The Girl Without Magic

by Megan O'Russell

  Tammond’s hands ran up her sides as his mouth moved to her throat, making her gasp with pleasure. The lights in the room faded away. But Tammond was there, holding her.

  he floor was hard and cold. Maggie lay curled up on Tammond’s shoulder, listening to the steady beat of his heart. She wanted to stay there forever. Just the two of them in the darkness. But a forever of peace was meant only for the dead.

  “How much longer until dawn?” Maggie finally asked, her voice echoing through the dark.

  “Not much longer,” Tammond said, kissing Maggie’s forehead.

  “Then we should go. I don’t even know if I’ve finished my training.”

  “I don’t think the training was ever going to work for you.” Tammond shifted to sit up. “Not the way it’s supposed to. The Wanderers found this place to teach other Wanderers. You aren’t one of us.”

  Maggie froze for a moment. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  Tammond leaned down, his mouth finding Maggie’s. “A very good thing. It’s like Bertrand said, ‘we know everything we know.’ You know different things. I think you proved you can use your magic here. There’s nothing more the dark place can teach you. You did here in hours what most take years to find.”

  “I did spend years training in a dark place,” Maggie said, pushing herself to her feet. “It just wasn’t here.”

  “I only hope it’s enough to keep you safe.” Tammond’s hand found hers in the dark as though it was the most natural thing that had ever happened.

  Maggie smiled, letting him lead her blindly forward.

  She didn’t speak or ask how long it would take to make it to the blue cavern. She was listening too hard for the sounds of legs scuttling or wings flapping. But the only sound was the soft thudding of their feet as they climbed upward.

  In only a few minutes, lights showed dimly in the distance. But it was a different cavern than the one they had been in before. This cave was barely wider than the passage they had been traveling. Green lights sparkled on the walls. Maggie tensed, waiting for the lights to come out of the walls and draw her back into the Siren’s Realm, away from the battle to come. But she wasn’t ready to go yet.

  “Why is it different?” Maggie whispered, leaning in close to Tammond. “We didn’t go down this way.”

  “The way into the darkness can never be the same as the way back out.”

  “Right,” Maggie said, not sure she understood. But it didn’t matter as long as he took her back to the surface. The darkness that had felt mysterious and magical now seemed threatening and suffocating.

  Her shoulders were tense, ready to fight more monsters from the dark, ready to hear her mother’s screams again.

  “I think I know why Bertrand couldn’t come down here,” Maggie said as the tunnel tipped steeply upward. “He wouldn’t just have burned the shadows. He would have knocked the whole mountain down.”

  The children’s voices echoed down the tunnel, and Maggie broke into a run, dragging Tammond behind her. Torchlight showed at the end of the tunnel, a small figure silhouetted against the flickering glow.

  “Mina, don’t!” a voice shouted, but the little shadow was already running down the tunnel toward Maggie.

  “Maggie, Tammond!” Mina called as she ran. They had still been far enough away that by the time Mina reached them, she was puffing. “I waited up for you all night!” Mina panted proudly. “It was a very long night, too. Though I suppose it will always look like night while we have to wait down here.”

  “You should have slept, Mina.” Maggie didn’t argue as Mina took her hand and dragged her up the tunnel.

  “But I was worried about you,” Mina said firmly. “I wanted to be sure that if you needed help, someone would be able to hear you scream. But I didn’t hear anything at all. Was it easy down there? Did you not get to do your training? I’ve heard stories about the tunnels, and it should have been awful.”

  “It was pretty bad,” Maggie said. “But we survived, and that’s what matters.”

  Mina stopped in her tracks, turning to face Maggie. “You are very brave.” Her eyes were wide with admiration, making Maggie blush.

  “Thanks.” Maggie took the lead, pulling Tammond and Mina behind her, knowing the shadows were no worse than what waited out on the lake.

  The rest of the children were huddling around the opening to the tunnel, peering into the dark.

