They entered the lobby to find Lytira seated on the elaborate throne, shifting awkwardly. “Why is this thing so uncomfortable?” she muttered. She looked up. “Oh!” She stood. “You’re here.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Acarius said, gesturing to her. “Stand, I mean. You’re queen now.”
Lytira narrowed her eyes at him. “So?”
The others glanced around nervously.
“Anyway,” Lytira said, moving toward them. “What’s the plan?”
“What plan?” Lex asked.
“The plan for how to help Amelia, find out who Malleck was working with – he certainly didn’t amass such power on his own without anyone noticing, right? – and take care of Ardis and the Ancients. We can’t just have them roaming around wanting to kill our Sulanashum, can we?”
“Oh,” Lex said, “I mean, we haven’t really gotten that far.”
“I was thinking we could head to Arcalon,” Lytira said, starting to pace. “They may be weak in magic but they keep the best historical records in all of Arameth. They might have something that could help us.”
“Wait…” Acarius said. “We?”
Lytira raised an eyebrow. “Of course. You all wouldn’t survive a week without me.” She smirked. “And as the queen, it’s not only my duty to protect my people here locally, but to ensure the safety of our clans everywhere. I can’t do that if I don’t even know what’s happening. Besides… don’t we still need to check on your sisters?”
Acarius gasped. “My sisters!” His face went pale.
Lex really couldn’t blame Acarius for having forgotten temporarily; they had been a bit busy.
Lex turned to Lytira. “Aren’t you needed here, though?”
She shrugged. “My father occasionally traveled, when the need was strong enough. He simply appointed a trusted warrior and an elder to watch over the people in his absence. I can do the same. We have elders here, and as for the warrior, Baram would stay and do it, I’m sure.”
“Right,” Acarius said. “Baram.”
Lex glanced at Amelia. She looked stable enough at the moment, but the healer had said that might not last. “How far is it to Arcalon?” he asked Lytira.
“It is far,” Lytira answered.
Acarius sighed. “It’s on the far southern edge of the continent, and we’re currently on the northern end. I’d say a couple weeks of riding, at least, if we went by land. But I’m not sure that’s the best idea. The Port of Lanian is a couple days south of here, and we could take a boat down the coast to the Port of the Alliance, right on the border to Arcalon. We’d probably attract less notice that way.”
“I agree,” Lytira said. “I’ll send word to Lanian and arrange a boat for us.”
“Wait,” Lex said, a memory surfacing. “I think I… do I get seasick?”
“Yes,” Acarius shrugged. “But you’ll survive it.”
Great, Lex thought. “How many days will the boat trip take?”
“A week or so,” Lytira answered. “But that’s not the worst of it. First we have to pass back through The Fallows to get to Lanian.”
Of course we do, Lex thought.
“What’s The Fallows?” Amelia asked.
They all stared at her.
“It’s just a bit of sand, dear,” Nigel said, patting her hand. “Nothing to worry about.”
Lex turned to Amelia. “Are you okay to travel?”
“I think so,” she shrugged. “I feel fine right now. And anyway, being near you, with your… powers… makes me better, I think. If I start to feel sick again, maybe you can help me.”
Lex wasn’t so sure. He hoped he could. “I’ll try,” he said. He turned to Acarius. “But what about your sisters?”
“They’re at Arcalon, too,” he said. “That’s where they went to wait for me. I can check on them there, then we can search the Hall of Records to see what we can find out about you and Amelia.”
“And if that turns up little,” Lytira said, “we can always go to Harthgil.”
Acarius stared at her. “Harthgil is a myth,” he said.
“It certainly isn’t,” Lytira responded. “My mother spent her early childhood there, before coming here. Besides, don’t you know by now that plenty of myths are founded in reality? A place can lie hidden beyond the mountains farther than most people care to travel, without that place ceasing to exist.”
Acarius shook his head. “How did I not know? Your mother never mentioned it.”
