Lives of Kings (10 page)

“So,” Kian reasoned, “they could be old men?”

“Or children,” Magician said.

“And your people?” Kian asked.

“We'll have to find them,” Magician said. “Not to worry, I can find magic. We are all connected.”

Kian laughed hoarsely. “They will not be angry at you for failing to fulfil the ritual? You left them to die.”

Magician's eyes flashed with anger. “My fate has been worse than theirs. Time moves differently in this world, but I have no doubt they have fared well. And I know they will forgive me when they see the wonderful gift I have brought them.”

“And what's that?” Kian asked.

“You.”

“W
hat
did he say?” I asked Garrison for the hundredth time. “Exactly?”

He sighed and buried his face in a magazine. We sat in an airport in Singapore, waiting for a connecting flight to London.

Kian had tracked us down after seeing us on the news. Garrison said he hadn't been angry when he called — just worried. Kian, it turned out, hadn't gone that far. I don't know where he was, but he was waiting for us to arrive in Ireland. Unfortunately, getting off a tiny island after a natural disaster shuts down all air traffic is difficult.

The witch doctor's sleeping draught had side effects, and I found myself dreaming of the past more vividly than ever. We were at a loss for magic after using it on the tsunami, but at least now we knew who the magicians really were. It felt better to call them by their real name: Godelan.

I still couldn't find any information about their tribe; it seemed to be as lost as ours, but I had seen them pledge themselves to our king. It had to mean something.

Since they now knew where we were, we abandoned all care with magic. Getting off the island was still difficult, though, and we tried to avoid being seen together as much as possible, travelling in pairs as siblings.

Two days after the earthquake, Seth and Moira were on a plane to Sydney, Australia. It made me uneasy. The witch doctor's words about Moira spun in my head, and I watched her while still on the island, waiting for something to happen. She remained her normal self, though — quiet and reserved.

Garrison and I followed the next day on a flight to Melbourne. From there we flew to Singapore to meet the others. Then we would fly to London and then together to Ireland.

I was growing to hate airports. Airports, airplanes, and everything that had to do with travelling, including eating the terrible food that you can only find in airports. After two straight days of stressing about what to do when we saw Kian again, as well as what Seth was up to, Garrison had had just about enough of me.

I was nervous in a very human way. Modern Gwen felt anxiety. Seth and I had never discussed what happened between us when we saved the island, and Kian had disappeared after kidnapping me. Then rescuing me. Then leaving me while I was basically comatose.

Sometimes I'd be angry, other times I worried about him. I began to bite my nails and nearly fought with Garrison when he knocked my hand out of my mouth for the tenth time on the flight to Australia. The stewardess told us to shush.

“Come on.” I shook Garrison's shoulder. “Tell me again.”

He sighed. “Fine. Again, he said that free from the magicians, I mean the Godelan — whatever — he realized the key to defeating them was in their past.”

“But what does that
mean
?”

We had gone through this routine a dozen times. Back in the hotel, hypotheses had flown around until Garrison had ventured that maybe it was just a trick and the Godelan had Kian captive again. I wouldn't even entertain that thought. I was certain the answer had something to do with the fact that they had come to see the king. He
was
their king, once. That was all I knew.

Obviously, disobeying that king wasn't a problem, since a full-on war broke out shortly after the scene I witnessed in my memories.

Passengers walked quickly by us. Everyone was rushing. I couldn't tell if they were coming or going. Sitting was difficult; the Godelan must be doing something right now. Kian was doing something right now. Life was happening, and I was just sitting here.

Garrison slapped my hand. I hadn't even noticed I was biting my nails again.

“Stop that!”

“No,” he said simply. “You've been a tightly wound ball of nerves ever since we left our tropical paradise. Tell me why.”

I feigned deep thought for a second. “Maybe it has something to do with battling a giant tsunami?” I said sarcastically.

Garrison gave me a look. “Or could it be because you're nervous about seeing the person who brought you into all of this and then left you?”

