The Common King

by Brian Olsen

  “Kenny…” Easier to talk now, although my voice sounds odd to me. Like I’m hearing it for the first time. “Isn’t Kenny working for him?”

  “Not by choice.” Nate thumps the cot angrily. “Your evil twin has Kenny’s family captive.”

  Yes. I remember. The first time the Common King came to see me in the floating room, it was for information about Kenny’s family.

  “I spoke to Kenny,” Alisa continues. “When Shonda was abducted yesterday morning. Do you remember?”

  I shake my head.

  “We didn’t want you…him…to know what we planned.” She closes her mouth. Her lips don’t move as she says, “So while Mr. Liefer distracted everyone, I talked to Kenny like this.”

  Her voice is in my mind. I pull back in surprise and start to fall backwards off the head of the bed. Nate lunges forward to steady me.

  “Sorry!” Alisa bites her thumb. “Sorry! I shouldn’t have done that without warning you.”

  I pick up the pillow I knocked to the floor. “You’re telepathic now?”

  “Since the whole thing with the fairies I’ve been getting a lot of memories of my life before the Moment back, memories of my life as Ree Vardanchild. I’m remembering different ways I used my logomancy. I can’t read minds exactly, just communicate. And only the truth.”

  Nate grins. “And I am so very glad you cannot get inside my head, Alisa. That is one place you do not want to visit.”

  She laughs. “That makes two of us.”

  I grip the pillow in my hands. “Is Kenny dead? Did I kill him?”

  Their smiles drop. Nate starts, “You didn’t—”

  “The Common King, I mean. Did he kill him? Or his family? For helping you?”

  “We don’t know,” Alisa answers. “Mr. Liefer was supposed to get his family out of there first, but—”

  “But that dirtbag couldn’t find them,” Nate adds. “So he lied, told Kenny, and us, that they were safe.”

  Alisa pushes some of her long, thin braids back from out of her face. “Kenny helped us free you, thinking the king’s hold over him was broken. Then Liefer left Kenny behind when he brought everybody else back here. Said he had to, that Kenny would betray us as soon as he realized his family was still being held prisoner.”

  “He’s right.” I smooth out the pillowcase in my lap. “Kenny’s probably still alive, if the Common King thinks he’ll be useful. But his brother or one of his parents has been killed, I’d guess. That would punish Kenny but still leave two hostages to make sure he keeps cooperating.”

  They don’t say anything. Maybe that was too blunt. It’s true, though.

  “Where are we?”

  Nate gestures broadly to the dark, dank room around us. “Would you believe, Charlesville Academy?”

  I can’t say I’ve seen every square inch of our posh private school, but I’m pretty sure this dingy dungeon isn’t its basement. “No.”

  “It is, though. Or it was, a long time ago.”

  Oh, of course. I get it.

  The current campus isn’t the school’s original location. There was another schoolhouse when it was founded, nearer to what’s now the center of Charlesville. It was donated to the town, which converted it to a local history museum.

  From the look of things, people have been camping out here. But Alisa’s mom runs the museum. That means…

  “Your mom knows?” I ask her.

  “All our families know, Chris.”

  “We had to tell them,” Nate explains. “When Kenny’s family got taken, we thought ours might be next. We couldn’t protect them without bringing them into magic club.”

  Voices come from the far end of the dark hallway. I slide my legs out from under the covers, onto the floor. Alisa puts a hand on my back to steady me.

  “Who’s here?” I ask. “Is everybody’s family here?”

  “No—” Alisa starts.

  She stops as footsteps come down the hall. Lily’s face peeks out at us, then breaks into a broad smile when she sees me.

  “There he is!” She steps into the room, then stops. “We’re sure it’s Chris, right? One hundred percent?”

  Alisa shakes my shoulder. “One hundred percent.”

  Lily smiles wider as she rushes to the cot, plops down, and hugs me.

  “We got a win,” she says. “We actually got a win.” She pulls back and laughs. “We’ve been spinning our wheels for a while. Hiding out doing nothing while the Common King grabs whoever he wants.” She squeezes my knee. “It’s good to see you, Chris. The real you.”

  “Are your parents here, too?”

  “Mom is. Dad’s at work.”

  “That doesn’t sound like hiding.”

