The Floating Room

by Brian Olsen

  “Ooh!” Jasmine claps her hands. “It’s a magic coloring book!”

  “We can use this to find other artifacts!” Nate says.

  “I don’t know about that.” Zane taps the book. “If we already have an artifact, this’ll prove it’s real, maybe. But it doesn’t help us find more.”

  “Or talk to Alisa’s elf boyfriend,” Jasmine adds.

  “He’s not—!” Alisa takes a breath and closes her eyes for a second “Doesn’t matter. Those are good points. Thank you.”

  “I feel like this is a step in the right direction, though.” I move away from the couch so I can pace a little. “The only time we’ve seen anybody come out of an artifact was when Mr. Ambrose used his disruption magic on the trophy.”

  “But the minotaur was only out for a little while,” Nate says. “Then he got sucked back in.”

  I nod. “And Tannyl was a special case. Alisa shielded him from the Moment when it was cast, and he got stuck in limbo. Not in the necklace, but not fully in our world either.”

  “He was dying,” she adds. “He couldn’t survive outside the necklace, but he couldn’t get into it until I used my word.”

  “Can you use your word to get him back out?” Zane asks.

  She glares at him. “Didn’t you hear what I said about him dying? We can’t bring any of them out until we know more.”

  “So we go in,” I say.

  That gets everybody’s attention.

  “We’re going in?” Nate jerks his thumb at the necklace. “In there?”

  “Yup.”

  Zane looks at the tree medallion doubtfully. “How?”

  “Magic.”

  Alisa frowns. “I don’t know how ‘sun,’ ‘shadow,’ or ‘truth’ are useful here, Chris. Maybe if we could teleport like Mr. Liefer…”

  I move to the center of the room. The spot where Mr. Miller first showed us the truth behind the Moment. “Nate and Alisa, you remember the illusion Miller showed us of the world before? Of that little town with the tavern?”

  “With the centaur guy.” Nate makes a sick face. “They cut off his head. It was pretty gross.”

  “Before that. Remember the waitress? She had a little charm that a logomancer made. She used it to summon drinks and teleport around the tavern.”

  “I remember,” Alisa says. “So?”

  “So she wasn’t a logomancer, which means some magical artifacts can be used by anybody. Like maybe this book.”

  “Which means our words wouldn’t matter.” Zane comes over to me. “Yeah. Maybe we just tell it what we want it to do. Like we do with our words, but without the words.”

  “Yes!” Alisa jumps up, then places the book, pages open to the elves, on the floor in the middle of the room. She takes off her necklace and lays it on the image, and the picture glints silver again. “Let’s do this!”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Nate slides Jasmine off his lap and gets up. “Right now?”

  Zane takes my hand. “No time to waste.”

  “Yeah,” Nate counters. “One little problem.” He points at me. “That pretty face of yours.”

  Jasmine joins us. “What’s wrong with Chris’s pretty face?” She frowns. “Except that sometimes I think it’s almost too pretty. Like, who’s that pretty? What’s the story there?” She laughs. “Right? No offense, Chris.”

  “Not what I mean, babe.” He rubs her shoulder. “I mean, who else has that pretty face?”

  Alisa’s expression falls. “Oh, of course! The magical creatures won’t have had their memories changed. They’ll all recognize you as the Common King, Chris.”

  Zane takes a sharp breath. “Oh, man. I didn’t think of that. You can’t come and meet them. No way.”

  “I’m going.” I hold up my hands to cut off their protests. “There’s no hiding I’m involved. You’ll have to tell them anyway, unless you lie to them. And this whole thing is about truth. Right?”

  They don’t answer. The four of them look to one another for a moment, then Zane squeezes my hand.

  “But they’ll kill you,” he says. “They’ll want you dead as much as—”

  “As Mr. Liefer did?” I counter. “But now he trusts me. A little bit. He’s giving me a chance to prove that I’m not the Common King. We’ll have to convince the elves to do the same.”

