The Common King

by Brian Olsen

  “The Residential schools. I remember.”

  “Among other things. Keeping us from studying our own history and languages, making our religions illegal. Make us forget who we were so we lose who we are.”

  “Yeah.” I frown. “I mean, I get all that, but that’s not exactly our situation. We didn’t just forget real things, we were made to remember fake things.”

  He smirks. “So…white people get a pass? Everything they did to us in the past, it never happened, so it doesn’t matter?”

  I think I fell into a trap. Nate sounds so much like his dad right now. “It’s still going on, though. Your dad’s told me plenty about that. Cultural genocide of Native peoples is a current problem, not a past one.”

  “Okay, but everything before a couple months ago, before the Moment? Every horrible crime that set the stage for where Native people are today. None of it happened, right?”

  I shift my legs a little. “No. It didn’t.”

  “So why doesn’t everybody get a pass on it?”

  “Because…because…that wouldn’t be right.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know. It just wouldn’t.”

  He nods. “Because today’s world is built from yesterday’s world, which was built from the day before yesterday’s world, which was built from the day before that’s world, and so on. If our world today is real, then the foundation it’s built on has to be real too. The choices made by people in the past matter. And if the choices matter, they’re real, and if the choices are real, then so are the people who made them.”

  I think I get it. Almost. “Wow. Your dad said all this?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He’s smart.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And this convinced you that you’re real?”

  “Oh, no. It’s all philosophical bullshit to me.”

  I groan. “Nate!”

  He laughs. “My dad is an amazing man who’s lived an amazing life. He loves his family and his friends and his tribe and this town and he even loves people he’s never met. He knows me enough to see that behind my jokes I was really scared by the idea that my whole life story was fiction. He loves me enough to put aside the same fears he’s probably having to talk me through it.” Nate squeezes my hands. “He loves me enough that while the whole world was going crazy today, he went to the drug store to get more testosterone for me because he knew I was out and that I wouldn’t want to make a big deal out of it even though it’s a super big deal. He just…he loves, you know?”

  “I know.”

  “So how can someone like that not be real? And if he’s real, then I guess I must be, too. And if I am…”

  I nod my head. “Yeah. Me, too.”

  “Feel better? Did I fix you?”

  “You fixed me.”

  “Awesome. I’m wicked smart.”

  I hug him. “You are.”

  He’s right. I need to stop worrying about what it means that most of the things I remember never really happened. They made me who I am, so they’re real to me.

  I love my mom. That’s real, too.

  I don’t know if that makes what I have to do harder or easier.

  Probably doesn’t matter. I could come up with a million different plans, but if we can’t find the Common King they’re all useless.

  Nate picks his phone up from the bed. “You wanna try and talk to her again?”

  I shake my head. “Not now. No point. You could try Jasmine. You think she’d answer if you did?”

  “Yeah. But we’ve said everything we need to say to each other.” He sighs. “My ex-girlfriend is going to be queen of the world, dude. That’s pretty weird.”

  “My evil clone is going to be king of the world.”

  “You win. You think Alisa will find them?”

  I lean back against the wall. “She doesn’t think so. We tried scrying off me, to see if there was a link from me to the king. Nothing.”

  “Tannyl’s still in the necklace,” Nate says. “Shame we can’t get them to steal it again.”

  I snort. “Yeah. Go ahead and suggest that. I’m sure Alisa would be thrilled.”

  “Nah, I’m happy with my head still attached to my shoulders.” He scooches around to sit next to me again. “How come that worked, anyway?” He holds the phone out and takes a picture of the two of us.

  “What do you mean?”

  He inspects the picture. “I probably shouldn’t post this, huh?”

  “Probably not.”

  He sighs and drops the phone back on the bed. “Why could Alisa’s mind meld with Tannyl break through Dante’s hide and seek, but nothing else could?”

  I purse my lips. “Communication, maybe?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That’s what the Logos is, really. Communication. So using a method of communication was a stronger…”

  Oh.

  Nate and I look at each other.

  “Dude.” He’s thinking the same thing. “Would that—”

  I grab his phone. “Let’s find out.”

