by S. M. Boyce
“Not very fond of him? I can't get a word in edgewise without him thinking I want him to autograph something!”
Audrey winked and pointed to her pants. “And by something, he means your—”
“Audrey! Not now!” Victoria could feel the heat in her face, but she couldn’t tell if she was blushing or furious. Maybe a bit of both.
Fyrn leaned back in his chair. “Diesel is still a powerful wizard.”
“But you're more powerful, and I actually like you.”
“Really? I thought I was a grumpy old fart.”
“I mean, you are, but you’re still way better.”
Fyrn chuckled. “You're not getting out of this, Victoria. Diesel is going with you. You need a guide who is experienced with magic. As much of a hassle as he is, Diesel is the second-best wizard in our city and one of the top hundred in the world.”
Victoria couldn't suppress her smirk when Fyrn declared he was the best. Her mentor had confidence, even if he didn't have the public relations ability or charisma Diesel possessed.
She shook her head. “Please don't make me do this, Fyrn. There has to be another way.”
“As I mentioned before there are always choices, but I don't like any of the ones we have here. Either Diesel goes with you or you wait until I return. I have no idea when that will be, so it doesn't make sense for that to be the choice. Besides, I'm making this one for you. You, Audrey, and Diesel leave first thing tomorrow morning. He's already been notified.”
Victoria groaned loudly and slumped into the nearest chair, putting her hands on her cheeks she tried her best not to pout.
“Additionally, you must wear the diamond amulet,” Fyrn said.
Audrey tilted her head, obviously confused. “Which—”
“The one my parents left in the vault?” Victoria asked.
Fyrn gestured toward Victoria’s bedroom. “That one, yes. It will warn you of danger. I’m surprised you don’t wear it at all times, with Luak after you.”
Victoria shrugged. “It’s a bit hard to train with it on. I’m not used to wearing jewelry.”
“Get used to it. This necklace should never leave your body again. Understood?”
Victoria sighed. “I’ll put it on before we leave.”
Fyrn nodded. “Good. Now, Audrey... You need to pack every crystal you bought. Everything that has ever reacted to you is to go in a pouch that you keep on you at all times, for use in emergencies only. You must not touch any of them unless you absolutely have to. Do you understand?”
She pushed herself to her feet and nodded. “I'll be careful.”
Fyrn pressed his fingertips together, staring at them as she left the room and headed upstairs. Several long seconds went by until they heard her bedroom door slammed shut and the floorboards creak in that section of the house.
“There's more, Victoria,” he said softly.
“Then why did you wait for Audrey to leave?”
“She doesn’t need to know what I'm about to tell you. I need you to promise that you’ll keep this between us.”
Victoria leaned back in her chair, studying him. “Why?”
“You'll see.”
“I won't keep things from her.”
“Even though she kept this magic from you?”
Victoria bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying something rash, and examined her hands.
Fyrn tapped his fingers on the table. “Victoria, Atlantis has its own artifacts. In fact, the Atlantean Artifacts are far more ancient than yours, and were the inspiration for the Rhazdon Artifacts. They are quite similar, though the Atlantean Artifacts are gentler on the host. They possess only one power, rather than three, and they require much less sacrifice than the Rhazdon Artifacts do to fuse with them. I suggest you acquire some while you're in Atlantis. Buy them, steal them—I don't care. But you need to bring some home.”
“You want me to steal? Who the hell are you?”
“I highly doubt they will sell them to you. You can try to buy one fair and square, but the Atlanteans are elitist, and they consider anyone who is not an Atlantean to be a mongrel or a servant at best. But Victoria, this could be what we've been looking for all along. The way for you to acquire the physical strength you need without taking on another Rhazdon Artifact. Isn't it worth a bit of theft to take out Luak? To keep him from killing anyone else?”
Victoria didn't even blink an eye. “I won’t steal, Fyrn. It's wrong, and I'm disappointed you even brought it up.”
