Atlantis Rising

by James E. Wisher

  “I’m going myself.”

  Chapter 16

  Conryu, his mother, Prime, and Kai arrived at the Academy less than an hour after his conversation with Connel. To say his mother had been excited to hear there was another, different crystal would be putting it mildly. He hadn’t seen her so worked up in a while. They left one library and entered another. Most of the students were still asleep and the library was empty. That suited him fine. The fewer people that knew they were there the better.

  While Kai went to fetch Maria and Dean Blane, Conryu and his mother settled in to wait.

  “Did you really mail the magic-negating crystal to the Ministry of Magic in London?” his mother asked.

  “Sure, why not? You said you guys got it by mail. It’s not like I can send it magically. Honestly, those things are a bloody nuisance.”

  “They were designed to be, at least to wizards. I’m sorry the soldiers came after you with them.”

  “No need to apologize, Mom. You didn’t send them.” Conryu licked his lips. There was never going to be a better time to bring this up. In fact, he’d waited too long as it was. “Have you been doing okay, since Dad died? I know I haven’t been around as much as I should have.”

  “I miss him, terribly.” Her voice broke along with Conryu’s heart. “But I’m okay. One day at a time, right? I’ve got my work which helps a lot. Though my focus appears to have blinded me to what was really happening. And don’t worry for a second about not being with me. I understand why you couldn’t be. We’re together now. That’s what counts.”

  He reached out and took her hand. “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too, dear.”

  Kai appeared a moment later. “They are coming, Chosen.”

  Conryu gave his mother’s hand a final squeeze and stood just as the library door opened. Maria and Dean Blane entered and hurried over to the table. Introductions were made and Maria hugged his mother.

  Dean Blane placed the clear crystal on the table. “Here it is.”

  “And this one can detect wizard potential by testing blood?” His mother closed her eyes and placed a finger on the crystal. “No vibration. Maybe it only happens when the crystal’s power activates. That would make sense. The gray one was constantly active and so vibrated constantly.”

  She went on muttering to herself seeming blissfully unaware that there was anyone else in the room.

  Dean Blane motioned him off to one side. “Did you get a stabbing pain in your head a little while ago?”

  “No. Why, what happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Dean Blane said. “It hit everyone at the same time. Woke many of the girls out of a dead sleep. I can’t believe you didn’t feel it.”

  “Whatever it was probably happened when we were in the library. Being in another dimension might have protected us. Were there any lingering effects?”

  “No, it only lasted a few seconds.” Dean Blane shook her youthful head. “I’ve never experienced anything like it. I reached out to some friends in other parts of the Alliance and they felt it too.”

  Conryu sighed. Another mystery, just what they needed.

  “Could I trouble someone for some blood?” his mother asked.

  Before Conryu could reply, Kai drew her sword, touched her thumb to the blade, and let a few drops of blood fall on the crystal. It absorbed the blood and turned pitch black. It worked the way they expected at least.

  His mother touched the crystal again, a look of intense focus scrunching up her face. After a few seconds she smiled. “It’s vibrating! I knew it! The vibration is softer than the gray crystals, but definitely there. The strength must vary depending on the power of the effect it’s trying to create.”

  “Magic based on vibrations?” Dean Blane said. “I’ve never even considered such a thing.”

  “Can we counter the vibrations?” Conryu asked. “If there are more of those anti-magic crystals lying around it would be nice if we had a way of negating their effect.”

  Mom got that faraway look she got when she was deep in thought. “I suppose if one frequency causes an effect, an inverse vibration should negate it. You’d need something to generate the vibrations, some way to calibrate them so they matched the precise pitch you needed, and a way to direct them. The crystals are designed to do what they do. There’s some sort of internal energy source that powers the vibrations.”

  “What sort of energy source?” Maria asked.

  “I wish I knew,” his mother said.

  “Why don’t you just smash the crystal and see what’s inside?” Prime said.

  Everyone faced the demon book and somehow Prime managed to look nervous.

  Conryu grinned. That wasn’t a terrible idea. “Anyone got a hammer?”

  “If we smash it, we won’t have anything else to experiment on,” Dean Blane said.

  “Are there more experiments you want to run?” Conryu asked.

  Dean Blane looked at Maria who shrugged. “Now that you ask, I can’t really think of anything we haven’t tried. Did you want to try anything else, Mrs. Koda?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Connel and I have been testing the one at the lab for months. We’d run into a wall. Neither of us really considered damaging such a unique artifact, but if we’re to figure it out, I see no other option.”

  “Chosen?” Kai had her sword out and ready.

  “Go ahead, Kai, but be careful. Mom, get behind me.” When his mother had moved to a safe position, he conjured an invisible wall in front of everyone and nodded to Kai.

  She brought the hilt of her sword down squarely on the now-black crystal.

  It shattered into dozens of pieces, the darkness vanishing instantly.

  He lowered his barrier and everyone hurried to look over the pieces. His mother pushed the pieces around, looking each one over as she did. Dean Blane and Maria both cast detection spells.

  Conryu was content to let those who knew what they were doing work. Complex analysis wasn’t his strong suit and he knew it.