  “Chris.” Nate covers his face with his hands for a second, then exhales and drops his arms. “Chris, follow what I’m saying. The elves are the persecuted people here. Okay? Persecuted by the Common King. Liefer may have felt bad about what was happening to them, and may have wanted to help them, but he was…he was only an ally. Right? Like a straight ally, or a white ally. He was a human ally. He wasn’t the one being persecuted. Earning trust from him is not the same as earning it from the people the Common King actually hurt.”

  “I know, Nate.” I take in all their faces, all their concerned faces. “I do. Maybe this is stupid. Probably it is. But I’m responsible for what happened to them. I can’t run from that and make it right at the same time.”

  Zane says, “You’re not—” at the same time Alisa says, “You didn’t—” but I already know what both of them are saying.

  “I’m not the Common King,” I say to Zane. “And I didn’t cast the Moment,” I say to Alisa. “But I am responsible for what the Common King did, whether I remember it or not. And the Moment was cast because of the Common King’s choices. I have to face up to the people he hurt, and we don’t have time to put it off.” They’re all ready to argue again, so I add quickly, “I’m coming in. If you go without me, I’ll just follow you.”

  Zane wraps his arms around me. “I should lock you up in my shadow. You’d be cold but safe.”

  I hug him back. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me. But don’t try it.”

  He chuckles. We break apart, and I can see from their faces that everyone’s given in.

  Nate folds his hands behind his head, stretching his bent arms. “This is so insane. We’re going inside a necklace.”

  Zane looks down at the book. “What do we do? Step on it?”

  “Let’s stand around it,” Alisa suggests.

  “Um, guys?” Jasmine stands perfectly rigid. “I’m sorry. I don’t think…I don’t think I can.” She swallows hard. “I’m really sorry, I want to…”

  Nate grabs her hand. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s fine, Jaz. It’s good. You don’t have to. Of course you don’t have to.”

  “I’m trying to be brave.” She’s close to breaking into tears. “I did okay when Kevin attacked Chris, right? I was brave then?”

  Nate leans his forehead against her cheek. “So brave. You’re so brave.”

  “I didn’t know it was coming then,” she says. “I didn’t have time to think. But this is too much.” She takes a deep breath. “Can you give me a minute to stop thinking and then maybe…?”

  Alisa says, “Somebody has to stay here and guard the book and the necklace, Jasmine. Why don’t you do that?”

  Jasmine’s face lights up. “Oh! Yes! I can do that!” She hugs Alisa. “Yay! I can do something useful!” She pulls back. “It is useful, right? It’s not like when I offer to help my parents with dinner and they tell me to sort the peas by size?”

  “No, it’s…” Alisa frowns. “I’m going to have questions about that later. But no. Really. We can’t leave this stuff unguarded while we’re in there.”

  Jasmine gives her a firm nod. “I’ll protect you. I promise. I’ll keep you safe.”

  Nate kisses her. “I know you will, babe.”

  He and Alisa join me and Zane. The four of us stand around the book and the necklace.

  Nate takes my hand. I look at him in surprise, and he says, “Don’t get all gay panic. It feels like the sort of thing where we should hold hands. Like a séance.”

  I’m not sure it’ll make a difference with the magic, but I don’t mind the comfort. I take Zane’s hand, and Alisa, opposite me, takes each of theirs.

  “Who wants to d
o it?” Zane asks.

  “I will.” I look down. “Book, I want you to send the four of us inside the necklace, to wherever the elves are.”

  “Safely,” Alisa adds.

  “Safely.”

  Nothing.

  “Sun?” I add.

  Nothing.

  Nate lets go to scratch his cheek, then takes my hand again.

  “Should I try?” Alisa asks.

  “I think I know what I’m doing wrong. Logomancy is about communicating your will, but I’m just saying the words. I need to say it with intent. Make the book understand what I want.”

  I look down again. I focus on the book. I talk to it as if it can hear me. As if it needs to be convinced to obey.

  “Book,” I say. “Send the four of us through the necklace. Send us to the elves. Send us there together, and send us there safely. Do it now.”

  The necklace rushes up to meet me. No, that’s not it. It’s staying on the book, which is staying on the floor, but I’m rushing down to meet it. I don’t feel like I’m moving. I can still feel Nate’s and Zane’s hands in mine. But the room is narrowing, twisting all around me, and the necklace is getting bigger and bigger and bigger until all I can see is silver. The warm metal envelops me and everything goes dark.

