Dream Magic

by Michelle Mankin

  “Do you remember anything, seer?” Evercy asked in her lilting Caribbean tones.

  “Yes. Fiori healed me,” I answered with a little question in the statement.

  “She did,” Millie confirmed. “It’s amazing. But do you remember what happened afterward? Leonardo made it down the stairs first. When I got to you they were wiping something from your cheek. What was it?”

  Suddenly the blazing light subsided, replaced with cooler softer illumination. I risked opening my eyes again. Stone was looking down on me with concern in his eyes. I saw that we were in the corridor that connected the two cities again. Catonia was off to the side negotiating with a different guard. This one also quickly granted us passage.

  “I believe it’s a secret Fiori wouldn’t want me to share,” I whispered to Millie as Stone carried me into the stairwell. “Any more than she would want it known that she had been in the basement in the first place.”

  “Yes I know,” Millie sounded out of breath as she hurried to keep up with Stone and me. “She asked us all not to tell anyone. Then Leonardo made us swear not to. He’s very protective of her.” As we descended the stairs I noticed Millie’s respirations were less labored. Was it because we were going down and that was easier for her or was there some other reason? Had Donar given her something while I had been unconscious?

  “He’s protective of you, too,” she mused. “He seemed reluctant to send you back to the La Ville Sombre. But the sun was setting. All the Dark Immortals must leave before night falls. Catonia and Evercy said all the ways are closed between the two cities after that and any found breaking curfew are executed without exception.”

  “Exterminated as if we were rats,” Catonia confirmed from her spot at the head of our procession. With one hand she pushed open the door to reenter the Dark City. With the other she held the handle of a large paper bag that seemed to be filled nearly to overflowing.

  A noticeably cooler blast of air hit me as soon as Stone stepped into the La Ville Sombre. “You can put me down,” I told him as he strode through the narrow pod lined street. “I’m feeling much better.”

  When my feet touched the ground I steadied myself on Stone’s marble forearm. That’s when I noticed the ebony feather still in my hand. I swayed again even though the ground was solid beneath my feet. Millie didn’t notice. She had her face tipped up to the mist. It glistened on her eyelashes like diamonds. Stone stared at her as though mesmerized.

  I tucked the silky feather into my pocket.

  Nearly a block ahead, Catonia yelled back at us, “Hurry, seer. We have food, thanks to the satyr, but I would prefer to blend in with the others waiting for their turn at Roderick’s table. Being late means you forego your spot under the moon. Evercy and I would be alright missing one night but I think you and your sister need the restorative rays desperately.”

  She had that right. I jogged to catch up to her and Evercy. Just the thought of having moonbeams on my skin gave me a spring to my step and a burst of anticipation to my heart.

  Stone swept Millie up and carried her just as she started to fall behind. She didn’t protest. I think she was looking forward to the moon just as much as I was.

  The streets started to get wider and more crowded the closer we got to the clearing. Voices grew louder as we approached a table nearly fifty yards long piled high with food that I hadn’t noticed the day before. Roderick, Jaleal, and fifty or so of his sashed minions were the only ones seated at the moment. Everyone else was relegated to watching them feast.

  More subjugation.

  I hated that guy.

  Roderick ate slowly, his eyes glittering with pleasure at denying others. My stomach grumbled. As if he had heard it his gaze zeroed in on me. He set aside the hunk of meat he’d gnawed to the bone.

  “Seer,” he called. “Come here. I would have a word with you.”

  “Carajo,” I said under my breath, but took a step toward him. Stone with Millie’s hand in his moved with me. When I gave him a questioning side glance he explained.

  “Stone does not trust this demon,” he whispered.

  I don’t either, I thought. I was glad to have him with me, especially since the vamps seemed to have abandoned us.

  I stopped in front of the demon and lifted my chin.

  He raked his oily black gaze over me wiping his face and then crumpling the napkin he had used. His eyes lingered on my boobs. I crossed my arms over them.

  His thick lips lifted. “I heard you displeased the sparkplug today.”

