by Louisa Lo
Anything for a trinket or a useful piece of information.
“Greetings, Foster.” I kept my voice neutral despite the pounding of my heart. How much does he know?
“Don’t play games with me.” Foster smirked. “I saw that little deviant calling her power when I flew patrol earlier.”
My cloaking enchantment was meant to conceal our presence, but Finny’s surge of energy must’ve broken through it, leaving Foster privy to what happened on the battlement.
“You would’ve seen me, too, Your Royal Highness. But oh, wait, you were too busy fainting.”
No use clarifying that I hadn’t so much fainted away as I had been almost choked to death. It would not help Finny’s case.
“What do you want?” I used the most direct approach because there was no use trying to demand the respect that Foster was required to show as per royal protocols—everyone knew I was the heir apparent in name only.
“Did you see her wings? They aren’t fae wings, that’s for sure.”
Finny’s wings had always been there, but they were enchanted to hide themselves, even from their owner, until after the Crossover. But her outburst must’ve brought them out pre-maturely.
“We both know what she is. So I ask you again, what do you want?”
“It’s not what I want. It’s what you want. If you want me to keep quiet, then you’d better give me—”
I didn’t wait to hear Foster outline his terms because whatever they were, he would not honor them. The queen would find out about Finny’s ability and move up her schedule of removal from Dualsing, leaving me with no time to prevent the Crossover from happening.
In the precious seconds that talking to Foster had used, I had rubbed my fingertips over the potent, emergency fairy dust I’d planted on the side seam of my pants where my hands naturally fell. The general-purpose magic enhancer could be a game changer in a dire situation. When Foster started naming his terms, I encased him in a prison of pure energy, my natural strength multiplied by the fairy dust by tenfold.
By the time Foster blasted through my energy prison with his own magic, I had already made a mental call to the Molten Amber embedded in the walls. The amber, multiple separate entities with one hive-minded consciousness, congregated around the shadowy corner with the grace of a school of fish in a rapid current.
I pushed Foster toward the wall, and the Molten Amber pulled him into it. They placed themselves all over the fae’s body, enveloping him in a confinement of orange glow. Then the light dimmed until the wall looked like it was no different from any of its neighbors.
Individually the Molten Amber could be easily crushed by a fae, but their collective strength could overpower someone of mid-level magic, like Foster, for a time.
No one suspected that I had formed a strategic alliance with beings they perceived as magically less superior. To the fae of Dualsing, a people of generational thieves and deceivers, there were only two types of beings outside their kind: the more intelligent ones they had to figure out how to fool, and the less intelligent ones they took advantage of outright. Being looked down upon all my life because of my disability and my joke of a claim to the throne, I had developed a knack for picking up on the discontent of others. One night a year ago, I’d listened to the low humming in the walls, the sad song of the Molten Amber as it lamented the day it had been unearthed from its natural habitat to serve the people of Dualsing. Answering that outcry with gentle understanding and comradeship had earned me the unwavering loyalty of a valuable ally.
These walls really did have ears, after all.
And they collected secrets on my behalf.
If I could not become the true heir to the throne through pure physical prowess, then I intended to be a thousand times as cunning to compensate. I’d learned early on that information was the road to true power.
I did a quick calculation in my head and figured I’d bought myself two weeks, maybe three. That was how long the Molten Amber could hold someone of Foster’s magical ability in stasis.
Through my friends within the walls, I knew that Foster and his superior butted heads over Foster’s work ethics—or lack thereof. Also, his intended was stepping out with someone who worked in the same kitchen she did. With a few carefully chosen words whispered in the right ears, I could make it look as if Foster had somehow found out about the affair and took off in a huff. It would not be completely out of character for the undependable fae to simply disappear without informing his boss.
And by the time Foster’s absence started to become suspicious, Finny’s big celebration would be over, and it wouldn’t have mattered one way or the other. Either my plan would work and my sin would be overlooked or my plan would fail and there would be plenty of hell to pay as it was. What was one more crime?
I walked as fast as my limp would allow, trying not to look like I was hurrying away.
Trust, my miniature dragon the size of a large wolfhound, caught up with me halfway through the central square. A fae hurried past us, almost knocking Trust over, not bothering to give the aging dragon any personal space. Given the sight of Trust’s winkled and dry-looking wings, many ignored the presence of the once-noble beast.
“I know, I know. I’m on my way,” I said to Trust without much enthusiasm, assuming he was there to tell me to hurry up for my engagement with General Tok. I would dearly love to avoid the engagement, but being late was one thing, being a no-show was completely another. I had to forge onward, though I was in no mood for the military man’s boasting of battle glories, which were more about recounting tales of getting away with gross deceptions and evading justice than true bravery.
Though, in truth, evading justice was the Dualsingian definition of true bravery.
Trust butted his scaled head in my stomach, stopping me.
“What is it, old man?”
Trust looked around him, indicating that we weren’t alone. He was mute to the rest of Dualsing, but not to me. He might be reluctant to speak in front of an audience, but there was no mistaking the urgency in his eyes.
