A Lonely Magic (21 page)

She supposed it wouldn’t kill her.

“What do you have for me to read?” Her tone was grudging but she didn’t give a shit. She might do it but he shouldn’t expect her to be nice about it.

“Alas, we have no books.”

“What?” Fen stared at him. “You—what?”

“They are a human invention. Not one that we shared. We have other means of storing and transmitting information.”

“But how do you go to sleep?”

A corner of his mouth tugged upward. He put his hands together, mimicked resting his cheek upon them and closed his eyes. “On a soft surface, ’tis effective enough, I’ve found.”

“No,” Fen said. “No, no, and no. I am not staying inside with nothing to read. That is not going to happen.”

His half-smile spread and he gave her a small bow. “I appreciate your honesty. In that case, a bodyguard.”

It wasn’t a question.

Fen considered. “Will he teach me how to use the gliders?”

Kaio’s eyes widened before he laughed and said, “If that is your wish, it could be arranged.”

“All right, then.”

Fen smiled at him, feeling more in harmony with the world. No books. Good god. What a horrible place to live this would be. A thought struck her and she pointed upward. “Why does Caye Laje have so many books? Why don’t you bring some of them here?”

“Most of the Watchers learn to read these days and some of us enjoy it. But transporting items between Syl Var and the surface is not so easily done that luxury goods move between them.”

Luxury goods? Fen did not consider books to be such. She gave a disapproving sniff.

“I have one more condition before granting you your freedom,” Kaio said.

“What’s that?” Fen asked, suspicion darkening her tone.

“You must avoid the Val Kyr. They will be out and about, moving through the city, which is as new to them as it is to you. Both for your safety and for the success of the Great Council, you must take no chance of encountering them.”

Fen frowned. “I will if I can, but I’m not sure I’ll recognize all of them. And how am I going to know where they are in order to avoid them?”

“Ever practical. I shall give you a bug.”

A bug? What good would that do? Was she supposed to listen in on the Val Kyr all day long to figure out where they were and what they were up to?

But before she could ask him her questions, he began unbuttoning the cuffs on his left shirt sleeve. She watched, mystified, as he rolled his sleeve up an inch or two and then began shaking his arm as if he were trying to dislodge something. Finally, he flipped his hand up and closed his fingers as if he’d caught the same something.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

He stepped closer until he was right next to her. He was so much taller that she was staring at his chest, and she could feel the warmth radiating from his body. She licked her lips, her mouth dry. The buttons on his shirt were much too close to her fingers.

“Might I see your data—your Elfie?” he inquired, voice courteous and calm, just as if her heartbeat hadn’t accelerated to an unreasonably pounding rate.

“My—?” Fen licked her lips again. “Sure.” She lifted her tunic.

All the oxygen in the room had apparently disappeared out some hidden vent. There was definitely not enough left as Kaio leaned over, inspecting her lotus flower with close attention. She wanted to put her hands in his hair, to stroke it, to feel the texture of it against her sensitive skin, but instead she pressed her lips together and held back her yelp as Kaio brushed his fingertips against her hip.

His touch was heat, a sparkling fire that shot straight to every nerve in her body.

And then Fen did yelp as he stepped away from her and a burning itch, like an actual ember of flame, raced up her side and over her collarbone, across her shoulder, down her arm, and onto her hand. Sitting pretty in the v of her finger and thumb was…

“A bug?” she burst out. The tiny tattoo settled its wings and seemed to go to sleep, tucking its head under a green body with black spots.

“Connected to your data access pattern, yes. But it will be easier for you to notice on your hand,” he said as if he were apologizing. “If it wakes and stirs, the Val Kyr are near. Remove yourself, if possible. Otherwise stay cautious. If it turns red, you are far too close and in grave and imminent danger. Hide.”

“You just—you just—you just put a bug on me!” Fen stammered.

“I shall take it back once your safety is assured.” He sounded sincere.