  We tear the sheet down and jump off the bed. Yasu follows us as we rush past the Liefers sitting talking at the table, into the other room. Everybody else is scattered around, eating dinner.

  “Alisa!” I drop the phone on a coffee table. “Map! Necklace!”

  She passes her plate to Andy and gets up from the sofa. “What?”

  Nate waves his arms in the air. “Scry, lady, scry! We had an idea!”

  Alisa fumbles for the paper map of the world she used for her unsuccessful prior searches and unfolds it on the table. She takes the necklace from around her neck. “What am I scrying for?”

  Nate picks up the phone, holds down a button for a second, then says, “Call Jasmine.” He sets it to speaker and places the phone in Alisa’s free hand.

  Alisa grins, then dangles the necklace over the map. The phone rings.

  Alisa moves the necklace slowly, back and forth, across the map. The tree medallion at the end of the cord wobbles as she moves but doesn’t pull in any particular direction.

  The ringing stops. Everyone goes quiet.

  “Hello?” Jasmine’s voice is hushed. “Natey?”

  The medallion tugs in Alisa’s hand. She lets it guide her across the map.

  Nate leans closer to the phone. “Hey, Jaz.”

  “It’s good to hear your voice. I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’ll tell you where I am if you tell me where you are.”

  She laughs. “You sound weird. Am I on speaker? Is somebody else there?”

  The medallion wrenches itself out of Alisa’s hand and falls onto the map.

  Nate takes the phone. “Yeah, sorry. I’m alone but somebody’s coming. I’ll call you later.”

  “But—”

  He hangs up.

  Alisa lifts the necklace to see where it landed. New York City.

  “Good thinking, you two,” she says. “But we’ll have to do it again, with a map of New York. Get a more specific location.”

  Nate nods. “She’ll answer. It’ll work.”

  Zane taps the map. “We can find them, but how do we get near them without getting blasted?”

  Mr. Liefer speaks from the entrance to the hall. “We can’t. He’s too strong. Too fast.”

  Mr. Montgomery shakes his head. “He can be beaten if he’s taken by surprise. Chris gave him an ordinary non-magical punch and he went down.”

  “Luck,” Liefer says.

  Mr. Montgomery takes a deep breath. “Not luck. Nobody is unbeatable.” He puts his hand on Alisa’s shoulder. “We can figure this out.”

  “You’re right,” Alisa says. “We can. Everybody finish eating and then let’s pull all these chairs in a circle. I want everyone’s mind working on this. They don’t know we can find them. That means we’ve got one chance to take them by surprise. Whatever plan we come up with has to be perfect.”

 
; Liefer holds his damaged hands out. “It better be. He may not know we’re coming but he’ll be on his guard. I don’t see us getting close enough for another lucky punch.”

  I pick up the tree medallion from the map. I hold it in my hand and watch it spin, the silver metal gleaming.

  “I might have an idea about that.”

  Thirty

  Mrs. Green turns off the television. “They’re everywhere. He’s let all the magical creatures loose. Again.”

  “It’s now, then,” Alisa says. “We can’t wait any longer.”

  Mr. Liefer shakes his head. “It would be better to confront him at night.”

  “I know. But the longer we wait, the more people die.” She looks around the room. “Everybody get ready. Do what you’ve gotta do. We’re calling Jasmine in five minutes.”

  I pull Zane into Mr. Green’s study, where we can have a little privacy. After one last night in the bunker, we moved to the Greens’ house this morning. If anything goes wrong, and something will almost definitely go wrong, Ihsan might not be around to let those who aren’t coming on this final mission out of our cozy prison.

  “Did you call your mom?” I ask.

  “Yeah. I didn’t tell her what we’re going to do, but she knows it’s something big. I talked to her, and my dad, and my sister. We said we love each other.” He smiles sadly. “Not much else left to say.”

  I take his hands. “Yeah. Not much else left to say but that.”

  A look of surprise flashes across his face.

  I thought I’d be more nervous, but the words come easily from my mouth. “I love you.”

  I didn’t necessarily expect him to say it back, although I hoped he might. But I didn’t expect him to look so angry.