  Five minutes after Kai shattered the crystal, a phone rang. Dean Blane reached into the robe and pulled out a simple flip phone. Conryu frowned at her. Cell phones were supposed to be banned at the Academy.

  She noticed his expression and shrugged. “It’s for emergencies. Hello?”

  Dean Blane listened for a minute then said, “And you only thought to mention this now? Don’t give me that bureaucratic bullshit. Crazy or not, she clearly knew about the crystals. Atlantis, seriously? And what is that noise? Why are you in a plane and not flying on your own? What? Fine, call me back when you know something more.”

  “Trouble?” Conryu asked.

  Dean Blane closed her phone and tucked it away. “That was Jemma. She captured a woman near Stonehenge who claims the crystal magic comes from Atlantis, that the city is returning, and they are going to do away with all wizards.”

  “Sounds like trouble to me,” Conryu said.

  Jemma pocketed her phone and grimaced. She’d expected Dean Blane to be annoyed with her; if the shoe had been on the other foot, she would have been annoyed as well. Fortunately, the roar of the spy plane’s engines made it difficult to talk for long, though she was certain the next time they spoke face to face, Jemma was going to get an earful.

  For now, she needed to focus on the matter at hand. The back of the plane wasn’t designed for passengers. The two pilots rode up front and masses of computer equipment filled the fuselage. She wiped sweat from her brow. The bloody things put out a ton of heat.

  There were no windows or chairs, so she was forced to wedge herself between two cabinets filled with hard disks. The technicians had also rigged her up a high definition monitor so she could see what was outside. Right now, only clouds were visible.

  “Approaching the target coordinates, ma’am,” one of the pilots announced over the intercom.

  Jemma muttered a detection spell, but if they were dealing with crystal magic, she doubted she’d be able to sense anything. Th
e plane banked as they made a slow circle around the place where the RAF picked up the strange readings.

  There was nothing out there but more clouds.

  When they’d completed a full circle, the pilot said. “We’ve completed our sweep. Do we return or remain on station?”

  The plane had a huge fuel tank and was more than capable of circling an area for hours. Jemma had no desire to spend hours looking at the empty sky. Still, she had to be sure.

  “One more pass if you please,” she said.

  As they banked, Jemma watched the screen even more carefully. Halfway through the circuit, a gull banked through the area, weaving its way in a zigzagging path through the sky. Why would it fly that way if there was nothing out there?

  “Is this plane armed?” Jemma asked.

  “No, ma’am,” the pilot said. “We do have defensive flares.”

  “That will do. Did you see that gull fly through the target area?”

  There was a long pause. “Yes, we see it on the recording.”

  “I want you to climb, fly over that precise area, and disperse your flares. Track their trajectory with the cameras. I want to know if they hit anything.”

  “You think there’s something invisible out there?” the pilot asked. “Do I need to call in a fighter escort?”

  “Let’s confirm that something’s there before we make fools of ourselves.”

  “Understood.”

  The plane climbed and banked.

  Jemma kept her eyes glued to the screen.

  There was a series of rapid pops, like fireworks going off, then the flares fell through her field of view. The bright dots fell slowly.

  Come on, I know you’re hiding here somewhere.

  One of the flares shifted right as if it hit something. A second one further on did the same.

  “Are you seeing this, ma’am?” the pilot asked.

  “I see it. Log the recording and get us out of here.”

  “Roger.”

  Before the plane could bank, a massive shimmer filled the air. When it vanished an entire crystal city appeared below them. Dozens of towers that looked like they were made of glass jutted into the air.

  One of the towers began to glow.

  “Get us out of here now!” Jemma shouted.

  Too late.

  A beam of crimson light shot out and sliced the plane in half between her and the cockpit.

  Jemma cast the fastest flying spell of her life and shot through the debris toward the tumbling cockpit. The pilots didn’t have ejection seats in a plane like this. She had to reach them before they hit the rapidly approaching water.

  She dove, casting a protective spell as she went.

  Jagged pieces of metal broke off the cockpit and hurtled toward her. They pinged off her shield and she kept going.

  When she reached the cockpit, both pilots had their belts off.

  She grabbed them and chanted.

  The crystal tower was glowing again.

  Jemma opened a portal to the realm of wind.

  The three of them fell through it an instant before the tower could fire.

  Floating in the swirling void, Jemma blew out a long sigh. They’d survived for the moment.

  “What the bloody hell was that?” one of the pilots asked.

  “Atlantis,” Jemma said, not caring if she sounded mad.

  Everything Sienna said was true. The city had returned.

  Chapter 17

  Merik had done some crazy things since learning of his heritage but flying at break-neck speed in a crystal rowboat went right to the top of the list. They were so low he could have reached out and touched the treetops. It was unlikely the church had a high-tech anti-aircraft system or even one that would have been able to detect them given their size and lack of an engine, but Tanidel and her comrades weren’t taking any chances. Merik kept his opinions to himself, but he figured the biggest danger was someone looking up, seeing them, and calling the church.

  “Is that it?” Tanidel asked.

