Katie MacAlister: Playing with Fire

‘‘Thanks for the warning,’’ I whispered through my teeth. Voices outside the room heralded someone’s imminent approach. I glanced quickly around the room, desperately hunting for a dark corner where I might hide, but the room was far too bright for that.

‘‘I’m sorry! I was picking bugs off my arm and didn’t see the car pull up. What’s going on? Why are all the lights in the house on? Oh, no-I think one of the men is a mage. He’s… yes, he’s a mage! He’s probably the owner! Mayling, you have to get out of there!’’

She wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t know. I leaped to my feet as the doorknob started to turn, jamming a chair underneath it to keep the door from opening.

‘‘Mayling!’’ Cyrene yelled in my ear, in her excitement using her nickname for me once again.

I ran for the window, praying I could make it outside into the darkness before the door opened. The door burst into a thousand pieces, turned to ash, and drifted slowly to the ground as I jumped onto the table next to the glass.

‘‘Mayling!’’ Cyrene ’s bellow was loud enough to hurt. A man’s shape appeared in the doorway, pausing for a moment as he evidently heard my twin.

‘‘Mei Ling!’’ he cried, running forward, obviously hearing Cyrene but misinterpreting my nickname for a proper name. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened. ‘‘It’s the thief Mei Ling!’’

Instinctively, I shadowed when I heard the men’s voices, but the room was too bright to remain hidden. Just as soon as he looked toward the window, the man would see me. I had no choice but to go through the window.

‘‘Agathos daimon,’’ I repeated softly to myself as I put my hands over my head and flung myself through the glass.

‘‘There!’’ the man cried as pain burst into being all over my body. ‘‘She’s there! I heard someone say her name! It’s the thief Mei Ling on the ledge outside!’’

The blessed warm darkness of a late March Greek evening embraced me, making me all but invisible to watchful eyes as I raced down the narrow ledge, shinnying down a pipe to the ground.

‘‘Where are you? Are you all right? Mayling !’’

‘‘I’m fine. I’m outside the house, but stop yelling or the mage’s people will find you,’’ I hissed into the microphone. ‘‘Can you get out of the tree without being seen?’’

‘‘Oh, thank the gods you’re all right. I just about had a heart attack! Yes, I think I can get down. There’s a handy branch right… oomph!’’

Across the street from the elegant villa located in Nea Makri, a small resort town outside of Athens, a black, vaguely human shape fell to the ground. I hurried around the edges of the square, avoiding pools of light from the houses until I reached my twin.

Her face, lit dimly from the lights at the nearest house, looked up at me as I stopped next to her. ‘‘I fell.’’

‘‘I saw. You all right?’’

She nodded, peering at the house as I quickly pulled her to her feet. ‘‘What are they yelling? I can’t make out the words.’’

‘‘It’s probably nothing but a lot of swearing. Oh, and my nickname. Well, not my nickname-the other name.’’

‘‘What other name?’’ she asked as I hurried her away from the house and down the dark side street where we’d left the rental car. ‘‘Oh, you mean that Asian thing that someone made up?’’

‘‘They made it up because they heard you yelling my nickname in Dresden when I helped the naiad sisterhood get back the icon that was stolen. Fortunately, they were looking for an Asian person and paid no attention to little old me.’’

A guilty look flitted across her face. ‘‘I didn’t know that people would think that was your real name. Besides, that was at least ten years ago. Surely they’ve forgotten that by now?’’

‘‘Hardly. The fame of Mei Ling lives on…’’

We stopped in front of the car. I was about to pull out the car key but realized with some surprise that I was holding something.

‘‘What’s wrong?’’ she asked as I stared at my hand. ‘‘Goddess! You’re bleeding! You went through the window?’’

‘‘Yes.’’ I unfurled my fingers and stared at… nothing.

‘‘We’d better go,’’ she said, taking the key and unlocking the door. ‘‘I’ll drive. You can slump down so you’re less obvious. I know no one can see you when you do your cloaking thing, but they’ll see the blood that you’re dripping everywhere. It’s a good thing you’re my twin, or you’d have to go to the hospital.’’

‘‘If I wasn’t your twin, I wouldn’t have been in a position to jump through the window in the first place,’’ I answered automatically, tracing out the shape of a small stone box. ‘‘Whatever the mage used on this is pretty powerful. I still can’t see it.’’

‘‘See what?’’ she asked, pausing to peer into my hand. ‘‘The cuts? They’ll heal in a few minutes.’’

‘‘I’m not worried about that-I have been stabbed, shot, and nearly disemboweled, and I know full well I’ll heal up quickly enough. It’s this,’’ I said, ducking as Cyrene shoved me into the car.

‘‘What, exactly?’’ she asked, gunning the engine. ‘‘Hotel?’’

‘‘Yes, please. It’s a box. Look at it from the corner of your eye.’’

‘‘I can’t see anything when I’m driving-oh! It’s a box!’’ she exclaimed, her gaze flickering between my hand and the street.

‘‘I think it’s crystal. I think-’’ My fingers, which had been stroking the invisible box, must have pressed a small, hidden switch, for suddenly my soul sang. I felt rather than saw a luminous golden glow radiating from the box, a beautiful light of such wondrous beauty, it seemed to fill me with happiness.

Cyrene swore and slammed on the brakes, jerking the car onto a thankfully empty sidewalk, her eyes huge.

I stared down in astonishment at the source of the unseen but still tangible ethereal glow.

‘‘What the-what is that? Gracious goddess, it’s… it’s…’’

‘‘It’s quintessence,’’ I said, breathing heavily as I allowed the glittering brilliance to sink deep into my bones.

‘‘The what now?’’

‘‘Quintessence. The fifth element.’’

Slowly, I closed the lid of the box, the light ending with an abruptness that left my soul weeping.

‘‘Like the movie, you mean? With Bruce Willis?’’

‘‘What?’’ It took a moment for her words to penetrate the fog that seemed to settle over me with the loss of the light. ‘‘No, not that. That’s just Hollywood. The fifth element is something alchemists strive to find. It’s the essential presence.’’

‘‘Essential presence of what?’’ she asked, carefully pulling back onto the road, but quickly pulling over again when police cars burst out of a cross street, sirens wailing and lights flashing.

‘‘Everything. It’s the above and below. The embodiment of that force we call life. It’s the purest essence of… being.’’

‘‘Is it valuable?’’ Cyrene asked, a calculating expression stealing across her face.

My fingers tightened around the box. ‘‘Priceless. Beyond priceless. Invaluable. Any alchemist would kill to have it.’’

‘‘Hmm.’’

I knew what she was thinking. Cyrene had expensive tastes, and no practical ability to save money. I was sure she was going to suggest putting the quintessence up for bid, but that was something I couldn’t allow. ‘‘No,’’ I said.

Her lips, recently plumped and now shaded a delicate pink, pouted in a manner that I knew made grown men swoon. ‘‘Why not? I bet we could get a lot for it.’’

‘‘For one, it’s not mine.’’ I stroked the bumpy crystal lid with worshipful fingers.