  “I told you not to go down there,” an older boy said, grabbing Mina by the shoulders as soon as she was in reach. Apparently he hadn’t been brave enough to venture into the tunnel to fetch her.

  “I was going to Maggie and Tammond,” Mina whined, pulling away from the boy. “They can keep me safe.”

  “Don’t ever say that,” Maggie said, feeling the eyes of the children on her. “When scary things are coming, you have to take care of yourselves. Don’t trust other people to protect you from the shadows. They might be willing to try, but at the end of it, you have to take care of you.” Maggie’s voice rang with finality around the cavern.

  A tiny boy behind her sniffed as tears crept down his cheeks.

  Tammond looked at her, his brow wrinkled. “Maggie.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s true,” Maggie said, her voice much gentler this time. “We’re hiding them in here. We’re going to fight to keep all of you safe.” She looked around at the frightened faces of the children. “Trust that. Trust that we will do everything we can to make sure none of the Enlightened come anywhere near you. But you can’t go running at something dangerous with blind faith that it’ll all work out okay, or that someone else will take care of you.”

  “B-but then what do we d-do?” the crying little boy asked.

  “You take care of yourselves,” Maggie said, kneeling so she was at eye level with him. “Set up guards so you’ll know if anyone is coming. They have to watch all the time.”

  “We do have guards,” one of the older boys said indignantly.

  “Good.” Venom slipped into Maggie’s voice. “Then teach the young ones to stand guard with you. Have a plan for if Jax comes through the dark. Know what you’re going to do if we lose this battle.”

  More of the children were crying now, but it didn’t matter. Better to have them afraid than dead.

  “You can’t count on the Wanderers sailing back in to take you from the dark place. You have to be ready to fight for yourselves.” Maggie strode toward the boat waiting at the end of the rocky shore. She didn’t look back to see if Tammond was following her. She didn’t want to see the faces of the children staring at her with fear in their eyes.

  “Get in,” Tammond said before stepping into the tiny boat without another word.

  Maggie’s hands shook as she gripped the sides of the boat while Tammond rowed them into the darkness. The Wanderers had penned the children into a cage they couldn’t escape from. And there was nothing she could do about it.

  “Why did you scare them like that?” Tammond asked as their boat was swallowed by the shadows.

  “Because leaving them in a cave and hoping for the best is better?” Maggie said. “You think a couple of older kids and one old lady who can barely walk are going to be able to fend off Jax if he comes for them? They need a plan of their own, to be able to fight for themselves!”

  “They are too young to fight.”

  “Do you really think Jax is going to care?”

  Tammond said nothing for a moment. The only sound was his paddle dipping into the water and Maggie’s angry breathing.

  “He won’t,” Tammond finally admitted. “Jax will kill all of them if he finds his way into the dark place. But the jungle is no safer. The mountains are no safer. There is no safe place in Malina for the children of Wanderers. If he finds his way into the dark place, there will be nothing they can do.”

  “They can fight!”

  “They’ll lose.”

  “But at least they’ll die fighting,” Maggie’s voice cracked as she spoke. “It may not seem like
a big difference to you. But if Jax comes, it’ll be better for those kids to die fighting than hiding in the dark. Believe me, I know.”

  Tammond didn’t say anything more as their boat emerged from the cave into the cool morning light.

  The village was waiting as it had been the night before, tied up tight, ready to move at a moment’s notice. A man stood watching the entrance to the dark place, and as soon as he spotted Maggie and Tammond, he gave a warbling whistle.

  Abeyla appeared next to him before they reached the dock, and Bertrand was there a moment later.

  Abeyla looked down at her son. “Are you all right?” Her voice sounded tired as though she had spent a sleepless night just like Tammond and Maggie.

  “We’re fine,” Tammond said. “Maggie did very well. She moved much more quickly than I expected her to.”

  Abeyla turned an eye to Maggie as she climbed up onto the dock. “More quickly?”