  Nine

  We’re in a dense forest. The trunks of the trees are wide, and they stretch way up, forming a dark canopy high above us. Grass and small plants grow tall all around, with no sign that any feet, human or otherwise, have ever stomped them down.

  Everything should feel alive. It doesn’t. The colors are pale and muted. The air is heavy. And it’s quiet. No birds singing or insects buzzing.

  “It worked,” I say. “We did it.”

  Nate drops my hand to grab his stomach. “Oh, man, that was awful. I feel like I got sucked through a straw.” He rubs his ears. “Does my voice sound weird?”

  “Yeah.” Alisa tilts her head. “So does mine.”

  Zane takes a step, crushing a small branch underfoot. The crack is dull. There’s no echo to anything, no sense of sound returning to us.

  I look up. Past the branches overhead, the sky is gray. Not cloudy, or stormy. Just gray.

  I touch one of the trees. It’s solid, feels like plain old bark, but I press harder and it flakes off in my fingers. I brush the residue off on my pants. “It’s a fake world.”

  “Dead,” Zane adds.

  Nate takes a deep breath through his nose, smelling the stale air. “We’re really inside Alisa’s necklace?”

  “We’re either inside it,” I answer, “or we’re in whatever place it’s a portal to. Either way, we’re where we wanted to be.”

  Alisa spins around. Her hands brush a tall fern and a few brittle fronds snap off. “But where are the elves?”

  With a dull thunk, an arrow appears in the tree next to me, exactly in the spot I touched. I jump away, but another arrow appears in the ground at my feet. I fall back into Zane, who catches me.

  The four of us freeze.

  “I think we found them,” Nate says.

  Zane pulls the arrow out of the tree. “You mean they found us.”

  Nate rolls his eyes. “That was the joke, dumbass.”

  An arrow lands at Nate’s feet. He recoils, moving closer to me and Zane. Another arrow forces Alisa to join us. More arrows fly through the air, from the branches overhead, and land at our feet, surrounding us.

  The message is clear. Stay put.

  “I’m trying to make a shadow,” Zane says quietly. “In case we need to fight. But I can’t.”

  That’s not good.

  Okay. I want a tiny flicker of flame to appear around my finger. Just a spark.

  Sun.

  Nothing.

  “Sun!” I whisper.

  Nothing.

  I listen for the Logos. The sound of words, countless words all spoken at once. It’s the source of our magic and all logomancers are linked to it. I can always hear it, murmuring at the back of my mind. But not now. I can’t hear it. I can’t feel it.

  “What’s up?” Nate asks.

  “No magic,” I hiss.

  “I feel it too,” Alisa whispers. “Or I don’t feel it, I mean.”

  Nate’s eyes widen. “Oh, terrific.”

  A voice comes from almost directly above us. “You can’t use your magic here, logomancers.” An elf drops to the ground from a truly impressive height. She lands and barely has to bend at the knees to catch herself. “The Logos doesn’t reach into this false world.”

  She’s taller than any of us, with long red hair and darkly tanned skin. She’s got the same pale gray eyes as Tannyl, the only other elf I’ve ever seen, and the same long pointed ears. She carries a heavy bow in one hand and a couple of arrows loose in the other.

  “How did you come to be here?” she asks. “Are you the logomancers who imprisoned us?”

  “No,” I say.

  Zane raises his hand. “I am. One of them. Technically.”

  Nate elbows him. Zane shrugs, and adds, “We said we were going to be honest.”

  “Your honesty is appreciated, logomancer.” She notches an arrow in her bow and points it at Zane. “Are you here to free us, or to face punishment for your crime?”

  “Please,” I say. “Don’t hurt him. We’re here to talk about getting you out of here.”

  “What is there to talk about? If you have the means to free us from this hell, do so. Or die.”

  “Hana!” Another elf drops down from the trees, a man with pale skin, also carrying a bow and arrows. “Wait!”

  “Do not command me, Zigil!” she snaps. “You heard him confess.”

