Back to Atlantis by Bar Sagi (best book reader txt) 📗

die…” He kept talking about them, his face pale and set. Yasmin was shocked.

She had never heard him utter as much as a bad word. He had such a personal grudge against them! But of course he would, when they had killed his parents. Still, Yasmin didn’t like the look on Lucas’s face. He looked ready to kill.

“I promise I will do my best to stop them.” Yasmin faced Lucas, gently holding his face in her hands. She leaned forward and hugged Lucas, until their foreheads touched. “So, if there’s anything I can do, tell me. I care about you, Lucas.”

Lucas looked shocked. His eyes, up close, were like an emerald forest, filled with too many shades of green to describe.

“Excuse me, man, are you Lucas Ashtown?” A bored-looking teenager with a bag of letters on his back approached. “This was sent by magic express, and apparently very urgent. Are you him?” The teenager spoke with a drawl in his voice, it was like he was telling Lucas to do what he liked, because he didn’t care.

Lucas went pale.

Yasmin asked, in a very confused voice, “What’s magic mail?”

Lucas didn’t even turn to look at her, his white face was completely focused on the letter. Moving away from her, he took the white envelope in shaking hands.

The teenager came closer and glanced at Yasmin. He had a pimple the size of a small cottage on his cheek, but he didn’t seem to care.

Yasmin tried very hard not to stare. “Magic mail is instant. A temporary portal. You get it immediately, but also pay a lot more money. Must be real important to be sent through magic mail.”

Yasmin glanced at the letter, which Lucas was now opening slowly. He seemed scared of what was inside. That sparked Yasmin’s curiosity, but she pushed it down, hard. She had no right to snoop in Lucas’s letter, especially if it made him look like that. But why would an orphan get magic mail?

Lucas read the letter slowly. Its content seemed to trouble him. “Yasmin,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I need to go.”

“I’ll walk you back,” Yasmin stated, but Lucas stopped her.

“No.” “I think you should go home now, Yasmin.”

Yasmin would have argued, but when she saw the dead look on Lucas’s face she changed her mind.

“I’m here,” she said, placing a hand on Lucas’s shoulder. He flinched and she removed it. “Don’t forget that.”

Lucas looked sick, like that was the worst thing she could have said. “I wish I could.” He looked like he was about to cry.

Yasmin bit her lip, hurt. “Goodbye then,” she said, walking back to the castle.

If anybody had noticed that she was walking quite fast, they ignored it.

Later that night, Yasmin hugged her pillow, crying silently. Was Lucas okay? If he wasn’t, why didn’t he ask for help? Even if she couldn’t solve the problem, she could at least comfort him, right? Why did he want her so far away?

***

Far away in the orphanage, Lucas sat by the window, reading the letter again by moonlight. Although it was freezing outside, he wasn’t cold, even wearing only a light shirt.

Gazing at the full moon, Lucas clenched the letter in his fist.

I hate this! He thought, even knowing it was useless. I hate doing this! But it’s the only choice, I have to. Even if it means losing everything.

Lucas Ashtown looked out the window, about to make the hardest decision of his life.

“I’m sorry, Yasmin,” he whispered to no one…

Chapter 19

Wishes under the stars…

Yasmin felt a bit sad the next day. She had training-again. Even though she was done with magic, Gloriana still tried to teach her magic.

Gloriana had come to respect Yasmin a little more once she found out about the rouge army, but she still wanted Yasmin to keep training. Since she wouldn’t do actual magic, Gloriana taught her magical theory, usually in the library.

“You see, Yasmin, there are all kinds of magic. You are best at Elemental magic, which uses the natural elements, such as fire and water. I am better at Rune magic, which uses runes drawn in the air or ground or paper to get results. There are many different kinds of magic, but these are the most common. Elemental magic has a connection to weather magic, which includes forecasts. Weather magic is very rare, and only the most skilled spellcasters can summon thunderstorms.

“Rune magic, on the other hand, has a more practical, everyday use. A while back, you asked me why we don’t let the world know about magic. Well, we tried, once in the fifteen hundreds. You heard how that turned out,” she said wryly, making Yasmin shudder. “Normal humans, well, most of them anyways, react… unpleasantly to things they don’t understand and control. No, we’re better off alone. It’s much less of a headache.

“You go home back to your family once a week, am I right?”

Yasmin nodded and grimaced. The library chair was becoming uncomfortable.

“How do you think the portal is created? No potion could ever do that. A spellcaster creates a temporary portal so you can travel. Portalling is a very popular way of travel for spellcasters. Quick and easy.”

Easy? Yasmin thought of that time she had puked after portalling from home, and shuddered. I don’t really like portals.

“The better you are at Rune magic, the faster you can do the spells. You’ll be able to do more than simple shield spells soon. That is, if you ever take up magic again.” Gloriana regarded Yasmin with a reproachful look. Yasmin felt uncomfortable and wondered silently if Gloriana was ever going to give up that topic.

Just then, an unlikely savior appeared. Amanda, dressed all in red and black, with a royal circlet around her black hair. She seemed to be glowing with pride.

“Yasmin!” she said, touching her arm, and breathing heavily like she had been running. Which was unlikely, because she was wearing two inch heels. “I need to talk to you!”

“Princess Amanda,” Gloriana said in a reproachful tone, getting up and