Off to Be the Wizard - 2 - Spell or High Water (29 page)

32.

Everybody saw them flying down to the ring of grand buildings that surrounded the central park of Atlantis and served as the sorceresses’ seat of power. The sorceresses seldom flew anywhere, deeming it far too ostentatious, so the sight of Martin and Gwen streaking purposefully across the vast empty bowl of the city’s skyline would have gotten a great deal of attention even if Martin hadn’t been carrying Ampyx, who was shouting with glee at the top of his lungs.

They slowed, gliding through the entrance doors and finally landing in the grand space where the summit meetings were held. The tables and chairs had all been replaced, but without Brit the Elder there to assist with the cleanup, the two statues that had fallen were still represented by the shattered stumps and empty plinths where they had stood. If you knew where to look, and Martin did, you could still see the streaks where Phillip’s shoes had slid across the smooth white floor.

“Hard to believe it only happened a couple of hours ago,” Gwen said.

Martin looked at the blank patch of wall that had swallowed Brit and Phillip. “Yeah. Wherever they are, I hope they’re all right.” He turned to Gwen. “So, you say Ida has an office in this building?”

“Yes, there are offices for all three members of the council. Brit the Younger never uses hers.”

“Why not?”

“It has an adjoining door with Brit the Elder’s office, and the Elder doesn’t see a reason to knock, since they’re the same
person
.”

“Wow,” Martin said. “I’m surprised the Younger didn’t try to kill the Elder before now.”

“We used to joke about that. Even if the Younger did try to kill the Elder, the Elder would remember making the attempt and avoid it.”

Martin said, “You could go crazy thinking about this.”

Gwen glanced ruefully at the empty base of a broken statue and said, “Maybe someone did.” She shuddered. “Come on. The offices are this way.” She and Martin took several steps before they realized that Ampyx was not following them.

Martin asked, “You coming?”

“Should I?” Ampyx asked.

“Sure. Why wouldn’t you? I mean, you locals like the Brits, right? If I’m right you don’t want to be ruled over by someone who seized power this way, and besides, as president, she’s your elected leader. I figure there should be a representative of her non-magical voters.”

Ampyx looked confused. Gwen cleared her throat, and mumbled something that Martin couldn’t make out.

“I’m sorry. What was that?” he asked.

Gwen repeated, only slightly louder, “Um, non-sorceresses don’t get a vote.”

“What? That’s most of the city! A huge majority, and you’re telling me that they don’t get a say in who’s president?”

“Well, the council of three only really rules the sorceresses.”

“Then who runs the city?”

“The sorceresses.”

Martin gestured toward Ampyx, using him as a stand-in for all non-magical Atlanteans. “So they don’t get to pick their
leaders
, or the leader of their leaders?!”

Gwen said, “I told you, there are things about this city I’m not proud of. I’ve only been here two years. Brit says that they’ll get the right to vote eventually, she just hasn’t told us when.”

“Well I’m sure Ampyx and his friends find that very reassuring, don’t you, Ampyx?” Martin turned to the Ampyx, looking for support.

Ampyx said, “Sure. I mean, I guess. It depends. Wha
t’s a vote?”

With that argument ended in a three-way tie for loser, they made their way to a side exit, through a labyrinth of beautifully decorated hallways, and eventually to a door marked
Ida Cooke: President.

Martin said, “Let me do the talking.”

Gwen replied, “She knows me, Martin. She’ll be much more comfortable if I ask the questions.”

Martin said, “Which is exactly why I’ll do the talking. Trust me, I know how to handle this. I’ve been interrogated by
the best.”

Gwen knew that Martin had once been captured by
federal
agents. She didn’t know that when he referred to being
interrogated
by the best, he was talking about his mother.

Martin looked at the closed door and asked, “Does she have a secretary or anything?”

“No. We like to keep things informal.”

Martin knocked on the door, three forceful blows, then waited. After a moment, the door opened. Martin was
grateful
that Ida herself answered the door, not her violence-prone
bodyguard
Nilo. She looked tired and concerned, but not overtly so, as if something awful and upsetting had happened, but not to her, which was the case.

Ida smiled and said, “Oh, Gwen and . . . Martin, isn’t it? Hello. I don’t believe I’ve met your servant.”

Martin stared at her silently, radiating anger.