Fyrn nodded. “As am I, to be honest, but I think you will change your mind when you meet them.”
“They can't be that horrible.”
Fyrn laughed, a deep and hearty laugh that shook his body. “Oh, you'll see.”
“Look, if Audrey is Atlantean then they can’t be that horrible. She’s been with me through it all and has never once let me down.”
Fyrn lowered his voice, his sharp eyes piercing Victoria. “Remember what Audrey is, child.”
“She's my friend,” Victoria said defiantly.
“Your friend, yes, but also an Atlantean. You must watch her. You must be careful. Atlanteans are inherently selfish, and you cannot rely on her to do anything that does not benefit her.”
“It's like you don't know her at all,” Victoria said, pushing herself to her feet.
“I do. I know her and I know you, but what you don't seem to understand is that the closer she gets to Atlantis, the harder it will be for her to remain the person you know. She will change, Victoria. The closer she gets to Atlantis, the louder the Atlantean within her will be and the harder it will be for her to resist it.”
“But it's diluted, right? It's not like she's full-blooded Atlantean. She's human too, and by a large margin.”
He nodded. “Atlantean magic is different, Victoria. It doesn't matter if there's the barest hint of Atlantean blood in her. The closer she gets to her homeland, the stronger it will become. She may not look like them, but they will know what she is almost instantly. They look out for their own, and no one else. When you get to Atlantis, you must look out for yourself, because you cannot rely on her to have your back.”
Victoria shook her head. “You're wrong, Fyrn, and I can't wait to shove that in your face when we get back.”
He sighed deeply and stood. “How often have I been wrong?”
Victoria suddenly found it very hard to breathe. His cold eyes pierced her and demanded she answer a question she wanted to leave hanging in the air. She met his gaze and refused to say a word, but deep down, she knew.
Fyrn didn't make mistakes. At least not anymore.
He seemed content to leave it at that and set a small vial of brilliant green liquid on the table, followed by a much larger container of the same potion. “Give her the small vial, but you keep the larger one. Don't tell her about the larger one, Victoria. It's your failsafe. Tell her to take this smaller potion while traveling to make sure that she doesn't destroy anything when she's in public. You're flying to Hawaii. Diesel has the map to take you from there, but we can’t have her destroying the plane in midair. She needs to sleep for the entire flight. You understand?”
Victoria hesitated, taking the vial in her hand and studying the swirling liquid within. “She'll be okay? She will wake up?”
Fyrn nodded. “It’s nothing more than a knockout potion to help her sleep and keep her from activating the lethal magic within her. You need to keep her sedated or at least groggy when she's in human places or she might expose the entire magical world. You know what would happen if she did that.”
“She will be killed for treason.”
He nodded. “If you want to protect her, you’ll give her this for the plane.”
Victoria almost handed it back, but his final words drove home her greatest fear. Right now Audrey needed to be protected from herself, at least until she mastered the powerful new magic within her. Victoria snatched the larger vial off the table and nodded. “Fine.”
Her mentor headed to the fr
ont door. “Be safe, Victoria Brie.”
“You too,” she said as the front door shut.
Victoria looked at the stairs, ears craning to hear Audrey moving about her room. Floorboards creaked, and in the distance she heard the muffled thud of a drawer shutting. This was Audrey. This was her friend. They had promised to be together to the end, and Victoria wasn't going to be the one who broke that promise.
Even if Fyrn didn't believe in Audrey, Victoria always would.
Chapter 13
“Hello, my love,” a man said from the front hall.
Ugh. Victoria knew that voice. She had been playing with the diamond amulet around her neck, but cringed at the sound of his voice and braced herself for Diesel’s arrogance. She didn’t bother looking down the hallway toward the now-open front door. “Don’t call me ‘my love.’ I don’t even like you.”