  Merik squinted. In the distance, a huge white marble palace filled the horizon. It had to be at least thirty thousand square feet with hundreds of acres of lawns and parks surrounding it. No vow of poverty for the archbishop, that was certain. If the extravagance bothered anyone, they were smart enough to keep quiet or risk getting a visit from the inquisition.

  Tiny figures patrolled the grounds. He assumed those were guards assigned to protect the archbishop from his adoring followers.

  “That’s it,” Merik said. “Any thoughts on how we land without getting shot?”

  “Their weapons are no threat to us,” Curly said. “Even you can withstand a few bullets without fear.”

  Just because he could didn’t mean Merik was eager to prove it. “This place has to have a helipad. I don’t see one on the grounds so that means it’s probably on the roof. Why don’t we land there and work our way down?”

  “Avoiding confrontation would be prudent,” Tanidel said.

  “Very well.” Curly didn’t seem overly interested in avoiding a confrontation.

  The boat slowed as they got closer. Any moment Merik expected bullets to start pinging off the hull. None of the guards even looked up as they passed overhead. He frowned. There was some magic going that he didn’t grasp. Merik almost asked about it but didn’t want to draw attention by speaking.

  The crystal boat landed in the middle of a circle marked with an H. If the helicopter wasn’t here, then the archbishop might not be either. That could be a problem, though one easily solved with a few questions in the right ear.

  When they had all gotten out, Larry and Curly led the way to a door that went inside. The handle didn’t budge when Larry grabbed it. His right arm glowed and he reared back, ripping the door off its hinges, and tossing it aside.

  Merik winced. So much for stealth.

  There was a small landing inside the door and a set of stairs leading to the top floor. Larry took the lead, his crystal feet clattering on the steel stairs like cymbals crashing. A stampede of cattle would have been quieter.

  At the bottom of the steps was another door, this one unlocked. Larry pulled it open and took a bullet to his crystal face. It ricocheted off without leaving a mark.

  “Remain here,” Larry said.

  He and Curly stepped out into the hall. The clatter of machine guns filled the air.

  “Don’t worry,” Tanidel said. “Our crystal bodies are very sturdy. They will be fine.”

  Merik was less worried about Larry and Curly than he was the guards. If they wanted to make an alliance with the archbishop, killing his minions wasn’t the best way to introduce themselves.

  Soon enough the hall fell silent. Tanidel pushed the door open and Merik followed her out into the hall expecting to find bodies torn to pieces. Instead he found a group of six men in bulletproof vests and military fatigues lying on the floor, still breathing, and reasonably intact. Thank heaven they had some notion of restraint.

  “The archbishop has been moved to somewhere called a secure room,” Larry said. “We have the location.”

  The secure room was in the palace basement. They ran into three more armed groups which Larry and Curly dealt with as easily as the first. They were like monsters from a horror movie come to life. No matter what the guards tried it had no effect on their crystal bodies. Merik was beginning to think that a dozen Atlanteans might be enough to defeat the world’s wizards after all.

  A heavy armored door protected the secure room. However strong they were, Merik doubted Larry and Curly would be able to rip it off its hinges like they had every other door so far. In fact, they didn’t even try. Larry punched a sequence of numbers into a keypad and the door swung open on its own.

  “How did they know that?” Merik asked.

  “I’m sure they extracted it from one of the guards’ minds like they did the room’s location,” Tanidel said. “Who are Larry and Curly?”

  Merik grinned. “We’re connected, aren’t we?
I’d forgotten. They were characters on an old tv show I watched as a kid. I needed some way to think of your friends since they didn’t have names of their own. Those just popped into my head. If you could read that, couldn’t you read the memory as well?”

  “Our connection only allows me to see your surface thoughts. Anything deeper would require a probe and might damage your mind.”

  During their brief conversation, Larry had gone in and pulled an old man in white robes out into the hall. He was decorated with so much gold jewelry it was a wonder he could walk under all that weight.

  The archbishop’s gaze latched onto Merik the way a drowning man’s might on a piece of driftwood. “Please, whatever you want is yours, only ask.”

  “Archbishop, I apologize for our methods in getting in touch with you. I had hoped that a bishop of my acquaintance could handle the introductions, but he was killed without mercy by a wizard,” Merik said. “None of your followers have been permanently harmed and neither shall you be. You see, we have come in search of allies. My companions and I are the sworn enemy of wizards. When they asked me to advise them as to who would be their greatest friend in a war against the wizards of the world, I said without hesitation that they should seek out the True Face of God.”

  The archbishop slowly relaxed under the combination of reassurance and compliments. “If you are the enemy of those godless monstrosities then we will be brothers for sure. What do you propose?”

  Merik glanced at Tanidel. He didn’t actually know the survivors’ plans for the war.

  She said, “We have the means to negate their magic, but we lack numbers. If you provide soldiers, we will protect them from the enemy’s magic.”

  “If you can stop their cursed sorcery, then you truly are angels come from Heaven. Nothing would make my people happier than slaughtering every one of the cursed wizards.”

  “You should gather them for a blessing and to announce the crusade,” Larry said. “If you introduce us as friends, your followers won’t be afraid.”

  “Certainly, certainly. I can hardly contain my joy at the prospect.”