Dirk stood several meters away, and the expression on his face was one of disbelief. It was hard to tell if he was real or a part of the simulation somehow.

  When Emma gasped in surprise, Lucian knew that he was there. Before Lucian could say anything, the scene disappeared. In the next moment, they were both in the room they had started in. Lucian looked around, but it was only he and Emma.

  “Shit,” she said. “I’m so stupid . . .”

  “What happened?” Lucian asked. “How did he follow us?”

  “It’s my fault. I thought the server was private, but I guess it was open.”

  “What? Seriously?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I just looked it up. Usually, people have the courtesy to stay out of places they haven’t been invited to, but it’s my fault for leaving it open.” She sighed. “He’s already blocked. I just can’t believe I did that.”

  “Hey,” Lucian said. “Don’t feel bad about it. He’s the creep, right?”

  “At least he won’t be able to follow us anymore.”

  “Well, now he knows we’ve teamed up.”

  Emma hesitated a moment. “Maybe . . . we shouldn’t hide what we are. If we get ahead of it, we can control the narrative. I mean, it’s not illegal for mages to travel as long as they’re going to an academy. Which both of us are. The crew knows who we are, anyway.”

  “They do?”

  “They have to keep our identities confidential. The government pays them a stipend; otherwise, no one would want to carry mages.”

  Lucian wished the government would pay him a stipend to go to Volsung.

  “Well, our identities won’t be confidential for long,” Lucian said. “Remember, I have a Believer for a roommate. All it takes is one crazy person to ruin us.”

  “I’m almost positive he has an auditory implant,” she said. “Probably hiding around corners and stalking our every move.”

  The only question was what to do about it. There was no telling how long he might have been tailing them.

  “It’s time we left anyway,” Emma said. “Before the sim jolts us out.”

  “Okay. We can talk later.”

  “Of course. See you.”

  With that, Emma disappeared. Lucian focused his thoughts on leaving.

  When Lucian went to grab an early dinner, Emma wasn’t there, though Paul and Kasim were. They ignored him. They probably needed a command from their master before they messed with him. Lucian ordered a quick meal, finishing it in a few minutes before going back to his pod.

  He had to decide what to do. The only thing was, he wasn’t sure what that might be. Was it too much to hope that Dirk might behave himself? Was the answer to hide until the trip was over?

  Lucian couldn’t imagine giving up that soon, but it might be a good idea to lay low—at least for a few days. He could manage that much.

  Lucian decided to skip the F.N.O. party that night. He just couldn’t be social given the situation. Hell, being social was tough even when someone wasn’t trying to outright terrorize him or even kill him.

  Things remained quiet for the next few days as the Burung traveled deeper into the outer solar system, beyond the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. The only time Lucian saw Dirk and his cronies was during mealtimes, but they barely paid him any mind. Emma saw it as evidence that Dirk had been bluffing and wasn’t going to do anything. Which Lucian hoped was true, though he wasn’t counting on it. He felt as if the fleet recruits were planning something, though he couldn’t say what.

  Instead, he tried to focus on getting to know Emma better. But any time he asked her a question, she had a way of redirecting it back to him. He wrote it off the first few times. She had revealed a lot of interesting things in the sim, but it seemed she had closed off a lot since then.

  Judging from the other passengers’ behavior around Lucian, Dirk hadn’t breathed a word. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t tell someone at some point. Believer Horatia was still friendly enough. The day she turned cold, though, he’d know.

  Lucian tried not to be alone. He ate at normal times and never stayed out late or got up too early. Being restricted grated on him, but he couldn’t afford a trip to the med bay.

  He kept up with his mother too, checking in with her every day. Swarmer scout fleets had been sighted in the Kasturi System. When the news circulated around the ship, everyone was acting as if it were the end of humanity. Maybe that was the reason Dirk had backed down, at least for now.

