Part 7

“A thousand years ago,” Juliette began almost immediately upon waking after just a few moments of lying prone in the carriage, “the first record of the Hero’s premature death marked the beginning of what we now understand as the inheritance of the hero mark.”

Ammie heard her friend’s calm voice echo all around her. 

The room of mirrors surrounding her would make her dizzy if she focused on them for too long. Instead, she kept her gaze fixed on the floating sprite hovering across from where she sat. 

There was no light in the room per se, but both Ammie and the sprite were illuminated like they were actors on a stage.

“Crystal,” Ammie said, ignoring Juliette’s echoing voice. “Can you tell me anything?”

The sprite didn’t have hands, but the blobs that acted like them hovered before her lips. She was so see-through she was nearly blue. Only her white lashes kept Ammie from looking straight through to the mirror on the other side. 

Let me think, the sprite said, not moving her lips. Instead, Ammie heard the words in her mind. 

Juliette continued. “Since Ammie needs to stay in a trance for as long as we need the carriage to stay invisible, I’ll tell you what we know about the succession history of heroes.” She paused, then said, “My, there’s a lot of green in here.”

“That’s all from Five,” Lis said proudly. “Normally, I don’t have a lot of it to work with, but now I want to keep taking it from him so I can make pretty green things.” 

“Uhh,” Five shifted on the seat beside Ammie, who could feel the slight movement as if from a distance. 

Get on with it, Ammie glared at the nonexistent ceiling above her as if it would make any difference what they discussed while she was incapacitated.

“Wow,” Lis marveled. “Your voice was enough to make her frown, even with her spirit channeled inside her crystal quartz.”

“What’s the green?” Juliette ignored Lis’s comment but continued on a track that still ignored the important conversation.

“Protection.”

“Protection? That’s an emotion?” Ammie could hear Juliette’s mind whirling away with the new information Lis had shared. Sometimes, Ammie wondered if Juliette cherished their friendship because they were within her grasp as subjects to research.

Ammie smiled, watching Crystal glide all around the enclosed space. 

The sprite was thinking deeply, her heavy white lashes closed, creating a divet on her forehead. To Ammie’s eyes, she could see the outline of the round little thing, but a normal human would probably only be able to see Crystal’s lashes floating around the room.

“Can you tell me the game plan?” Five leaned back into the tie-dyed seat. “I don’t see how talking about a thousand years ago will help us. I need to know how you’re prepared to walk into a place that’s gone dark for a week and come out alive.”

“First,” Juliette refocused, “it’s important to understand how we think the Hero might still be alive. What I began to say before was that the older brother, the Hero at the time, died on a battlefield. The younger one--the one who wrote the story down--stated that he had gained the hero’s mark before his brother had lost his life.”

Ammie’s own hero mark tingled beneath her sweatshirt as if remembering those it had once engraved in the past.

“The second time was much like the first. In the 17th Century, a woman was burned and it wasn’t until three days later that her little brother got the mark. So, you see, it’s inconsistent. There’s no saying the timing of these things. Could be, the first one died of grievous wounds, or that there wasn’t healing magic capable of saving him at the time. For the second, the randomness of the burning kept anyone from responding properly with a protection spell. So then, why--”

“You don’t have to convince me,” Five interrupted. 

Lis added. “Ammie thinks he’s out there. That’s good enough for me.”

“I want to hear the plan,” Five stated.

“…Okay.”

Crystal floated back to her spot in front of Ammie. As a sprite that nobody but you can see, dear, you can understand that I see and hear a great many things.

Ammie nodded, trying to focus on the wispy thing between Juliette’s booming words.

I think the trouble in Hamsen is…well, it has to be--of course, it must be…

Ammie sat at attention. “You think you know what’s there?”

Crystal opened her eyes, just two white dots at the center of her eye spots. She nodded, her hand blobs still covering her lips. 

It must be the man called Lommeil.

“Lommeil?” Ammie repeated. “Who’s that?”

Juliette’s voice rang throughout the room, causing Ammie to wince and refocus her magic to avoid any chance of slipping. Though there shouldn’t be many humans out at this time of night, all it would take would be a single glance out of a window to see the tie-dyed monstrosity. That was a risk Ammie couldn’t take.

“The town hall is our best bet. The mayor will have heard of strange things happening. A simple spell and we can find information on where in the city the trouble is taking place. That’s most likely where the Hero will be.”

“And what about attacks? Are you ready to fight for your lives?” Five interrogated.

Crystal sighed. To become your best, one must first have all of their rough edges scraped off and shaved away.

“What can you tell me about Lommeil?” Ammie shouted over her friends’ voices.

Crystal cocked her head, lashes blinking slowly. It is time for us to depart. You should not travel up this terrain in a carriage run on magic; it’ll drain too much from your excitable friend. There are no longer any humans around that would find a colorful carriage suspicious, so there is no danger in releasing the spell.

Ammie felt the sprite letting go of their connection. Her vision was going dark. The edges of the room turned to shadow. Ammie looked down to see her outline vanishing under blue light, as well. 

Then she was flying, back up into the air. Reversing the tunnel that had connected her to the crystal. 

