by S. M. Boyce
Fast as lightning, an image flashed in her mind of her corpse leaning against the pedestal, an arm clutched her stomach as if it ached for food.
Starvation.
The word rang in her head like thunder, and she snapped out of the vision as quickly as she could.
“Oh, this power is going to be super-fun,” she snapped, disgusted with the image she had been forced to endure.
She would have to be more careful of any what-if scenarios she asked herself.
Taking a deep breath, she stared into the darkness beyond the open doors, where the light streaming from this room illuminated three pathways. She turned toward the first one, hoping one of these tunnels would take her to her friends.
“Here goes,” she muttered to herself.
***
“How I’ve missed you, my darling,” Maria’s sweet voice in his ear warmed Fyrn to the core. Her soft arms wound around his neck as she sat behind him, petting his hair.
“I missed you as well.” He leaned into her, happy for the first time in decades despite the buzzing haze clouding his mind.
“You will stay with me, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Forever?”
“Forever.”
“Good, my love. Good.”
“Fyrn, snap out of it!” someone yelled.
He shot upright, glancing around the empty tunnel. Blue light streamed in from holes in the rock overhead. The voice had been familiar, but he couldn’t place why.
The soft hands on his shoulders yanked him backward, and he was once more in Maria’s arms. “The beast is back, my dear! You must—”
“Fyrn!”
Someone slapped him hard across the face. In a split second the blue light faded to almost utter darkness, and the soft hand on his shoulder was now cold and clammy. He struggled to stand, but it held him in place.
A vague silhouette stood over him and knelt, driving a sword into the air by his head. The slick squelch of a sword through flesh rocked him to his core.
Confused and panicking, he grabbed his staff and lit the gem on its tip. He had to find Maria, had to rescue her. He couldn’t lose her again, not—
The light from his staff illuminated the world around him and Victoria came into view. She knelt at his side, her eyes wide as she stared at him. “Are you okay?”
The hands on his shoulders loosened and a body fell to the ground.
“Maria!” he screamed.
He tilted his staff until the light revealed a pale gray corpse. Silver hair covered her face, and a pool of black blood grew beneath her body.
Understanding crashed into Fyrn like a tsunami. Maria was dead—she had been for decades. He would never have her back. Somehow the sirens had tricked him into removing the cotton.
They had toyed with him, and Victoria had saved his life.
Despite the grieving he had done to clear Maria from his life, a deep sense of loss tightened his throat. He shook his head, trying to focus on the moment, but it was several seconds before he could once more swallow the pain.
“Fyrn?” Victoria asked softly.
“We have to find the others,” he said, not wanting to answer the many questions that were probably buzzing through her mind.
He hadn’t spoken about Maria to anyone, and he didn’t plan to start now—not even Victoria.
***
It took nearly two hours, but she finally found the others and led them out of the tunnels holding hands, with fresh enchanted cotton from her pack in every ear.
No one would tell her what the sirens had tempted them away with. She found Diesel sobbing over a rock in the middle of the tunnel, and Audrey had been about to go for a swim in the most dangerous rapids Victoria had ever seen in her life.
The sirens had toyed with their brains, and no one wanted to discuss what they had seen. She couldn’t blame them.
As they walked, Victoria desperately wished to yank the scratchy cotton out of her ears. The fibers had tickled her eardrum for hours. They were almost out of siren territory though, and she wouldn’t pull the cotton out until she was sure it was safe.
As the oppressive darkness in the tunnels slowly faded Fyrn gestured for them to pull out the cotton, and Victoria did so with a deep breath of gratitude. “Ugh, that was like having a Q-tip rammed into my head for hours on end.”
“Victoria,” Fyrn said, voice stern.
Ugh. That was his boring lecture voice.
“Yes?”
“From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. I will never tell you what I experienced or who—” his voice broke, and his hard eyes softened, “or who the siren pretended to be, but I am grateful nonetheless for what you did.”
Victoria’s shoulders relaxed. She had expected a lecture, not gratitude. “You’re welcome.”
Diesel leaned on his staff, staring at the ground. “I saw you dead, Victoria. When the sirens couldn’t fool me, they forced me to watch horrible things. I couldn’t escape it. They put on a performance of every death I’ve ever feared you would meet.”
Victoria’s mouth dropped open. She didn’t know what to say, but now his sobbing over a rock suddenly made far more sense.
“They showed me home,” Audrey said softly. “They showed me Mom and Dad. With everything going on, I didn’t realize how much I missed them.”
Victoria just swallowed hard.
“Did you succeed?” Fyrn asked, looking right at her.