“What is it?” I asked again softly, trying to crouch down to his level as much as my weaker leg would allow.
Trust tilted his head toward the observatory, walked toward that direction, then paced back to me.
Finny.
Chapter Six
Serafina
ONE MOMENT I WAS mesmerized by Gamma’s eerie glow, the next its yellow light was turning crimson.
Sheer terror invaded my being, not simply from the training drilled into me that the color crimson at the observatory was very bad news, but because of the sudden winter chill settling into my bones. I slid onto the floor and hugged my body, shaking. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t think. I clenched my jaw to keep my teeth from rattling.
And my pounding headache continued.
“Call…Mr. Lich…Lichen,” I managed to tell an alarmed Alina before slipping away…
…into a world of starless sky, glass and bright lights.
Part of me knew I wasn’t really there—wherever this place was. I was floating in midair, a passing crow flew over my body—no, through my body. I held up my hands—they were translucent.
I could just make out a meandering path of flashing, moving mechanical boxes below, and in front of me was the rooftop of a thirty-story building I’d only ever heard Eldon describe with words. The building was one in a sea of over a hundred, stretching from one side of the city to the other, its brilliant lights blinding me like a million candles.
I couldn’t feel the migraine anymore, nor the cold for that matter, but my guts felt like ice just the same.
Was this really a dream? If so, how could I dream about a place I’d never visited in such vivid detail? And if I was indeed dreaming, should I not have taken everything at face value?
A movement caught my eyes.
Two girls dressed in dark, form-fitting outfits were arguing on the rooftop. The older one had waist-length dark hair, the other one, who seemed to
be the same age as me, had short, red hair that danced around her face like a flame.
The vibrant color reminded me of the hair charm I touched just a little while ago.
Red hair. Gamma.
I’d seen her in my dreams many times before. Dreams that weren’t meant to be remembered in the glaring day of light. Could the connection I felt with her have propelled my spirit to cross dimensions? To seek the answers about my life I’d been looking for?
If my theory was right, and the pattern was depicting a human city, then Alpha seemed to be on the ground level between two other structures, Beta was in a two-story house on the other side of the city, and Gamma was pacing on top of a tall building.
If this was the top of the building I envisioned when I first saw the pattern on the dome, then one of the girls below me was Gamma.
I had no idea who the girl beside Gamma was. According to the map, Alpha and Beta were in other parts of the city, so she couldn’t have been one of them.
Another crow flew through my body, reminding me of my body-less status. Before I could process the mounting evidence that I had astral projected myself into another plane, a voice echoed in my head, the tone cold and angry. From the enraged look on the face of the flame-hair girl below, I had a feeling I knew whose inner thoughts I was listening to.
Not that mindreading was an everyday occurrence for me, but then again, neither was astral travelling.
That fucking blade is mine now, and she better leave me be if she knows what’s good for her.
“Give it back, Anastasia!” the dark haired girl demanded. “You’ll earn your own when you graduate from Vengeance U. If you graduate.”
“But I like this one, Gab.” Anastasia smiled and stroked the iron dagger in her gloved hand.
My knee-jerk reaction was to move back, away from the deadly blade. In Dualsing, iron was a fearsome word whispered in hushed tones. It rendered many human products unsuitable for import.
“It’s Cousin Gabriella to you. Don’t make me fight you. Come on, deep down you want to give it back to me. Because we’re vengeance demons and it’s the right thing to do.”
Vengeance demons? What the heck was that? I thought this was the Earth plane, given all the human-made buildings.
I could feel two sides of Gamma, no, Anastasia, warring with each other.
Gabriella’s right. Stealing is wrong.
Shut up. She’s all talk because even though she’s older and she’s completed her schooling already, she’s scared of me. Scared of what I’m willing to do. Why should I give it back if she’s too weak to fight for it?
But—
Hush! Something’s off. There’s a presence here.
Anastasia scanned the sky. That connection I’d felt ever since I’d laid eyes on the dot that had represented her—it would seem that she could feel it too.
Maybe my astral projection could only last so long. Maybe it would only be maintained if the people I was observing were unaware of me. Whatever the reason, the moment Anastasia started sensing my presence, something changed.
My bejeweled pendant got hot again. But rather than having my spirit return to Dualsing, I became visible, my hands and feet starting to solidify.
Anastasia cast a glance my way, her eyes locking with mine. I couldn’t say which one of us was more shocked.
As I gained substance, the pendant lifted itself up and started pulling me closer to Anastasia, towing me forward and down by the neck.
As the distance between Anastasia and me lessened, the air grew heavier until it became an almost physical wall, as hard to penetrate as a knife to a bowl of Arcadian molasses.
Then suddenly, it got easier. A lot easier. And I flew toward her with frightening velocity.
I was reminded of that time when Eldon brought me a set of magnets imported from Earth and enchanted them to behave like they were still on their home plane. Eldon had attached a string to each magnet and tried to force the ends of similar poles to come together. That proved to be a futile exercise, and as soon as Eldon released one magnet, it swung around and attracted its other end to the second magnet’s opposite pole.