  I didn’t reply. Obviously he knew what had happened. There had been plenty of witnesses. I lifted my chin higher.

  “Seems our little seer is not the hot commodity with the other side that she thought she was.” His gaze narrowed to menacing slits. “You will serve me tonight.” He crooked his finger with his black talon extended. “Come here. I’m in the mood to play while I eat. Feed me well. Then I will feed you something.” Jaleal and the others at the table snickered.

  Millie stiffened beside me. Stone moved protectively closer.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Roderick’s salacious grin faltered. His second shoved back from the table and picked up his spear. Roderick turned his head slightly. “Sit, Jaleal.”

  “But…”

  “I can handle her, I assure you.” There were more snickers as his inky gaze slid back to me. “Surely you misspoke. I don’t think you want to learn what awaits those who disobey me.”

  Once again I found myself surrounded by an audience in front of another narcissistic bully. Dark Demon or Light Progeny, Roderick and Phoebus were more alike than either would admit. So were Apollyon and Phoebus now that I thought about it.

  The thought of Phoebus gave me an idea.

  “You were misinformed.” My voice rang with confidence I didn’t feel.

  “About what sweetling?”

  “If I had displeased Phoebus, would I be here right now completely unharmed?” I threw out my arms and spun in a slow circle grateful that there wasn’t any direct sunlight on my cheek to belie me. “I am an oracle. I see things about the future. Things that interest Phoebus. Maybe things about you. Maybe that you will not be in charge of the La Ville Sombre much longer.”

  A spattering of speculative murmuring broke out in the crowd behind us.

  “Silence!” Roderick shouted banging his fist so hard on the table that his goblet fell over. He leaned forward studying me with suspicious eyes. “You lie.” His statement lacked conviction emboldening me.

  “Time will tell, won’t it?” Strength and secrets were the unspoken rules. Leonardo had spoken true. But a little misdirection that bordered on a lie didn’t hurt, either. I straightened my spine noticing Catonia and Evercy off to the side watching me with unmistakable approval in their eyes. “For tonight you will maintain your distance from me and my sister while we take our first pick of the food at the table and first place in the moonlight.”

  I paused in the doorway with toothbrush and foam in my mouth, still amazed that I had pulled off my bluff with Roderick. My eyes widened further at the intimate scene that confronted me now.

  Millie sat cross legged on her mattress. Stone knelt behind her as if she were a goddess he was worshipping. The lamplight cast a low glow over the pair. My sister’s eyes were closed, and her lips parted as Stone gently ran a brush through her wet hair. Looking beautiful and peaceful, her skin gleamed luminescent from the time she had spent under the moon.

  I knew Stone’s feelings. He had declared them to me. I didn’t know the extent of Millie’s feelings toward him, but seeing how she leaned into each stroke of his brush, I was beginning to understand. He being made of marble and she of flesh and bone, it seemed improbable that they would be together. And yet the evidence of something beautiful and caring was developing right there before my eyes.

  A poignant ache expanded inside my chest. Without alerting them to my presence, I went back into the bathroom, spit out the foam and rinsed my mouth. When I ret
urned to the main room, Stone had his arms crossed over his chest and he was pensively staring out into the night through the gap in our curtain. An elastic band between her lips, sitting on her pallet on the floor, my sister struggled to get her hair into a braid.

  “Let me help you, Millie.” She took out the band and offered me a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, making me wonder what had happened to take away the contentment I had seen in them only a moment before.

  “Thank you. My fingers aren’t cooperating with me for some reason.”

  “No worries, honey.” I sat behind her, took the brush that had been abandoned beside her knee and began separating her wet hair into three strands while humming softly. My breath caught at the startling warmth I felt when my fingers touched the ebony locks at her temple.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked turning to look at me over her shoulder.

  “Did it hurt? When Phoebus touched you?” I tugged the incongruent strands gently before I resumed braiding.

  “Yes, but not for long.”

