Protagonist Bound (47 page)

Sitting there, the memory of his intense, cognac-colored eyes—studying me through the bars of his transport as he inhaled what I assumed must’ve been my magic scent—gave me the shivers. As such, I began to take Emma’s warning more seriously.

My godmother went on to tell us that a person’s magic scent was considerably weaker when the holder was unaware of the power they possessed or how to use it. So a hunter would, in fact, have to be fairly close in range to pick it up. On the contrary, when a magic carrier did become aware of their abilities and how to use them, their scent would be amplified tenfold.

In other words, once I discovered my power and began using it intentionally, my magic scent might as well have been a red flare because magic hunters everywhere would subsequently be able to sense me from a great distance.

Based on this understanding, while I was still itching to know the nature of my mystery magical ability, I finally agreed not to pursue the issue for now. I definitely didn’t want to worsen my already unfavorable fate by painting a large target on my back. Magic may not have been able to be destroyed, but I sure as heck could, and sure as heck would if one of those hunters ever got a hold of me.

Furthermore, if it wasn’t necessary to know what my power was in order to operate my wand, I supposed it didn’t matter for the time being anyways.

I placed my wand back within my satchel, putting a close on the subject.

Emma got up from her chair and picked up the tray of used cups and nibbled snacks from the coffee table. She carried it back to the kitchen while the others and I got up from the couch and followed her there.

Without being asked we began to help her clean up. Blue started washing dishes as Daniel and Jason dried. SJ opened one of the windows and sang a short melody to call for more assistance. A few moments later, three robins flew inside and aided her and I with putting away the adorable china.

Our conversation having been so stuffed with information, I’d nearly forgotten why we’d come there in the first place. This didn’t matter though, because Emma, somehow, already knew that too. When the last cup was in the cupboard and the final bird had flown away, my godmother put her hands on her hips and readdressed us.

“So isn’t someone going to ask me how to break the In and Out Spell around the Indexlands so you can go and visit the Author?”

We all looked at one another.

“How’d you know?” Daniel asked.

“Because I know Crisanta,” Emma said, winking at me. “So I knew this visit was only a matter of time.”

She walked over to the counter and found a loose scrap of paper and a quill and began to write. “Now in good conscious, I must say that for your own safety I truly do not recommend you take this journey. That being said,” she continued, “if you really insist on going, know that the only way to get past the In and Out Spell around the Indexlands is to use a potion made from three special ingredients.

“You see, my dears, the In and Out Spell is a shifting enchantment, which means that the ingredients required to break it change every few years. Although—as with all shifting enchantments—the theme for these ingredients remains the same. In this case that would be:
‘Something Strong, Something Pure, and Something One of a Kind.’

“Now, normally there would be no way of knowing what specific three objects the spell would accept to fill this theme’s requirements on a given year. But luckily, my friends who remain at the agency still keep me in the loop so I am up-to-date on such important matters. Be warned though. There is, of course, a reason that these particular items were chosen. So believe me when I tell you that attempting to acquire them will be extremely dangerous and nearly, if not utterly, impossible. I am not even sure how to go about gathering them myself. But . . . here they are nevertheless.”

She held up the paper she’d written. Blue accepted it and read the contents aloud:

“A Quill with the Might of Twenty-Six Swords,

The Heart of the Lost Princess,

And a Mysterious Flower Beneath the Valley of Strife.”

My friend grimaced as she folded up the tall order list and stuck it in her pocket. A gust of wind came through the window at that moment and blew several of the chimes around like a well-timed signal for us to depart.

“Well, at least we know where we’re going next,” Daniel said as he wrung his hands together with uncharacteristic apprehension.

“Where?” Jason asked.

SJ and I looked at each other.

“Century City,” we replied in unison.

An Hour in Century City

etting into our realm’s capital was easy enough. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until later on that we realized getting out would be the tricky part.

We’d said our goodbyes and thank yous to Emma and flown straight to Century City, the beautiful metropolis that was our realm’s capital. I myself had only ever been there a couple of times on official royal goodwill tours with the rest of my family. But seeing it from the sky as we approached was an entirely new experience.

Unlike most kingdoms, which were populated by quaint cottages and traditional architecture, Century City was a majesty of incredibly mighty, glistening skyscrapers. Their compilation was a geometry teacher’s dreamland. Tall tetrahedral compounds sat around the city’s outer limits like enormous spikes. Apartment complexes in odd, almost fluid shapes twisted into the air like giant, metallic pieces of seaweed. Huge high rises with translucent dodecahedral offices interspersed within them like bubbles were everywhere in sight. And shooting up like contradicting reminders of the past amongst all this modernism were fairytale-esque, cylindrical towers that came to a swirl at their tops like freshly whipped cream.

Equally varied were the shades the buildings came in. Powder blue, bright yellow, lime green, pink, even orange creamsicle could be found decorating the city’s rich, rainbow-colored skyline. In addition, these colors were made even more surreal by the metallic structures in their midst that reflected their pigmentations in the striking rays of sunshine.

