Free Royal Institute of Magic: Elizabeth's Legacy by Victor Kloss Page A

certainly not enough to convict them, but Suktar
is very persuasive and very powerful. Even so, had Greg and Jane
fought their case, they would have had every chance of proving their
innocence. Unfortunately, they have disappeared without a trace,
which is a big mark against them.”
    Disappeared without a trace. The words lingered
in his head. All this time he had assumed they had been forced to
flee and were unable to return. But what if they left voluntarily?
What if they could come back, but wouldn’t? The thought rocked
him and made him go cold.
    “They must have a reason,”
Ben said softly, trying to keep the doubt from his voice.
    “I am sure they did,”
Wren agreed, “but they have yet to share it with anyone. And if
Suktar decides to break the truce, there could be a full-scale war.
To buy ourselves time, it was decided we should side with Suktar.
Once we find the Greenwoods, we will decide what to do.”
    “We found a letter you
wrote to my mum. You mentioned rumours that put them in danger?”
    “Yes, I remember writing
that,” Wren said, nodding. “The rumours were in relation
to the murder. I urged your parents to come in and prove their
innocence, but they didn’t.”
    “Why would Suktar want
Ben’s parents if they didn’t kill his son?” Charlie
asked, finally plucking up the courage to ask a question.
    “We don’t know,”
Wren said, “but I can tell you, Ben, your parents are the most
wanted people in the Unseen Kingdoms. Between the Institute and
Suktar’s empire, ninety percent of the population are looking
for them.
    Ben smiled, feeling a peculiar
sense of pride. In five minutes they had gone from being Greenpeace
employees to the most wanted couple in the… in the what?
    “What are the Unseen
Kingdoms?” Charlie asked, getting there a fraction before Ben.
    Before Wren could answer a girl
came in carrying a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits. She couldn’t
have been much older than Ben with dark brown hair that fell in curls
over her shoulders. There was something exotic about her green eyes,
which were intent on balancing the tray. Her ears were pointed, but
less than Wren’s. There was a single colourless diamond
hovering over her shoulder.
    “Sorry it took so long,”
she said, in a down-to-earth way that was at odds with her movie star
looks. “We were out of biscuits, so I had to run out and get
more. I hope you two like ginger snaps.”
    After an awkward pause Ben
realised she was talking to him and Charlie.
    “I love them, thanks,”
he said, giving her a lopsided smile. He knew from school that girls
liked his smiles, but this time it did nothing. Charlie mumbled a
response, but most of it was lost because he had said it to his lap.
    “Excellent call, Natalie,”
Wren said. Natalie smiled again and left the room.
    “She looks young,”
Charlie blurted out, before he could stop himself. “Compared to
everyone else I’ve seen, I mean.”
    “She’s fourteen,”
Wren said, as if Charlie’s statement was perfectly acceptable.
She started pouring them tea. “Fourteen is the minimum age to
start the apprenticeship. Biscuits?”
    Ben took a sip of his tea, tried
forgetting about Natalie’s green eyes and focused on the map.
    “So where do you start
explaining all this?” Ben asked.
    “Simple,” Wren said.
“We start at the beginning. What do you know of Queen Elizabeth
I?”
    Ben immediately thought of the
current queen and was glad he kept his mouth shut.
    “She was queen during the
war against the Spanish Armada, back in the 16th century,”
Charlie said.
    “Very good. Our history
lesson starts with her because she was the first to discover one of
the Unseen Kingdoms – Taecia to be precise, which is where you
find yourselves.”
    “Unseen Kingdoms?”
both Charlie and Ben said at the same time.
    “Twenty-four special
islands shielded by magic innate to the land. Their laws of physics
and energy resemble something you would call magic rather than
science.