  “Does it hurt now?” I pressed feeling my brows draw together. I hated that he had hurt her at all.

  “Not really, Cici. It just kind of itches. What about your face?”

  “It’s weird. Now that you mention it mine itches, too.” My hands were halfway through with her braid so I rubbed my cheek against my own arm for relief.

  “Yeah, weird for sure. All of this is. Everything that’s happened to us.” Her voice sounded strained. “Papá wanted so badly to shelter us from all the violence in this world yet here we are right in the thick of it.”

  And he had done just that right until the end. I wondered now if he had only delayed the inevitable.

  “I miss them both.” I finished her braid and took the elastic she handed me. “So much.” I managed swallowing back the impending tears that surfaced whenever I thought of them.

  “Me, too,” she said softly. “I’d give anything to have them back.”

  “Yeah, Papá bossing. Mamá fussing.” I tried vainly to inject levity into my tone. There was nothing we could do to bring them back, but we could keep them alive in our hearts by continuing to remember.

  “Papá would be so proud of you, Cici.” She scooted around to face me.

  “I don’t know how you figure that.” The crease in my brow deepened.

  “Because of the way you stood up to Phoebus today. And to Roderick.”

  “I just shot off my stupid mouth.” I shook my head. “It would’ve been better if I had kept it shut. Then you wouldn’t have that black in your hair, and I wouldn’t have this glow in the light brand on my face.”

  “If you had kept silent I think he would’ve decided that he could walk all over you. I bet Phoebus doesn’t have any idea what to make of you. I don’t think he’s used to having someone stand up to him.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” I pulled her pillow into my lap and hugged it to my chest. “What do you think of his daughter?”

  “I don’t know. She healed you.”

  “Yes, but why? I really don’t get it.” I got the feeling she had told me the truth about Delphi but not the whole truth. “She seems to want me to trust her. But how can I with Phoebus being her father?”

  “Cecilia,” Stone called, and I turned to look at him. “Fissure awaits outside. He desires to speak with you.”

  “Sure.” I rose and pulled down my tee shirt. “Let him in.”

  “Good evening, Seer.” Looking sheepish, Fissure shuffled inside. “I bear a gift.”

  My eyes widened when I saw what he held. A guitar. An acoustic with a light European spruce top and darker East Indian rosewood sides. The wood grain gleamed in the light. I took it and ran reverential fingers over the strings. “It’s beautiful.”

  Fissure gave me his half there smile.

  I strummed a few chords getting lost in the warm tones of the instrument. “Where did you get it?” I asked.

  “My old master gave it to me before her passing. She was a royal musician in the court. Phoebus is fond of orchestrating lavish ballroom dances to demonstrate his wealth to visiting dignitaries.” His gaze dipped to the guitar. “She owned several, but that was her favorite.”

  “I can see why,” I whispered offering it back to him. “But I can’t take it. It must be very dear to you.”

  “No. No. No.” He shook his chipped head. “I cannot play and it is a selfish gift. I hoped you might play it and I could listen. It would do my old soul much good.”

  “Oh, do, Cici.” Millie touched my arms softly. “It’s a gift that gives back. The best kind. It’s an instrument worthy of your beautiful voice. Thank you, Fissure.”

  He nodded and watched me expectantly.

  “Thanks for laying it on so thick, manipulative minx,” I whispered into Millie’s ear as Fissure took a seat. Millie plopped down beside him while I tuned the strings. My stomach quivered in anticipation of playing it.

  Millie gave me a knowing grin.

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Fissure, what would you like me to play?”

  “Do you know ‘More Beautiful than the Sea’?”

  “Si, por supuesto. My papá used to sing that one to my mamá.” Every Immortal knew the ballad of how Perseus rescued Andromeda from the sea monster.

  “Would you mind?” His grey eyes shone with excitement.

  My mother’s smiling face and my father’s adoring one drifted through my thoughts. Bittersweet memories of better times.

  “No, of course not.” My voice was thick. I swallowed through it and began.