“Living with us for a year doesn’t mean you know all our family secrets.” Lytira smiled slyly. “There is plenty more you don’t know, as well.”
Acarius looked surprised. “What else haven’t you told me?”
Lytira ignored him and turned to Lex. “Harthgil has access to a different sort of magic entirely. If the answer to what’s happening to you and Amelia doesn’t lie with the historians in Arcalon, then we’ll find it in Harthgil.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Nigel said. “When do we leave?”
“In the morning at the earliest,” the healer spoke up. She moved toward them from the door of the tower. “The queen needs her rest.”
The healer approached Lex, and pulled him aside. The others glanced over but then turned and moved a few feet away, seeing the healer clearly wanted privacy.
“What is it?” Lex asked.
“It’s about the daughter of power,” she said. “I can see you care for her. You must know the truth. Yes, her energy is quieter now. But it will build again. And every time, it takes its toll. While you may help to stabilize her, if she continues this way eventually the attacks will destroy her. Though she has both human and Ancient blood in her, the power in her is something other. It is pure Worldforce energy. We cannot explain why she has it, but we do know her human body can only take so much. It is not meant to withstand such power.”
“What can we do?” Lex asked.
“Get her to the Ancients,” she said. “It is the only way.” She squeezed his arm, then left him.
The others came back over.
“What did she say?” Acarius asked.
Lex saw no reason to lie to his friends. “She said Amelia needs to go to the Ancients.”
Acarius gave him a blank stare. “We can’t; you know that, right?”
Lex shook his head. “What if it’s the only way?”
“I’m okay for now, really,” Amelia said. “I don’t like what I’ve heard of the Ancients, and besides, I don’t want anyone to be in danger because of me. Let’s try Arcalon first, and if that doesn’t work, then we can decide. Okay? I really think I’ll be fine, as long as I stay near you.”
Lex sighed, realizing they didn’t really have a better option, at least not until they fully understood what the Ancients and Ardis were up to. Hopefully they’d be able to figure that out at Arcalon. “Okay,” he said.
“Okay. Bedtime!” Nigel called out.
Lex couldn’t argue. Not only was he exhausted, but the sun filtering through the canopy had faded – it was clearly almost night.
They trudged up the stairs to the guest level, where two guards waited in the hallway. “Your room is here, Daughter of Power,” one of them said, gesturing to a door on his left. He nodded to Lex, Acarius, and Nigel. “You three may stay in the room you occupied earlier. Queen Lytira, I will escort you to the royal quarters.”
Lytira turned to Acarius. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning.” She followed the guard up the stairs.
Acarius stared after her, then sighed and walked toward his room. Nigel followed.
Lex turned to Amelia. “Well, goodnight then,” he said.
“Lex, wait,” Amelia said. “Please come in. Just for a minute. I’m just… not quite ready to be alone.”
Lex glanced at the other guard, who was staring at them from the far side of the hall.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said.
“Please, Lex,” Amelia said. “It’s
been a long day, and I just need someone to talk to. I won’t keep you long.”
Lex glanced at the guard again, but the guard made no objection. “Okay,” Lex said. He followed Amelia into her room.
CHAPTER 20
Amelia entered the room and sat down on the bed. Lex followed her inside, and shut the door behind them. He glanced around. Amelia’s room was much the same as his own but smaller, and with only one bed. He moved toward it, stopping in front of Amelia.
“So,” he said, very aware of how alone they were. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay, I guess,” Amelia sighed, leaning back onto her hands. “I’m just so…”
“Tired?” Lex offered.
“Confused,” Amelia replied. “I don’t even understand what in the world I just did. I’m not like these people, Lex. I’m not like any of you. I don’t have magic. I’m just a normal person.”
Lex sat down on the bed beside her. “I’m pretty sure you’re not,” he said, turning to her.
Amelia sighed again. “No, I guess I’m not. I see that now. But I still don’t understand it.”
“Amelia, what you can do is amazing,” Lex said.