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water. Somewhere, a woman announced that a flight to Seoul was boarding. I turned to the monitors to distract myself.

The news showed images of Australia. The south was practically on fire from all the bushfires during a drought, while much of the north was flooded. Another screen mentioned the earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific.

“Don't worry.” Garrison tapped my knee. “There are worse things.”

Garrison had been very young, only seven, when he got his memories back. For the last ten years he hadn't had Kian to show him the way — and meeting Seth was a chance encounter.

Kian had said the magic would arise for each of us at different times, though he certainly did his part in helping me along. He found me first because I had used magic during an earthquake in San Francisco, before I even knew what I was capable of. I might have been more powerful, but Garrison had been the first, and he had been living with painful memories for a decade.

In our past, he was a true warrior. It was all he had ever known. Seth told me once that Garrison remembered having a family that was killed during all the fighting between tribes, but the memories we had gotten back in England focused only on our last days. I hadn't even thought about the fact that reliving his entire past life from the sleeping potion might not have been a happy experience.

“Did more memories make things worse?” I felt guilty for not asking before.

“No,” Garrison replied simply. “The life I lived wasn't awesome before, you know that. But seeing the whole picture and piecing some things together is helpful. I got some good to go with the bad.”

Another few hours passed before we saw that Seth and Moira's flight had arrived. Moving through the airport like well-travelled experts, we found the arrival gate. I almost laughed when I saw their faces. I had never seen a better illustration of the word “surly.”

Seth came to envelop both Garrison and me in a hug. We got one arm each. Moira's smile was strained.

“How long before our next flight?” she asked. She rarely offered any small talk.

“Four hours,” Garrison replied. “Why?”

“Let's get to our gate,” she said simply, leading the way.

Garrison followed her, though he managed to throw a confused look back toward Seth and me.

Seth sighed. “I'm hungry.”

He headed directly for the first shop.

“So your flight was fun?” I asked mockingly.

“She's been like that since we left,” he said. It only took him an instant to pick out some snacks, and we got in line behind an elderly couple. “I don't remember her being so … cocky.”

“Cocky?” I asked.

“She's using magic on everyone and everything,” Seth explained. “It's unnecessary.”

“Well, do something about it,” I suggested.

“Why me?”

I shrugged. “She was your wife,” I tried.

Seth gave me a look to suggest my argument was ridiculous. “Yeah, I don't think that matters very much anymore.”

The couple in front of us turned slightly at his words. I guessed they spoke English and were confused by our conversation.

The cashier was taking forever to explain to a man why he couldn't use his own country's currency. I was too familiar with this situation. Too accustomed to how airports work. It seemed like a lifetime ago that I was excited and terrified to take my first trip with Kian.

“You know,” I mused, “you and Moira could pass for brother and sister.”

“Remember those two women we saw?” Seth asked. “One of them was my mother, and I think her sister was Moira's.”

“Really?”

“Pretty sure.”

“But,” I put the pieces together, “that would make you and Moira first cousins.”

Now the couple in front of us really did turn around to give us an even more disapproving look. Luckily, it was their turn just then. They paid for their magazines and left, eyeing us the whole way.

Seth and I laughed as we stepped up to the cashier. These moments where we got to enjoy our special circumstances and have fun like regular teenagers were rare. I stared at his smiling face as he paid. He happened to turn while I was still looking.

“Gwen?”

To keep him from seeing the blush spreading over my face, I turned and led the way back into the terminal.

Was it my past life enjoying his company so much, or were my feelings for him actually growing? It was a tough call. I used the silence while he ate to try to figure it out, but I couldn't find any trace of the old memories, just the new sight of Seth smiling. It made my heart beat a little faster.
Huh.

“So you married your cousin?” I said aloud as we strolled back to Garrison and Moira.

Seth looked at me knowingly. “I think we both know it wasn't by choice.”

“But why would your father want you to marry into your own family?” I asked.

Seth brought his hand to his chin in a mock pondering gesture. “Maybe to keep magic in the family?” he guessed with a smirk.