  Alisa bunches some of her braids up in her hands. “As days went by and the Common King didn’t come for any of our families, everyone got tired of being cooped up together all the time.”

  “People have jobs.” Nate gets up from the now-crowded cot, then drags over a sleeping bag and sits on it. “Life goes on. We needed another way to keep people safe. So Alisa set up her psychic friends network.”

  “We’re not calling it that.” Alisa taps her head. “Everybody can contact me if they need help. Mentally, from wherever they are. It’s not perfect, though. Yesterday morning, when Shonda reached out to tell me they found her, I was asleep. It woke me up, but not right away, and then I had to get everybody else up…” She sighs. “Anyway, that’s why it took so long for us to get there.”

  She says this like she expects me to remember. I don’t contradict her but instead ask the question I’ve been biting back. “Where’s Zane?”

  “Safe, don’t worry, buddy.” Nate stretches his legs out. “Your bully boy toy got back from the hotel a little before they rescued you.”

  Lily shakes my knee. “He’s out now, but he’ll be back soon. And he’ll be so glad to see you.”

  “Do you want me to tell him you’re awake?” Alisa asks.

  I’m surprised he wasn’t waiting for me to wake up, with Nate and Alisa. I would have been, if our situations were reversed.

  Alisa touches my shoulder. “Chris?”

  “Hm?”

  She taps her head. “Do you want to contact Zane?”

  “Oh. No. Thanks.”

  They all look at one another. I feel like I’m not reacting the way they expected, to any of this. Maybe I’m too calm. I don’t know. I don’t care.

  “We’ve been keeping Zane pretty busy, since he learned how to make his creepy shadow tunnels,” Nate says. “We only come and go from here by his or Liefer’s magic. Can’t risk being seen using the front door.”

  “What’s the point of hiding?” I ask. “Can’t Jasmine find you in your dreams whenever she wants?”

  “Now you’ve done it.” Lily shakes her head. “Prepare for the lovefest.”

  “Oh, buddy!” Nate’s whole face lights up. “You gotta meet Yasu!” He claps his hands, then puts two fingers in his mouth and whistles. “Yasu! Here, boy! Here, Yasu!”

  A snuffling, trumpeting sound comes from the hallway, followed by a rapid, scurrying clacking on the floor, and then…something…runs into the room. It’s about as big as a medium-sized dog, but it sure as hell isn’t a dog. It’s got a head like an elephant, trunk and tusks and all. Or maybe it’s more like a mammoth’s head, since it’s furry, covered in the same patchy orange, black, and brown fur as the rest of the animal’s body. It’s got a mane like a lion, but the legs I’d say are more like a tiger’s, from the way the patchwork fur there shifts into orange and white stripes. The clacking claws are certainly feline. The furless tail is long and thick and gray and wrinkled, and it sweeps the floor as the creature wags it in joy at the sight of Nate.

  My friend throws his arms out in welcome. “Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy, Yasu?”

  Yasu trumpets happily and launches himself into Nate’s lap, almost knocking him over. The bizarre little beast jumps in and out of Nate’s arms, all the while running his trunk o
ver Nate’s face. Nate laughs and pushes the trunk away, then hugs the creature until it settles down.

  “What,” I say slowly, “is that?”

  “This is Yasu!” Nate points at me. “Yasu, this is Chris. He’s a friend. Say hi.”

  Yasu’s trunk winds its way up my calves, sniffing feverishly. He gets up from Nate’s embrace and comes between my legs, pushing his head against my knee.

  “He wants you to pat him,” Alisa says.

  “I’m good, thanks.”

  “Oh, come on.” Lily scratches the creature’s head. “He’s adorable, in a genetic mutation kind of way. Hey, Yasu! Who’s the smartest little abomination in the world? Who’s God’s cutest mistake? You are! You are!”

  Yasu trumpets again in ecstasy and jumps up, putting his forelegs in Lily’s lap while she scratches behind his enormous ears. Excitedly, he gets down, jumps back up for one more scritch, then down again to turn his attention back to me. I scrunch up my face as he searches it with the tip of his hairy trunk.

  Alisa pats his backside. “I think he likes you.”

  “Awesome.”

  “It is, actually. We were a little afraid he’d think you were the king.”