  “Don’t.” He takes my face in his hands, roughly. “Don’t say that. Not if what you mean is goodbye.”

  “I don’t.” I rest my hands on his. “But—”

  He shakes his head. “No.”

  “But we have to be—”

  “No, we don’t. We don’t have to be realistic, or practical, or anything. All we have to be is still together when this is over. Promise me we will.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Lie, then! Alisa’s not here. Promise me, Chris. Promise me this isn’t goodbye.”

  I bite back my protest and force a smile. “Okay. I promise. You and me.”

  He kisses me. Our arms wrap around each other and we hold tight.

  “It’s time.”

  Zane and I reluctantly separate at Alisa’s mental call. I take his hand again and lead him back into the living room, where everyone’s still broken off into small groups.

  The Liefers huddle together. Despite Emmet’s protestations that he doesn’t love his post-Moment family, he’s hugging his crying mother, comforting her.

  Mrs. Deng is in a corner with Lily, along with Kenny, who Mrs. Deng’s been looking after. Mrs. Deng holds Lily so tightly I wonder if she’ll ever let her go. I still don’t know if Lily’s told her mother the truth about herself. About how much time she has left.

  Mr. and Mrs. Green stand behind Alisa as she lays a tablet computer on the coffee table and opens a map of New York. They keep reaching out like they want to touch her, but are afraid to disturb her.

  Mrs. Wollard sits alone, cradling a small framed photo to her chest. I’m grateful she stayed to help us. I wasn’t sure she would.

  Mr. Ambrose is on the phone. Talking to his daughter and ex-wife, I assume. He rubs his eyes and turns halfway away from the rest of us.

  And Mr. Montgomery and Nate. Mr. Montgomery stands with his arm around his son. He keeps rubbing Nate’s shoulder and letting out loud exhales. I can’t imagine what he’s feeling. Nate is the only non-logomancer coming, apart from me. The whole plan hinges on him.

  I’m stunned that the parents agreed to this. Mr. Montgomery, Mrs. Deng, and the Greens conferred privately last night, no logomancers or children allowed. After over an hour, they finally said yes. I guess they understand that there’s no other way.

  Alisa clears her throat, getting everyone’s attention. In the sudden quiet, we hear Mr. Ambrose’s final “I love you” to his family before he ends his call.

  Nate takes a deep breath and steps out from under his father’s arm to come to Alisa’s side. Alisa removes the necklace from around her neck and holds it over the map. Mrs. Green stands next to them, her hand hovering near the screen but out of the way of the necklace.

  Alisa puts her free hand on Nate’s shoulder. “Call her, please.”

  Nate takes out his phone, taps the screen, and hold it to his ear.

  Alisa whispers, “Truth.”

  “Hey, Jaz,” Nate says. “Yeah… No, I’m alone… It sounds like a riot in the background, where are you?… No, yeah, sorry, I know, you can’t tell me…”

  The necklace stirs in Alisa’s hand, pulling to one side of the tablet. Mrs. Green touches the screen, sliding the map in the direction indicated and zooming in.

  “I want to see you, Jaz.” Nate keeps the anguish on his face out of his voice. Even now, he hates lying to her. “We still have a lot to talk about… No. No, I haven’t changed my mind about him… I know, I know you haven’t either, but… Don’t hang up! Jaz, wait. Please.”

  He raises a questioning eyebrow at Alisa, who shakes her head. The necklace is pulling and Mrs. Green is zooming, but they don’t have an exact fix yet.

  “No, I just… Geez, it’s loud, Jaz, I can barely hear you… Is he there with you?… Okay. Does he mind that you’re talking to me?… That’s good, I guess.”

  The necklace almost tears itself from Alisa’s hand. The bottom edge of the medallion touches the tablet screen with a hard tap. She mouths to Nate, “Got it.”

  “All right, Jaz, I won’t keep you,” Nate says. “I’m sure you’ve got to get back to conquering the world and stuff. I’ll, uh, see you when I see you, I guess.” He takes the phone away from his ear, but she must say something because he immediately puts it back. “What?…Oh…Yeah.” He looks down at the rug. “Yeah, I…I love you too, Jaz.”