A few seconds later the pronounced thud of his boots on the hallway floor filled her foyer. His lofty frame and broad shoulders filled her doorway, and his black staff was as tall as he. The admittedly handsome young wizard smiled charmingly at her. He had sapphires sewn into the hem of his long white robes, and his long black hair streamed over his shoulders. A golden pendant hung from his neck nearly to his waist.
Diesel chuckled. “You know I love it when you play hard to get. It’s obvious—you couldn’t stay away from me, so you asked your mentor to arrange for me to guide you on a dangerous mission. It’s actually sweet.”
“That’s not—”
“Victoria, have you seen that vial?” Audrey called from upstairs.
“On the counter in the kitchen.” Victoria eyed the glowing bottle by the sink, and she tensed at Fyrn’s warning about her friend. For a moment her worries let her forget about the smirking wizard in her kitchen.
Styx was rifling through one of the fruit baskets on the counter, preoccupied with devouring even more of her food. She leaned against the counter, fed up with the men in her life—even the tiny one.
“Ready for Hawaii?” Diesel asked, hands in his pockets. In any other circumstance she probably would have flirted with him for fun just because of his looks, if nothing else.
But this was Diesel. The first time they’d met, he had assumed she was a fan and had looked for something to autograph for her.
She sighed. Honestly, it wasn’t fair that everything he said annoyed her. There was something about him that made her want to push him away, as though anything less than utter disdain would somehow be a failure on her part.
Maybe she should chill out. Be nicer. Let her guard down a bit. After all, he was helping them when they needed it most.
He pulled out a chair at the table and sat. “Hawaii would make a magnificent honeymoon spot, you know. We should go back after the wedding.”
Nope, there was the asshole, right on cue.
“Will you drop the romance thing? I’m not interested.”
“My, she doth protest too much!” He grinned. Any other girl would have found his smile charming, but Victoria just wanted to hit something.
Preferably his face.
Instead of smacking him, Victoria unrolled the map on the kitchen counter. She hadn't had a chance to look at it yet, but she trusted Fyrn.
It was blank.
There were only two items on the parchment. One was the same symbol she had seen on the crystal in Drefus’ study. The large ornate “A” on the map had been drawn in ink that shimmered and moved as she stared at it, the lines never standing still for more than a second. Aside from that, there was only the sketch of a lagoon, with palm trees dotted along the sandy beach and a sunset on the horizon.
“It's blank,” she said, seething.
Diesel peeked at the map and grinned. “Quite the contrary, my dear.”
She gestured at the almost empty parchment. “What, the symbol? Or the drawing of a beach? How is this going to get us to Atlantis?”
He settled deeper into his chair, that obnoxious but charming smile still on his face. “You'll see.”
“Don't you do that. Don't you dare do that! I get enough of that from Fyrn, and I don't need it from you too.”
That only made Diesel smiled wider.
She smacked her fist on the table. “Look, you—”
Booted feet thundered down the stairs and Audrey appeared in the hallway a few seconds later. Her eyes scanned the counters, finally settling on the glowing vial. “This is it, right?”
Victoria nodded and tossed it to her friend, who caught it easily.
Audrey examined it, holding it to the light as she hesitated. “I drink this now?”
“You don’t have to.”
“I don’t want to blow up the plane, now do I?”
Diesel shuddered. “Hey, enough of that talk! Wizards hate flying enough as it is.”
Victoria smirked, armed with a new weapon in their war. “Flying scares you?”
“Nothing scares me,” he said with a defiant tilt to his chin.
“Except massive metal contraptions with stationary wings.”
Diesel’s smile faltered, but to his credit he recovered quickly. “Flying takes too long. I prefer more immediate gratification.”
He winked.
Victoria groaned and rolled her eyes at the innuendo. She had a feeling that would happen a lot during their trip.
“Wait, how are we going to get onto a plane dressed like this?” Audrey glanced from her corset and white blouse to Victoria’s knee-high boots and pinstripe leggings. Diesel stood out worst of all with that massive black wizard’s staff and his robes.
Victoria paused, wondering. “True. We don’t have our street clothes anymore.”