The same was happening here. One moment Anastasia and I couldn’t possibly get any closer to each other, the next we were on a rapid collision course as if we were opposite ends of two magnets.
Inches before we hit each other, everything stopped.
It was like that moment when someone was about to wake up from a deep sleep. They could either force themselves to get up or turn over on the bed and continue sleeping.
I woke up.
Only half-solidified, I stared at my body on the floor of the observatory, with a frantic Alina trying to revive me in vain. By some instinct, I allowed myself to float higher, past the dome.
The Mirage Palace was laid out before me in a backdrop of the Dualsingian night sky.
Which was lit up by half a dozen tall buildings.
It looked like I had brought Anastasia’s plane to Dualsing.
The world of eternal fountains and fantastic creatures merged with blocks after blocks of glass structures and harsh lights. The result was a scene as unnatural as it was beautiful.
My instinct urged me to move higher still. There, on the Dualsingian snow-capped mountain, was Anastasia and her cousin. Instead of a building rooftop, they were now on a small landing on the mountain, with a cliff’s edge no more than a few feet away from them. This far up, the Mirage Palace was the size of a wood stump.
I drew closer.
“What the hell is going on?” Gabriella shouted, the girls’ previous quarrel apparently forgotten in the face of a common enemy. Gabriella concentrated, and the pearl-studded earrings she wore glowed bright and a pair of midnight blue scaled wings appeared at her back. “Let’s gear up.”
She looked back at Anastasia, who had the same style of earrings, but the jewelry remained non-glowing. “Shit, I forgot you’re a Powerless.”
A Powerless. Was that like an Inadequate in Dualsing? From the waves of annoyance and self-disgust coming off Anastasia, I would bet the answer was yes.
As that annoyance and self-disgust turned into bitterness, I was glad that she no longer seemed able to see me, though I was only hovering a few feet above her. Maybe the change of environment was affecting her ability to sense me. At least for now.
The shrill cry of a bird of prey pierced the night, and the firefly-eagle swooped down on the girls, trying to knock them down as he did earlier with the hapless mountain goat, its bright body illuminating its entire course of attack.
Gabriella started mumbling spells under her breath, but she soon found the battle to be more of a physical one. The landing on which she stood was composed of a smooth, granite-like material, and drifting snow was accumulating on it. She fell twice mid-spell, barely avoided skidding off the landing as the firefly-eagle swept by.
Anastasia fared better. Though non-magical, or maybe because of it, her physique was superior to that of her cousin. She darted, rolled, hid between small rocks on the landing, anything to evade the firefly-eagle’s touch down. Her agility was quite impressive, a smooth, graceful combination of martial arts, dance, and gymnastics.
After a few more attempts to knock the girls over the cliff with its weight, the firefly-eagle, with a wingspan twice as wide as my arms when fully stretched, seemed to have decided to change its strategy. It plunged down toward Anastasia like an arrow. Its sharp talons aimed straight for its intended victim’s throat, its body a streak of bright light across the night sky.
“No!” I screamed, then realized I didn’t have enough substance to produce the sound.
With her body crouched low, Anastasia growled and took out a wooden knife with lightning speed, driving it at the soft flesh on the ball of the firefly-eagle’s right foot. At the last minute, the animal pulled up, barely making contact with the dull blade.
“What the hell are you doing? Use my dagger!” Gabriella yelled, not taking her eyes off their attacker.
That action, plus the trepidation I could sense from her, made me realize that the girl was afraid of the dagger.
Afraid of iron.
I had no idea what it meant, since I didn’t know enough about vengeance demons to know if a fear of iron was natural.
Another cry from the firefly-eagle drew Anastasia’s eyes upward, searching the sky. She held the iron dagger with both of her hands. The enormous bird did another sweep of the sky before plunging faster and more menacingly than last time, its talons aimed at Anastasia’s throat again.
Anastasia’s grip on the dagger tightened while Gabriella got ready to pounce.
At the last possible moment, the bird pulled its lower body up and took off, missing the blade of the dagger by a mere inch. Then on its way up, its beak caught a corner of Anastasia’s cloak. With powerful wings, it started dragging the girl off the small landing and to certain death in the deep valley below.
Anastasia lost her footing. Frantic, she dropped the dagger and tried to grab onto the rock at the edge of the landing, desperate to scramble back up the ledge. But with her hands gloved and her legs flailing in midair, it was only a matter of time before it was all over.
The firefly-eagle released the corner of Anastasia’s cloak and took off, confident that its meal would be served upon its return.
“Take my hand!” Gabriella crouched down by the edge where Anastasia was hanging by a thread.
Anastasia took Gabriella’s hand and moved her body side to side to create the momentum needed to swing herself back onto the landing.
But it didn’t look like there would be enough momentum to do so. Exceptional physique or not, her arms could only support her body weight for so long.