blessed warm darkness of a late March Greek evening embraced me, making me all but invisible to watchful eyes as I raced down the narrow ledge, shinnying down a pipe to the ground.
"Where are you? Are you all right? Mayling!"
"I'm fine. I'm outside the house, but stop yelling or the mage's people will find you," I hissed into the microphone. "Can you get out of the tree without being seen?"
"Oh, thank the gods you're all right. I just about had a heart attack! Yes, I think I can get down. There's a handy branch right... oomph!"
Across the street from the elegant villa located in Nea Makri, a small resort town outside of Athens, a black, vaguely human shape fell to the ground. I hurried around the edges of the square, avoiding pools of light from the houses until I reached my twin.
Her face, lit dimly from the lights at the nearest house, looked up at me as I stopped next to her. "I fell."
"I saw. You all right?"
She nodded, peering at the house as I quickly pulled her to her feet. "What are they yelling? I can't make out the words."
"It's probably nothing but a lot of swearing. Oh, and my nickname. Well, not my nickname-the other name."
"What other name?" she asked as I hurried her away from the house and down the dark side street where we'd left the rental car. "Oh, you mean that Asian thing that someone made up?"
"They made it up because they heard you yelling my nickname in Dresden when I helped the naiad sisterhood get back the icon that was stolen. Fortunately, they were looking for an Asian person and paid no attention to little old me."
A guilty look flitted across her face. "I didn't know that people would think that was your real name. Besides, that was at least ten years ago. Surely they've forgotten that by now?"
"Hardly. The fame of Mei Ling lives on..."
We stopped in front of the car. I was about to pull out the car key but realized with some surprise that I was holding something.
"What's wrong?" she asked as I stared at my hand. "Goddess! You're bleeding! You went through the window?"
"Yes." I unfurled my fingers and stared at... nothing.
"We'd better go," she said, taking the key and unlocking the door. "I'll drive. You can slump down so you're less obvious. I know no one can see you when you do your cloaking thing, but they'll see the blood that you're dripping everywhere. It's a good thing you're my twin, or you'd have to go to the hospital."
"If I wasn't your twin, I wouldn't have been in a position to jump through the window in the first place," I answered automatically, tracing out the shape of a small stone box. "Whatever the mage used on this is pretty powerful. I still can't see it."
"See what?" she asked, pausing to peer into my hand. "The cuts? They'll heal in a few minutes."
"I'm not worried about that-I have been stabbed, shot, and nearly disemboweled, and I know full well I'll heal up quickly enough. It's this," I said, ducking as Cyrene shoved me into the car.
"What, exactly?" she asked, gunning the engine. "Hotel?"
"Yes, please. It's a box. Look at it from the corner of your eye."
"I can't see anything when I'm driving-oh! It's a box!" she exclaimed, her gaze flickering between my hand and the street.
"I think it's crystal. I think-" My fingers, which had been stroking the invisible box, must have pressed a small, hidden switch, for suddenly my soul sang. I felt rather than saw a luminous golden glow radiating from the box, a beautiful light of such wondrous beauty, it seemed to fill me with happiness.
Cyrene swore and slammed on the brakes, jerking the car onto a thankfully empty sidewalk, her eyes huge.
I stared down in astonishment at the source of the unseen but still tangible ethereal glow.
"What the-what is that? Gracious goddess, it's... it's..."
"It's quintessence," I said, breathing heavily as I allowed the glittering brilliance to sink deep into my bones.
"The what now?"
"Quintessence. The fifth element."
Slowly, I closed the lid of the box, the light ending with an abruptness that left my soul weeping.
"Like the movie, you mean? With Bruce Willis?"
"What?" It took a moment for her words to penetrate the fog that seemed to settle over me with the loss of the light. "No, not that. That's just Hollywood. The fifth element is something alchemists strive to find. It's the essential presence."