Ida narrowed her eyes and asked Martin, “How can I h
elp you?”

Martin continued staring directly into her eyes. Gwen and Ampyx fidgeted uncomfortably.

All friendliness drained from Ida’s demeanor. She glared at Martin, and spat her words. “Do you have something you want to say, Martin?”

Gwen started to speak in a conciliatory tone, but Martin raised one finger and glared over his shoulder at her. He turned his attention back to Ida with one raised eyebrow and a grim smile on his lips.

Ida’s shoulders slumped inward slightly and she seemed to age ten years in a single second. She sighed and said, “Come in. I’ll try to explain.”

As he entered, Martin looked at Ida with cold contempt. Gwen and Ampyx tried not to look amazed.

Ida closed the door behind them. Her office was, like almost every other room Martin had seen in Atlantis, beautiful and serene, made up of clean lines and uncluttered white, polished surfaces. The room was dominated by a large desk that looked exactly like the desk of the President of the United States, only smaller, and made of milky-white glass. Ida walked around the perimeter of the room and sat behind her desk. There were chairs and a couch, but Martin chose to remain standing. Gwen and Ampyx followed his lead.

Martin sneered at Ida, and asked, “Why?”

Ida slumped in defeat. “He wanted it so badly.”

Gwen asked, “Who? Who wanted what?”

Ida, furrowed her brow, looking at Gwen. Then she looked back to Martin and asked, “You didn’t tell her?”

Martin smiled.

Shock registered on Ida’s face as she said, “You didn’t know?” Her eyes darted across the faces of her three visitors, then she said, “Nothing! I’ll say nothing further. Get out of my office.”

Martin turned to Gwen and Ampyx, and said, “Nilo. Nilo wanted powers.”

Her brief hopes dashed, Ida looked even more defeated.

Gwen was stunned. “Ida, why did you do it?”

“It started innocently, Gwen. I love him, and I couldn’t bear the idea of him getting old and dying, not if I could prevent it.”

Ampyx said, “You can prevent that?”

Gwen turned to him and said, “We’ve been through that.”

Ida smiled at Gwen, pointed to Ampyx, and said, “Oh, you and him?”

Martin said, “We’ve been through that too.”

Ida shrugged, and continued. “So, I fixed that for him, then I told him what I’d done, you know, as a gift for him.”

“That’s some gift,” Martin said.

“I know, right?” She turned back to Gwen, “But you know how men are. They always want more. Anything he saw one of us do, he wanted to do it too. I set him up with kind of a simplified, baby set of powers. I made him impervious to physical damage. He can teleport within Atlantis city limits.”

“Of course,” Martin said. “That’s how he got up to where I was so fast. You know, when we were chasing the arrow guy.”

Gwen shook her head. “No, he sprinted up the stairs. I saw him do it.”

Ida got a dreamy look in her eye. “Yes. He just doesn’t get tired. He can go like that for hours.”

“Thanks to you, I suppose.” Gwen said.

Ida smiled. “No. That’s all him. He’s always been able to do . . . that.”

Gwen and Martin rolled their eyes. Ampyx smirked, and nodded approvingly.

Gwen was at a loss. “Ida, I can understand wanting to keep him alive, and giving him a few small powers was wrong, but understandable, I guess. Why would you ever give him the power to blow things up and enchant arrows?”

Ida shook her head. “I didn’t!”

Gwen looked relieved. Martin looked concerned.

Ida continued. “Not really. Not at first.”

Gwen looked concerned. Martin looked relieved.

Ida waved her hand dismissively. “I made him the arrows, and some little lumps of clear putty that explode with the force of a pound of C-4, but the damage is contained and shaped into a wedge so he could direct where the statues would fall, like a lumberjack chopping down a tree. I set it up so he could trigger them, though. Makes him feel powerful.”

“So you helped him?” Gwen asked.

“Well, yeah. Gwen, he was just so cute. He was making all these plans, and figuring out how to best use the arrows
and th
e explosives.” Ida smiled at the memory of it. “He thought of the thing with the submersible himself. Of course, he thought they’d just drown. He didn’t know about the water pressure, but still. It was sweet. He just wanted me to be in charge. And it was nice to see him getting so excited about a project of
his own.”

Gwen shouted, “His project was murdering Brit!”

