by S. M. Boyce
Victoria frowned, her expression painfully serious she focused on her arm. Her breathing slowed, and the cave went silent. Audrey leaned forward, holding her breath as she waited to see what would happen. Maybe this time, Victoria would finally—
A shield twice the size of Victoria's body appeared out of thin air, completely blocking her from Audrey's view. The coppery metal embedded itself in the rock wall, rooting the shield in place. Audrey flinched, caught off-guard, but Victoria let out a string of curse words that would make any sailor blush.
“She's quite terrible at this,” Shiloh said, appearing out of nowhere behind Audrey.
Audrey jumped a good foot in the air at his sudden appearance, hand on her heart she glared at him. “Stop doing that!”
He stared at her, his bored features unfazed by her outburst.
She grunted exasperation. “It freaks me out when you appear without warning. Every. Damn. Time.”
“I’m astonished that you think I care,” he said, leaning against the cave’s rocky wall.
Audrey crossed her arms, giving him a once-over. “You could at least be useful and go help her.”
“Nah.”
Victoria fumbled and fell on her ass, still struggling with the shield and apparently unable to put it away.
In an instant he had disappeared, leaving only Audrey, Victoria, and Styx in the otherwise empty cave.
What a stupid jerk.
Victoria’s shield disappeared. Apparently caught off-guard, Victoria fell backward onto the rocky floor once again, her head smacking hard against the ground. Teeth biting her lip, she sucked in a sharp breath and cradled the back of her skull. “Fuuuuuuuck!”
“Victoria! Are you—”
“Screw this bullshit!” Victoria leapt to her feet and stormed out of the cave, blowing past Audrey without a sideways glance. Styx flitted after Victoria, hovering just out of reach.
Audrey grimaced, giving her friend the space she obviously needed, but she had seen this once before. Victoria had faced off with a much more advanced kickboxer who had been too rough with her in one of their first classes. It was the kind of anger that burned bright and hot, and the only way to help was to back off. Victoria would be fine once she walked off the pain.
As the sound of Victoria’s stomping feet retreated, Audrey sat on one of the boulders by the cave's entrance. Elbows on her knees, hands intertwined, she stared at the palace in Fairhaven’s center. It was a beautiful building, and probably nice to live in. Sure, Audrey wasn’t one for frills and gold, but she could still appreciate the finer things. Maybe someday they could take a tour or something to see how the other half lived here in Fairhaven.
It would probably be a good hour or two until Victoria calmed down, and because they were in a foreign city, Victoria would stay close to home. She could be hot-headed, but she wasn't an idiot. She didn't need a babysitter.
As the light from the crystal overhead began to dim, Audrey left the cave as well. Hands in her pockets, she walked through the crowds in the busy streets of Fairhaven, sticking to the areas she remembered but otherwise letting her feet take her wherever they wanted to go.
She passed rows and rows of shops, but she didn’t bother window shopping. Given their predicament, it was best not to have a lot of things. Traveling light would make it easier to disappear if they needed to.
The ground began to slope upward, and the dimming light of Fairhaven faded behind her. She blinked herself out of her daze, panicking for a moment as she wondered if she had traveled too far.
Main Street was behind her. Somehow she had walked right by Bertha’s shop without even noticing. She studied the cobblestones and glanced around.
Wait, she knew this trail. This was the path that led back up to the bridge they had used to enter the city. She hesitated on the empty path, wondering why her feet would take her here.
Perhaps, deep down, she wanted to leave.
She had never let herself consider that option, since she would never abandon Victoria. Not in a million years, no matter what she really wanted to do. But deep down, Audrey missed home. She spun on her heel and was treated to another breathtaking view of Fairhaven, her eyes lingering here and there on the stranger things—the tilting homes, the ogres, the elves. She leaned against the wall, taking it all in. And there, a constant backdrop to it all, was the massive white palace in the middle.
