by S. M. Boyce
Audrey stilled, narrowing her eyes as she focused her attention on the target at the end of the path. There were three concentric circles, as was the case with most targets, and she focused on the centermost one.
“There,” she said, pointing to it.
As if on command, a bolt of white light shot from her fingertip and struck the center of the target. Smoke billowed from the mark, and the fabric sizzled.
The instructor gaped at the burn in the center of the target. “Miss Audrey, forgive me if I've related basic things you already understood. I was under the impression you were new to Atlantean magic.”
“Oh, I am. I don't have any control over this yet. That must've been luck.”
The instructor shook her head. “No, my dear, that was skill. We will need to work on refinement and what to do if you're caught off-guard, but I'm astonished that we can proceed to such advanced conversations on the first day.”
Audrey beamed with pride. Finally she was getting the hang of this magic of hers.
“The king and queen will be most pleased to hear this,” the instructor said with a wink.
“I'm just grateful for the opportunity to train here,” Audrey said.
“Keep impressing us, dear one, and you will get far more than training. Come, let us continue.”
Audrey squared her shoulders, anticipation dancing along her fingers. She ached to access her magic once more.
This was too good to be true.
***
Audrey had lost track of how much time she spent in the palace gardens with the instructor, but they had covered immense ground in their training today. She had been thrown into uncomfortable situations where the magic had pushed against her skin, begging to be set free just as it had when she fought the monster in Fairhaven. This time she was able to keep her cool, and it paid off. She only lost herself to the magic once, and even then she had regained her composure quickly.
It wouldn't be long before she mastered this new magic well enough to return to Fairhaven.
She had returned to the hall where her room was located while she pondered her new situation. At the thought of leaving Atlantis, she hesitated. Her heart ached at the prospect.
Perhaps she should stay.
As she leaned against her bedroom door, something glimmered on her skin. She examined the back of her hand and found it had a slight sheen, not unlike the blue and green iridescence she had observed on all the Atlanteans here.
She smiled, her heart warming at the thought of fully embracing her Atlantean heritage. She had known things would change when she arrived in Atlantis, but she hadn’t thought the changes would be literal. Her body was already adjusting to life in Atlantis.
“There you are,” Victoria said from down the hallway.
Audrey looked up and saw Victoria carrying a handful of towels and wearing a scowl that would wilt a flower. “What's wrong with you?”
Victoria let loose a humorless laugh. “What's wrong with me? Oh, I don't know—maybe the fact they think I'm your servant? I wasn't allowed up here without towels and a change of clothes for you.”
Audrey couldn't help herself. She laughed. “Well now, servant girl, I don't see a dress.”
Victoria shook her head, but even the towels couldn't hide her smile. “Fuck you.”
Audrey chuckled and pushed the door open, holding it for her friend. “I've spent the last I-don’t-even-know-how-many hours training. I’ve already got a bit of this magic stuff down, Victoria.”
Victoria tossed the towels on the bed and laid back on the comforter, staring at the ceiling. “Thank goodness. Hopefully we won't have to stay very long.”
Audrey’s smile faded, and an irrational wave of anger crashed through her. She set her blue crystal on the bedside table and crossed her arms. “Why wouldn't we stay here? It's beautiful.”
“Yeah, your room is. I'm in a stall with Diesel, sharing a bundle of hay.”
Audrey rolled her eyes. “Stop exaggerating.”
“I'm not. That’s the pathetic part.”
Audrey set her hands on her hips, disgusted that Victoria would be so disrespectful to the people who had been nothing but welcoming. “Look, okay, they mistook you for servants. I'm sorry, and I'll get it fixed. But come on, there's no need to be an ass. You’re not literally sleeping in hay.”
Victoria's rested on her elbows, narrowing her eyes a bit as she studied Audrey's face. “I'm a little worried about you.”
“About me? Why?”
“I'm concerned you're getting caught up in the beauty of Atlantis, while ignoring the darker side of it. These people aren't as nice as they seem.”
Audrey threw up her hands and began to pace around the room. “They don't fawn over you, you mean.”
“Why would I want—”
“They have been completely delightful to me, Victoria, and maybe you don't like them because they aren’t fawning over you like the people back in Fairhaven.”
“Simmer down, Sally,” Victoria said, rising to her feet. She leaned back, nose crinkled a bit as she gave Audrey a familiar look.
Audrey knew that expression. It said, “What's wrong with you?”
“Nothing's wrong with me,” Audrey snapped. “It's you. Your attitude. You're trying to take away my heritage, the thing that makes me special, and I don't appreciate it. I don't want to leave yet, so don’t rush me.”
