried to save my mom. I used all my magic on him and he shrugged it off. It’s hopeless.”

  “It’s not hopeless. We can fight him. We have to fight him. But you’ve got to help us.”

  “He’ll kill them.” Tears mix with Kenny’s sweat. “He said he’ll kill my father and my brother if I betray him again.”

  “Kenny.” I have to raise my voice to cut through the moans of the seven suffering logomancers. He looks at me, but then looks away. I can’t blame him for not liking my face.

  “Kenny,” I say again, “he’s going to kill them anyway. Your family weren’t in the world before the Moment, were they?”

  He swallows. “No.”

  “Then they’ll die if his plan succeeds. They’ll disappear. I know turning on him is risky and scary but we’re your family’s only chance of getting out of this.”

  “You promise me, Chris.” He grabs his chair tighter and furrows his brow at me. “You promise me they’ll be okay.”

  When I don’t answer right away, Nate widens his eyes at me, encouraging me to agree.

  They wait for my answer while Zane and the rest writhe on the ground. Shonda’s slumped off her chair onto the floor. It looks like Mr. Ambrose is unconscious. Lily, too. I need to make this promise to Kenny before they all pass out from the pain. Except…

  “I can’t.” I look back at my former friend. “I can’t promise you that, Kenny. I can’t promise anyone is safe. But I promise it’ll be worse for your family, for the whole world, if we don’t stop him. And we can’t stop him without you.”

  Kenny stares back at me for a moment, then, with a huge amount of effort, he pushes himself up from his chair. “Okay.”

  The moaning stops. Mr. Ambrose and Lily are out, but Alisa, Zane, Andy and Liefer slowly sit up.

  As does Shonda. She grabs the edge of the table and pulls herself to her feet, shaking.

  “Shonda.” I press my knees down to still a bucking Mrs. Kumar. “Help us. You can get out of this. It’s not too late.”

  “Stay…” She winces and touches her temple. “Stay back. Conjure.”

  Something disappears from the table and appears in her hand. A crooked wooden club. Shonda lets go of the table and stands up straight, brandishing the club as threateningly as she can while shaking like a leaf.

  Mrs. Kumar bites down with all her jaw strength and tears off a tiny chunk of my palm.

  “Yow! Shit!” I pull my bleeding hand away but manage to slap it back across her face again before she can scream.

  “I got her.” Zane, still on the ground, reaches towards Mrs. Kumar. I slide my hand from her mouth and it’s replaced by a shadow gag. The shadow grows, spreading down her body all the way to her legs, holding her in place.

  I get up from the floor, pressing my palm against my jeans. “Thanks.”

  Zane waves off my offered hand. “Gonna stay down here until the room stops spinning, if that’s okay.”

  “Dude.” Nate rests his hand on Kenny’s shoulder. “They are messed up. What did you do to them?”

  “Amplified their ability to hear the Logos.”

  Alisa manages to stand, using the back of a chair for support. “That was loud as hell. Like the whole world screaming in my head.” She turns to Mr. Liefer. “Would you tend to Lily a
nd Mr. Ambrose, please?”

  He rubs his temples. “Andy is much better suited—”

  “Please.”

  He huffs, but crouches back down over our unconscious friends.

  Alisa takes in Shonda, who’s backed into the far corner, wielding her club. “Hey, girl.” She steps closer, the chair she’s supporting herself with pivoting under her hand.

  Shonda raises her weapon. “You’re not gonna win this, Alisa. You can’t beat him.”

  Alisa points at the heavy piece of wood in Shonda’s hand. “You really gonna bash me with that?”

  Shonda tightens her grip. “Come a little closer and find out.”

  “I thought we were friends.”

  “Because we’re the only two black girls in our class? A couple trips to Hartford to get our hair done right doesn’t make us friends.”

  Alisa doesn’t reply.

  Shonda lowers the club, just a little. “Sorry.” She stares at the weapon in her hand, blinking at it almost in surprise. She puts it down on the table and rubs her eyes. “I’m sorry, Alisa. I didn’t mean that.”

  “I know.”

  “Of course you do.” Shonda grimaces. “Human lie detector. Listen to this truth, then. You are on the wrong side here, Alisa. All of you!” She steps around the table towards us. “The Common King is going to make the world better!”