Amelia let out a short laugh. “I know,” she said. “Usual me would be completely ecstatic. I’m suddenly a comic-book superhero! But that’s the problem. Stuff like this isn’t real. Not in my world. It's like I fell through a portal into Wonderland and now I can’t get back. It’s amazing, don’t get me wrong, but… I’m so overwhelmed. I don’t even know how to process it.”
Lex sat in silence beside her, wanting to reassure her but uncertain what to say.
She turned to him. “Do you know I thought this was a game, at first?” She laughed.
Lex shifted to face her. His heart sped at finally hearing something about who she really was, how she got here.
“I never thought it would be my ‘inner strength’ that nearly killed me,” she said. “That’s ironic.”
“What?” Lex asked.
“It’s just something my dad used to say, that I had a lot of inner strength. But I never imagined it turning into something like this. Ever since I first came through the portal, it’s been like something is burning me from the inside out. Well, until what happened earlier. Now it’s finally eased off. I can still feel the warmth, but it’s calm, like just a small candle here.” She tapped her chest.
“Amelia,” Lex said, sensing his chance. “How did you get here? Where were you before?”
“Earth.” She shrugged. “The same as Nigel, or so he said.”
Lex watched her quietly. After a moment, she seemed to realize that hadn’t been enough to appease him. She looked away and her posture sank a bit. “My mom died when I was little,” she said softly. “My adoptive mom, I mean. My first set of parents were killed in a car accident when I was a baby.”
“I’m sorry,” Lex said.
“It’s okay. I don’t remember them, or my mom. For most of my life, it was just me and my dad. But when they adopted me, he’d never expected to have to raise me alone. He loved me, I know, but – it was hard on him. I could see it. And I didn’t make it easier.”
“What do you mean?” Lex asked, wanting to know more, to know everything about her he could.
She sighed. “I wasn’t the best kid. I got in trouble a lot. I acted out. I skipped school, stole packs of gum, you know, stupid rebellious teenager stuff.”
Lex didn’t know, but he nodded anyway.
“But then my boyfriend – at the time, the one I told you about when we first met – he wanted to do something more exciting.” She paused. “We broke into a house.”
“Oh,” Lex said.
Amelia shook her head. “It was stupid, I know. And we got caught. My dad flipped out. The owners decided not to press charges, but my dad was furious. My boyfriend told everyone it had been my idea, and dumped me. I was heartbroken.” She paused. “I thought he loved me.” She slid her hands down her face.
Lex’s heart ached for her.
“My dad grounded me but I didn’t care by that point. I refused to leave my room for days,” she said. “And then the dreams started.”
“Dreams?”
“Just one, really. Always the same one, of this one particular house. I would walk in, see a light on up in the attic, and move toward it.” She took a shaky breath. “Anyway, after a few nights I felt like I’d go crazy if I didn’t leave my room, so I snuck out. I didn’t pay attention to where I was going, I just walked… and then I was there. At the house.”
“The same house from your dream?” Lex asked.
Amelia nodded. “I knew it was wrong, but… I broke in. I went toward the attic, and there it was, just like in my dreams, though the light wasn’t on. I pulled the ladder down and climbed up, and there was this video game console, sitting there in the floor. It was like it was calling to me. There was nowhere to plug it in up there, and no TV to attach it to, so I brought it downstairs. I just needed to see what it did. I couldn’t very well turn on lights and television in some other person’s house in the middle of the night, but I also didn’t want to steal it. It felt wrong. I was still standing there, trying to decide what to do, when the homeowners woke up and saw me. I knew if I got caught breaking in again, I’d be done for, so… I ran.”
She paused again and Lex waited, hoping she would continue.
After a moment, she did.
“I was halfway down the block before I realized I still had the console. I hadn’t meant to steal it. But at that point, what else could I do? I ran home with it and hid it under my bed. I spent the whole night terrified they’d track me down, and by morning I decided I didn’t want the stress. I was going to return it. But before I did, I thought after all that time seeing this house in my dreams, being drawn to the thing, it would be a shame not to at least see what it was.” She sighed again. “I turned it on, and poof, here I was. In Arameth.”
