Vampire in Atlantis

seemed to be staring through space, time, and magic directly at Ivy. The woman fell backward, pierced by a spear of purple light. The image disappeared when the amethyst’s magic smashed into Ivy, combining with the energy from the Bell Rock vortex, and levitated her within a column of glowing purple light until her head gently bumped the ceiling. She looked around, and a slim beam of light flashed out from the column around her and illuminated a tiny drawing on the ceiling; a miniature of the design Smithson had pointed out to her below. She lifted a hand to touch it, and a stone panel slid aside—more magic—and a waterfall of sparkling red began to stream out of the hiding space in the ceiling. She tried to move out of the way, but the column of light held her fixed and nearly frozen directly in the path of the falling treasure.
    All she could do was shield her head and face with her hands, and try not to cry out when the sharp edges of the stones struck her skin. She could hear Ian shouting something, but the magical light acted as a sound buffer and she couldn’t make out the words. She tried to smile reassuringly at him but a falling stone smashed into her cheek, cutting her skin, so she covered her face again, deciding she could reassure him after she got out of the path of the rocks.
    Long minutes later, the beam of light finally released her. She fell awkwardly to the ground, which was at least two yards beneath where her feet had been hanging, suspended, in the air. She hit the ground hard and crumpled as her ankle twisted underneath her.
    This time she cried out. She couldn’t help it.
    Ian rushed over and helped her up so she could limp, leaning heavily on him, across the floor to sit down near the wall farthest from the enormous pile of rubies. Dozens of small cuts and scrapes from the falling gems ached and bled all over her hands, arms, shoulders, neck, and face.
    “I guess whoever hid the gems wanted anybody who found them to pay for it,” Ian said bitterly. “It was like one of those Indiana Jones traps.”
    “Luckily not a rolling boulder,” she said, trying to smile. Judging from Ian’s reaction, she must have looked ghastly.
    “Mom, your nose is bleeding again, plus all these cuts, and your ankle—I have to get you to a doctor.”
    “If only you were old enough to drive,” she murmured, suddenly dizzy and faint. If the exhaustion or the drain of her magical powers didn’t get her, the dehydration would. Either way, she would be just as dead, and her son in just as much danger.
    Smithson, meanwhile, was ignoring her completely as he all but danced around the pile of rocks. His rubies, then. They must be. Ordinary rocks wouldn’t have caused this level of capering glee. She’d seen them anyway, on the way down. Uncut and rough as most of them were, the occasional deep red glow, even in the unusual purple light, had told her all she’d needed to know. There was probably millions of dollars of rubies in that pile—maybe more, she didn’t know, she was no gemologist—and surely, surely Smithson had to be happy now. His thugs were quickly gathering all the rubies into a dozen or so large duffel bags and, one by one, heading out of the cave.
    The slimeball in question smiled at her, rubbing his hands together. “Now, that wasn’t all that hard, was it?”
    “My mom is bleeding all over, and she hurt her ankle falling. She could have died! You promised to let us go, so do it now, already,” Ian shouted at him.
    Smithson paused and pretended to look regretful, but Ivy could see the mad, gleeful joy deep in his soulless eyes. “Oh, I’m so sorry. But your mommy is just too valuable. I’m afraid I still want her, and since I need you to keep her in line, well, it looks like we’re all going to take a trip together.”
    “I will kill you if you hurt my mother,” Ian said hotly. He started to say something else, but Ivy shook his arm and gave him her most grim “stop right this instant because I’m your mother and I said so” look.
    He subsided, but not for long, judging by the way his lips were pressed together in his “I’m going to explode any second” expression. She’d known this boy since the moment she’d pushed him crying out into the world nearly fourteen years ago, and when her son felt there was injustice in the world, he couldn’t keep silent about it, no matter the cost. She’d always loved that about him, but right now it might get them killed.
    Still,