  He tried to get to know other passengers, too, as fake as it felt to force social interaction. It would help to be remembered favorably if Dirk ever tried anything. It might be the difference between staying safe and becoming a target.

  He couldn’t help but lock eyes with Dirk a few times in those early days of the voyage. And Dirk would always stare back in challenge, his face pale and jaw clenched, with blue eyes burning fiercely with pure hatred.

  On the fourth day out, Lucian headed into the galley for breakfast and was surprised to see Believer Horatia standing at the fore with a small crowd gathered around her.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Don’t be fooled by the men of science,” she said. “Magic is the Devil. Magic is the cause of the Swarmers. Magic led to the Mage War. And magic is a result of sin!”

  Lucian tried to ignore her, grabbing his breakfast and sitting a good distance away. Among the crowd was Dirk, listening intently to her fiery sermon. Dirk noted Lucian’s presence, flashing a toothy smile.

  “It is written that you shouldn’t suffer a witch to live,” she said. “We might have evolved beyond that, but the sentiment rings true, no? All the ills we have in our society started when magic cropped up, polluting everything.”

  Several voiced their agreement, including Dirk and the white-haired man with the eye patch. More people coming to breakfast stopped and paid her heed.

  “Just ignore her,” Emma said, joining him at his table.

  Dirk’s eyes narrowed. All Dirk had to do was say a few words, and the mob would be on them.

  He and Emma didn’t say a word as they ate. Anything they said would probably be overheard. Instead, Lucian got an incoming text from Emma.

  Let’s get out of here. I can give you a sim pill by your cabin.

  They left the galley and Sister Horatia’s vitriol behind. Lucian couldn’t help but feel Dirk’s hateful gaze following them as they walked away.

  #

  Once in the simulation, they didn’t focus on conversation; instead, they opted to play a medieval simulation role-playing game that Emma liked. It was a lot of fun, even if Lucian kept dying constantly. The six hours went by in a flash, and when they got the fifteen-minute warning, they agreed to meet again the next day.

  Once out of the sim, Lucian’s head was pounding. He’d read that it could be one of the side effects. It usually meant dehydration, but the nanites that connected to the brain could also be a cause.

  Lucian decided to sleep it off, and by the time he awoke, it was well into the evening. The galley was mostly empty by the time he got there. After his meal, the coast was clear, so he decided to go for a walk around the ship to clear his head.

  The ship’s white, empty corridors were eerily silent. The only sound was his footfalls as he walked. He looked at the starry expanse outside the large viewports. An emptiness pulsated within him, an emptiness echoed by light-years of space around him.

  When he rounded a corner, he saw someone standing at the end of the passage, someone he had never seen aboard the ship. It was an elderly woman, wearing a travel-worn robe of dark gray, almost black. Her hair fell in silver waves over narrow, bony shoulders, and the profile of her face revealed a sharp, hooked nose set in a face that was a maze of deep wrinkles. At his approach, she turned her head toward him. When her dark eyes met Lucian’s, her gaze chilled him to the bone.

  It was too late to pick another direction. So, he kept walking, deciding this would be his last round before returning to his cabin.

  As he approached, her scrutiny did not turn away, as might be expected. Those dark eyes seemed to look even deeper, beyond propriety. There was something . . . strange about this lady, to say the least. If there was one thing he learned growing up in Old Little Havana, it was to trust your gut. If you didn’t, it could be your life.

  Finally, she turned her face away to look out of the viewports again. But for some reason Lucian couldn’t explain, he went to stand a few meters away from her. He didn’t understand why he was drawn to her for some inexplicable reason.

  As time and silence dragged on, he tried to walk away, but his feet remained rooted in place. He stood there for one minute, two, the silence stretching on and on. He felt like a bug caught in a web, waiting for the spider to strike.

  At last, the elderly woman broke the silence with a quiet, scratchy voice. Though somewhat restrained, the voice carried great authority.

  “Have you found what you are seeking?”