  Ill chosen words

  Mortal kin’s pride

  Vex Nereid daughters

  At Sea Father’s side.

  Unjustly punished

  No fault of your own

  Face sea serpent’s fury

  Chained to a stone.

  Fear not I will come

  To set my love free

  For she is a beauty

  Beyond that of the sea.

  Your hair is the sunlight

  Your skin ocean’s foam

  Eyes like the depths

  Of the Sea Father’s home.

  Borne on the wing

  I descend from above

  With the strength of the gods

  To rescue my love.

  Let your arms be my harbor

  On life’s restless shores

  Cassiopeia’s daughter

  You are captive no more.

  At the last chorus I realized that Stone was accompanying me, his gravelly voice a perfect blend with mine.

  See I am here now

  To set my love free

  For you are a beauty

  Beyond that of the sea.

  At the end, Millie’s eyes misted with unshed tears and I heard clapping. Lots and lots of clapping.

  “Observe, Cecilia.” Stone peeled back the curtain.

  “Santa mierda,” I whispered. My song seemed to have gathered the entire population of the Dark City outside of our pod.

  The next morning the vamps arrived to escort Stone, Millie and me to the City of Lights. This time we didn’t even slow our pace as we moved briskly past the administration building on the way to the palace. No line awaited at the entrance. Inside the foyer the doors into the court remained closed. A set of cross bow armed palace guards appeared just as we entered. The timing didn’t seem coincidental. They must have been waiting for us.

  Faces expressionless masks, they dismissed the vamps and led the rest of us through a twisting maze of lavishly decorated halls. They stopped in front of a small library with two heavily draped windows that completely shut out the sun. Lamps lit the interior. A large cherry desk sat in the middle with two chairs facing it. Taking a seat as directed on one side of the desk, Millie and Stone did the same on the other. The wood creaked beneath the gargoyle’s weight.

  “Your instructions are to begin work,” the taller guard with several tattoos told us gesturing toward the hall with his head. “We�
�ll be directly outside the door if you need something.” In other words, we stayed put until told otherwise. Apparently the library was our daytime prison, just as the pod in the La Ville Sombre served as our nighttime one.

  I shuffled through the stacks of papers, noting that they were numbered. A glance at the bookshelves in the room revealed bins organized sequentially to match them. The forms were petitions to the former oracle, Delphi. I assumed the bins contained articles that went with the corresponding request. Some of the solicitations were so old that I had to blow dust off the paper to read them. Many were pleas to locate missing relatives. Some were prophetic inquiries. All were marked as approved with Phoebus’ flowing signature and his sun seal along the bottom.

  I glanced at the petitions and the bookshelves that lined two sides of the room. My eyes filled with frustrated tears at the sheer volume of the task that lay before us. There had to be several hundred requests at least.

  Millie moved closer. She covered my hand with hers and squeezed it. “We can do it, Cici.”

  I gave her a tight nod and we got started. It wasn’t like we had a choice. She scooted her chair beside mine. Side by side, heads together, the power flowed. Visions flashed through my head so fast I got lightheaded. Millie transcribed what I saw. Hour bled into hour. But even as hard and as long as we worked, it was disheartening to realize we only cleared one corner of the desk.

  “Millie,” I called softly. I had completely lost track of time. I found it difficult to refocus on reality.

  She set her pencil down and lifted her bowed head, tucking a long stand of platinum behind her ear. “Are you alright?”

  “Sure.” Her brows creased together in confusion. “Why do you ask?”

  “Well, we usually share the visions. But it felt different today.” I could still sense her power. It had been the key that opened the floodgates to the mystical current I followed from one vision to the next. But it seemed as though all of the answers were inside of me now. She had only written what I had told her I had seen. What happened to our telepathic connection? “Did you…” I swallowed hard over the sudden dryness in my throat. “In the transfusion, please tell me you didn’t give me too much of your life force?” Our mother had warned us about the dangers of giving too much blood. She had always stockpiled hers, cautioning us that even immortals can suffer wounds too severe to be healed.