With a sigh, Victoria lifted her hand and stretched out her palm for them to see. Audrey and Diesel gasped as the glowing golden eye winked back at them, shimmering and stunning, a work of art forever fused with her skin.
“Then it was worth the agony,” Fyrn said softly.
“Fyrn—”
“No, Victoria. I’m fine, so give us an update. What do you know of your powers? The ghost?”
Victoria rubbed her wrist, still not used to the constant tension in her palm from the newest Artifact. “It burned me pretty badly when I picked it up. I guess that’s the charm the wizard who put it there used. He wanted it to kill whoever found it.”
“Probably.”
“The ghost is this rude but regal woman. She looked like a queen.”
Fyrn nodded. “That corroborates what I’ve learned so far. If my research is correct, she was a witch queen around the time Rhazdon was amassing his armies.”
“Well, she’s also a bitch.”
Fyrn chuckled. “Yes, that sounds about right.”
“I can keep her at bay, although any time I don’t focus my will on keeping her out of sight she pops up.”
“Recruit your other ghosts to help you. They may be able to keep her in check. And remember, Victoria—she will try to kill you. She has killed other hosts in the past.”
Victoria groaned. Super-fun.
Audrey chuckled. “You glow like a jack-o-lantern. Can you turn it off?”
Victoria laughed. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, if we ever need a searchlight we’ll come looking for you, Rudolph.”
Audrey and Diesel laughed, holding their sides while Victoria rolled her eyes and did her best to suppress a broad grin. “You’re all idiots.”
She stared at the Artifact, her smile faltering slightly as it glimmered. This wasn’t something she could hide, maybe not even with gloves if the glow was bright enough. Bit by bit, the Artifacts had made themselves a part of her in a way she couldn’t hide anymore.
And you know what? I don’t want to hide.
“What about your powers?” Diesel lifted her hand in his, running his finger along the golden rim of the magical item in her hand. It was more of a curious gesture than an intimate one, but his warm touch sent a spark through her arm.
“I used the divination ability to find you three. I don’t know the other two powers.”
“How does it work?” Fyrn asked.
“I ask a what-if question, and I get a vision with the possible outcome.”
Diesel’s eye
s lit up. “Really? What if I grew a beard?”
Out of impulse more than curiosity, Victoria briefly considered what he might look like. In an instant, a crystal-clear vision of a lopsided goatee flashed in her mind.
She shuddered. “Don’t.”
“Fascinating,” Fyrn said under his breath.
Victoria stretched out her hand. “Is this enough, Fyrn? Am I finally ready?”
He smiled, the first since they’d left the siren’s lair. “You are, Victoria. You most certainly are.”
CHAPTER 19
It was close to three in the morning when their small party returned to the refugee camp, and Victoria could barely keep her eyes open. After the rush of adrenaline had faded, the long trek back had taken its toll on her.
Only sheer force of will had kept her moving.
Their return trip had taken several days. They had opted against using a portal, since that meant calling on complex magic when both their wizards were emotionally exhausted. After all, Diesel had watched her die at least a dozen different ways, and Fyrn—well, his trauma had been one Victoria was quite certain he would never share.
After climbing seven flights of stairs, Victoria sank into her borrowed bed. The ogres had carved cliff dwellings into the walls to make more room for the refugees as they arrived, and the elves had used their magic to refine the spaces into comfortable living quarters. Thus far it was her favorite bedroom, perhaps second only to the mansion she had shared with Audrey after realizing she was loaded.
Styx was already snoozing on her pillow. As she stretched out on the mattress, the little pixie nestled up to her in his sleep. She smiled and shut her eyes, promising herself she would bathe in the morning. If she did it now, she would probably fall asleep in the tub.
***
Victoria woke to several trumpets sounding outside. Styx was gone.
She scrambled out of bed and got caught in the blankets, landing with a hard thud on the floor. It took several moments of cursing under her breath to wrench free and leap toward the window.
An army marched in the wide road below. Ten men across, shoulder to shoulder, farther than Victoria could see through the open hole that served as her window.
In her exhausted state, she panicked. Luak had found them. He had brought an army, and—
At the head of the troops, a familiar feminine figure lifted a thin hand. The troops behind her stopped as she scanned the refugee camp.
Angelique.
Still dressed in her travel clothes from the day before, Victoria raced down the steps to give her friend a piece of her mind. After several minutes of running Victoria finally made it to the street.
“Ah, there you are!” Angelique shouted to her from her position at the head of the troops. General Eldrin stood beside her and stopped speaking as Victoria neared.