  I come to Alisa’s side. Shonda and I were close in elementary school. We drifted after that, but, apart from Alisa, I probably know her better than anyone here. “You can’t believe that, Shonda. Not with everything he’s done.”

  Alisa shakes her head. “She believes it.”

  Shonda smiles at her. “See? So you know it’s true!”

  “I know you believe it’s true.”

  “Shonda,” I say, “your memories are mixing you up. You’ve got to remember who you are. What’s important to you. Don’t you know what’ll happen if he breaks the Moment? How many people will die?”

  “Oh, Chris.” She shakes her head sadly. “You lost the best part of yourself when you got split in two. The best part.” She lifts her arms. “Conjure.”

  The rolling chair Alisa was leaning against appears in Shonda’s hands. As Alisa stumbles into the table, Shonda throws the chair at me, forcing me to flinch back, then bolts past us for the door.

  “Body!” Andy reaches for her, his fingers tensed into a twisted position.

  Shonda freezes mid-step. She topples to the ground, immobile as a statue, landing not far from Mrs. Kumar.

  Alisa exhales. “Thanks, Andy.”

  “I can hold her.” Keeping his hand in position, he fumbles his way up into a chair. “For a while.”

  “Yeah.” Zane scoots closer to Mrs. Kumar. “Me, too.”

  Mr. Liefer gently helps Mr. Ambrose to a sitting position. “They’re coming around.”

  “Oh, man.” Lily sits up, rubbing her head. “That sucked. Damn, Kenny.”

  “Sorry, Lil,” Kenny says. “That’s what he told me to do if you found us. He makes me practice my logomancy all the time.” He shoots a nervous look at the door. “We don’t have long. He’ll be in bed, probably, but I don’t think Jasmine ever sleeps. And the staff is terrified of him. They’ll give us away if they see you.”

  Mr. Liefer leans on the table, taking in the assortment of objects spread across it. “These are the magical artifacts! I should get these to safety right away.”

  “No!” Kenny grabs Alisa’s forearm, wide-eyed. “No, my family first! Nate promised!”

  She puts her hand on his. “And so do I, Kenny. The artifacts stay where they are. Let’s go find your family.”

  “Of all the irresponsible…!” Liefer slams his fist on the table. “They’re right here! We can get them all!”

  In all the commotion I hadn’t taken in the stuff in the room. There are random small artifacts all over the table, including the minotaur trophy. Larger artifacts sit on the floor, like Yasu’s screen, and a truly horrific stone gargoyle which I think is what I bashed my shin against. Yellow sticky notes attached to the artifacts label the magical species contained inside. There are dozens of artifacts in the room, but despite what Liefer said, this can’t be all of them. The book has hundreds of species in it. Speaking of, I don’t see the book itself anywhere, either.

  “Look!” Liefer picks up a rusty horseshoe. “The centaurs! They were invaluable allies in the war! If we could talk to them—”

  “The artifacts stay here!” Alisa puts her hands on her hips. “We are rescuing Kenny’s family and leaving.”

  Liefer faces her. He grabs something from the table and holds it up. The tree medallion necklace containing Tannyl and the elves dangles by its cord from his closed fist.

  Alisa’s hands drop and she half turns away. “Put it back. They stay.” She folds her arms. “Shonda will conjure them again as soon as we’re gone anyway.”

  “Not without Kenny amplifying her.” Liefer shakes the cord. “Are you really going to leave Tannyl here? If our spell works, the Common King will have no use for the magical species anymore. He could kill them all without leaving his throne.” He extends the necklace towards her. “I’m not the villain here, Alisa. I’m trying to save as many lives as possible. You want to be a leader? That means making hard decisions.”

  Alisa stares at the necklace as it twists back and forth. Then she reaches out and takes it.

  “No!” Kenny thrusts his hands into his shaggy red hair. “Alisa, you promised!”

  “And I meant it. But Mr. Liefer is right. We can’t leave the magical creatures here. There are nine of us, for God’s sake. We can do both. Zane, can you open a shadow portal back home while keeping Mrs. Kumar in check?”