“Which isn’t possible, Gwen. I mean, obviously, if Brit the Younger dies, then Brit the Elder never existed, and the whole city would disappear, which it hasn’t, so clearly she’s still alive, somewhere.”

“Then where is she, Ida? Either of her, or Phillip, for that matter?”

Ida, smile faded slightly. She said, “Oh, I’m sure they’re all right.”

“Where are they?”

Ida laughed at how silly Gwen was being.

Gwen did not laugh. “Where, Ida?”

Ida’s laugh died, horribly. She shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”

Martin asked, “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I gave Nilo the ability to make his own portals. Setting up the arrows was such a pain. He was very particular about getting the angles just right so that the arrows would hit Brit exactly where he wanted them to. It turned into such a hassle. I just gave him portals and told him to go nuts.” Ida paused for a moment, the said, “That sounded really terrible, didn’t it?”

Gwen, Martin, and Ampyx all agreed that it did.

Ida held up her hands and whined, “She’s fine! Lighten up, okay? She’s clearly fine! We wouldn’t still be here talking if she weren’t!”

Martin asked, “What about Phillip?”

Ida replied, “What?”

“What about Phillip?” Martin shouted. “Wherever your
boyfriend
sent Brit the Younger, Phillip went there with her, and while the city still being here might,
might
prove that she didn’t die, which is a very different thing than being fine, by the way, it doesn’t prove anything as far as Phillip’s safety is concerned.”

Ida said, “Huh. I hadn’t thought of that. Well, that’s a shame, but, really, it is Phillip’s own fault. I mean, if he hadn’t gotten involved in the first place . . .”

“By trying to save Brit’s life?” Martin interrupted.

Ida said, “Yeah. That sounded really terrible again, didn’t it?”

Again, Gwen, Martin, and Ampyx agreed.

“So, you don’t know where Nilo sent them?” Gwen asked, clearly out of patience.

“No”

“Then we’ll have to ask Nilo. I don’t suppose you know where he is.”

“Yeah,” Ida said. “He’s in there.” She pointed to a small door behind her desk.

Martin and Gwen looked at the door, then at each other, then at Ida. Gwen asked, “Has he been listening this whole time?”

Ida laughed. “No, he’s asleep. After the meeting he dragged me straight back here to celebrate. After that, he fell asleep, and he’s been out ever since. Anyway, even if he was awake he wouldn’t have heard us. When I moved a bed in there I also made the room soundproof.” Ida arched her eyebrows and stuck her tongue out mischievously.

Martin feared that Ampyx would have a sore neck later from all these approving nods.

Ida quickly saw that neither Martin nor Gwen was sharing her delight at how naughty she was being. Her expression darkened. “I suppose you want me to go get him.”

Gwen said, “Yes.”

Ida got up from her seat and opened the small door behind her desk. In a kittenish voice that, under these circumstances, sickened Martin, Ida said, “Honey? You awake?” In the distance, they heard a faint but very deep groan. Ida turned, gave Gwen a look that clearly meant
I’ll be back in a minute,
then went into the room, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her.

They couldn’t make out words, but the heard Ida mutter something in her softest, sweetest tone. They heard another deep groan, followed by a mumble and a laugh.

Gwen said, “I can’t believe this. How could she be so stupid?”

Martin shrugged and said, “Love does that to people.”

Gwen said, “Shut up.”

Martin said, “No, Gwen, I’m sorry. I wasn’t talking about you.”

Gwen said, “Good.”

After thinking for a moment, Martin said, “Of course, the fact that you thought I was clearly—”

Gwen said, “Shut up.”

The tone of the nothings being whispered in the other room had become noticeably less sweet. Ida sounded insistent. Nilo sounded defiant. Finally, Ida appeared at the door and said, “He’ll be right out.”

Nilo shuffled into the office, looking surly. His demeanor clearly showed that he had simply dragged himself out of bed, pulled on his uniform, and come straight out to face his accusers.

Gwen took the lead. “Okay, Nilo. What have you done?”

Nilo laughed. “You don’t understand? No, of course you don’t. You sorceresses, you all think you’re smarter than
everyone
, but I’ve shown you. I’ve shown you all.” He looked at Gwen and
Martin
with a mixture of amusement and disgust. He shook his head and said, “Isn’t it obvious? Can’t you see what I’ve done? Do you really need me to explain it to you?”