Runaway Magic

ten

"Rise and shine, foundling," Amina's silky voice crowed. I frowned at her as I pushed myself up, wincing against the blinding morning light. She was already dressed, exchanging her gauzy black cloak for a formfitting blouse and thin pants that flared around her worn boots. Her hair, which she had woven into a loose braid, draped down her back like a snake.

"She's always like this," Kenna said with a laugh, standing next to the Ijinisljin girl with her arms crossed. She offered me an apple and a hunk of cheese as I stood up, frowning at her cheerful attitude. It was way too early to be that chipper. But it seemed like I was the only one in our misfit group who shared my sentiment; Ekki and Xia were already packing up camp, stuffing maps and clothes into their bags.

Much to Amina and Kenna's amusement, I devoured my breakfast. Only when I was finished did I feel the need to flush.

"No judgment here," Amina chuckled as I tossed the apple core into the bushes. "I just hope you can get changed that fast, since we need to be out of here in a few minutes."

I flushed again. Luckily, Kenna reached into her bag and handed me my clothes. While I sulked in the corner, she pulled Amina away to the other side of the camp. A few minutes later, when I was done and had managed to recover some of my dignity, I stuffed my things into Kenna's bag and joined the others.

"We'll go to Liefja next," Xia was saying, drawing a path on the map she held taut between her hands. "From there, we can cross the border or try to catch a train to Thallav, which is where the main crossing is located."

"Not Thallav," Amina said, shaking her head firmly. "We don't want to attract any official attention."

Xia nodded. "Just Liefja it is then."

"Sounds like a plan," Amina declared. "Now let's move out."

----

Despite my pleas, Kenna abandoned me as soon as we set out on our journey. She struck up a flawless banter with Amina while I tried to befriend Xia and Ekki. Unluckily for me, none of them seemed particularly keen on talking with me either. I started with Ekki, since I knew she would be a difficult nut to crack. I pestered her about her life until she relented, spitting out a few short details. While it wasn't the full life story I had been hoping for, it did shed some light on her abilities. Apparently, she was an orphan, and she had attended a special school in Fjall that trained foundling children to be spies, assassins, and the like. Or, in her words:

"They trained us to be nothing," she said, hoisting her bag higher over her muscular shoulder. "To be sunlight and shadows, mere whispers on the wind. Even my name, Ekki, means nothing." Then, she looked straight at me and said, "Maybe you could learn a thing or two about disappearing."

Message received.

I hung back, letting her amble out of earshot. At least Xia seemed friendlier. Or so I thought.

"I'm busy," she said without looking up from the map she was consulting. From my angle, the lines just looked like scribbles of mountains and roads. Honestly, even seeing the red lines denoting the borders between our respective countries was a foreign concept. Obviously, I had learned geography in school, but I was so accustomed to our small village that I had never thought much of the outside world. My one goal had been to get Kenna and me to Ijinislj, and I hadn't even bothered to peruse the rest of the globe. Before Amina and Ekki and Xia, the other countries had seemed like a myth, just another intangible place from Mama's stories.

"Sorry," I said. Then, I blurted, "Maybe you could teach me about those maps later. So I can help navigate too."

Xia looked at me strangely, her attention finally torn away from the curling paper. The corners of her lips rose into a slight smile. "Sure," she said. "I'd like that."

After that, it was much easier to wheedle information out of her, though she was still tight-lipped about certain things. As we all sat down for a quick lunch of sundried fruit, hard bread, and salted meat, I learned that she was also an orphan, which seemed like an odd coincidence. She had grown up in a large city in one of the Eastern countries, but she wouldn't specify which one, nor would she explain why she had relocated to Ijinislj. However, it was clear that she loved academics, because she kept having to stop herself from rattling on about the latest scientific discoveries and inventions. After a while, Xia asked me a question.

"What about you?" she said. "Why are you and Kenna so eager to travel to Ijinislj?"

I hesitated, debating whether or not I should tell her about my sister's magic. We had already told Amina, but it felt wrong to spill Kenna's secret. Fortunately, moments later, I was saved from having to answer.

"Hurry up!" Kenna whined.

She, Amina, and Ekki waited as we joined them at a fork in the road.

"Where to?" the Ijinisljin girl asked, nodding her head at the splitting paths.

"Right," Xia said without pause. "We're here," she added, glancing at all of us. "This is Liefja."

The girl's foreboding tone was anticlimactic. I had been expecting a fortress that towered over us in all its stone glory, a sprawling city that gleamed in the sunlight, or at the very least a castle or two. Instead, as we approached, it became clear that Liefja was a shantytown, albeit a gorgeous one. Lush green bushes spotted the ground between small, flimsy shacks and cottages. Ivy curled its serpent-like tail of leaves up the wooden walls of the buildings, and flowers poked their heads up everywhere, from between the worn-out cobblestone to tucked behind the ears of passerby.

"Wow," I murmured as our motley group stood at the mouth of the road.

"Are we even in Kenj anymore?" Kenna asked, staring out at the sea of greenery. I had to agree with her shock. I had never seen this much color in our entire country before. Sure, we had plants in the village, but they were of the hardy, utilitarian kind. The only flowers in Kenj were the kind you ate or ground up into medicine; these bright blossoms had to have invaded from Ijinislj. Not that I was complaining.

"If you're impressed now, just wait until you see Ijinislj," Xia chirped. "Kenj is quite desolate in comparison."

"I kind of liked it that way," Ekki said mournfully. I think I was seeing the lithe girl's humorous side for the first time, and it made me smile a little inside despite myself. Somehow, in the last day or so, we had already grown tighter as a group. I had never had true friends in the village before, and for the first time, I appreciated what I had been missing. With a tug in my heart, I realized that I was going to be sad when we reached Ijinislj. Then, we would all have to go our separate ways, and it would just be Kenna and I. Alone, again.

"Well, I hated it," Amina interjected with a shiver. "Honestly, I'll never understand how you guys bear it. I can't wait to shed all these thick layers as soon as we reach the warmer cities."

My cheeks warmed at her wording. Luckily, the others were too fixated on the scenery to notice my sudden redness. As they bickered over where they wanted to visit first, I observed Amina from the corner of my eye. Despite her nonchalance, I could tell something was eating at her nerves. She kept biting her lip, dragging a tooth against the soft pink skin.

"We're not going to any of those places," she decided. Groans arose from behind her, but they quickly faded away as she leveled them with a glare. "We're going to the Tavern," she said, lifting an eyebrow. Xia and Ekki pursed their lips, as if they knew more than they were letting on. Amina continued, "Before we can cross over to Ijinislj, we have a job to complete. Don't forget that."

A job? I raised my eyebrows at Kenna, but she only shrugged. Well, if neither of us knew what was happening, then we were probably walking into something dangerous. As Amina started striding down the path, I resigned myself to my uncertain fate.

Whatever the hell the Tavern was, I was about to find out.