To her credit Victoria didn't say anything, but her expression shifted nonetheless. The look that followed was one Audrey had only seen a handful of times in her life, but she knew it all the same. It meant Victoria was biding her time, doing her best to figure out a different way to phrase what she wanted to say.
“Apologies, Your Highness,” Victoria said snidely. She retreated from the room and slammed the door behind her.
The moment the door closed, a pang of guilt hit Audrey square in the chest. She leaned against the wall, another moment of sanity burning away the joy.
Had Fyrn’s warning been correct? Was she losing herself to her Atlantean predisposition for selfishness?
Confused and not entirely sure if she could trust herself, Audrey slid down the wall until her butt hit the floor. She didn't want to lose Victoria, but she finally felt at peace. She finally felt like there was a gift within her as glorious and powerful as Victoria’s.
Maybe even more so.
After so many weeks and months of living in strange places and being surrounded by strange creatures with customs Audrey didn't understand, she felt at home.
And not even Victoria will take that from me!
Audrey gasped, her hand on her mouth as she tried to suppress the nasty thought that had just arisen. She knew it hadn’t been her. It had been foreign and desperate. In her core, she knew it had been that strange voice she had heard off and on since she found the crystals in the marketplace. With every hour she was here, it grew louder.
Victoria was right. Audrey needed to leave, to get out of here, to...
The glimmer of the blue crystal on her bedside table caught her eye, and she reached for it almost in a daze. The crystal settled into her palm, and her panic faded to a happy numbness. As it had in the hall when the general touched her, her worry abated. She still felt like she should be concerned with something, but she couldn't remember what.
“So strange,” she murmured softly to herself.
CHAPTER 20
Victoria paced the stall she shared with Diesel while she waited for him to return. They had to do something—anything!—to get Audrey back.
A few moments later the door creaked open and Diesel came in. Victoria couldn’t stop pacing, however. She could barely think, much less form words. She was fuming.
“Victoria, darling—”
“Don’t you ‘darling’ me.”
A thin smile played at the corners of Diesel’s mouth. “My love, please calm down. Whatever’s bothering you, I’m sure we can find a solution.”
“It’s Audrey. She’s not herself. She’s in
danger.”
“Victoria.”
“Whatever these people are doing to her is changing her entire personality—”
“Victoria, please.”
“—and I’m not going to sit idly by while—”
A chill swept through Victoria’s body. Frost coated her skin, and she shivered. Diesel stepped up behind her, one hand on her shoulder as he pressed the truth dagger deeper. He must have grabbed it from her pack when she wasn’t looking.
“Diesel, what on Earth—”
“What’s the most disgusting thing you’ve ever eaten?” he asked.
For a moment she simply stared at him. It wasn’t willpower that kept her answer at bay. It was shock. “That’s the dumbest question I’ve ever heard.”
“Exactly. Before we can get anywhere or make any plans, you need to relax. Now answer me.”
The words pressed against her mouth as the dagger’s magic swirled within her until she couldn’t hold them back anymore. “My Mom’s raspberry hot sauce omelet with broccoli and peppers. She loved that nasty heap of mismatched food.”
“Oh gods, that’s disgusting.” Diesel grimaced, his grip loosening on the dagger.
“It really was. God, she would try to make me eat it all. If I smelled that cooking I snuck out the back door, even if I was starving.” Victoria laughed at the memory of her mother insisting it wasn’t all that bad. Really laughed. Her eyes watered and her cheeks hurt from the sheer improbability of a wizard stabbing her with a truth dagger to ask about gross food.
Diesel laughed. “I ate a dung beetle in school. A friend told me it was some magical bug that would help me learn spells faster. That bastard.”
“Wait, you had friends?”
Diesel chuckled and elbowed her in the side before pulling out the truth dagger and offering it to her. “You have the next question, my lady.”
Despite standing in a stall in the dungeons of Atlantis, Victoria couldn’t stop herself from grinning at this ridiculous wizard. She snatched the magical blade from his hands and slid it into his arm. It disappeared into his clothes, and he shivered as it entered. Despite his annoying personality, Victoria was grateful that this blade wouldn’t hurt him, at least not physically.
Wait—am I starting to enjoy Diesel’s company? She shook the thought from her head. “What was your most embarrassing moment?”
“What a cruel question!” He gave a wounded moan and lifted his hand to his forehead.
She chuckled. “Said the wizard who surprise-stabbed me with a truth dagger.”
“Touché.”
“Come on, out with it.”
His mouth tensed as the words pushed for freedom. “I fell down the stairs at a royal gathering in Fairhaven. There was a huge crowd, and I had to play it off as though an invisible intruder had attacked me.”