  “I made the room light up, and there were creepy black scorpions, so I burned them all.” Maggie looked to Bertrand. “You were right, though. Shield spell works just the same as home.”

  “Do you think she is prepared to fight?” Abeyla asked Tammond. Maggie resisted the urge to say she was right there and could speak for her own damn ability to fight.

  “I―” Tammond began before looking at Maggie. “She is able to use magic. She is fearless. And she has seen many dark things before.”

  Abeyla nodded and gave a high-pitched whistle. “Then it is time for us to go to the safe place.”

  People emerged from their houses and moved to the docks, lowering boats into the water. Each person’s face looked tired and drawn. But it wasn’t the normal sleepy feeling of early morning. There was a dark resignation and fatigue that permeated the air. A dark cloud of dread had settled over the village. They knew something terrible was coming. All that was left was to face it.

  ammond jumped back down into the little boat that had carried them out of the dark place, ready to row with the whistle from the front of the village.

  “What were you going to say?” Maggie knelt at the edge of the dock, speaking quietly so no one rushing by would hear.

  “You know darkness,” Tammond said, his eyes filled with pain. “You know how to work in it better than some who have studied the shadows for years.”

  “But how is that a problem?” Maggie asked. “I’m good at magic here, I can fight, and I’m not scared. Those all sound like really good qualifications to me. I’m not going to be in the way or be a danger to the Wanderers. I can help, and you need all the help you can get.”

  “I don’t think you’ll be a danger to the Wanderers.” Tammond’s voice was dark and low. “I’m worried about you. You know so well the pain that is coming, I’m afraid you’ll greet it as an old friend.”

  The whistle sounded from the front of the boat, and, as one, all the rowers pulled forward, moving the village away from the caves.

  “I’m not… I…” But Maggie didn’t know what to say.

  “Come, Miss Trent,” Bertrand said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. Maggie stood and followed him back toward the Fireside, grateful for the reason to not have to explain herself to Tammond.

  “Don’t be mad at the boy,” Bertrand said as they entered the Fireside. The room was abandoned. It seemed vast in its emptiness. The sounds of the ropes squeaking against the wood carried throughout the space with no voices to cover it.

  “I’m not mad at him.” Maggie sat at a table, grateful for the bread and fruit some kind person had left lying there.

  “He’s worried about you.” Bertrand sat opposite her, tenting his fingers under his chin. “A strange and beautiful girl fell into his life. A girl who is more dangerous than any he’s ever known, and brave enough to use that danger. It’s not his fault he’s afraid.”

  “Is it my fault for coming here?” Maggie dug her fists into her eyes, wishing she could sleep for even five minutes.

  “Miss Trent, one of the many things I have learned on my journeys is that blame is rarely significant. There are too many accidents, too many unforeseen consequences. I doubt even the Siren herself knows every possible outcome for all the choices she makes. You meant no harm. In fact, we are trying to help, and our help has been gratefully accepted. Beyond that, it is the fault of no person that we can blame, including ourselves.”

  “I just…”

  “Weren’t expecting to care so much for the locals?” Bertrand finished for her. “Ah, Miss Trent. We adventure for knowledge and magic. We fight to help a just cause. But it’s the people who pull us along when things become dark.”

  “Right,” Maggie said, not sure if she really understood Bertrand and not knowing if she wanted to.

  They fell into silence as the village rowed slowly forward. The sun crept up in the sky until it poured in over the high walls of the Fireside. Maggie tipped her head back and let the sun warm her face, trying not to wonder how long it would be until Mina felt the sun on her skin again.

  The morning light glowed through Maggie’s closed eyes. She could be anywhere. The Siren’s Realm. Home. The sun always felt the same.

  Then the light was gone. The warmth had disappeared. Maggie opened her eyes, ready to fight whatever was blocking out the sun. She didn’t wait for Bertrand’s murmur of “What have we here?” before running outside to look.