“Wait!” Ammie futilely swung her arms, trying in vain to fight the current that drove her up, up, up.

“Crystal! Crystal Quartz! Who is he? Tell me who he is! Quickly!”

White eyelashes and two little white pupils stared up at Ammie from the dark space, reflected a thousand times in the mirrors. 

A strange human, she said, and Ammie was gone.

Opening her eyes quickly, Ammie couldn’t stop her gasp. “We need to stop. Now.”

The other three stared at her, unmoving. 

“Here. We need to stop here.” Ammie’s breathing was rough. Black spots swirled in her vision, so she clamped them shut. 

I just need a minute. They’ll be fine for a minute.

“Lis, I think it’s too rugged to keep going on with your magic fueling us,” Juliette looked out the window. Turning back to Ammie, she asked gently, “Is that what you were trying to say?”

All Ammie could do was nod, her eyes slit shut as far as they could be and still see.

Five turned to her. “Are you alright?”

“Stop the carriage, Lis. We’ll walk from here,” Juliette prodded the younger girl.

“But I feel fine,” Lis protested. “I don’t feel tired at all.”

“We don’t know what we’re walking into,” Juliette reminded the girl. “It’s best if we’re all fully fresh and recovered by the time we get there.”

As Lis closed her eyes and slowly released her magic, piece by piece so they could be prepared, Five moved the case to his other side.

Gripping it by its handle, Five took his other hand and placed it on Ammie’s head. “Are you good? Talk to me, tell me what’s going on.”

Ammie couldn’t be bothered to shove him off. But she wouldn’t let herself feel comforted by his gesture, even though his hand was warm where it rested on her black bangs.

“I just need a minute to regain myself after so long in a spell,” Ammie blinked her eyes wider and wider. The black dots were fewer now. Good.

“Brace yourselves,” Juliette stood on the ground of the carriage, now a mere shimmer. To keep from falling under the weight of the disappearing structure, Juliette walked in time with the slowed carriage. She turned to grab both the chanting Lis and their bags still lying on the seat, maintaining her walk in the narrow rectangular patch that was once the floor.

Five followed Juliette’s example. Carefully, he braced both feet on the ground, wobbling when he almost crashed into Juliette before he jump-started walking forward. He grimaced, maneuvering within the cramped space. Only the floor of the carriage was gone, so they were boxed in tight.

“It’ll be a little cramped until more of it is gone,” Ammie said, wondering why she was trying to calm the restless look on the man’s face.

“Here,” Five held his hand out, but Ammie didn’t take it. 

She still had time to walk on her own. The carriage wasn’t gone yet.

Five shook his hand in the air. “Your bag.”

Oh. 

Ammie edged the large thing forward. Eyeing his own burdensome luggage, she asked, “You sure?”

Five nodded, so Ammie heaved the bag over to him. 

“Ammie, stay on the seat until it disappears,” Juliette called from the other side of Five. “We don’t have enough room for all four of us to be in this cramped space.”

“Just a moment please,” Lis murmured drowsily. “I’m almost there.”

Ammie panicked for a brief moment. “But the thing is still moving…”

“You’ll have to jump and keep walking,” Five moved closer to her. “Or I could catch you.”

“Are you crazy?” Ammie laughed hysterically. “You can’t carry me on top of everything else!”

Five rolled his eyes. “Would you listen to yourself? And you call yourself a cat. I’ll be fine, Ammie. You’re practically weightless.”

“No, no I am not, you damn musclehead,” Ammie shouted at him. “Just because you’re a skyscraper, doesn’t mean a smaller human isn’t still heavy.”

“Just trust me,” Five laughed.

Ammie glared. Five continued laughing.

“It’s up to you,” he shrugged. 

“Soon,” Lis said. “Be ready Ammie.”

Ammie was not ready. Looking at the ground rolling by beneath them, Ammie could see twisted tree roots and rocks. Great Moon Goddess. She would break both of her ankles.

“Ammie,” Juliette called worriedly.

The seat began to disappear. Ammie felt herself sinking down into clear air. 

Panicking, she held her arms out. “Catch me. Please.”

Five swooped Ammie’s bag further up his shoulder, colliding it against the case and sending both objects ricocheting in opposite ways.

Grabbing her around the waist, Ammie stuffed her face into Five’s neck as the tie-dyed carriage disappeared. 

The magic completely gone, Five’s tight hold on her loosened, and Ammie looked up into an overly amused face. 

Wow. Ammie’s eyes widened.

He looks much better smiling than wearing his blank face.

Shaking the thought away, Ammie scrambled out of his hold. She pulled her bag from his arm, then turned her back to him. 

She needed a moment to remember where she was. 

Whatever weird thoughts she was having were out of her control. 

But they wouldn’t stop her focus from straying to the mission tonight.

She was going to save her brother.

The town would beg for his forgiveness. On their knees.

“Um, guys?” Lis said, her voice strained from the toll taken from using her magic.

Face fully composed once more, Ammie turned to her friend.

They were indeed on rugged terrain. Gnarled trees and stone paths surrounded them, and they stood on a hill overlooking a city.

A dark city. 

Flintrock, the city that housed La Ville, was completely dark.

“Do cities always look like this at night?"