“Safe, where no one will ever see them again. Where, exactly, did you get them?”
“That’s classified.”
“Figured you’d say something unhelpful like that.” Conryu paralyzed both men with a thought and moved closer to the general.
Distasteful as it was, the only way he was going to get the answers he needed was to take them. He touched the general’s forehead and activated the spell he’d used earlier on his assassin. There were a bunch of meetings, some scientists, a visit with the president.
Here we go. Another scientist, this one older than the rest. No name appeared in the memory. The scientist handed the general a metal box with the three crystals inside. Whoever that scientist was, Conryu needed to find him.
When he had ended his spell Conryu said, “Leave me alone, General, and I will return the favor. Come after me again and next time I’ll send you bodies.”
With that final warning, Conryu vanished into the borderland.
Murmured voices slowly dragged Sienna back to awareness. As she came awake the scent of antiseptic stung her nose. She was in a hospital, she knew that before she opened her eyes. By some miracle she’d survived getting shot multiple times. The pain of her wounds was gone. Only magic could have healed her so completely. That meant she wasn’t a prisoner of the Atlanteans. The arrogant man must have deemed her no longer a threat.
He would come to regret that decision. Sienna may have failed in her mission to stop the return of Atlantis, but she could still help make things right. If it cost her life, she would make the bastard regret sparing her.
“Good morning,” a cheery voice said.
Sienna slowly opened her eyes and found a middle-aged woman in a white robe standing over her, a clipboard in her hand. “Where am I?”
“The Ministry of Magic’s infirmary. When we found you, someone had put a bunch of holes in you. Had we arrived a moment later, you likely would have died. Can you tell us what happened?”
“Can I get something to drink?” Sienna asked to buy herself some time.
“Of course. I’ll be right back.” The light magic wizard – she could be nothing else – walked away.
Sienna tilted her head a fraction to get a better idea where she was. It looked like a typical hospital room, maybe thirty feet square, a bathroom near the door, a little stand near her bed, all very clean and ordinary. The only thing missing was a tv.
She threw her blankets aside and sat up. A chill breeze ran up her spine. All she had on was a gown that felt like it was made of tissue paper. Her shoes were missing as well. Everything seemed to be working okay at least. Escaping this place in her current state wouldn’t be easy.
And maybe she shouldn’t try. Sienna might not know a lot about world affairs, but she knew enough to know when Atlantis returned, these would be some of the people on the front line fighting them. They could use all the help they could get and even then, it might not be enough. Her ancestors barely drove the enemy away long ago. She wasn’t sure if modern wizards were up to the task.
The wizard returned as she was making up her mind, a paper cup in one hand and a foam pitcher in the other. “Here we are, water. Lunch will be served in an hour or so. It’s not the best, but I expect you’re hungry. Patients are always hungry after magical healing.”
Sienna took a sip of the water and made up her mind. “I wish to speak with whoever’s in charge here. A great threat is approaching this world. You must be ready to face it.”
Jemma drummed her fingers on her desk as she listened to Dean Blane run through the list of tests she’d run on the inscrutable crystal Conryu had acquired for her. The list very closely resembled the one Jemma’s team had performed with equally worthless results. If someone as brilliant as Dean Blane hadn’t gotten anywhere in analyzing the crystal, her team’s lack of results didn’t seem so bad.
What annoyed her was that no one else was supposed to have a crystal in the first place. Conryu was supposed to bring them to her. Of course, her information said nothing about there being multiple stones in the fanatics’ possession, so she hadn’t even known about them before answering the phone.
When she finally finished Dean Blane said, “I think we should pool our resources. Whatever we’re dealing with is outside my understanding of magic.”
Given the research department’s complete failure to date, Jemma was in no position to turn down an offer of assistance. “Agreed. But whatever we do will have to be just between us, our governments are still not on the best of terms.”
“I prefer to keep them out of it anyway. In my experience the government tends to do more harm than good in these sorts of situations. I’ll be in touch.”
Jemma hung up the phone and sighed. It felt like things were getting out of hand. She hated it when she did not have complete control, not that she ever seemed to. As she was pondering her next move, her office door opened.
Celia poked her head in and said, “The mystery wizard is finally awake and she’s asking to talk to you.”
“What does she want to talk about?”
“You’re going to love this; she says there’s a great threat coming and that we need to be ready to deal with it.”
Jemma rubbed the bridge of her nose. How come nobody ever wanted to talk to her about a nice quiet dinner and a bottle of wine?
“Does she seem sane, or is this going to be a waste of my time?”
Celia shrugged. “She’s not bouncing off the walls crazy, but whether she has anything useful to tell us I couldn’t say. Will you see her?”
Jemma pushed away from her desk and stood. “I might as well.”
The infirmary was three floors down from her office. She and Celia made the walk in silence. Jemma couldn’t deny her curiosity about where the woman came from. While she was unconscious, the Ministry had done a number of tests and searches and as far as they could figure out, she’d appeared out of thin air. The sword they found nearby was a mystery as well. As best they could figure, it dated to six thousand years ago.