“I’ll cast a glamor,” Diesel said.
“Glamor?”
“I’ll use magic to change your appearance. Humans won’t see our clothes at all. I can even change our facial structures, if you’d like.”
“Good idea,” Victoria said, hating to admit he was right about something.
“Oh, not you, precious one. The world deserves to see your beauty.”
“Thanks,” Audrey said dryly.
Victoria groaned.
“Well, let’s get this over with. Down the hatch,” Audrey said, throwing back the green potion like a shot of tequila.
Diesel stood. “That takes thirty minutes to kick in. You’ll be able to walk, but you won’t feel or remember much. We’ll take care of you.”
He gestured toward the front door, and Audrey threw on her pack before heading out. Victoria sighed and brushed past the chair Diesel had left out from under the table, refusing on principle to push it in for him like a maid. Styx flitted out of the fruit basket and chased her, a few of the tangerines bouncing onto the floor from the force of his exit.
No map, a drugged best friend, and a guide who was like a younger, more annoying version of Fyrn.
This would be a long trip.
***
Fifteen hours later Victoria stood on the edge of a Hawaiian lagoon, lost in the beautiful vista. This small section of the Maui coastline had brilliant turquoise water and a sky dotted with thin wispy clouds. The sun beamed on her back, tanning her as the wind rattled the nearby palm trees. For several minutes the crash of waves on the beach sang her a welcome song.
“Pinch me,” she said wistfully.
Beside her, she felt Diesel lean closer. It was an intuitive thing, one based on instinct rather than observation, and she swatted away his hand before it could reach her butt.
“Watch it,” she snapped.
He chuckled.
“Pretty,” Audrey said, blinking slowly as she stared out over the lagoon. She swayed, and Victoria grabbed her friend’s arm to help keep the girl balanced. The potion had hit during check-in and lasted their entire flight, which had made security especially entertaining. Fyrn probably hadn’t been on a flight in the last decade, so he hadn’t realized how suspicious a stumbling girl who couldn’t keep her arm raised in the body scanners might look. It had taken a bit of sweet
-talking on Diesel’s part—and a compliance spell or two—to get them through.
At least he was good for something.
Styx sunbathed on her shoulder, not bothering to move as she got her bearings. Victoria unfurled the Atlantean map, and Diesel snapped his fingers. A ripple of light surrounded them in an orb similar to Fyrn’s bubble of silence back at the crime den, but this one stretched twenty feet in each direction.
“Won’t people see us?” Victoria asked.
“Not at all, dearest. We’re hidden. To any looking on, we simply disappeared into thin air. No one outside the circle will see anything that happens inside.” He raised his brow suggestively.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ me into a relationship. That’s working great.”
He chuckled. “Isn’t that all flirting is?”
“Splish, splash,” Audrey said, laughing as she jumped around in the water.
Jesus, this potion lasted forever, and instead of knocking her out she seemed more loopy than anything else. Keeping Audrey in line during the flight had been like trying to shepherd a drunk toddler. She had continuously thrown her complimentary pretzels at the flight attendant.
“Here,” Diesel said, reaching for the map.
“No thanks,” Victoria said. She stuck it under her arm while she pulled Audrey back onto the beach.
“I’m only trying to help.” Diesel set a warm hand on Victoria’s back, and his touch ignited a spark of something tingly in her core. She silenced it almost instantly and stepped out of his reach, but she couldn’t speak for a second afterward. Maybe he had put a spell on her, or—
She cleared her throat, not sure what to say as she unfurled the map again. “I’m good, thanks.”
The moving, shimmering symbol was now the only thing on the parchment. The image of the lagoon had disappeared. Victoria smacked it with the back of her hand. “See, Diesel? We’re worse off than before.”
“Face the water.”
She frowned, but ultimately complied. She stood in front of the water and stared at the map, tapping her foot and annoyance.
As she watched, the symbol disappeared entirely and a single line of elegant text appeared in its place.