Free Off to Be the Wizard - 2 - Spell or High Water by Scott Meyer

beach. The two men walked with her.
    Phillip said, “First things first. How are you Gwen? How do you like living in Atlantis?”
    Gwen said, “Atlantis is amazing. You’ll see soon enough. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close.”
    Martin said, “Really? Because, I gotta say, I was surprised to hear from you again so soon.”
    “What do you mean?” Gwen asked.
    “Oh, just that when you left, I figured we’d hear from you again, but I expected it to take a lot longer. I thought you’d hold out longer than a month or two.”
    Martin looked at Gwen. She was looking back, but she was not smiling. Beyond her, Martin could see Phillip. His eyes were bulging and he was gritting his teeth.
    “It’s been a month or two for you, Martin,” Gwen said. “I’ve been here over two years.”
    Martin stopped walking. Gwen and Phillip did not.
    “Oh,” Martin said. “That’s closer to what I expected.”
    Gwen neither slowed down nor said a word. Phillip looked back at him and chuckled mirthlessly. After a moment, Martin ran to catch up.
    “So,” Phillip said, breaking the silence, “where are we going?”
    “To Atlantis,” Gwen answered. “It’s a few miles away, but I’ve got a boat to take us.”
    “Why don’t we just fly there?” Martin asked.
    “Because we can’t really talk while we’re flying, and there are a few things you need to know.”
    As they rounded a bend, skirting the edge of the island, they saw a wooden dock extending off of the beach and into the water.
    “Where shall we start?” Phillip asked.
    “Let’s start with the summit,” Gwen said. “As the invitation said, representatives from each colony of time travelers have been brought here. We’ve brought two members from each group, the group’s leader, and another, usually either the second in command , or the leader’s best friend. It may please you to know that you’re from one of the largest groups. Most colonies are quite a bit smaller.”
    Martin asked, “What are the biggest ones?”
    “Well, there’s you guys, because you represent all of Europe in one of the most obvious time frames. China and Baghdad are about the same size as yours, but the biggest is Atlantis.”
    “Really?” Martin said. “Atlantis is the biggest?”
    “Think about it,” Gwen said. “We have most of the women from most of the groups. Of course we’d be the biggest.”
    Martin held up his hands, signaling surrender. “No, I get it. You’ve got a point. I’d just hoped that other cultures were a little friendlier to women who do magic, so maybe they wouldn’t feel the need to come here.”
    Gwen said, “Sadly, life is pretty nasty for women who do magic almost everywhere, and in almost any time. The only place where they get treated the same as the men is in the colony that’s living as Gypsies in Paris in the 1480s, and that’s just because the locals treat the male and the female Gypsies equally badly.”
    They walked quietly for a moment, contemplating human nature, until Gwen broke the silence. “So, we’ll be deciding various issues that face our kind. How to prevent the abuse of our powers, what we will call ourselves, that sort of stuff.”
    “What’s wrong with calling ourselves wizards?” Martin asked.
    “We don’t all pose as wizards. There are fakirs, philosophers, wise men, alchemists, medicine men, sorcerers, and a couple of magicians. You’ll be meeting people like us from all over the w orld, and all over recorded history. For now we’re using ‘time travelers,’ but that doesn’t really cover it. In Atlantis, we call ourselves ‘sorceresses.’”
    “Because you’re all women.”
    “And because it’s fun. It kinda makes everything into a tongue twister. ‘Send several sorceresses south.’ See?”
    Phillip said, “Great. Two weeks of planned disagreements with people who aren’t used to dealing with equals. It’ll be a miracle if we get anything accomplished.”
    “It won’t be a problem,”