The head healer guided them past a trio of empty rooms and in to see the infirmary’s sole patient. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, a cheap department robe wrapped around her shoulders. Considering the shape she’d been in the last time Jemma saw her, she looked remarkably healthy.
The wizard looked from Jemma to Celia. “Which of you is master of this place?”
“I lead the Ministry of Magic,” Jemma said. “I’m told you wanted to speak with me. Perhaps you could start with your name and why you were at Stonehenge with a group of terrorists?”
“My name is Sienna and I was there to stop them. I nearly succeeded. But nearly succeeding is the same as total failure. Soon the enemy of all wizards will return. Atlantis is coming and you must prepare yourselves.”
Jemma wanted to grimace but kept her expression neutral. Looked like this was going to be a waste of time after all.
“You don’t believe me,” Sienna said.
“Atlantis is a myth,” Celia said.
Sienna smiled. “So was a male wizard until three years ago. If I’d come to you twenty years ago and said soon the most powerful wizard in the world will be born and it will be a boy, you would have laughed me out of here or locked me in a padded cell, but it happened all the same. Atlantis is coming and they will resume the ancient war with the heirs of Lemuria.”
This strange wizard had a point. Everything she said about Conryu was true. No one believed it was possible until it happened. Jemma couldn’t afford to be so closed-minded that she ignored a potential threat. The Atlantis from the stories might be a myth, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t an Atlantis that the stories were based on.
“Tell me everything,” Jemma said.
“Everything is going to take a while. It started with a war thousands of years ago. Lemuria, the first kingdom of magic, home to the ancestors of what would become modern wizards, fought a drawn-out battle with Atlantis, a city that used a different form of magic, one based
on crystals and usable by everyone, not just those chosen by the spirits.”
At the mention of crystals, Jemma’s focus sharpened. “How do these crystals work?”
Sienna shook her head. “If my ancestors ever knew, the knowledge was lost or buried long ago. I only know that the two forms were incompatible and the practitioners of one sort of magic generally didn’t get along with the other.”
“Didn’t get along?” Celia asked.
“Yes. When a Lemurian encountered someone from Atlantis, only one of them tended to walk away alive.”
“What about Stonehenge?” Jemma asked.
“When Atlantis vanished from the human realm,” Sienna said, “they left a tether so they could use it to return after rebuilding their strength. The Lemurians, despite their considerable power, couldn’t destroy it. They were forced to erect a barrier that would stop anyone with Atlantean blood from approaching. The standing stones served as a focus for the spell.”
Jemma spoke with Sienna for several hours before finally excusing herself. When they were alone Celia asked, “Do you believe her?”
“If she’s lying, it is the most elaborate charade I’ve ever encountered. And to what purpose? She’s asked us for nothing. Sienna nearly died trying to stop the cultists from entering Stonehenge. That’s a long way to go for a deception.” Jemma shook her head. “I think she’s telling the truth, at least the truth as she understands it.”
“What are we going to do?” Celia asked.
“That is indeed the question.” Even with everything they’d learned from Sienna, Jemma still had no real idea how the “crystal magic” as she called it worked.
How did you defeat an enemy armed with a weapon you didn’t understand?
Chapter 14
After putting General Smith and his assassins to sleep, Conryu and Kai stepped into the library and he shifted them to Sentinel City. His mother worked in the weapons research department and he hoped she might recognize the older man that provided the crystals. If she didn’t, he wasn’t sure what their next move would be.
Conryu didn’t bother creating chairs for them since the transfer would only take seconds. As they stood in front of the door Kai asked, “Was it wise to leave the general and his men alive, Chosen?”
“Of course it wasn’t wise,” Prime answered. “My master is as soft as a century-old corpse. I’ve argued many times that he would be better off killing all his enemies, but he insists that killing is only a last resort. He doesn’t really even mean it when he threatens people.”
“Don’t hold back, Prime,” Conryu said. “Tell us how you really feel. Look, even if I murdered the general and his men, what difference would it make? Do you think he’s the only general they’ve got? Or that those are the only soldiers? All I’d accomplish is making the government madder at me than they already are. Besides, the crystals were the real threat. Without their magic-negating abilities, even the best soldiers are barely a nuisance to me.”
Conryu rapped twice on the doors to let his mother know they were there and opened them. It was quite late, but knowing her, she was still up working on some project or other. Since his father died, she’d been even more obsessed with work. Conryu figured it was to take her mind off being lonely. He’d offered to bring her to the island, but she always passed. And it wasn’t like he could stay at home, not with the government breathing down his neck.
It sucked, but he didn’t have a ton of good options.
He and Kai stepped into the apartment. It was dark and for a moment he feared maybe she really was asleep, then he spotted the light from under the door to his old bedroom. She had converted it into a home office.
“Mom?”
The door opened and his mother stood in the doorway wearing a blue bathrobe, her matching slippers sticking out from underneath. Her cheeks were hollow and she had dark circles under her eyes. Looked like she’d been skipping meals and not sleeping again. Maria’s mother tried to keep an eye on her, but there was only so much Shizuku could do.
