Zoe shook her head. “No. You can’t deny me my history. I lived it.”
“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it won’t work!” Rowder said shrilly. “If what you say happened, then how are you here, standing before us? How is it that you out of all the sprites managed to escape unscathed?”
“Unscathed,” Zoe repeated. “Unscathed? I hid myself under the body of my grandmother. I held my breath when your government stood above us, checking for any signs of life. I tasted her blood on my lips. When they were distracted, I fled to the farthest reaches of the forest and closed it off behind me. It was then I made a promise to myself: I would never again concern myself with the horror that is humanity.”
“Do you hear that?” Rowder said, raising her voice to the crowd. “That’s what they think of you. Even though none of us would’ve been alive when this occurred, we’re still supposed to pay the price of those who came before us? Balderdash! Were mistakes made? Yes, of course. But that doesn’t mean we’re not in the right now.”
“It’s like they can’t hear themselves talk,” Linus murmured.
“But life found me again,” Zoe said. “And though it could be argued I was dragged kicking and screaming into it, my time of hiding away was over. It was then I made a new promise to myself: that no matter what happened, I would do everything I could to ensure the magical people who found my shores were safe. I would do for them what was not done for me: I would give them a chance to live.”
“This is all well and good,” Rowder said, “but it changes nothing.”
“It does,” Zoe said. “More than you realize. My grandmother? She was the sprite queen. And since I’m the last one left, that title now falls to me. I am Queen Zoe Chapelwhite.” Without looking away from Rowder, she added, “And you are standing upon my land without my permission.”
Rowder’s eyes bulged. “Your land? Your land? Oh, that crown seems to be a little tight on your head. It’s making you believe things that certainly aren’t true. Here, let me clear this up for you. This is the village of Marsyas. You are from the island of Marsyas. There is a considerable difference.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Zoe said. “Have you ever wondered why the village and the island are called by the same name?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything. You’re stalling.”
“They are called the same name,” Zoe said, “because once, Marsyas was not an island. Once, it was a peninsula, a single stretch of land that the sprites called home. In a last-ditch effort to keep the humans from advancing, my grandmother—one of the most powerful sprites the world had ever seen—flooded the peninsula, creating the island. They are one and the same.”
“And yet you call yourself an island sprite,” Rowder said.
Zoe cocked her head, the chains of her crown dangling next to her ear. “I lied. I am the Sprite of Oceans, the Queen of Marsyas, and I have grown tired of your presence in our home.”
“Bollocks!” Marblemaw bawled. “If I’m banished from the island, that would mean I’m banished from—”
“The village, yes,” Zoe said. “And you will be.” She smiled. “I just need to wake it up.” Suddenly, she dropped to her knees, her hands flat against the pavement. She breathed in, she breathed out, a ripple of rainbow crossing her wings.
And then Arthur felt a tsunami of magic crash into him, greater than anything he’d ever felt before. It knocked the breath from his chest as every hair on his arms stood on end. The ground rumbled beneath their feet, people gasping as pavement started to crack apart underneath the queen’s hands. But it wasn’t destruction Zoe was after: instead of the street breaking completely, a design formed on the road, the rushing lines connecting and creating a large shape that was at least six feet long and three feet wide.
A nautilus seashell, carved into the pavement, curved lines creating the many chambers that made up the interior. As Zoe stood, the cracks filled with blinding white, and balls of blue light began to rise up around her. Her wings buzzed as she rose into the air, the nautilus growing brighter. “I am done hiding,” Zoe said, her voice deep, echoing. “I’m done letting others decide who we are allowed to be. You have been warned again and again, but you do not listen. This land is not yours. It belongs to a free people, stewards and caretakers who will ensure that the might of Marsyas will never again falter.”
“You don’t have the right,” Rowder snapped.
“I do,” Zoe said. “As queen, I do. But perhaps this will help change your mind.” She clapped her hands together, palms pressed together. She exhaled and spread her hands.
