The Floating Room

by Brian Olsen

  Dad vanishes.

  The goblin shimmers and my father is there in his place. He’s reaching for me, calling my name.

  The fireball strikes him in the chest and burns its way out his back.

  Dad stands for a moment, his mouth hanging open in a surprised ‘oh.’ The light of the fairy portal behind him shines through the baseball-sized hole in the center of his chest.

  He falls.

  “Eric!” My mother screams. She pushes me out of the way to run to his side. “Eric!”

  I turn around.

  Mr. Miller smiles at me. “I’d sacrifice anything for you.”

  He’s gone. Everyone’s gone. I’m running up the steps. Fleeing up them. Two at a time. I can’t stop. I don’t want to stop. I reach the floating room and the Common King is waiting and he reaches out for me and

  “Burn!” I scream. I’m digging my nails into my palms but the only pain I feel is in my heart and the source of that pain is in front of me. “Burn!”

  The old man doesn’t have time to cry out. His head explodes from the fire I create in his skull. The shadow imprisoning him evaporates from my heat and his body falls. I burn it to cinders. In seconds there’s nothing left.

  Oh.

  Oh, no.

  What have I done?

  “Chris!” Someone touches my hand. The one with the shadow powers. He’s crying and trying to hold me. I burn him just enough that he has to pull away.

  Fairy folk swarm all around me. “It’s time, Human King!” one of them shouts. “It’s time!”

  They fly towards me in one large cluster and I have to take a step back. They’re trying to force me into a portal to the fay.

  Fairies burn quickly. One by one they drop to the grass. It’s easier than swatting bugs. I kill a dozen or so and the rest take the hint. They fly into their portal and close it behind them.

  “Chris, stop!”

  It’s the other logomancer, the one with truth powers. She stares at me, and at the dead fairies, horrified. I shove her aside.

  The Nightmare Queen cowers in the grass, on her knees. “Please.” She clasps her hands together. “Please, Chris, please. I wouldn’t have hurt your father, ever, I promise, I—”

  Someone else gets in my way. The short boy, the one she said she loved.

  “Buddy, stop!” he says. “You’re not thinking straight. I won’t let you hurt—”

  I flash light in his eyes. Enough to blind him and stop his babbling.

  I extend my hand to my queen.

  “Let’s go, Tes.”

  The fear vanishes from her face. She smiles. “Oh, yes! Oh, yay!”

  She takes my hand and I help her to her feet. “Oh!” She picks up a book lying in the grass. The title reads, Creatures of Myth and Legend. “You’ll want this. Trust me.”

  “Always.”

  I return her smile, pushing thoughts of what I’ve just lost aside.

  And I fly. The grass and the dirt and the crying and the screams fall away from me as I soar above the treetops.

  It doesn’t take much extra effort to lift my queen behind me. She squeals in delight and I can’t help but laugh.

  Below, Kelle Gerddinchild weeps over a body. She’s loyal, and her ice powers are strong. I lift her into the air after us. I take a quick scan of the rest of the clearing. A red-haired boy lies unconscious in the grass. He must be the logomancer with the amplification powers. A traitor, but potentially useful. I lift him as well.

  I fly up and up and up, the beginnings of my new army behind.

  I fly higher and bask in the rays of the sun. The Logos sings in my head. I’m stronger than ever.

  I will make this strange new world burn.

  The Common King is reborn.

  Coming soon

  THE COMMON KING

  Yesterday’s Magic: Book Three

  Evil returns…

  Chris and his friends have failed to prevent the Common King’s return, and now the most powerful evil logomancer the world has ever known is back, gathering his allies and plotting to regain his throne.

  Only a handful of logomancers remain to oppose him. They hatch a desperate plan, taking them across the world in search of new allies and new magic. If they succeed, the Common King’s tyranny will end. If they fail, the world will burn.

  One problem – they can’t stop the Common King without Chris.

  And Chris is lost forever.

  The Common King, book three in the Yesterday’s Magic trilogy, will be released in January 2019 and available for pre-order from Amazon soon. Sign up for my newsletter to be alerted as soon as it’s available!

  Thank you for reading The Floating Room. The success of independent authors like me depends on reviews from readers like you, so please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com.

  If you’d like to receive updates on my upcoming releases, including the next book in the Yesterday’s Magic series, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter at www.brianolsenbooks.com.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks first to Christopher Shinn. A prompt he posted on Twitter led me to come up with the title The Floating Room while I was still in the initial plotting stages of the series as a whole. The concept of the room as it appears in the story developed from there.

  Thanks to the members of the Indie Finishers mastermind writers’ group, particularly Mike Stop Continues, Álvaro Galván, and David Pietrandrea, for all their feedback and support.

  Thanks to Kate Danley, for being a fantastic idea-bouncer-offer in general and specifically for helping me choose between two very different potential endings.

  And thanks to Michael Slaven for his editing expertise. As always, any remaining plot holes, continuity errors, and typos are all down to me.

  Also by Brian Olsen

  THE FUTURE NEXT DOOR

  A contemporary urban science fiction comedic thriller series in four parts.

  Alan, Caitlin, Mark and Dakota are four ordinary twentysomethings making their way in New York City – they’re just trying to have a little fun, pay the bills, and maybe figure out what to do with their lives. But an encounter with a murderous megacorporation begins a journey into a world of danger. The future’s come early for these four friends – can they survive mind-controlled office drones, deadly amusement parks, and tears in the fabric of space and time, while still managing to find love, chase their dreams, and save the world?

  The entire series is available now from Amazon.com.

  Book One: Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom

  Book Two: Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell

  Book Three: Mark Park and the Flume of Destiny

  Book Four: Dakota Bell and the Wastes of Time

  Also by Brian Olsen

  MULTIVERSE MASHUP

  Jed Ryland is an agent of the Crossroads, patrolling the multiverse and jumping in when two universes that absolutely shouldn’t meet, meet.

  When a dystopian society where teens are forced to battle for their lives is invaded by monsters from a sword-and-sorcery fantasy realm…

  When a world of light romantic comedy is threatened by a horde of flesh-eating living dead…

  When a couple of kid detectives from wholesome middle America fall into an epic fantasy realm of murder, intrigue, and ancient magic…

  Jed is there! He’ll save the day, protect the innocent, repair tears in the fabric of space and time, crack a few jokes and break a few hearts. When genres collide, Jed is there to pick up the pieces…and have a whole lot of fun in the process.

  Multiverse Mashup is a series of fast-paced, genre-smashing adventures. Available now from Amazon.com!

  The Dystopia Spell: The Hunger Games meets Dungeons and Dragons!

  Night of the Living Date: The Walking Dead meets romantic comedy!

  The Case of the Empty Throne: Game of Thrones meets Encyclopedia Brown!

  How to Kill a Vampire in Outer Space: Star Trek meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, available free with newsletter sign-up!
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  About the Author

  Brian Olsen is a fantasy and science-fiction author from New York City. His works include The Future Next Door, a contemporary urban science-fiction comedic thriller series; Multiverse Mashup, a series of genre-bending adventure novels; and Yesterday’s Magic, a trilogy of young adult contemporary fantasy. He’s also written a number of short stories in miscellaneous genres that strike his fancy, as well as numerous plays and sketches for the stage. He lived an entire other life as a theater person and has an MFA from the Actors Studio, so if you need someone to cry on cue, just ask. Visit www.brianolsenbooks.com for more information.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, institutions, and events portrayed in this novel are either created by the author or used fictitiously.

  Cover by Striking Book Covers. Visit strikingbookcovers.com.

  The Floating Room.

  Copyright © 2018 Brian Olsen. All rights reserved.