A forest of glass?
A cluster of crystals?
Then it dawned on me. This looked like a wave hitting a cliff or a giant splash frozen in time. The structure appeared transparent like a wave too. Rising from the ocean, it sparkled in the sunlight like a precious jewel, each glass prong and crystal branch cut with brilliant facets.
For a moment, I even forgot about all my troubles, mesmerized by the shimmering lights dancing through the glass.
Leslo climbed out onto the beach of shimmering white sand, then pulled me up by the scruff of my blouse before I even managed to gather my feet under me.
“What...is this place?” I panted, catching my breath with my hands on my knees. It’d been a while since I did any kind of swimming, especially a long distance like this.
“Hey! Who are you? State your business!” a male voice shouted.
Leslo straightened, adjusting his belt, and I spotted a leather holster attached to his side—a knife sheath, with the black handle of a weapon sticking out.
A group of four men ran towards us along the beach. Armed with swords, spears, and arrows, they looked dressed for arenaissance faire, and apparently one that allowed for very little clothing. Each wore only a pair of loose, pastel-colored pants or a long loin cloth and chest armor made from large, iridescent scales. They moved gracefully, like gymnasts or ballet dancers, yet looked big and strong enough to break necks with their bare arms.
As they came closer, the menacing scowls on their faces almost made me believe that their weapons weren’t props and that they knew exactly how to use them.
One of the group stepped forward, pointing his black sword at Leslo. “Who are you? And why are you here?”
The man’s long, snow-white hair was braided on each side and hung loose in the back, allowing the breeze to play with the strands. His pink skin was dusted with pearly shimmer. The others had their hair and skin painted in even more outlandish colors, ranging from pale turquoise to aqua to dove-gray. The pearlesque shimmer they had all powdered themselves with was a bizarre choice for a bunch of muscular guys cosplaying as fierce warriors.
Leslo cleared his throat.
“I’m sent by Goddess Ghata to make a deal with your king...or your queen.” He scratched his bald head, looking uncertain. “I mean, who do you have here now? What year is it?”
He didn’t look as utterly confused as me but seemed slightly disoriented.
Another man stepped alongside the first. This one had pale turquoise hair cut to his shoulders and gray skin that complemented his hair color perfectly.
“His Majesty, King Kye, is the current ruler of the Olathana Ocean,” the gray man informed Leslo. “But if you’re here on a state matter, you can request an audience with his uncle, Prince Arnon.”
What was he talking about?
A king? A prince?
I blinked away my stupor.
Surely, there was a very logical explanation for all of it. If this wasn’t a faire, it had to be a reenactment of some sort. Or a movie set? Of course, it must be a movie set, the most realistic and spectacularly constructed, but what else could it be? It definitely didn’t look like some dirty transfer point on a human trafficking route.
Running a hand through my shoulder-length hair, damp and coarse with salt water, I took a step away from Leslo.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your fun, boys,” I said firmly, rolling back my shoulders. “But I have a very important meeting I need to be at right now. So if I could please talk to someone in charge here to arrange for transportation to LA—”
The sound of my own words suddenly registered with me, stunning me into a shocked silence. Cutting myself off, I gripped my throat. I hadn’t said any of that in English. Leslo and the armed men weren’t speaking English either, yet I understood them perfectly.
“I mean...” I tried again. The unfamiliar sounds of the unknown to me language rolled easily from my tongue, as if I’d spoken it from birth.
I made an effort to form English sounds and tried again, “I. Me-an.”
It came out in English this time, but at what cost? Every syllable required considerable physical effort to form, and I had to focus on the meaning of each word, as if speaking a foreign language I’d mostly forgotten.
“What the fuck?” I squeaked in this new language to convey my horror.
The men around me seemed to be largely unperturbed by my struggle. I now had their full attention, but no one bothered to explain anything, including the sudden language switch.
The pink one squinted his turquoise eyes at me.