  “Nah.” Nate leans back on his hands. “Yasu’s a good judge of character. He can tell the difference.”

  I hold still while Yasu snuffles my cheek. “I’m gonna ask again. What is he?”

  “He’s a baku.” Alisa grabs his trunk, lifting it away from my face, and strokes it.

  A baku. Of course. “I remember, from the book. They eat nightmares. That’s how you’re staying hidden from Jasmine.”

  She nods. “Everybody who knows where we’re hiding sleeps here. Every night. No exceptions.”

  “Who’s a fat little baku!” Nate pulls Yasu back into his lap. “Who keeps us from dreaming bad dreams so my naughty ex-girlfriend can’t find us? Yasu does! Yes he does!”

  Yasu squirms and rolls over, kicking his feline legs in the air so Nate can get at his belly.

  “How’d you get a baku?” I ask. “Wasn’t their artifact in Japan?”

  “We went looking for it, out of sheer desperation.” Alisa shakes her head at the memory. “I couldn’t scry for it again without the book, but I had saved the location on my phone’s map the first time. That narrowed it down a little.”

  Nate rolls his eyes. “Very little.” He smacks my ankle. “We spent fourteen hours scouring downtown Tokyo. And none of us speak Japanese.”

  “We still had my copy of the book,” Lily explains. “The decoy I made when I stole the original for you. It doesn’t have any magic, but the pictures are the same so we knew what the baku’s artifact looked like.”

  “Well, not at first, but we figured it out.” Alisa points to a corner of the room, where a folding dressing screen stands. Its paper panels depict an image of several baku. “Lily found it in a restaurant, and Liefer stole it for us.”

  “But you need the real book to get in and out of the worlds inside the artifacts,” I point out. “Don’t you?”

  “To get in, yes,” Alisa starts. “But—”

  “Yasu?” Mr. Ambrose, my former lacrosse teacher, wanders in from the hallway. “Yasu? There you are. Oh, Chris.” He looks down, tugging on the t-shirt stretched over his big frame. “You’re awake.”

  “Time for a boost, Mr. Ambrose?” Nate asks.

  Of course. Mr. Ambrose. He can disrupt the magic that binds the creatures to their artifacts, without needing the book. He did it before with a minotaur, and must have done it again with the baku.

  Yasu happily follows Mr. Ambrose over to the screen. Ambrose places one hand on the artifact, the other on the baku’s head, and says, “Disrupt.” He waits a moment, then gives Yasu a firm scratch. “That should do it. Where’s Tannyl? I should probably do the same for him. It’s been a few hours.”

  “Tannyl’s here, too?” I ask. “You got him out?”

  Alisa touches her sternum, where a necklace bearing a circular silver medallion with a tree in the center hangs out of sight under her blouse. “Took a while to find him out of all the elves in here, but yes, eventually Mr. Ambrose was able to free him.” The necklace is the artifact hosting the entire elven population. A couple million of them, all in one piece of jewelry. “He’s in Seattle right now. Checking on Nate’s mother.”

  Nate smirks. “She can’t get enough of him now that she knows that weird foreign exchange student who’d never take off his hat is actually an elf.”

  “Did you say Seattle?”

  “My telepathy’s stretched a little thin,” Alisa explains. “And, as we learned with Shonda, even if I get a message I can’t count on reacting fast enough to help.”

  Nate pats the sleeping bag, calling Yasu back to him. “So we keep an eye on our loved ones in person, as much as we can. The ones who aren’t sleeping here. Just in case.”

  “Your mom’s not sleeping here? I thought everyone…I’m confused.”

  “Logistics later, kids.” Mr. Ambrose heads back towards the hall. “Mr. Liefer would like to talk to everyone in the other room now. Assuming Chris is up for it.” He heads into the hallway without waiting to see if I am, in fact, up for it.

  My lip curls. “Liefer’s in charge?”

  “No.” Nate reaches under the cot and pulls out my shoes. “Alisa’s in charge.”

  Alisa jumps up. “I make suggestions when I need to. Most of the time it’s better to keep the peace and let Mr. Liefer be Mr. Liefer.”

  Lily scowls. “I was okay with that until he left Kenny behind.”

