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Nope. Passenger ship is right out. I’m not even sure any passenger ships pass close enough to the island for our plan to work. Or continent. Whatever. I have no idea how large this place is. Never seen it. It’s conspicuously absent from all known maps. Maybe Max has it somewhere in some ancient document. Then again, the way Maple talked about the place, it’s completely possible even Max’s extensive library has no mention of it at all.
The entire point of Thelmora was to hide from humans.
I need a large boat. Problem there is, I don’t have a boat of any size. Also, a large boat tends to require a crew. Don’t have one of those either. Hmm. Kingsley used to be a fisherman years ago. He definitely knows more about these things than I do.
Time to pick his brain.
***
Two hours later, I’m cleaned up, dressed, and in downtown Santa Ana.
Kingsley’s in court today. It’s nothing terribly lurid or exciting. He’s defending a guy who’s charged with embezzling a few million from some company. Not exactly an upstanding citizen, but it’s a lot better than defending a real sleazeball. He’s trying to avoid taking cases like that to make me happy. Say what you will about law and the legal profession, but I still think it takes a certain kind of person to be willing to defend a criminal accused of heinous things like murdering innocent people, rape, and so on—especially if you seriously suspect the person did those things.
Generally, he tries to avoid defending a client in a case where the crime is really horrible… unless he truly believes that the accused is innocent. And yeah, I know… the legal process is supposed to have rules. Even someone guilty of the worst things imaginable deserves to have an advocate to ensure the law is followed properly. I just don’t want it to be Kingsley.
He didn’t seem to mind this, and he’s doing pretty well at keeping his docket ‘clean’ of true scum.
So, anyway… I’m downtown at the courthouse, waiting.
I sit there on the most uncomfortable stone bench imaginable for almost an hour. Finally, at 12:33 p.m., he appears out of a side hallway. I wave. He smiles and sidles over to me. Wow, he looks amazing in that suit. Like a Viking warrior who got cleaned up for society. Werewolves have a tendency to get bigger and bulkier as they age. I’m not sure if there’s an upper limit on this or if the day will come when he can’t go out in public anymore because he’d look too cartoonishly buff, like inhumanly muscled.
Hopefully not. Fingers crossed he’s as big as it gets.
“Got about an hour break.” Kingsley swoops in to sit beside me. “Will need to get back to the courtroom after. Your text said you had a problem?”
I nod. “Yup, and I’m hoping you can help me figure it out.”
“I’m all ears.”
Grinning, I kiss him, then reach up and scratch behind his ears like he’s a giant fluffy dog.
He gives me this put-upon look of ‘really’, though he can’t hide a faint smile.
The courthouse hallway isn’t the most isolated place. It’s busy. Quite a few people walking around and it’s extremely echoey. I lean close, one arm draped around his huge shoulders, and explain the entire situation.
“A uni—” He coughs, chuckles, then coughs again. “Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately, yeah.” I exhale. “The situation is time sensitive. The longer we take to do it, the worse things will get. Not only is the unicorn’s magic affecting everyone and everything around her, the shadows are going to continue coming after her with increasing desperation.” I next explain the logistical issue of having to transport a horse-sized creature out into the middle of the Pacific. “I’m guessing a boat is probably going to be the best idea here.”
“Military cargo plane would be faster,” says Kingsley.
“Do you have one of those?”
“Nope.”
I chuckle. “Well, I’m not going to sneak onto an Air Force base and borrow one. Besides, Maple said something about the more advanced a technology is, the more this place screws with it. Even if we have a unicorn with us on the plane, it might not be possible to locate the place effectively. She didn’t exactly say how close we have to get for the unicorn to be able to teleport herself home. An airplane is just… I dunno. Feels like adding a whole lot of unnecessary risk. What would we do if bringing a plane near that island causes all the technology to stop working? Never mind how difficult it would be to even get one. I can’t exactly mind control everyone at once.”
“Fair point.” He grins. “Just so happens that I do know a guy with a boat.”
“A boat? Will it handle a trip like this?”
Kingsley gives me a ‘one second’ finger while glancing down at his smartphone. He sighs as if annoyed and hastily taps out a text message. “Work stuff. I swear the opposing counsel on this case never actually went to law school.”
“Ouch.”
“Idiot’s trying to slip this nonsense past me, hoping I won’t catch it.” He lowers the phone. “Okay, sorry. Yeah, Angus’s ship is pretty big. I’ll check with him, but I think it’ll work for a deep-sea trip.”
“What sort of crazy story are we going to need to give him to explain the sudden need to go way off into the middle of nowhere?”
