“Magic has to exist here,” Amaris began, studying the dried blood crusted into her knuckles. “Those books and the myths you’ve read must mean something. What about how quickly everyone heals here? You mended my hand in three days, for crying out loud.”
“Has anyone else experienced anything like that?” Pricilla asked.
Amaris shrugged. “Theodoric seems to heal fast, too, and Esaias.”
Pricilla pursed her lips and folded her arms across her blood-stained chest as she leaned into the opposite wall.
“And…” Amaris hesitated. Pricilla knew everything else at this point, what was another mystery? “Something happened on the ship.” She rubbed nervously at her arms before Pricilla crossed the alcove and leaned beside her. “There was someone onboard who…” Amaris felt the heaviness of the night, but Pricilla laid her hand gently on her shoulder, and it let up from its unbearable weight. “She knew my name.”
“Had you met her before?”
“No.” Amaris slid down the wall, throwing her hands over her face. “She knew I was from a different world.”
“How’s that possible?”
“The question of the hour,” Amaris groaned. “How’s it possible I’m here in the first place, and how did Sephardi even find out?”
“Sephardi?” Pricilla sat beside her, hugging her knees to her chest. A perplexing expression with soft eyes and pouted lips sat upon her face.
“She was the one who poisoned me. All because she knew I was from a different world. She called me anabomination.”
Pricilla clung to Amaris’s arm, wrapping around it. “You’re not an abomination to me.” She smiled. “More like a miracle.”
“Should we tell anyone about this?” Amaris asked.
Pricilla shook her head vigorously. “No. I’m laughed at for collectingbookson myth and magic. If you tell people you’re from another realm, they might think you to be crazy.”
“Sephardi sided with the Accords because of me, and they were working with pirates—”
“Pirates?” Pricilla questioned.
“I overheard some of the crew members arguing about working with the captain since she was a pirate.”
“They were speaking Akaric instead of Tendasy?”
Amaris threw her hands up. “All I know is I could understand them, but some had heavy accents. They made some kind of deal.”
Pricilla wrung her hands together. “What was it?”
Amaris raised a shoulder. “I don’t know, but whatever it was, the soldiers said they held up their end.”
Pricilla blew out a breath and pressed the wrinkles from her dress. “Alright. Now might be more than I can digest. So, this pirate and Sephardi both knew you were from a different realm?”
Amaris nodded.
Pricilla stood and grabbed the edge of the curtain, drawing it back. “I don’t know where I’ll even begin, but I’ll start investigating this. There was a disagreement with a province under the Accords over twenty years ago. Bazrath nearly started a war. I’ll start there.”
“But what about the pirate?”
“Pirates haven’t been an issue for fifty years. They attacked Godwin’s coast but were defeated. Any remaining retreated deep within the Black Sea. It’s unlikely, but it’s possible they sided with the Accords.” Frazzled, Pricilla clung to the curtain as if it was the only thing keeping her standing. “I need to go to the library.”
“What about me?”
“For now, focus on your patients. I’ll let you know what I find.”
In a second, Pricilla was gone, striding at a brisk pace toward the library.
Amaris had never seen Pricilla stumped. Part of her wanted to follow, but she was swarmed with all the thoughts and emotions in her head. The strangest and most prominent feeling, though, was elation. Regardless of the mystery aboard the ship, she’d finally done something right, building the triage and helping as many as she could. The feeling settling over her was something she’d never felt before, even as a paramedic.