  He starts to stand. I grab his hand and pull him to his feet.

  “Thanks.” He stares down at Mrs. Kumar. “Yeah, Alisa. I can do that.”

  “Can you take over for Andy? Handle Shonda, too?”

  He extends a hand towards the still-frozen Shonda, but then drops it. “No. One normal person and a portal, yeah. One normal person, one logomancer, and a portal? No. Shonda will break free.”

  “That’s okay. Andy, Zane, you’ll stay here. Lily, split up and one of you stay here, too. Zane, open a portal home and the three of you start tossing artifacts through.”

  “Try to keep the labels with them,” I suggest. “So we know who’s in what.”

  “Split.” Lily grimaces as a copy of herself peels off. “Ugh,” the new one says. “That didn’t feel great. I’m still woozy.”

  Alisa nods. “We all are. But we can do this. Kenny, do you know where they’re keeping your family? Can you lead us there?”

  “Yes.” He sprints for the door. “Yes, I know exactly where they are.”

  “We couldn’t find them last time,” Liefer points out. “I checked every room.”

  “They were prepared for you last time.” Kenny grabs the door handle. “Mr. Finlay took them out of the hotel. But they’re here now. Room 357.”

  Nate links his arm in Mr. Liefer’s. “Air Liefer flight 357, now boarding. In the event of an emergency, fasten your own logomancy before helping small children with theirs.”

  Liefer whips his arm away. “Hardly the time, Nate.”

  I look over at Kenny, still holding the door handle. “But can you take us to that room, Mr. Liefer?”

  Liefer closes his eyes for a second, then opens them again, shaking his head. “Too dangerous. Getting here at all was risky, even with the link to Tannyl. If Dante is still hiding the hotel, then anything could happen. Best case, we find ourselves outside the grounds. Worst case, we find ourselves inside a wall. I can teleport to somewhere I can see, or to anywhere outside the area protected by Dante. That’s it.”

  Nate shakes his head. “Air Liefer’s grounded. Ah, well, the in-flight entertainment sucked anyway.”

  Alisa rubs her hands. “Okay. We go the slow way, then. Kenny, you first. Check the way ahead and make up an excuse if you’re spotted. Mr. Liefer, you’re
up front with me. Mr. Ambrose and Lily, bring up the rear. Nate and Chris—”

  “In the middle. Yeah, we know.” Nate rolls his eyes. “Gotta protect the two helpless mortals who saved your asses when you all got taken out in two seconds flat. Got it.”

  “Can we get Tannyl out of the necklace?” I ask. “He’s good in a fight.”

  “It’ll take more time than we have,” Mr. Ambrose explains. “Without the book, finding Tannyl out of millions of elves is like fishing for one specific tuna in an ocean of fish. Difficult even when I’m at my best.” He rubs his forehead. “And I’m not at my best.”

  Kenny opens the door and peeks out. “Coast is clear. This way.”

  He heads out into the hall. Nate gives me an encouraging smile, and I give him the same.

  We don’t need Alisa’s telepathy to know what the other is thinking. If anyone spots us, it’s all over. People could die.

  But a part of him is hoping we run into Jasmine. I know that’s why he wanted to come.

  Just like I’m hoping to see my mother.

  We follow Alisa and Liefer out into the hotel.

  Eighteen

  Kenny leads us past another open door, beyond which is another conference room with another table covered with yet more magical artifacts. Liefer nudges Alisa, who nods to indicate that she saw it. All the artifacts in both rooms together still don’t add up to how many species are in the book. I wonder how close the Common King is to getting them all.

  Alisa pauses a moment. Lily suddenly splits off another copy of herself, who runs back to the room where we arrived. Alisa must have telepathically told her to let Zane and Andy know there are more artifacts to recover.

  We continue on to a stairwell at the far end of the hall, then up two flights into another hallway. This one has numbered rooms lining each side. A little ways down is an opening to the left. Past that this hallway continues with more rooms, ending in another turn to the left at the far end.

  Somebody’s here. Out of sight, off the opening just ahead. A woman, crying. Another woman shushes her, comforting her, but it sounds like she might be crying, too.

  Kenny gestures us back into the stairwell. He closes the door quietly behind us.