“Really?” Lex asked. “Just like that?” He thought back to what Nigel said about the danger of using the console, but Amelia made it seem like nothing.
“Yeah,” Amelia shrugged. “Of course, I was freaking out. I had no idea what happened or where I was. But then I thought of my room, and poof, I was home again. At that point, I was excited. I thought I’d stumbled across a high-tech virtual reality game that could read brainwaves or something. But then I got scared. People with technology like that wouldn’t just let it slide that someone took it. This was tech that didn’t even exist yet, as far as the public knew. It could have been a top-secret government experiment or a new product still in testing, but either way I knew I’d be punished for taking it. I decided I’d have to put it back without them seeing me, instead of just returning it and apologizing. But they had already seen me in their house. They would figure out who I was and come after me. I was terrified. I hid it back under my bed, and suddenly felt totally exhausted. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything until night came, so I thought the best idea was to lie low. I hadn’t planned to go to sleep, but I did, and when I woke up… I was back in Arameth. Somehow I’d come through in my sleep.”
“Wow,” Lex said.
“Yeah,” Amelia replied. “After that I just kept coming through again and again, after school or when I knew my dad wouldn’t be home. Every time I came through, I was in a different place. I knew I should get rid of the console, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it – I was having fun exploring. Going through and coming back made me feel weird, though, like really tired. I’d have to rest, but then by the next day I’d feel fine so I’d go again. I’d gone through maybe five or six times before I ended up in Dalton. That was the day I ran into you, and you saved me from that Aiac. After I saw you, I felt this… it’s weird to say it, but I felt a connection. So I followed you into the woods.”
“The day we saw the panther and then you asked me to hold you when it got cold,” Lex said, connecting the dots.
Amelia blushed. “Yeah. It was c
old, but… it may have been a little more than that. I’m so sorry. I mean, I thought you were some advanced A.I. hot guy who was part of the game. I didn’t know you were real. I was just trying to have some fun.”
Lex didn’t understand what A.I. was or half of what she’d said so far, but that last part was clear. “You thought I was hot?” he asked, feeling as though he should focus on more important details but unable to stop himself.
“Yes,” Amelia said, blushing again.
Lex felt a little thrill at seeing that he’d unsettled her.
“Anyway,” she said, “I popped back out while you slept to check on things. All the injuries I’d gotten, the clothes I’d stolen from Dalton just for kicks… they were all gone; I was back to normal. I figured it must be virtual reality then, but by that point I couldn’t resist. I came back again and spent the day with you and Acarius, even though every time I went through and came back, I felt… not quite right. Achy, weak – like when you’re coming down with the flu. I shrugged it off as stress, or maybe the actual flu. Anyway, I stayed here until the attack at Acarius’ ranch, but I was starting to feel very strange, like a buzzing in my head and all around me. I popped back home – I’m so sorry, I know I left right in the middle of the fight but I didn’t think any of it was real; I thought it was all a game! And I was enjoying being with your character, then feeling foolish that I – but I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I must seem terrible to you.”
“Not at all,” Lex said, still trying to piece together some of the gaps in what she was saying.
“Anyway, that time when I went back through, I felt the drain even more. And when I looked down, the injuries I’d gotten were still there. I panicked and almost didn’t come back, but then I thought of you in the middle of a battle, and if there was any chance it was real, then I couldn’t just leave you. Nigel explained to me earlier that with my destabilization, travelling is very dangerous. I realize now that I must have caused that explosion when I left, but I had no idea at the time. I came back to chaos. When you and Acarius sent me off with Mare to hide behind the hills, I decided I was done. This world, whatever it was, was too much for me. I tried to get back home, but I couldn’t. I was stuck here.”
The Edge of Nothing_The Lex Chronicles_Book 1 Page 32