Kay Hooper - The Wizard Of Seattle

"I thought wizards didn't do that."

"Not now, and not for a long time. But then… who knows? Power has a way of corrupting, and at that time there weren't many other ways to be powerful. There was no worldwide society as there is today, no technology, only crude weapons. Though they were primitive by our standards, wizards must have stood head and shoulders above most others in terms of power."

Thinking of the romantic stories she knew of wizards, Serena said, "How were they primitive? I mean, look at some of the things your namesake did."

Merlin half closed his eyes in a pained expression. "Fiction, Serena. I've told you."

In a small, wistful voice, she said, "No King Arthur?"

He hesitated, then sighed. "I wouldn't go that far. But reality-if it was reality-can never measure up to legend. If there was a Merlin then, and if he was great, it was mostly by comparison to those around rum." Taking note of her dejected air, he decided to abandon the subject of Arthurian legend. "Serena, the wizards of Atlantis are probably first graders in relation to us. They're still learning to read and tell time and count without using their fingers."

She brightened just a bit and, using the same yardstick, said, "If they're first graders, where are you?"

"Working on my doctorate," he said promptly.

She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer, but asked anyway. "And me?"

He was silent and reflective long enough to make her nervous, but then said judiciously, "A few credits away from your baccalaureate, I'd say."

Surprised and a bit fluttered, she said, "I thought you'd say I was still in high school."

"You're still a long way from final graduation," he reminded her.

Serena nodded with a stab at meekness, but she was quite pleased by his assessment of her progress. One thing she did know about wizards was that it required a good many years of study to achieve the highest levels of the craft; she had gotten a late start, so if she had done as well as he said, she had every right to be proud of herself.

"In any case," Merlin went on, "we should certainly be able to hold our own with even the most powerful wizard of Atlantis."

Yanked from her self-congratulation, Serena felt a little shiver of unease. "You say that as if you expect us to land in the middle of a battle."

Merlin glanced down at the book before him again, then looked at her seriously. "I don't know what we're going to land in the middle of, but I'm expecting the worst. We should both expect the worst. The continent vanished, Serena; whatever happened there can't be good."

"That makes sense." She took a deep breath. "Okay. So what happens next?"

"First I have to teach you to completely shield your powers. After that I'll build the gate."

Somewhat confused, Serena said, "Shield my powers? You mean, from another wizard? I thought I could already do that."

"No. You shield your thoughts, but the fact that you possess power would be obvious to any other wizard who came near you. I must teach you to project a powerless facade so that no one, not even a Master wizard, will suspect you to be anything other than completely powerless."

"Why?" she asked slowly.

He looked at her for a long moment, as if considering whether to answer her, then said, "I have a hunch that it would be… more difficult for us to travel together if both of us are obvious wizards. But whether I'm right about that or not, it's still a prudent step to take. With your powers hidden from other wizards, we have an ace up our sleeve- and present a less-threatening appearance to those we encounter."

Serena chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, then said, "It won't really affect me, will it? I mean, I'll still be able to use my powers if I need to?"

With that uneasy question, she reassured Merlin that he had made the right decision in electing not to tell her why they had to go back in time. If Serena had any idea that he could steal her powers from her, she would never be able to trust him-and he had a strong feeling her trust was needed.

"Of course you will," he replied calmly. "What I'll teach you to do will be rather like putting on a mask. You'll be able to see and hear clearly, and the mask will remain in place until you reach up and take it off. As long as you wear it, your powers-your true identity- will be hidden behind it. But only hidden. Not changed in any way."

Serena relaxed, not even aware until then that she had tensed. "That doesn't sound so bad. Will it take me long to learn?"

"A few days, I think. And a day at least for me to build the gate. You have a week's vacation left, don't you?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Owen won't be happy if I suddenly take off this coming week without warning," she said, referring to her boss, "but everything's caught up, so he really doesn't have an argument. I gather that's the idea? That I should start my vacation beginning tomorrow?"

"The sooner we get started, the better. I can close the office for the week and give Rachel the time off so we won't be disturbed at all."

"What'll we tell people? When we leave, I mean."

Merlin shook his head. "We won't tell them anything, because no one will ever know we even left the house. I'll set the gate to return us within minutes, no matter how long we spend in Atlantis."

Serena had to think about that for a moment, but then nodded. "We'll be in the past, so time won't advance in the present-right?"

"Right."

"So how much time will we spend in Atlantis? Relative time, I mean?"

Once again Merlin glanced down at the opened book on his desk before he replied. "If we're to be successful, I believe we have to be there at the end-or as close as possible. A month before the destruction, I think. That should give us enough time to observe and understand the society."

"You know exactly when it happened?"

He nodded. "Yes-another reason why I suspect there was at least one witness. The account of Atlantis's final hours is extremely detailed and seems to have been written from a ship at sea."

She looked curiously at the book lying open before him, but since it was upside down from her viewpoint, she was unable to see much. "That account?"

"This account," he confirmed with a slight nod.

"That isn't one of your books," she noted. From ancient times Apprentice wizards had been required, as part of their training, to hand-copy (with exquisite penmanship, no less) a complete set of spellbooks from their Master's library. This was required not only for the discipline gained in the long process of carefully copying the books, but also because spellbooks were never translated or printed.

Since Serena was in the process of copying her own set of spellbooks (only those in which she had completed her training), she could recognize all of Merlin's, and all the reference books in his library, as well; the book on his desk was something else. It looked very, very old, and she had the feeling that despite all her training and learning, she wouldn't have been able to read the enigmatic script.

"No," Merlin said, replying to her comment. "It was given to me, recently, by my own Master."

She hesitated, but since the topic didn't seem to be taboo, she said, "I never thought, but of course you would have had to be apprenticed to a Master when you were a child."

"In my case, the Master was my father." With a slight smile he added, "A difficult undertaking for both of us. Wizard or powerless, fathers and sons always seem to be at odds."

"He was a difficult taskmaster?"

"Not so much that as a… difference in personalities and temperament."

"You must take after your mother then," Serena ventured.

Merlin's face closed down instantly, as if a curtain had dropped. "Yes, I suppose I do."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"