Fen stared at him and then at her hand.

A bug.

A cute little green ladybug.

Fen was still dumbfounded as Kaio turned and crossed to the door.

“While I would have been delighted if you’d agreed to stay inside, I had slight expectation of success in that venture,” he said, voice cheerful. “So I took the liberty of requesting a bodyguard to join us here.” He opened the door.

Luke grinned at Fen.

“Luke!” Fen quit staring at the bug on her hand and hurtled across the room to him, only to skid to a halt when she reached him, suddenly shy.

He didn’t care. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet and buried his face in her neck.

She laughed. And when his lips searched for hers, she kissed him back. Not a long, deep, passionate, soul-searching kiss, but a hard, happy, “we made it” kiss.

“You’re okay,” she said, as she pulled away and pushed to be let down.

“And you escaped from the queen’s castle,” he said, widening his eyes in mock-horror as he deposited her on the ground.

Kaio was watching them but there was nothing but benevolent approval in his gaze. Fen didn’t let that bother her. Or rather, she ignored the fact that it bothered her and glowed all the brighter at Luke.

He was by far the nicer brother, anyway.

“It wasn’t hard,” she said.

“Was it not?” Luke asked. “I long for every detail.”

“Luken,” Kaio interrupted them. “You understand the rules?”

Luke clapped a hand over his heart. “I shall keep her safe with my very life.”

“Let it not come to that,” Kaio said. “Within the warm embrace of Syl Var, your task is to keep her away from the Val Kyr. Ah, and two others. She must learn to swim.”

“Indeed, yes,” Luke said. “As soon as may be.”

“And teach her to fly the gliders.”

“Truly?” Luken’s surprise looked genuine.

Fen wondered what it meant. Didn’t everyone learn how to fly? She couldn’t imagine seeing the gliders overhead and not yearning to use one—not after her first flight, anyway.

“Her wish,” Kaio said, his hands opening wide. “I must be off.”

He bowed to Fen, this time a deep, gracious sweep. And then he looked at both of them and said with a grin, “Have fun, children.”

Flying High

“It’s cold,” Fen complained, standing knee-deep in the stream Luke had chosen for her first swimming lesson. Her skin tingled where the water touched it, her feet quickly numbing against the sandy bottom.

“Had you told me that you were unable to swim on Caye Laje, I could have taught you in the shallows by the beach.” Luke made a face, adding, “That water is almost too warm to bear.”

“Don’t you have any heated pools?” Fen asked, not moving. The tree-lined stream was pretty and private, two points in its favor, but the ground sloped so much that in a few more steps the frigid water would be frosting her entire body.

Luke spread his hands. “I could use the magic to make heat. ’Tis why that Val Kyr dropped his weapon when first we met. But should I heat this stream the energy and nanomites would be quickly wasted when the water flows out of the dome.”

Fen blinked in surprise. “You heated up his gun?”

“Indeed.” Luke’s grin was wry. “I should perhaps have picked it up rather than leave it lie, but I did not envision his return.”

“Live and learn.”

“Aye.” Luke nodded and his smile turned cajoling. “But come, Fen, you must swim. This water will soon seem comfortable. The ocean outside the city is much colder.”

Fen shivered at the thought. “Brr.”

“Isn’t it invigorating? Don’t you feel energized?” Luke’s eyes were bright, his cheeks flushed.

“No,” she grumbled as something brushed against her leg. Shit, was that a fish flashing by her toes? “Are there fish in here?” Her voice squeaked.

“Of course.” Luke took her hand to tug her deeper. “They come in from the ocean and then go out again. Little ones, anyway. The bigger ones don’t fit through the locks.”

Fen set her teeth. She did not want to do this. She pulled back against his grip. “Look, I’m probably not going to be here for long. Back in Chicago, I don’t need to know how to swim. How about we skip this and play on the gliders instead?”

