Glow

by Joss Stirling

  ‘I think I’ve just found out who tried to assassinate me at the weekend.’ Meri felt a cold shiver run through her. It was hard to be hated so irrationally.

  ‘Should I put him in the brig?’ asked Francis, scowling at the man with deep distaste.

  ‘I regret to say we don’t have the time for that. I’d rather not take someone with me who wants me dead. Kel, what do you think?’

  ‘Send him away. He’s a cockroach that would just be too difficult to get rid of.’

  ‘Does he really need a boat to get to shore?’ asked Valerie, coming up behind him and taking him by the scuff of the neck.

  Kel held Meri’s hand. ‘It’s OK, Valerie. I think he’ll go quick enough when he sees what he’s up against.’ He gently tugged on Meri’s power. She hadn’t realized he could take it before she even thought to offer it to him. They both began to blaze.

  ‘I really like it when you do that,’ said Valerie. ‘Better than fireworks.’

  ‘Oh we can show him some of those too.’ Kel flicked his hand towards Cabot, letting loose a sharp sting of power. Cabot scuttled over the side with no further taunts.

  ‘I hope we’ve made the right decision,’ mused Meri. ‘He’s already come back once to cause trouble.’

  Kel let their glow fade. It was amazing to feel the control they already had over their joint power. Meri wondered how much more they would discover about their potential. She sensed they had only scratched the surface in the last couple of hours.

  ‘We can’t deal with him and I’m not killing people in cold blood,’ said Kel. ‘That’s what makes us different from our enemies. Come on, let’s get below and let Francis take this baby out of port.’

  Epilogue

  There was one more thing Meri wanted to do before they left Spanish waters. She gave Francis his instructions and turned in for a few hours sleep as the yacht put some sea miles between them and the old port. When she woke up, blissfully happy in Kel’s arms, she found Leah waiting for her.

  ‘I thought I promoted you?’ Meri said, yawning as she shrugged into a dressing gown. ‘What are you doing still acting like my maid?’

  ‘I decided to add second-in-command to my existing duties,’ said Leah, picking up the clothes left where Meri had dropped them in her exhaustion the night before. ‘Are you ready for your first appointment?’

  ‘I still have those?’ Meri ran a brush through her hair. ‘I thought being on the run came with some advantages?’

  Leah hid her smile. ‘I’m afraid not. The steward from the palace wants to see you. He says it is urgent.’

  ‘OK, send him in after five minutes. Everyone else OK?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am. Ben sorted out a rota of three watches under Francis, Mabel and himself. We’re not as experienced as the last crew but we’re willing. The seamen that remained behind are being very helpful. No sign of trouble.’

  ‘Thanks. I’ll just get dressed then.’

  When Leah went, Kel emerged from under the covers. ‘Is that going to be what she does every morning?’

  ‘Sorry: she’s got used to me being on my own.’

  He came over and cuddled her to him. ‘I think we should have words with her, don’t you?’

  ‘Absolutely.’ He was kissing her, making her forget what she should be doing. ‘Kel, wait: the steward is about to enter.’

  He sighed. ‘We’d better put some clothes on. Pyjamas don’t project authority.’

  ‘We’re still doing that, are we? Acting like we know what we’re doing?’

  ‘Darling, that’s the secret of any leader’s success.’

  The steward knocked before he entered. Meri and Kel were waiting for him, seated at the little conference table in their quarters.

  ‘Please, sit. It’s Charles, isn’t it?’ asked Meri.

  ‘Yes, your highness, sir.’ The steward gained many brownie points with Meri for nodding respectfully to Kel.

  ‘What can we do for you?’

  ‘I wanted to present to you the household accounts.’

  He’d got them up early to give them a rundown of the grocery bill of the palace they had just abandoned? ‘Isn’t that moot now, seeing how we aren’t living there any more? I appreciate your thoroughness but I can’t do anything with them.’

  ‘Ma’am, you misunderstand. These are the household accounts: the royal household. They itemise everything you own, every property, bank account, stock and share.’ He handed her a memory stick. ‘I took the liberty of removing it when you had to relocate your household.’

  She liked this man’s habit of understatement. He acted like it was a voluntary departure rather than one under a hail of gunfire. ‘Oh. My. Word.’ Meri held the key to their survival. ‘Kel, quickly: please find Sadie and send her to me. Charles, thank you. Can you fetch Saddiq and anyone who can use a computer and understands finance?’

  ‘Meri, what are you doing?’ asked Kel.

  ‘We’re taking control of Crown assets before Rio does.’

  Sadie was delighted to be given the chance to lockdown Meri’s fortune and took command of her little team of computer experts with gusto.

  ‘You don’t mind?’ asked Meri.

  ‘Hey, I haven’t had so much fun since I blew up the servers used by that Russian hacking syndicate.’ She left it ambiguous as to whether that was a real explosion or just digital. ‘Leave it with me. This place has the best tech, the newest comms: it will be child’s play. That smarmy guy who gave you so much grief last night won’t have enough funds left to buy his hair gel by the time I’ve finished.’

  Francis said it was best not to risk their connectivity by sailing too far from shore, which suited Meri’s plans. She fully expected the Teans to be looking for them, but with the yacht gone, it would take them time to move alternative vessels into range. A helicopter had overflown them several times but while her DNA was still valuable to them, she thought it unlikely they’d risk sinking their ship. And a short delay in these waters was just what she wanted.