As Victoria passed them, several of the Lochrose soldiers smiled or nudged their neighbors. Perhaps they recognized her, but she had met so many people in Lochrose that she could hardly remember them all.
When she reached the queen, Victoria rubbed her eyes and yawned. “What are you doing, blaring your horn like that?”
Angelique laughed. “That’s not quite the welcome I was expecting, but I suppose it’s the one I should have expected from you. It’s a pleasure to see you as well, Victoria.”
“I truly am grateful to see you, Angelique, and even sooner than expected. But come on, why did you need to blast us all awake with horns? Was that necessary? Needed to wake everyone up to say hi?”
Angelique swept a lock of hair out of Victoria’s face, not even bothering to hide her smirk. “Victoria, it’s noon. I’m fairly certain you were the only one asleep.”
“I… Um, I knew that.”
“Of course you…” Angelique’s eyes drifted to Victoria’s right hand, and her words died in her throat.
Victoria nervously squeezed her right hand closed, but she couldn’t hide the brilliant green glow.
“So that’s where you all went,” Eldrin said softly.
Victoria eyed the newly-promoted general, wondering what the elf would do. “Are you upset?”
He chewed the interior of his cheek for a moment as if considering the question. “If it were anyone else, I would kill them for this blatant act of treason.”
“But you, Victoria Brie, are different,” Angelique finished for him.
Victoria smiled. “In that case, let’s get your soldiers settled in.”
“And you back in bed,” Eldrin added with a cursory glance at her hair.
Victoria swept a hand through her tangled locks. “Yeah, that sounds amazing.”
***
Eight more hours of sleep and a hot meal later, Victoria lounged on one of the tattered couches in the sitting area the officials and politicians shared in their little cave dwelling.
“I really am glad to see you, Angelique,” she said.
The Lochrose queen leaned against the wall next to the smokeless fire, smiling as she watched Victoria. “It’s great to see you, too, even if that was a terrible welcome.”
Victoria laughed. “You interrupted the first real sleep I’d had in about a week. Sorry if I was grouchy.”
“Sirens, huh?” Angelique rubbed her head, still marveling at the tale Fyrn had shared with the assembled leaders in the war room while Victoria had slept.
To Victoria’s surprise, no one had been upset. At least that was what Fyrn had told her, although he wasn’t the best at reading emotions. Judging by the lack of death threats, though, it seemed as though the people of the Fairhaven resistance didn’t care if she had twelve Rhazdon Artifacts so long as she killed Luak.
“Worth it,” Victoria said absently as she stared at the glowing green amulet in her palm.
“What does it do?”
Victoria grinned. “Oh, so we’re sharing state secrets now?”
Angelique laughed. “Your powers are a state secret?”
“Oh, yes. Very sensitive data. Top secret, I’m afraid.”
The queen shook her head ruefully. “You’re an idiot.”
“I’m adorable.”
“So, come on… What can you do? What’s worth facing certain death at the hands of sirens?”
Victoria sighed and stretched out on the couch, draping her arms over her head. In her mind, she debated what would happen if she told Angelique the truth. This was a powerful monarch, after all, and one she didn’t know too well yet.
A vision flashed in her mind of Angelique grimacing a mere minute in the future, not quite certain Victoria was telling the truth about her powers. She would ask what would happen if they walked outside right now, and when they walked outside, her general would suggest she duel with Victoria to entertain the troops and help them burn off some nervous energy by reminding them of the sheer power on their side of the war.
Several more visions flashed in her mind of the nine times Angelique would ask for help, knowing full well that Victoria would decide whether the course of action would be prudent. Famine. Pending war. Would a charming young suitor make a good king? The requests would be few and far between, always spoken with respect, and never abused.
Safe. The word echoed in her mind.
Good enough.
“Divination. That’s all I know so far.”
“Divination?”
“I can tell what will happen, although it has limits. I have to ask outright, pose a what-if question to myself, but it seems to work rather well.”
“What happens if—”
“When we walk outside, your general will ask us to duel so we can entertain the troops and help them burn off nervous energy.”
Angelique’s jaw dropped open, and Victoria couldn’t help the cocky smirk that spread across her face.
“Gods,” the queen muttered.
Victoria stood and opened the door. “Want to test my theory?”
Without a word, Angelique stepped into the hallway and led the way outside. Every now and then she glanced nervously
at Victoria, who just chuckled silently to herself. She would have to be more careful about displaying this power, since apparently it really freaked people out.
As soon as they stepped outside, Angelique’s general ran over, huffing. “There you are, my queen! I came to ask if—”