When nearing our arrival of the utopia, we agreed to park the Pegasi and carriage outside the city so as not to call any unnecessary attention to ourselves.

In terms of species, Pegasi were not all that common. Typically they were only used for Twenty-Three Skidd tournaments and their players, royalty, and important diplomats. So, five teenagers with five Pegasi flying into midtown during rush hour would have been a bit more conspicuous an entrance than what we were going for.

Having landed within the concealment of a small forest just outside of the city, a few dozen downhill slopes, alleyway shortcuts, and cobblestone pathways later and our group was making its way through the streets of the capital—navigating northward toward the city center.

It was pretty easy to find our way; all the streets of the capital were designed to rotate traffic in a counterclockwise direction that matched the circular shape of the metropolis’s overall layout.

Even so, the physical trek was nothing if not slow-moving.

Every part of town we journeyed through was packed. Horses and the elaborate, colorful carriages they pulled flowed in a constant stream down the roads. And on the sidewalks, people of every ethnicity in equally bright garments hustled and bustled along with their daily business.

I almost got whiplash as I fluctuated between looking at them, straining my neck to see where the buildings touched the sky, and snapping my focus back to the tantalizing smells of food coming from everywhere around us.

Shops, restaurants, and salons of all fashions lined the walkways. My stomach growled as I smelled freshly baked bread wafting from the quaint cafes in the area and the distinct aroma of hard meats coming from the fancier steak houses interspersed amongst them.

On more than one occasion I considered suggesting that we stop for a quick snack, but thought better of it each time. The traffic was growing increasingly heavy, so we would have to keep going if we wanted to reach our goal in time.

As we continued our migration to the city center, it occurred to me that while the slog was arduous and winding, at least one thing we didn’t have to worry about along the way was being spotted.

I assumed Lady Agnue’s had dispatched notification to our parents that we were missing by now. But if she’d only sent word this morning, our realm’s normal postal service would take at least three days to deliver the news.

Even if she’d employed the use of bird messengers like some of the other princesses at school did when writing home, it would take a day and a half at minimum. Ergo, for the time being our AWOL exploits remained off the radar of anyone official who might have caught us otherwise.

Add to that, none of the commons in the city would’ve ever guessed who we were either because young, future protagonists were almost always at one of the academies or in their home kingdoms. We weren’t really allowed to go anywhere else until we graduated. So, unless someone here knew to be specifically looking for us, we were as safe in these crowds as we were undetectable.

At that point we finally began to close in on our destination: the Capitol Building. The prestigious site had been well-concealed by the skyscrapers thus far, but now that we were much nearer I was beginning to see the mighty structure’s cupola peaking out over the rooftops of some of the smaller-sized buildings.

One look at its grandeur was enough to substantiate the reasoning for holding the Century City Summit here every six months. And today, as it happened, was the date of one of those Summits.

The ambassadors from all twenty-six kingdoms (not including Alderon, of course) would be present at the Capitol Building for their bi-annual meeting this afternoon. These ambassadors were second in power and command only to the kings and queens of their individual kingdoms. As such, they were the sole dignitaries chosen to attend this event since the royal families’ foremost responsibilities pertained to looking after their lands.

My friends, Daniel, and I had been thankful that it had only taken a few hours to fly here from Emma’s cottage in Ravelli. Although, given the way traffic was delaying us, we hoped that there were plenty of issues for the ambassadors to discuss this time around, which would postpone the signing of the Summit’s treaty at the event’s conclusion.

You see, we were after the quill that all twenty-six ambassadors would be using to sign their treaty. That’s right. “
A Quill with the Might of Twenty-Six Swords
.”

Figuring out the first ingredient for Emma’s In and Out Spell breaking potion had been easy. But—past the ticking clock deadline already working against us as we tried to get there in time—we knew getting to it would be anything but simple.

For starters, a bunch of kids trying to sneak into the Capitol Building on one of its highest security days of the year was super risky. Century City may not have had a palace or a royal family to protect, but the guards and soldiers who resided here took their jobs beyond seriously. Like, make a wrong move or even look suspicious and you could be thrown in the public stockades for a week, seriously. That is, assuming the guards didn’t just crossbow you down in the street first, which they’d apparently been known to do when pursuing high threat, volatile suspects.

To sum up, these guys meant business.

Even animals were no exception to their strict persecution of the unruly. Last time my family and I had been here, a wild griffin from the neighboring forest had flown in and landed on one of the stalls in the city’s outdoor marketplace. Less than seven seconds had passed between when its tail hit the awning and six guards shot it down. My mother had failed to cover my eyes in time as I peered out of our carriage. And, as a result, twelve-year-old me had been left with a very real, very visceral image of exactly what these guards were capable of.

In addition to the danger posed by its security, the Capitol Building was also the only place in the city where we could actually be recognized. Well, where SJ and I could be recognized anyways. The two of us knew the ambassadors from our kingdoms well and saw them frequently at our palaces when we were home from school. Thus, however remote a possibility it was, there was still a chance they could see us.