Victoria burst out laughing. “They believed you?”
“I have my doubts, but at least they played along.”
“Oh my God,” Victoria pulled out the dagger. She had trouble catching her breath, she was laughing so hard.
He snatched the blade from her and slid it into her side even though she was still convulsed with laughter. “My turn. What was the worst hair cut you ever had?”
Victoria laughed so hard she snorted. “My Mom gave me a china doll cut when I was eight, but she did it herself. Each time she cut one side, it was a little higher than the other. I looked like a boy for almost two months.”
He laughed and dropped the truth dagger. It fell to the ground, and Victoria joined it.
She wiped a happy tear from her eye. “You’re an idiot, Diesel.”
“You love it.”
Victoria shook her head and returned the dagger to her pack. “Well, that was…unexpected. I thought you were going to betray me, or make me answer a question I didn’t want to.”
“Never, my love. Your safety is and always will be my priority.”
She rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same. “Thank you.”
“Any time.” He sat on his half of the straw, which they had separated into two piles, and leaned his back against the wall.
Finally calmer and a bit happier, Victoria was able to settle down. The reality of their situation in Atlantis sank in once more, but this time she could process it with a clear head. “I’m going to take a walk.”
“Make sure no one sees you. They’ll ‘kindly escort’ you back here.” He closed his eyes and nestled down, getting comfortable.
With a snap of his fingers, the door magically opened.
Victoria smirked at the powerful wizard’s gesture. At least they would never truly be locked in this room. She nodded and left, pausing at the door long enough to smile at the sleeping wizard. He was annoying most of the time, but she couldn’t help but be grateful he had come.
***
Victoria sat beside one of the many lakes in Atlantis, elbow resting on her knee as she stared into the deep water and the colorful red koi swimming within it. As much she hated to admit it, Fyrn’s warning seemed to be coming true.
Audrey was slipping away.
Victoria smacked the water in frustration and the fish skittered away. No. If there was one person Victoria would never give up on, it was Audrey. She knew Audrey better than anyone, and Audrey would never let her down like this. She had quit everything, abandoned everyone else, to join Victoria in her quest for revenge. She had skipped college and a chance at a normal life, all for Victoria.
Audrey had always been there for her.
Victoria stood, smiling with renewed hope. Atlantis had enchanted Audrey, but nothing could steal her away. It was Victoria's job to save her friend, and she would do it even if she had to pull Audrey out of here by the hair, kicking and screaming.
For now, Victoria would wait. Audrey still needed to learn to control her magic and the instructor seemed to be helping, but honestly Victoria wasn't sure they could wait much longer.
More and more, bringing Audrey here seemed like it might have been a mistake.
A nearby flutter of wings caught Victoria's attention, and Styx zipped up to her. She held her hands out so he could drop into her open palms. His tiny chest rose and fell as he gasped for breath.
“Any luck?" she asked.
He shook his tiny head and collapsed into her hands. Victoria couldn't help but think he was milking this a little.
When he had stopped heaving for breath, he hopped onto her shoulder and snuggled into her hair. Even after all their time in Fairhaven, it was still surreal for his tiny hands to pull on her hair as he found a comfy spot.
She headed back toward her stall—she wouldn't be so kind as to call it a bedroom—to find Diesel. They needed a plan.
***
Shortly after Victoria had left, Diesel had snuck out as well. He had work to do.
Deep in the abandoned tunnels beneath Atlantis, Diesel lifted his staff and shined the light emanating from the crystal at its tip into the depths of yet another abandoned cave. He opened his journal, consulting his notes from the last few tunnels to make sure he understood where he was.
As his light passed along one of the walls, something in the rock began to glow a brilliant red. He paused and examined the ooze, but he didn't recognize it. Carefully, he pulled a small vial out of his bag and took a sample. He could study it when he got home, along with the twenty other samples of various unidentified plants, minerals, and gooey things he had already taken.
Since they’d arrived, he had done nothing but explore and flirt with Victoria. His hosts didn't seem to care for him—a first in Diesel’s world, he had to confess—but he couldn't waste the opportunity to discover and learn what he could about their world and culture. It might come in handy later. Besides, it gave him a chance to step away from the utterly distracting Victoria Brie for a bit so that he could get a little work done.
Sometimes he wondered if she had put an enchantment on him, but he didn't care if she had. No one had captivated him like this in almost a decade. She
reminded him of young love. It was clear she didn't reciprocate his feelings, but maybe he could wear her down over time. Besides, he got a kick out of the way she rolled her eyes.
He continued down the tunnel, walking for another few minutes before his light exposed a cave-in. Rocks filled the entire tunnel, blocking whatever lay beyond.