The city, the streets, and the bobbing heads below her were unlike anything she'd ever seen or experienced in her life. Magic. Power. Astounding creatures that hardly seemed possible.
As much as she might want to go home and have normalcy once more, Audrey could never go back to her old life. Not really. What did strip malls and grocery stores offer compared to this? The human world didn't even come close.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, which she had powered down during their first descent into the city. She tapped her thumb against it, wondering if her parents were awake. It was hard to keep track of time in Fairhaven, since she hadn't seen the sun in almost a week.
She turned it on and held her breath as she waited for the battery bar to appear.
53%
Good. Unsure of what to say, her throat a bit dry with nerves, she pressed autodial and set the phone against her ear, fingers straining as she pushed it against her head.
The ringing stopped, and the line crackled. A faint voice answered. “Hello?”
“Mom! It's good to hear your voice.”
“Oh, you, too, sweetie! How's the road trip? How's Victoria?”
Audrey cleared her throat. “She's, uh, hurting. Doing her best, as always.”
“Such a tough cookie.”
Now for the lie. Audrey’s mouth went dry from guilt, but she forced herself through it. “We’re thinking about backpacking through Europe, Asia, you name it. We might be gone for a while, and we won’t have cell reception through most of it.”
“Well, don’t die.”
Audrey laughed. “Great advice as always, Mom.”
“I try.”
Audrey smiled, more grateful than she had realized she would be to hear her mother's voice. “Is Dad home too?”
“Sure is. He's tinkering in the garage. Hold on, I'll go get him.” The line crackled some more, and for a moment Audrey was worried the call would drop. A second later, though, the sound of a door creaking open on a noisy hinge came over the line, followed by the whirring buzz of a saw.
Audrey kicked little pebbles on the path as she waited for her dad to join the conversation. Her cheeks hurt, and it took a moment to realize it was because she was smiling. She didn’t want to say it around Victoria, but Victoria's parents’ death had made Audrey even more grateful for her own family. It was easy to forget that they could be gone in a flash, and she had to confess she sometimes took them for granted. But right now, she wanted to hear every story, get every update—everything. She would talk either until they hung up or her phone went dead.
***
To be honest, Victoria had no fucking clue where she was.
The closely-knit houses and tightly packed streets had disappeared about twenty minutes ago, and Victoria now walked along a dirt path she didn't recognize. In her fury, she had ignored the path for too long and ended up somewhere strange without the faintest clue of how she’d gotten here. With every step her anger faded, replaced instead by exhaustion and frustration. She wanted to cry and scream and take a nap all at once, but none of those would help her. Complaining wouldn't do any good either. Not even venting her anger would help her understand the magic in her arm any better.
She needed to focus. She needed to be calm.
In the dimming light of the massive crystal overhead, she paused in the street, taking a deep breath to clear her mind and reacquaint herself with her surroundings. Only a handful of ogres walked on the road, and by some miracle most of them ignored her. They carried baskets filled with turnips and onions, and the houses around here all had little yards with rocky
paths and two-foot-tall rock walls. A few even had circles of mushrooms growing in the front yards, which reminded Victoria of her childhood walks through parks and streams. A bunch of mushrooms like that was called a fairy circle, and humans like her weren't supposed to walk through one or the fae would grab them and steal them away.
Victoria laughed at the old wives’ tale, but her smile quickly faded. Today she had chased an elf and sold fruit to a goblin. Fairies were probably real too, so she wasn't about to test her luck.
These buildings shifted and breathed, creaking a little as they rocked very gently from side to side. It was as if they were trees in a breeze, trembling a little in a gust she couldn’t feel.
The sound of water caught her attention, and she followed it to a little path that broke off from the main road. The gravel trail wound through some trees, the first forest she had seen since coming to Fairhaven, and ended at a small waterfall. Thick moss and lichen covered the rock, offering a bit of reprieve to her bruised bum as she sat down. It compressed beneath her like memory foam, and she smiled at the relaxing feeling.
