“So it’s from the waters of Atlantis,” he mumbled. “If it is an enhancer, then it would enhance youth and beauty as well, I suppose. Which is undoubtedly why some believe it to be the fountain of youth.”
She sat forward. “Do people actually believe that?” she asked.
“There are tales.”
She shook her head. That was ridiculous. Atlanteans aged just as any people would. “Though it might smooth someone’s skin and add shine to someone’s hair, it doesn’t actually make people younger. It is not magic,” she said defensively.
“But if it enhances—”
“Enhances what a person already possesses,” she interrupted. “It does not create where something wasn’t before, only makes existing traits stronger, bigger, more pronounced.”
“One could argue that was a form of magic,” he said.
“I would not,” she said with a shrug.
“What of the healing capabilities?” he asked. Then his smile faded as he looked over her shoulder.
She turned, and through the glass in the door, she saw two men. One pointed and turned the door latch.
“Sabine, run!” Max said.
Spencer needed to get back to Cornwall. But damned if her majesty had not let him out of her sight. It had been one advisory meeting after another. He had more pressing matters to attend to, though he could not very well tell the queen that. To her and everyone around her, there was nothing more important.
That old man, Phinneas, had fooled him. When Spencer had arrived at the small cottage of the second guardian, he’d found a cabinet full of potions and tonics, so he’d naturally assumed it was the Healer he’d discovered. And he hadn’t searched for anything but the elixir.
It had been a foolish mistake, one he probably wouldn’t have made if he hadn’t been rushed. But her highness required so much attention lately and he couldn’t afford to raise her suspicions about his behavior.
After Spencer had returned to London, though, the words of the dying guardian had run through his mind again and again. Nonsensical words. Spoken like that of the Seer. Spencer had known that when it came time to take the Seer’s elixir, he would also have to find the book—the book filled with all the visions and predictions of all the Seers. Spencer needed that book.
As soon as these buffoons were finished talking, he’d make his way back to Cornwall.
They were being followed. Or more precisely, Sabine was being followed. Max held firmly to Sabine’s hand as they closed the door of their train car behind them. Standing precariously between one car and the next, they shifted from right to left as the train chugged down the tracks.
“Be careful when you cross,” Max told her. The train curved to the right, and the coupler rocked in response. He stepped through the opened section and reached the other side. The men were now in their train car heading straight for the door at Sabine’s back. “Sabine, hurry.”
She looked back over her shoulder, then at Max. In one graceful movement, she leaped over the joint.
“Who are they?” she asked.
“The men from your shop.”
Quickly, he opened the door of the next car, and they shuffled inside. It was another first-class car, much as their own had been, only this one was full of passengers.
“Pardon us,” Max said as he dragged Sabine behind him.
Again they found themselves between two cars. The men were not far behind them.
“We need to find somewhere to hide,” Sabine said. “Eventually we are going to run out of train.”
“I realize,” he said.
They found themselves in a dining car next. The rich aroma of shepherd’s pie filled the air.
“A table, my lord?” a plump woman asked. She wiped her hands on her white apron, then motioned to an empty table. “This is one of our best,” she said with a smile.
“Perhaps in a bit,” he said.
The crisp breeze slapped his face as they once again stepped outside. He crossed the threshold, then held out his hand for Sabine. Her foot slipped. She nearly fell, but he was able to catch her and pull her close.
