Illusions 13

"May I show you?"

Vraska shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean show me?"

"I want to practice, if it's all right with you."

Vraska had a feeling she knew what was coming next. "Yes. It's all right."

The galley around them dissolved. Vraska remained seated in her chair, but now sat in a grove of bamboo taller than the masts of her ship. Jace sat in his chair, eyes aglow, and began an illusory summary of his last forty days. Vraska watched as bamboo changed to pristine sand. Rain sprinkled down on an imaginary fire and a very dead fish. She watched him learn to hunt and scavenge, build and survive. The gorgon sipped her tea and marveled at both the beauty of Jace's island and the plethora of things Jace had learned while he was there. He smiled as he showed her what he had learned and built. He clearly delighted in filling the empty gaps in his knowledge, and his enthusiasm was contagious. It was incredible that he constructed fish hooks, a platform, a raft. Vraska finished her tea by the end of the tour, and the island faded back to the familiar wood of the galley.

Jace's magic receded. Vraska found herself shaking her head. Of course he of all people would enjoy being marooned on an island with no memory. But this series of illusions did not answer how he had ended up here in the first place.

THE TALENTED CAPTAIN VRASKA