A space where there had been nothing now held a wrapped scroll, tied off with a string of shells. Zoe snatched it out of the air and flung it toward Rowder. As the scroll flew toward her, the shells disintegrated, the parchment unfurling. It stopped and hovered two feet in front of Rowder’s face. She squinted at it. The blood drained from her face. “Is … is … that…”
Zoe chuckled. “A decree from one of your former kings relinquishing all rights to the lands of Marsyas to the sprites, signed in the year 1332? Yes, yes, it is. Not that we needed his legitimacy, but apparently you do. As such, when humans came and destroyed my people centuries later, they went against their own king’s ruling. And I will not stand for it any longer.” She turned to look at the crowd gathered below her. “The government has come here to take one of our own. Though they claim to be after all the children, there is one in particular they are desperate to get their hands on. This woman wants to use a child to control everyone and everything, and she has threatened the safety of the other children to see her plan through.”
Silent, still, as if everyone held their breath, the only sound coming from the distant crashing of waves.
“She has come for Lucy,” Zoe thundered. “A seven-year-old child. And if she thinks she’ll lay a single hand on him, then she is mistaken.”
Below her, the shell carved into the street pulsed three times in quick succession.
“Ah, good,” Zoe said. “The magic has awoken. Let’s see about that banishment, shall we?” Almost quicker than Arthur could follow, she plucked shells from her arms and legs, her hands a blur of movement. It took only the space between heartbeats for a large pile to appear on her extended palm. As her wings wrapped around her, Zoe sucked in a great breath, spinning in a furious circle, blowing on the shells.
They shot out with perfect precision. The men in suits stumbled back as shells passed through their heads and came out the other side before disappearing in a puff of powder. Marblemaw stood frozen, a stunned expression on her face.
A single shell—tiny, cream and white in color—floated in front of Rowder’s forehead. She took a step back, raising her hands in front of her face. “Don’t. Don’t you dare.”
“I dare,” Zoe said, eyes narrowed. “I dare for every child you have hurt. I dare for every adult who was forced to hide their true self because of ‘see something, say something.’ I dare for all of them. I do this for them, for Helen and Arthur and Linus, for every single person here and around the world who has had enough. Jeanine Rowder, you have proven to be an enemy of magical people—my family. It is within my rights as Queen of Marsyas to order your head removed from your body.”
“Hurray! Then we can find out if she has rabies!” Lucy cried.
“Alas, that would make me no better than you,” Zoe said. With that, she flicked her hand dismissively. The shell hurtled through Rowder’s head without leaving a mark, shooting out the back and rising in the air above her where it shattered, particles raining down on Rowder.
“Lucy?” Zoe called without looking away from Rowder, who was slapping her forehead repeatedly. “Come here, please.”
“The queen has summoned me,” Lucy whispered. “Hell yes!” Without hesitation, he skipped toward Zoe and Rowder. “At your service, your majesty! What would you ask of me? Are you going to knight me? Or will you give me a country estate where I can let the government people run free in a five-minute head start before I hunt them all down? Either way is good with me!”
Marblemaw looked around wildly as if searching for an opening to flee.
Zoe’s lips quirked. “A knight? I do suppose Marsyas will need protection. Yes, that will do just fine. Lucifer Baker-Parnassus, I hereby name you as a knight of Marsyas. If you are ready, I have your first order.”
Lucy snapped to attention. “Yes, my queen!”
Zoe nodded, tapping her chin. “Since you are now capable of teleporting, I wonder if that extends to teleporting others. Say, a group of people who have come uninvited and have overstayed their welcome.”
“I can do that!” Lucy said, obviously excited. “Where do you want them to go? The moon? Inside an active volcano? Wait! I got it!” His eyes took on an ominous glow, burning coals in endless pits. When he grinned, he seemed to have far more teeth than any other seven-year-old. “I can send them to meet my real dad. I’m sure he’d welcome them with open arms.” He giggled as two locks of his hair flipped up, almost like horns. “And when they see his true face, everything that makes them who they are will be gone.”
“Or,” Zoe said, “we can teleport them directly to where Prime Minister Herman Carmine currently is. Let them explain how they have failed, and that the might of Marsyas will rise once again.”
“Aw, man,” Lucy said, scuffing his shoe against the pavement. “I never get to send anyone to Hell. It’s so unfair.” He sighed heavily. “Fine. I guess we can do it your way. You’re the queen, after all.”