“’Tis for your safety,” Luke told her, his hand tightening on hers. “Water flows everywhere in Syl Var. Should you trip and stumble into a canal, would you not prefer to save yourself rather than rely on a passerby to rescue you?”

“You’re supposed to be my bodyguard while I’m here,” Fen said. “You’ll be able to pull me out.”

Luke’s resolve didn’t waver. “There are other possibilities.”

“Such as?” Fen wasn’t moving. Her knees were numb.

“Does it matter?”

“Freezing to death is kind of a problem, too, you know.”

“You won’t freeze. This water temperature is perfectly safe.”

“For human beings?” Fen was unconvinced.

“Of course. It’ll be fine once you get used to it. And you must learn to swim, Fen. Emergencies happen when they are least expected.”

Fen didn’t move. “What sort of emergencies?”

Luke grimaced. He glanced around them as if looking for listening ears. “Few discuss this,” he said with reluctance.

“Secrets?”

“No, no,” Luke said hastily. “Not a subject for polite conversation, that’s all. Never mentioned in company. Not spoken of before children. But there are six refuges for the Sia Mara. Once there were seven.”

Fen swallowed hard and glanced at the sky, still shaded the blue of twilight. It couldn’t possibly be real. “I heard about that, but Library Level One didn’t have any details.”

“Level One is, in your terms, for students, learners. Not advanced. But you may know this. In your year of 1815, the mages of the seventh refuge lost control of the geothermal energies that sustained their city, precipitating a volcanic eruption at Mount Tambora. We believe that water breached their dome.”

“Believe?”

“None survived to tell the tale.”

Fen gave an involuntary shiver and not from the cold. She understood why the Sia Marans didn’t talk about it. The thought made her feel claustrophobic, oppressed by the weight of the water above them. “What good did knowing how to swim do them, then?”

“Some should have lived. Reaching the surface was not impossible.”

“Why didn’t they?”

“The Sia Mara do not act in haste,” Luke said. “Wai Pa would have responded slowly. Buildings would have been damaged, people trapped. By the time they realized the gravity of the situation, that it was survival of the fittest and they must abandon those unable to escape, it must have been too late. For all of them.”

What a bleak thought. Fen let her hand drop into the water, feeling the chill tingle her fingers. Her feet and legs were adjusting to the cold, no longer protesting.

“The like will not be true for you,” Luke said, his tone determined. “Should our dome fail—an event which my kin and half the powers of the city work daily to prevent—you will survive. If you know how to swim.”

Fen sighed. Closing her eyes, she took the few steps out into the deeper water, shuddering as the cold water passed her waist, and let Luke teach her the basics of floating.

By the time Luke was satisfied that Fen could hold her breath and wouldn’t panic if she went under and she’d taken her first tentative strokes, kicking her feet off the ground to float, she barely noticed the cold.

As she walked onto shore, twisting the water out of her hair, she said, “That was great.” She felt wonderful, as if the residue of the stress, fear and uncertainty of her past few days had washed away like psychic dirt.

Luke grinned at her. “We shall have you swimming like a fish in no time.”

Fen rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure about that, but it had been fun once she’d gotten used to it. The thought reminded her of the gliders and she glanced skyward. She wanted her flying lesson, but first she wanted food. “I’m starving,” she said, grabbing one of the towels they’d left on the ground and beginning to dry off. “Can we get something to eat at the Water Causeway?”

Luke cocked his head to one side. “Where?”

“The Water Causeway. I passed a booth there with a grill. I don’t know what they were cooking but it smelled amazing, sort of spicy and sweet.”

“Honey rolls,” Luke said immediately. “Yes, that would make a pleasant evening meal. But why do you call it that?”

“Call it what?” Fen asked.

“The Water Causeway,” Luke said. “That’s not its name.”

“Well, what is it called then?” Fen paused in her drying.

“The Water Causeway.”

Fen frowned, bending down and picking up the clothes she’d left on the ground. “What are you talking about? That’s the same thing.”