  I push the blanket off me. I’m wearing my own clothes, not a copy of what the Common King was wearing. Somebody must have brought them from my house. I pull on the shoes Nate fished out for me. My second-favorite pair of white sneakers. I wonder what happened to my favorite pair? I was wearing them that day in the forest, with the fairies. The last day I remember, before the floating room. The day that I…that my father…

  Alisa touches my arm. “You sure you’re up for this? You wanna rest some more?”

  “No.” I take a deep breath and stand up. “I’ve slept long enough.”

  Nine

  As we head for the hall, Lily turns back and yells, “Yasu! Stay off the cot!” But the sound of springs as we leave the room tells me her command went ignored.

  Stairs leading up lie off the hallway, but we continue past them into another room. It’s similar to the one I was sleeping in, but bigger and more brightly lit. A long folding table is set up in the center, with a bunch of adults seated or standing all around it, talking quietly. They stop when we walk in. When I walk in.

  I know all of them. Mr. Liefer, Mr. Ambrose, and Andy Palakiko, all logomancers, all teachers at our school, all in on this since the beginning. And three of my friends’ parents: Mr. Montgomery, Nate’s dad; Mrs. Green, Alisa’s mom; and Mrs. Deng, Lily’s mom.

  Nate’s dad is the first to shake off the awkwardness that falls on everyone when I enter. “Chris.” He starts to get up, but Mr. Liefer, who’s standing behind him, puts a restraining hand on his shoulder.

  “We’re certain?” my former headmaster says.

  “Yes,” Alisa replies. “This is Chris, and only Chris. Not a trace of the Common King.”

  Liefer looks me up and down. “And there’s no link between them, mental or magical? The Common King can’t track him? Maybe we should keep Chris isolated until—”

  Mr. Montgomery shrugs off Liefer’s hand. “He’s been through enough, Mr. Liefer. He’s staying here, with us.”

  “I’m trying to keep us safe—”

  Mrs. Deng scowls. She’s a short, plump woman, with big round glasses magnifying her angry expression. I’ve known Mrs. Deng and her husband since I was in eighth grade, when Lily and I briefly dated. She didn’t like me when I was Lily’s boyfriend, only warming after we broke up. I don’t know if it was because she suspected I was gay, or because she’s protective of her only child. “Keep us safe?” she says. “Were you keeping
Lily safe when you turned her into a soldier in your secret war?”

  “Mom—” Lily starts.

  “Not to mention poor Kenny Pillman,” she continues. “How safe did you keep him, Mr. Liefer? We don’t know if he’s alive or dead.”

  Liefer leans over the table. “That’s my point!” He gestures towards me. “If Kenny is dead, he’s the one who killed him! He’s who we—”

  Mrs. Green smacks her palm down on the table. “If my daughter says this is Chris, then this is Chris, end of discussion.” Mrs. Green looks a lot like Alisa. She’s taller, and her skin is a slightly darker brown, but they both wear their hair in long thin braids. Alisa keeps hers loose around her shoulders, usually, whereas Mrs. Green’s are tied up in a neat bun. She and her husband have always been good to me and Nate, and both took it in stride when I came out as gay and Nate came out as trans. Mrs. Green once confessed to me that Alisa had trouble making friends at her old school, and she was thrilled that her daughter had found us. She looks just as thrilled to see me now as she pointedly ignores Liefer’s fuming. “How are you, Chris? Are you hungry? Alisa, did you get this poor boy anything to eat?”

  “I’m okay—” I start to say.

  “Everybody slow down.” Mr. Ambrose puts his hands up. “None of you remember what the Common King is capable of. Mr. Liefer is just being cautious.”

  “And rightly so,” Andy adds. Andy was bald the last time I saw him, but his black hair is starting to grow back in patchy tufts. His face, though, still carries the burn scars I gave him not long ago.

  “Maybe we don’t remember what happened in that magic world.” Mrs. Green touches her bun as if to adjust it, although not a single hair is out of place. “That doesn’t mean we’re ignorant.”

  Mr. Ambrose rolls his eyes. “That’s not what I’m saying and you know it.”

  “Then stop treating us that way,” Mr. Montgomery picks up. “You’ve told us about the Common King’s crimes. We understand the risks.”