  He ends the call, then turns and steps into Mr. Montgomery’s waiting embrace. Nate stays there for a minute, his face hidden in his father’s shirt, then pushes away. “Well, that sucked. She said King Hothead is with her. So where are they?”

  Mrs. Green peers at the map. “Somewhere around Times Square.” She looks closer. “Father Duffy Square. That’s between Seventh Avenue and Broadway to the east and west, and 46th and 47th Streets to the north and south.” She stands up straight. “What’s there? I can’t picture the area.”

  “I think that’s the TKTS booth,” I say. “It’s a big plaza. Lots of people.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” Mrs. Green rubs her daughter’s back. “Good job, honey. Zane, sweetheart, do you know how to get there? You can open a portal big enough for everyone?”

  “Yeah.” Zane cracks his knuckles. “No problem, Mrs. Green. I’m ready.”

  “Good,” Alisa says. “Be ready for a quick exit if we need it. But you’re not taking us there. Mr. Liefer is.”

  “Huh?” Zane frowns. “I thought—”

  Alisa cuts him off. “Mr. Liefer? Are you up for this?”

  He looks surprised, but nods. “If you need me to.”

  “No.” Mr. Montgomery stands behind Nate, draping his arms protectively around his son. “No, Zane is supposed to take you.”

  “That’s right.” Mrs. Deng smiles really big. It looks weird on her. “Mr. Liefer is still recovering. Wouldn’t it be better for him to save his strength and let Zane take you?”

  Zane rubs the back of his neck. “They have a point, Alisa. I can do it, no problem.”

  “I know you can.” Alisa smiles at her parents. “And I’d let you, if our parents hadn’t lied about letting us do this by ourselves.”

  Mr. Green shakes his head. “Alisa—”

  “I’m guessing your plan was to follow us through Zane’s portal before he could close it?”
she says. “Like Mr. Montgomery and Chris did before?”

  He doesn’t respond, but the guilty look he and his wife exchange gives us our answer.

  “I told you they’d catch on to us,” Mr. Montgomery says. “Well, it’s out in the open now. None of you kids are going. Not without us.”

  “You can’t come, Dad.” Nate breaks out of his father’s embrace. “You don’t have magic.”

  “Neither do you.”

  “But I’ve got a promise from the psycho-tyrant not to hurt me! You don’t!”

  “Nate’s right,” Alisa says. “None of you are protected like we are. Logomancers have an innate resistance to being harmed by direct magic.”

  “Not to his magic!” Mrs. Green protests. “We’ve seen that firsthand! He’s too strong. If you go, we go.”

  Alisa puts her necklace back around her neck. “No, Mom. We’ll be too distracted worrying about keeping you safe. The plan will fail.”

  “Then you’re not going.” Mrs. Green closes the map app, then snatches the tablet up and hugs it to her chest. “I’m sorry. You’re not.”

  “We have to!” Lily’s angry shout makes us all jump. “We don’t have time to argue about this again!”

  “No, Lily. Mrs. Green is right.” Mrs. Deng takes her daughter’s hand. “It’s too dangerous. Ihsan won’t be able to save you this time.” She brushes some of Kenny’s shaggy red hair back from his forehead. “No. No. We were foolish to think you’d be safer if we went with you. Nobody’s going and that’s the end of it. The king will kill you if you do.”

  “He might, Mrs. Deng.” Alisa tucks the necklace away under her shirt. “He might kill us as the second we arrive. It’s a big risk. We’re counting on a lot of factors going our way. But what’s the alternative?”

  “Mom.” Lily squeezes her mother’s hand. “How long can we hide? He’ll come for us eventually. We’re dead if we do nothing.”

  “You don’t know that, Lily!” Mrs. Deng cradles her daughter’s cheeks in her hands. “We don’t have to keep fighting, do we?” She looks around the room, searching for someone to back her up. “Maybe he’ll leave us alone if we leave him alone?”

  Emmet steps away from his parents. “Do you have any memories of before the Moment, Mrs. Deng?”