She trailed her hand in the water, the ripples glowing blue at her touch. She grinned. There was nothing like this above ground. True, the people here were weird and kept calling her ugly, but if she had to be honest, she adored them all and the city they lived in. Perhaps when this was all over, she would find a place here and stay.
Alone in this little grove, Victoria lifted her sleeve slightly to reveal the artifact underneath. Even just looking at it triggered a flurry of emotions: anger, fear, bloodlust.
Out of nowhere, the shield appeared once more, slicing through the mossy bank and embedding itself in the rock beneath. Furious, frustrated, and so fucking done with the nonsense, she cursed so loudly her voice echoed.
Chapter 16
As the light from the crystals overhead began to fade, Victoria remained by her little waterfall somewhere on the outskirts of Fairhaven. She had no idea how much time had passed, and part of her didn't care. Besides, she had no idea where she was or how to get back to a familiar part of town. That was Audrey’s superpower, not hers. Perhaps it would be better to stay the night by this waterfall, since it seemed safe and isolated enough. Besides, the longer she sat by the flowing water and the more time she spent running her hand through the glowing blue stream, the more she fell in love with this strange city filled with magical creatures.
But as darkness crept into the city, a chill settled into her skin. It was deep and cold, the kind of bite that clings to the body after getting out of a pool. In the last rays of the crystals’ light, she could see the puffs of her breath freeze in the air. Strange. She and Audrey had been fine in the cave, but maybe the tiny space and the shared body heat had kept it warm enough to sleep in. Out here, it seemed cold enough to snow.
She shivered, rubbing her arms to keep herself warm, but Plan A wouldn’t work. Somehow, she needed to get back to Bertha’s shop. How she would manage it, she didn't know.
Her best bet would be to head back toward Fyrn’s, since she could at least camp out in the cave again until morning. After all, she couldn’t be too far away. The crystals overhead still produced a gentle glow like twilight that illuminated just enough to still see without being able to read by it. Even though the walls of the massive cavern all looked the same, the glowing center crystal overhead had unique wrinkles and dips in it. From this angle, it looked distinctly different than she was used to, meaning she was far from home.
The palace stretched toward the cavern’s ceiling, this side of its tallest tower identical to the other except for a balcony she had never seen before. That probably meant she was on the other side of the city from where she should be.
Awesome.
Okay, Plan C: hike toward the palace, pass it, and find herself back on Main Street. Easy enough.
Groaning, annoyed with herself, she started the long trek home. As she walked, doing her best to keep her path headed toward the castle whenever the lighted pathways would allow her to, she continued to rub the non-metallic parts of her arms to keep herself warm. A chill leapt from the embedded dagger as her thumb brushed it, and she shivered. Her long-sleeved shirt wasn't enough in the growing cold. She and Audrey would need to do some shopping.
Step by step, road by road, she neared the castle as the crystals’ light continued to fade. It was nearly pitch-black, with only the gentlest glow from the overhead crystals emulating moonlight. Streetlights filled with tiny flames lit some of the roads, casting yellow light over the cobblestone paths before her. Fewer and fewer people walked past her in the streets, and Victoria kept her eyes peeled for trouble. Talk about having a bullseye on her back: a girl, alone, walking through dimly lit streets in the middle of the night? Nothing suspicious about that. She scanned every alley, every porch, every shadow for danger.
She turned a corner to find two elves leaning against the wall, each smoking a pipe. Their eyes shifted toward her and lingered, barely blinking as she passed. Not one to back down, she made eye contact with both to drive home the fact that she had seen them, narrowing her eyes a bit to add a touch of challenge to their persistent gazes. Even as she continued down the street out of reach, she could feel their eyes on the back of her neck.
The castle grew massive and continuously closer. Its white walls towered overhead, easily thirty feet high. A guard in a metal helmet and armor walked along the top, surveying the ground below. The castle itself loomed, almost impossibly large. In fact, she would bet the entire population could fit inside if crammed closely enough together. Perhaps that was the point—a stronghold if the city were ever attacked. Once she passed it, she should have a straight shot back to Bertha's house.