  The voice commanded Lucian’s attention, but more than that, it compelled an honest answer. The voice seemed to drill inside his mind, unearthing the secrets within.

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “Things have been somewhat difficult lately.”

  Something told him to walk away, to not speak to her. But he couldn’t. He wanted to answer whatever she asked. He had the sense that she could be trusted, despite internal alarm bells going off.

  “What has been difficult about it?”

  “It’s . . . a long story. Hopefully, things will get better soon.”

  The woman seemed to consider. “Adversity should be welcomed. Hardship is an old friend. For what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”

  For some reason, the expression didn’t sound trite and overused when she said it. She had spoken those words as if she had lived them.

  “Maybe,” he said. “There are some problems that don’t have a clear answer, though.”

  Problems like the fraying. He almost said it aloud, but thankfully kept it to himself.

  “There’s nothing you cannot overcome if you have but the will.” She sounded so certain. How could she be that certain about anything? She didn’t even know him. “What is this problem you’re talking about? Perhaps I can help.”

  Now, why would she want to do that? And yet, she had asked, and someone of her experience might know what to do. And for some reason he couldn’t explain, he wanted to tell her.

  “I’ve been having problems with someone on board,” Lucian said. “Normally I’d fight back. But if I do . . .” He was saying too much, but the woman was listening intently. He couldn’t stop himself. “Let’s say he has an ace up his sleeve. He could use it to destroy me.”

  “You’ve said enough. I have the gist of things.”

  “I don’t see a way I can deal with him. He still has it out for me. Because . . .”

  No. He couldn’t go there, even if he were tempted to say the reason. To do so could be his undoing.

  “You can’t live your life in fear. That makes you a slave to the will of others. And there is no fate worse than being a slave. Some wear the collar gladly, thinking it makes them safe. But safety is an illusion in this universe, and the only thing we can do is cultivate our strength. Strength, of course, is the power to affect your world and the intentions of others.”

  She turned to face him fully. Her dark eyes seemed thunderous, full of hidden meaning. The effect was mesmerizing.

  “You must impose your will on this problem,” she went on. “It is merely a problem of will and nothing more.”

  Lucian shook his head. “My will? Are you serious?”

  “Yes,” the elderly woman said. Her voice took on a sternness that was surprising. “A slave trivializes conflict and would rather wear chains than fight. That is weakness.”

  “I’m not weak,” Lucian said.

  The woman gave a dark chuckle and turned her face away. Her eyes shone curiously, the dark orbs glowing with reflected starlight.

  “The most important war to win is the one within yourself. The universe is vast, and the only space we can truly call our own is the one between our ears. That is the only thing guaranteed. As long as you have that, nothing of consequence can be taken from you. To allow anything into that sacred space, to bend your self-appointed reality, is a sacrilege to your soul. Consciousness is a gift to be nurtured carefully, to be guarded jealously. As a flame in a winter storm. Abandon the flame for but a moment, and the wind will snuff it out, ushering in the darkness of ignorance. And with the darkness, come the wolves.”

  What was she getting at? How had he failed to notice this woman so far?

  “Who are you?”

  The woman hesitated as if considering her answer. “You are not ready to learn that. Your test will come soon, Lucian. Meet it head-on. Stop running.”

  With a swirl of her cloak, she stole away, leaving Lucian to stand before the viewports. He was reeling—he hadn’t once said his name. Unless she had heard it from somewhere or had the same trick as Dirk, how could she have known?

  There was something about her that sparked recognition and familiarity. And then, it came to him. She had been in his second dream during the metaphysical. He couldn’t believe it at first, but there had been an elderly woman there, with long white hair, dark eyes, and a dark cloak. It had been nothing more than a passing image, but he was almost certain it was her. With that startling image, he realized Emma had been in there, too. A flash, nothing more.

  What did it all mean, if anything at all?

  The answer came to him, though he knew not how. It made a chill pass through his entire body.

  He and Emma were not the only mages aboard this ship.