  An overhang, larger than the village itself, jutted out over the lake. The thick stone clung to the side of a cliff with no cracks in its surface, no sign that it might crumble and squash them all.

  “Well, that is one way to block an attack.” Bertrand squinted at the rock above.

  The overhang was made of the same kind of rock as the surrounding cliffs, but there was something about its perfection that made it seem like it didn’t belong over the Broken Lake.

  The whistle came, and the rowers stopped, digging their paddles into the water so the village came to a shuddering halt.

  Maggie stepped onto the dock, facing away from the cliffs. The water beyond the shadow of the rocks sparkled in the sun. In the distance a low bank rose up to the base of the mountains. Cliffs surrounded them on either side, molding around them from behind and stretching out toward the mountains. There was no way to approach the village but from dead ahead. Jax wouldn’t be able to catch them unawares.

  “They really like penning themselves in,” Maggie said softly to Bertrand as he stood next to her, gazing at the distant mountains.

  “Like rabbits hiding in a den,” Bertrand said. “The principle works as long as the fox can’t dig deep enough to reach them.”

  “And is willing to give up if it fails,” Maggie added. She ran her hands through her hair, picking out flecks of dried blood, trying to push past the fatigue to put her thoughts in order. “They need to have people on the outside who can help if they get penned in. Who can attack from behind and surprise Jax.”

  “Miss Trent.” Bertrand turned to Maggie with a smile. “I think we might have just found how we can best be useful.”

  “We’re going to go play hidey hole and then jump off a cliff into the battle and save the day?”

  “I think that is the basic principle.” Bertrand walked quickly away toward the front of the village, Maggie following close behind.

  The boats were being stored, but the movements were different this time. It wasn’t the same practiced motion Maggie had seen before. Some of the Wanderers knelt at the edges of the docks, pressing their hands into the water, eyes shut tight or gazing silently at the face of the rock. Instead of the village unfolding and the bridges being raised, sharply carved bamboo spikes were inserted on the edges of the docks, pointing out menacingly over the water.

  Abeyla stood on top of one of the houses, surveying the progress of those working beneath her. Bertrand walked straight into the house and climbed up the ladder inside. Maggie was a step behind, and soon they were standing on the roof. The Wanderers were still working. The gentle hum of magic touched Maggie’s ski
n as spells radiated from every direction.

  Maggie wanted to ask what all the protections were, but Bertrand had already begun speaking.

  “But of course if you don’t agree, Abeyla, we are willing to serve you in whatever way we can.”

  Abeyla looked between Bertrand and Maggie. Deep creases and shadows marred her face. She looked older than she had just a few days ago when Maggie had first met her.

  “I am not a warrior.” Abeyla’s voice was weary. “I am not a general or a fighter. I am a teacher who has managed to keep her people alive and fed. The Wanderers have never been soldiers. Jax Cayde―”

  “Cannot be allowed to win,” Bertrand said. “I was never a soldier, either. But our weakness can be an advantage. Let Jax’s men advance. And we will be waiting for them.”

  “Do it,” Abeyla said. “Take three with you and go where you think it best. Do not attack until there is no other choice. Once Jax knows where you are, he will come for you, and then we shall have no one left on the outside.”

  Bertrand nodded and started down the ladder.

  “Make sure Tammond is one of the men you take,” Abeyla said, her eyes staying out toward the sparkling water. “And be careful.”

  “We will.”

  In half an hour they were in a boat skirting the edge of the cliff.

  Tammond stared back at the village as the rower propelled them forward.

  “She’ll be okay,” Maggie said. “Abeyla can take care of herself.”

  “Better than the rest of us can,” Tammond said. “She will stand at the front of the battle and face Jax herself. And now she’s had me sent away so I can’t stand in her place.”

  Maggie slipped her hand into Tammond’s, grateful when he squeezed it tight instead of pushing her away.