  She led Kel to the deck.

  ‘Why bring me up here?’ he asked. ‘Not that I don’t like enjoying the view with you but there’s so much to be done.’

  ‘Look out there, Kel.’

  ‘Yep. That’s an ocean, Meri. I can confirm that.’

  ‘It’s much more than that. We are anchored over Atlantis—the original one.’

  ‘Wow.’ He looked over the rail but there was nothing to be seen from the surface. ‘So this is where the mosaic came from—this is where we came from?’

  ‘That’s right. Do you know how to scuba dive?’

  ‘Yes. Part of my training when I was thirteen. Ade likes his water sports.’

  ‘I’ve been wanting to go and look at what’s down there but I’m glad now that I waited until you were with me. It’s right that we go together.’

  Kel rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Are you sure it’s safe? Do we have time?’

  ‘It’s not too deep so the dive isn’t too risky. The Teans have been keeping people away for centuries but the University of Jerez has started exploring and has kept the rights to all the finds. It shouldn’t be too hard to navigate. The Teans tell their colleagues that it is a Greek outpost. No one breathes a word about Atlantis. So, shall we go see what’s down there?’

  He kissed her peril ring. ‘Why not?’

  They swam together finding that the highest parts of the site really weren’t that deep below the surface. The archeologists had marked out areas in a grid pattern, flags on most significant finds, so they were able to brush the sand off ancient walls, fallen statues encrusted with barnacles, and follow the lines of the streets. With very little imagination, it was possible to picture the city beneath them filled with Tean aristocracy and their Perilous servants; people swathed in classical robes trading, arguing, and falling in love. Going a little deeper to where the sunlight didn’t penetrate so well, they floated together over what appeared to be a central square. Kel reached out for her hand. Understanding
his intention, Meri gripped his fingers in hers. Together they bathed the site in a glow of peril light. Polished stones and gems buried in walls shone back. She had the impression they had just been waiting to be rediscovered. They had been waiting for the Perilous and Teans to return. It was a perfect moment for just the two of them to share.

  They couldn’t spend too long indulging in exploration when there was so much to be accomplished that day. Meri signalled that they should go up. Kel nodded. Taking it slowly, they made their way back to the surface.

  Kel tapped her arm, pointing. Meri’s attention had been fixed on reaching the hull of the yacht. He was warning her that they had company. Two other vessels had appeared in their vicinity.

  Meri broke the surface and took off her mask. ‘Teans?’

  ‘They look like the other yachts that were in the harbour when we made our strategic retreat.’ He pushed her to go up the ladder first.

  Theo was waiting for her with a towel. ‘Thank God, you’re back. We were about to send someone down for you. Look who’s just arrived.’

  ‘We saw the boats. Who are they?’ Meri rubbed her eyes. She’d taken off her mask too quickly and got salt water in them.

  ‘You’d better come to the bridge.’ Theo steered her away. She noticed that armed crewmen were stationed on all decks, watching for any boarding attempts.

  Wrapped in towels, Meri and Kel hurried to the control room. The ever-efficient Leah appeared with robes for them both.

  ‘Francis, what’s happening?’ asked Meri. All of her friends were already there: Valerie and Saddiq, Mabel and Ben, Daro who was sitting with Sadie and Nixie. Bernard was crouched over one of the instruments.

  ‘I can’t detect any other ships approaching, captain,’ he said.

  ‘Well, that’s a small mercy. We might be outnumbered but we are still very much bigger than they are. They’re going to have trouble boarding us if that’s their intention.’ Francis passed Kel a pair of binoculars. ‘Do you see what I see?’

  Kel scanned the two vessels who had come to a stop either side of their position, a not very friendly flanking move. ‘Ah. That’s interesting.’

  ‘Kel!’ Meri tugged his arm. ‘Can someone just spell it out? What’s happening?’

  ‘Meri, I think our rescue party might’ve been followed after all. It appears we’ve attracted some Perilous company. Those yachts are registered to Osun and on board looking right back at us is Ade and, I think, my father.’

  ‘You’re not joking?’ Meri took the binoculars from him and confirmed what he had said with her own eyes. Lee was standing next to his friend. She didn’t see Kel’s father on the other vessel, but if Kel thought he’d spotted him, then she believed him.

  Kel came up behind her and hugged her to his chest, letting anyone watching know just where he stood. Her friends gathered on the bridge fell in around her, silently backing her up.

  ‘OK, guys, I think we have a situation,’ said Meri.

  ‘What Meri means to say,’ added Kel, ‘is that it looks like we’ve escaped the Tean frying pan and jumped straight into the Perilous fire.’

  About the Author

  Joss Stirling is the author of the best-selling Savants series. She was awarded the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2015 for Struck, the first YA book to win this prestigious prize.

  A former British diplomat and Oxfam policy adviser, she now lives in Oxford.

  For more information, please visit

  www.jossstirling.co.uk

  Also by Joss Stirling

  Peril series

  Peril

  Flare (coming 2018)

  Savants series

  Finding Sky

  Stealing Phoenix

  Seeking Crystal

  Misty Falls

  Angel Dares

  Summer Shadows

  Struck series

  Struck

  Stung

  Shaken

  Scorched