Almost home.
A massive ogre lumbered into the street to her left, appearing almost out of nowhere. He growled softly, his eyes focused squarely on her. With his massive teeth, he bit into a raw hunk of meat. Blood splattered into the air.
“Whoa!” Victoria jumped out of the way seconds before the spray could reach her. Spooked, her nerves already on edge from the elves she had passed earlier, she jumped back into a fighting stance on instinct, lifting her right arm to shield her body.
On its own, the shield appeared in her hand. For the first time ever, it was the right size.
But she had summoned it in company. Her secret was out.
The ogre jumped a good two feet in the air and ran back into the alley like a frightened field mouse, his pants falling to his ankles as he sped off.
“Go away,” she muttered to the shield, shaking her wrist to make it vanish. Terrified, Victoria looked at the palace walls. No guards. No one on the empty street. The firelight flickered in one of the lamps further down the road, but the one over her head wasn't even lit.
The shield disappeared, and she regained control of her hand. Allowing herself a sigh of relief, she walked at a brisker pace toward the palace.
“I know what you are,” a deep, gruff voice said.
She spun on her heel, jumping into a fighting stance again as an elf with broad shoulders and a barrel chest walked out of the alley across the street. He stood a good foot taller than any of the elves she had seen so far, and had a cigar in his mouth and a scar over his right eye. His long black hair fell in dreadlocks to his lower back, and he sneered at her.
“Hosts are not allowed in Fairhaven,” he said, spitting out the cigar in his mouth. It fizzled on the ground, a thin stream of smoke rising from the tip.
Victoria lifted her fists. In kickboxing class, her teacher always told her not to get into a fighting stance if threatened because it ruined the element of surprise. Most muggers wouldn't assume their victim knew how to fight. But here, now, Victoria didn't bother with pretense. If he really did know what she was, he wouldn’t underestimate her.
Shit.
He lifted his hand, still a good twenty feet away, and fiery symbols appeared on the back. He narrowed his eyes, which glowed as his gaze focused squarely on her.
/> Oh, right. This place had magic—real magic, not just Rhazdon Artifacts. She wouldn’t just be in a fistfight, not down here. Every fight had a new element to consider, likely more dangerous than any gun.
Double shit.
A blast of yellow light sailed toward her. Thanks to her quick reflexes, she tucked and rolled to get out of the way. The beam singed her sleeve. The embers of the burning fibers scorched her skin, and she patted them quickly to put them out. She wasn’t given much time to put together a game plan, though. He shot another blast of light at her, and she once more had to duck.
Screw this. It was time to go on the offensive.
Without much of a plan or any experience with combat magic, Victoria didn’t wait for him to reload his magic slingshot—or whatever the hell he was doing. She charged. The glowing symbols faded as he braced himself for impact and dug his heel into the road, placing his hands out to grab her as she neared.
Like hell. She wasn’t an idiot.
At the last second, she feinted to the left and kneed him as hard as she could in the stomach. A violent huff of air escaped him, and he collapsed to his hands and knees. Weight on the balls of her feet, she pivoted her left foot and landed a roundhouse kick on his head.
A thin spatter blood left his mouth as he went down, and Victoria jumped out of contact so that he couldn't grab her while she figured out what to do next.
His skin began to glow again, but this time he glared at her with an expression of hatred she had only seen in movies.
This fucker wanted to straight-up kill her.
The frustrated, angry, vengeful part of her didn't care. Bring it. Whatever. That hateful slice of her brain wanted to rip into him, to finally let loose all her resentment at not being able to control the Rhazdon Artifact embedded in her arm. Now, when she needed it most, the damn thing refused to appear. Just like the ghost attached to it, the dagger wouldn’t listen to her, wouldn't obey, and she was sick of fighting it.