Empire Island, Exile the First

Chapter 7

"How long have you been in BC?" Mara asked me as we boarded the ferry to Empire. "You seem to have a bit of an accent."

"I'm from the east coast," I replied. I did have a slight accent, but it was from growing up on Empire, not from being anywhere else. Thankfully, Mara didn't appear to know that. "I've been here for a while, though."

"Ah, here's the rest of our group," she said, gesturing towards the others who were standing awkwardly near the ticket booth. There were two men and three women, all white, all with twisted dreadlocks, face tattoos, and all wearing similar black cloaks as hers.

She moved ahead of me to talk to them; they embraced her and whispered in her ear while showing her items they pulled out of their cloaks. I didn't get a look at what they had, but I got the flash of silver when one of the women slipped it back into a hidden pocket somewhere.

Mara smiled, drawing me into the circle. "This is Lizzie, she's one of us now," Mara said. "She's staying with us in the guest yurt and celebrating the coming day of energy with us. She'll work in trade for room and board."

"Blessed be the circular path," one of the women said in an unconvincing monotone. She was shorter than me, curvier, and had dark burgundy hair hanging in thick knots.

"Blessed be the circular path," the others repeated. Mara looked as if she'd just taught her kindergarten class how to do algebra or something, she was so pleased.

I edged away. The odd swirling sensation of destructive energy moving around the circle of people was too much for me. I swore I felt my skin wrinkling and my hair graying by the second.

Mara looked at me sharply, her eye glittering with a reptilian calculation, and she said, "Does that make you uncomfortable, Lizzie?"

"What? No, I didn't want to miss the ferry," I said. "We should get ready to board."

The small twenty car ferry that moved between Empire and the mainland approached the little terminal, and I could see the crew moving around on deck in preparation to dock.

"Did you get your tickets?" she asked the group. They hadn't, so we walked to the booth. When I asked for mine, Mara stepped in front and offered to pay.

Normally I would tell her to back off, especially because Eva had given me a wad of crumpled twenty-dollar bills before I left.

But today I had a spark of insight, I needed to find out how this woman handled being around other people. I felt like she offered me all these conveniences, a yurt and a place to stay along with the ferry ticket, just so she'd ask her price later on. I wanted to know what that price would be. What would she demand from me when the time came?

The ferry was full and there were cars left behind when we left. This was highly unusual, Empire was a small island and couldn't handle that many visitors or residents at any given time. Empire south was a tourist destination, and people were normally lured by the blessing magic given to that part of the island to keep outside money flowing in, but this was a little out of control.

I peered at the car deck while we moved over the upper bridge to the passenger deck and thought I spotted a white cube truck like the one Mike had driven. He hadn't mentioned anything about going to Empire, but I supposed he might be driving supplies to one of the Empire south stores or something. It's not like we discussed his exact route or anything. Besides, he knew me as Lizzie already, so even if I ran into him he wouldn't give up my cover.

I followed Mara obediently, and we walked together as a group and found seating near the window at the front, Mara sitting near me, the others on her side. I couldn't shake the creeping sense of dread that had clasped its cold fingers on the back of my neck, though.

"You seem nervous," Mara said as the ferry drew away from the dock. It shuddered and shook as the engines engaged, and slowly but surely, we moved ahead.

"I'm not used to being on boats," I said.

"But you're from the east coast," she said. "Don't you have boats back there?"

I grimaced inwardly at being caught in the lie. But I was quick, even with my energy sagging from being so close to her, I said, "I've always been seasick which is why I left."

"How funny that you found yourself here at the end of the road," she replied with a cool, disaffected tone. "How funny indeed."

I ignored her and looked out the window at the passing scenery. Mara talked to the others, so I was off the hook and free to daydream. I couldn't even remember how many times I'd traveled this route and looked out this very same window at the exact same humps and specks of islands dotting the coastline and riding up out of the water like the backs of beasts.

Sunlight danced on the peaks of waves as we went, lulling me into a sense of calm. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed this until I'd returned. I'd grown up on the water and I'd always felt a connection to the ocean. It was like a physical testament to the planet's internal clock. Each rise and fall of the tides was like a heartbeat, letting us know the Earth was alive, keeping us connected with the rhythm of all existence.

It was also one of those things that connected us to Otherworld, the place beyond the veiled fabric of existence where our reality was mirrored in a way, but where everything was different. The tidal changes mirrored each other perfectly, as the Earth moved here, it moved there. Principles of science and magic remained the same, which is why most of us saw the two as different sides of the same coin these days.

The tides felt organic, reminding me that on either side of the mists, our planets were living creatures with memories and thoughts of their own. We just couldn't perceive them, like a tick doesn't know much about the moose they're burrowed into. The expanse of the planet and Otherworld were beyond our imagination.

My eyes began to lose focus and I felt reality slipping from me like it had on the Sea bus. I fell into a vision again.

But I was jerked back to reality by a cruel twist on my arm. Somebody had grabbed it and pinched me awake.

I snapped my head to the side and my vision was filled with Mara's face, faux concern filling her eyes.

"Where were you going?" she asked with a plastic smile that was overly tight and stretched across her bright white teeth.

"I'm right here," I said. Had she known I faded into a vision?

How could she have known?

"You were going somewhere," she said, tightening her grip. "I just want to know where."

That felt more like a threat than anything else.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Take your hand off me, you're hurting me," I hissed through clenched teeth. I was in full defensive mode, waiting for her to spring at me. Wondering if I had enough left in me to fight back.

"You were sliding off the seat," she said, relaxing her hand. "I held you back, though. Or else you would hit the floor. I'm so sorry I scared you."

I shrugged and leaned away from her. "Thanks," I mumbled. I fought the urge to slam my fist into her nose and kept the mantle of "Lizzie" draped firmly over me.

I didn't know how long I could do it, though. Being around Mara had my defenses on high alert and I was jumpy enough to hit her for the smallest slight.

Not until I did some reconnaissance, that's all I had to do and I'd challenge her then.

If I could hold myself back, that was.