“Hello, dear. It’s late, shouldn’t you be asleep?”
Conryu smiled. “Pot calling the kettle black?”
She shrugged and he crossed the living room to hug her. She felt thin in his arms. Once this crystal business was dealt with, they were going to have to make some serious changes. She couldn’t go on like this and he couldn’t let her.
When he stepped back, she said, “You’re not here to socialize at this time of night. What brings you by?”
“I’m hoping you can help me.” Conryu conjured an image of the man he’d seen in the general’s memory. “Do you know this guy?”
“Of course I know him,” his mother said. “He’s my boss. His name is Connel Ames and he’s a brilliant researcher. We’re working on a new project, a form of magical technology based on crystals. We’re trying to isolate exactly how the item we acquired functions, with limited success I must admit. Connel thinks it works based on some form of energy manipulation, like standard spells, but I’m convinced vibrations are the key. The crystal vibrates at a constant pitch, never varying or stopping. I’ve never encountered anything like it. How do you know him?”
Conryu took a deep breath to steady himself. Learning his mother was working on the crystals was a surprise to say the least. “He gave three gray crystals to a general named Smith who in turn gave them to three special ops guys who tried to kill me, twice. The crystals negate magic.”
His mother stared at him, her tired eyes wide. “Oh my god. I didn’t know. I would have warned you. It’s just I thought if we had a way of stopping magic then your father…”
Conryu hugged her again. “It’s okay, Mom.”
She cried against his chest, but not for long. She was always the practical one. “I’m okay now.”
He let her go and asked, “Do you know where he got the crystals in the first place?”
“They came in the mail.”
“In the mail? Are you kidding?”
“No, at least that’s what I was told. Why would Connel lie?”
Conryu could think of several reasons, including protecting his source. “We need to talk to him. Are there any more crystals?”
“Just the one we’ve been working on. It’s locked up tight in the vault in the basement. I don’t have a key.”
“Do you know where Connel lives? I have a few questions.”
She shook her head. “I don’t. We never talk about personal things, only work. He comes in at five in the morning. You could catch him in the car park. There are cameras, but that shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“I think you should call in sick tomorrow, Mom.”
“I’m going to quit. Using my research to try and kill my son? No, I won’t accept that. Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer to visit your island.”
“What time is it?” Conryu asked.
“Just after midnight.” For some reason Prime always knew exactly what time it was. Probably something to do with being a demon.
“In five hours, we finally get some answers.” Conryu could hardly wait.
Connel Ames was shorter than Conryu expected. As the researcher got out of his midlife-crisis convertible, Conryu figured he wasn’t much more than five ten. A scruff of gray beard covered his cheeks and he had the same dark ridges under his eyes that Conryu’s mother did. Neither of them seemed to be getting enough sleep.
A single camera covered the area of the parking lot where Connel put his car. Conryu waited in the library until Kai deactivated it. Sure enough five seconds later Kai appeared and gave him a thumbs up. That was his cue.
Conryu opened the door and stepped into the real world directly in front of Connel. The scientist flinched and took a step back. He looked like he wanted to run, but Kai appeared behind him, a hand on her sword, making it clear that escape was not an option.
“What do you want?” Connel asked.
“You know me?” Conryu asked.
“Everyone knows you. Your mother als
o keeps a picture of you on her desk. Very unprofessional. What do you want? I have a lot of work to do.”
“Your work is what brings me here today.” Conryu moved a step closer. “Where did you get the crystals?”
“She shouldn’t have told you about those. Our research is top secret. If you’ll excuse me.” Connel tried to walk away, but at Conryu’s command, the stone gripped his feet, locking him in place.
“Mom didn’t tell me about your research. Three soldiers with magic-negating crystals tried to kill me. I saw you give them to General Smith. Where did they come from?”
“I received a package in the mail. Four matching crystals were inside. On my desk at home I keep a magical toy, very old, been in the family for years. As soon as the crystals got close it deactivated. The moment I saw what they did, I realized this was a discovery that would make my career. Truly I have no idea who my benefactor was. Should the opportunity arise, I would be delighted to thank him or her.”
Conryu sensed no lies in his story. Still, he couldn’t imagine why anyone would give away something as valuable as the crystals. Clearly the answer wasn’t going to come from Connel.
“My mother won’t be coming in today or ever again. Consider this her resignation.”
“No!” He lunged, coming out of his shoes to grab Conryu’s arm as he stepped away.
Kai’s sword was at his throat in an instant.
Conryu waved her back. “Why not? You’re the head researcher, what’s so important about my mother?”
“We’re pursuing parallel tracks. I don’t know which of us will turn out to be correct, but if I have to do her work as well as mine, it will set the project back months.”
Conryu raised an eyebrow.
Connel looked away. “I don’t have months. My superiors are growing impatient. They want a functioning replica of the crystal soon, or they’re taking the project from my department and moving it to the lab in Central. You know what that means? My career will be ruined. You don’t walk away from a failure of this scale with no consequences. I may never get another opportunity this huge. Please, convince her to change her mind.”
Atlantis Rising Page 11