“Then why didn't you marry me?” The question caught him off guard.

Seth stopped, staring straight ahead for several moments, until I was beginning to wonder if I should remind him I was still there. While we had our memories back, some of the finer details of choices in our past were lost to time. We might never know.

“I'm not sure why I didn't marry you,” Seth said finally. Unexpectedly, he took my hands in his. “But I'm sure I would have. Maybe it was tradition, or some kind of exchange. It doesn't matter. I know that it's you I always wanted to be with. You bring out the magic in me. You were my first memory.”

“And you were mine,” I found myself saying. Who was that girl swooning in the middle of the airport? Was that me? Falling for what my past life had wanted the whole time? I checked myself, casually trying to pull my hands out of his grasp.

The fact that I was doing exactly what the past me wanted made me nervous and suspicious.
Or
, the sensible side said in my head,
maybe Kian left you and you're actually going for someone you know you can trust and love.
Right. Or that.

Either way, I was beginning to see why Moira had been so angry in her past and why those emotions had carried over. Seth could speak with such certainty that his wife would no doubt mind. Seeing us together now would have brought up those feelings all over again. Renewed guilt started to bubble up inside me. Even if Seth didn't feel it, I still did.

We got back to the gate to find Garrison sitting alone, long legs stretched out in front of him, arms crossed across his chest and his head thrown back. I was always amazed at how he could sleep anywhere.

Seth sat down next to him and slapped him across the face with a chocolate bar. He woke up with a start.

“Why did you do that?”

“Because lunch,” Seth said, holding up the snack. “Peace offering?”

Garrison took it as I looked around.

“Where's Moira?” I asked.

“Restroom.”

I made my way over to the restroom. It was surprisingly deserted. The long row of grey stalls was empty, and Moira stood illuminated by the harsh white lights in front of the mirrors. Her long, dark hair was now a bright blond. It looked awful with her dark features.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“We'll be harder to find if we're disguised,” Moira said. “Here, look.”

She grabbed my arm in a grip that was a little too rough to be friendly and pulled me over to the mirror. My hair slowly turned black, as if ink were being poured onto it from the crown of my head.

I stepped back. Perhaps it was seeing someone else work magic on me that made me so nervous, or doing it in public, but either way, Moira had completely lost her sense of discretion.

“Change it back,” I said.

“Fine.” Her tone implied I was overreacting. “But look.”

She picked up the ends of my hair. The hair that met her fist was black, but on the other side the ends were my normal ashy blond.

“It's just an illusion,” she said. “You think it's black. I can't actually make it black. Only you can actually change things.” There was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

As colour drifted up my hair from her fist and turned it back to normal, I couldn't help but stare at Moira in wonder. The girl who was so scared in England now seemed gone. Maybe she'd had reason to be scared. I wasn't a big fan of this new reckless Moira.

Her own hair flowed back to its normal colour just as a woman walked in, towing her luggage. She stopped in shock when she saw the change happening.

I turned, opening my mouth to explain, but I wasn't fast enough. The woman turned and tried to backtrack out of the restroom faster than I could say anything.

“Wait!” I yelled, panic creeping up my spine.

It wouldn't take long for airport security to find us, and we had nowhere to go. She was almost at the door when Moira reached out to her and she crumpled like the life had been drained from her, much like the colour in my hair.

“What did you do?” I turned to Moira. I was trying to keep my voice low. At least the arrogance was gone from Moira's eyes. She didn't seem to have known she possessed the power to do that. She ran to the woman, turning her over carefully.

“I don't know,” she said. There was a tremor in her voice. She was scared. “I just wanted her to stop.”

The woman was middle-aged, and in her smart suit she looked like a business traveller. Her compact, efficient suitcase supported my theory.

“Wake her up,” I told Moira sternly, though I already knew what her response would be.

“I don't know how,” Moira said, tears coming to her eyes.

“What were you thinking?”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized I sounded like Kian. I knew I wasn't being constructive.