  “But I know this one!” The new arrival, Zigil, turns to me. “I know his face.”

  Uh-oh.

  “You know him from your time working in that cesspool of a human city?” Hana asks. “Is he a friend?”

  Zigil’s expression darkens. “No. Not a friend.” He stands in front of me, looking me up and down. “I have only ever seen your face on a human coin. But it is you, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” I say. “And no. That’s my face, but it’s more complicated—”

  He jumps back and notches an arrow. “It’s the Human King!” he shouts. “The Butcher! The Monster Child!”

  “Wait, please!” Alisa jumps in front of me. “He’s not who you think he is!”

  Hana goes pale. Her bow shakes slightly from her trembling, but she turns it away from Zane, towards me, and tightens her pull on the string. “Kill him! Kill them all!”

  Another elf drops from the trees above us. He lands between us and the two elves, and knocks Hana’s bow aside with a long dagger. The arrow flies wide, disappearing into the distance.

  “No!” He holds up his dagger. “No, you will not kill them!”

  “Out of the way!” Hana yells back. “We are not of your tribe and you do not rule us!”

  “I speak for Dyllic!” he shouts. “They are not to be harmed.”

  Alisa staggers back into me. I catch her. She’s breathing heavy, and I don’t think it’s out of fear.

  The new elf is Tannyl. The elf Alisa was in love with, in the world before the Moment.

  “I am to bring them to her,” he says to the other elves.

  “Dyllic is your queen, not ours!” Hana counters.

  Zigil lowers his bow. “Hana, Dyllic is queen of all tribes while we are in this place. It has been agreed.”

  She scowls at our defender. “What is your name? If Dyllic is your queen, you must be of the Sagemoss tribe?”

  “I am Tannyl.”

  Hana flicks a lock of red hair out of her eyes. “I think you lie, Tannyl of the Sagemoss tribe. You have not had time to report these humans’ appearance to your queen, and return here again.”

  “True.” He looks at us, flashing a smile at Alisa. “But I knew this one would come for me before too long. And my orders are to bring her, and any with her, to an audience with Dyllic, whenever they arrive.”

  Hana
spits. “Take her, then. And the two others.” Hana notches another arrow. “But not the Human King. He dies.”

  “Think!” Tannyl steps towards her. The arrowhead is almost touching his chest. “Why would the Monster Child come here, to a place where he has no magic, if he meant us harm?”

  “He didn’t know.” She smirks. “I heard them talking. They didn’t know the Logos cannot find us here.”

  “Even so,” he says. “He is here for a reason.”

  “To finish us off!”

  “Perhaps. And perhaps he has some plan in motion that will end us whether he lives or dies. What will Dyllic say if you kill him before she discovers what that plan is?”

  There’s a tense moment, but finally Hana breaks. She lowers her bow. “As you will. But my elves will escort you.”

  He bows. “I would be glad for the company.”

  Hana whistles. A dozen more elves drop from the trees, and I get the feeling there are a hell of lot more still out of sight. All of them have bows or daggers at the ready. While some stand guard, others gather up the arrows they fired at us.

  Tannyl says nothing to me, barely looks at me, but his face lights up as he takes in Alisa.

  “Ree.” He puts a hand to his heart. “I knew you would find me.”

  “I…” Alisa’s mouth opens and closes. She sort of squeaks.

  His expression of delight falters. “The spell. You do not remember me.”

  She shakes her head. “I’m sorry.”

  He takes the tiniest of steps back. “You have nothing to be sorry for. The spell was not of your making. But even not knowing me, still you saved my life, by sending me here.”

  Alisa touches the spot on her chest where the necklace usually hangs. “Did I protect you from the Moment? The spell? I think I did, but I’m not sure. Is that why you weren’t sent to this world when the Moment was cast, like the other elves?”

  He nods. “You protested the spell, saying it was not right that only humans had a say in its crafting. So the other logomancers did not tell you when or where they would be casting it. You found out, but not in time. You told me what it would do and we hurried to warn my people, to seek their aid, but we were too late. The spell was cast. You used your logomancy to protect me, to keep me from being pulled out of the world, but…” He lowers his eyes.