Isle of Broken Years

by Jane Fletcher

  Catalina sat back down beside Sam, making space for the others to look. The size of the city was unsettling. Would this world be home? It was not the one she knew. Then Sam put an arm around her, and the fears vanished. Whatever this world was like, they would face it together.

  “How’s the gas holding out?” Floyd asked.

  Babs tapped the glass over a gauge. “We’re fine to make land, but we won’t be able to go much farther inland. Safest if we beach first chance we get.”

  “Okay. I was hoping we could avoid attracting too much attention. But since we can’t sneak in without anyone noticing, what story do we give? Any ideas anyone?” Floyd looked around.

  “Hey. Wait a minute,” Madison said. “You were thinking we could keep Atlantis a secret?”

  “It was always a long shot, I guess.”

  “Duh. Why? My daddy works for cable news. He’ll know people. We’ll need agents. We’re going to be huge, mega-huge, beyond mega-huge. They’ll be lining up for us. Press, films, magazines. We can write books. Be on talk shows. Oprah will want us as guests, if she’s still going, that is.” She smiled back at Catalina and Sam. “Celebrity wedding of the year. Take it from me. We are so made.”

  “Madison, will everybody be talking like you?” Torvold asked.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll catch on.”

  Catalina snuggled closer to Sam. The only thing Madison had said that made any sense was the part about books. She had read so many, maybe she could write one. It was more promising than being a guest singer at the opera. Despite all the childhood music lessons, her voice was not good.

  Suddenly, a new voice sounded in the cockpit, unfamiliar and strangely distorted. “Attention unknown light aircraft. This is air traffic control. You have entered controlled airspace. Please identify yourself and your destination.”

  Floyd snatched up a fist-sized object at the end of a coiled line. He pressed a button on the side and held it at arm’s length. “So we just tell them the truth?”

  “Maybe break it to them gently.”

  Floyd released the button. “We’re requesting permission to make a water landing. Not bothered where, but we’re getting low on gas.”

  “Who are you?” the crackling voice asked.

  “Sergeant Floyd Lombardi of the US Coast Guard.”

  “What was your point of departure?”

  “Believe me, buddy, it’s a long, long story.”

  Catalina rested her head on Sam’s shoulder and smiled. It was indeed a long story, and it was not over yet.

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Jane Fletcher (www.janefletcher.co.uk) is a GCLS award-winning writer and has also been short-listed for the Gaylactic Spectrum and Lambda Literary Awards. She is a recipient of the Alice B. Reader Appreciation Awards Medal.

  Her work includes two ongoing sets of fantasy / romance novels: the Celaeno Series—The Walls of Westernfort, Rangers at Roadsend, The Temple at Landfall, Dynasty of Rogues, and Shadow of the Knife; and the Lyremouth Chronicles—The Exile and The Sorcerer, The Traitor and The Chalice, The Empress and The Acolyte, and The High Priest and the Idol. She has also written two other stand-alone novels, Wolfsbane Winter and The Shewstone.

  Her love of fantasy began at the age of seven when she encountered Greek mythology. This was compounded by a childhood spent clambering over every example of ancient masonry she could find (medieval castles, megalithic monuments, Roman villas). Her resolute ambition was to become an archaeologist when she grew up, so it was something of a surprise when she became a software engineer instead.

  Born in Greenwich, London, in 1956, she now lives with her wife in southwest England, where she is surrounded by enough historic sites to keep her happy.

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  Jane Fletcher, Isle of Broken Years