From the other side of the courtyard red ribbons of power streamed from a dark hallway. Instant calm washed over me and the nerves running through my body stopped. Serrina, queen of desires, strolled out into the courtyard with those ribbons running over her leather pants, up around her hips and across her black graphic tee. She hurried to Ashryn’s side. “We all good here?”
Ashryn gave her a single nod and the corner of her lip pulled up into a slight smile. “Yes.”
“What happened?” Serrina turned toward the rest of us.
“There was a severe lack of information coming from Ophelia.” Zinnia rolled her eyes.
“Why am I not surprised?” Tabi, queens of elements, came from a hallway at the back corner of the courtyard. Tiny flames danced in her palm as she tossed it up in the air and caught it over and over again. Faint sparks danced in her wild curls and reflected off the golden glow of her ebony skin.
“Hey shit was going down. You can’t expect me to send a whole damn novel explaining why.” Ophelia crossed her arms over her chest.
“No we can’t.” Purple sparks flared in a small circle in the ground and Nova shot right up from it. Skeletal hands seeped back into the ground under her and the ground closed up. She was death itself, with her white-blond hair, pale, pale skin, and body-hugging leather outfit, complete with silver buckles down her legs and corseted top.
She waved to me. “Astrid, your powers have grown.”
My cheeks heated. “Steadily.”
“Who’s this?” Nova turned her attention to Penndolyn, who stood motionless, just staring at all of them.
“Oh, excuse me, this is Penndolyn Fairmont, the mother of all warlocks.” I moved to her side. “We, um, freed her from a Ouija board.”
Penndolyn clasped her hands to her chest. “All the queens together. I never thought I’d live to see the day my brother would be removed from this world.”—.”
Grayson raced around the clearing and came to a screeching halt right beside Penndolyn. “Your brother? Bloody hell, you were related to Alataris?” He shook his head and muttered, “Can she be trusted?”
Penndolyn didn’t even look a bit taken aback. “I can assure you, young vampire, I can be trusted even more than you, Grayson Shade of the house of Shade. How is your uncle?”
Grayson swallowed. “Right as rain.”
“Do give Titus my regards.” She gave a humorless chuckle. “I’m sure he’d love to see you… soon.”
Grayson paled and muttered, “Bloody freaky warlocks.”
Brax lumbered over toward the fountain. His body slowly began to morph from tiger to human. His claws retracted, that thick fur seeped back into his skin only leaving faint stripes. His face went from feline to his normal chiseled features. He looked down at the fountain and shook his head. “Oh, no.”
“Brax, hi!” I walked up to him and gave him a huge hug. His big arms wrapped around my whole body, and for a second, my feet left the ground. He was so warm—like a cuddly teddy bear. Though we hadn’t spent much time together, he helped save my life, and I genuinely liked the hulking tiger shifter, even if he looked like a black ops killer. He placed me back on my feet and turned toward the fountain once more.
“What have you done?” The skin between his eyes creased into a little V of concern. “Matteaus is going to kill you.”
“Over a fountain?” I looked at the mess. “I don’t get it. It can be fixed.”
“Speaking of Matteaus, we need to find him.” Beckett got everyone’s attention. “Where is he?”
“Not here,” Zinnia shook her head.
“How do we find him?” There was no other choice. We needed to get to him, and get to him now. I wanted to stay and hang out and get to know all the queens and knights better, but we didn’t have the time.
“You can’t. You just kind of wait ’til he decides to show up.” Zinnia shrugged.
Beckett stepped in closer to her, and we all moved in around him. He lowered his voice. “We think Logan might’ve been taken by a Hell demon, and that falls under his jurisdiction, big time. We all know only the Fallen deal with Hell spawn.”
Zinnia pressed her lips together. “The only thing I can think of is we can try to use the pendulums to find him, the same way we did to try and find Alataris’ island.”
“Yeah, but we needed something of his to find him, didn’t we?” Beckett sighed. “Do any of you have something we could use.”
Zinnia, Nova, and Ophelia all started laughing. Zinnia nodded and said, “Yeah, we’ve got something for you.”
Chapter 5
Astrid
For the first time I stopped and paused looking around at everyone. I’d never seen all the knights, queens and heirs together. It was what Matteaus had been trying to do…unite us all. Zinnia waved for us to follow her. If I wasn’t so damn worried about Logan, I would have reveled in this moment. There was so much power rolled within our group that when we walked down the hallway, students scurried to move away from us. The school was old, even older that Warwick, with big stones making up the castle-like structure. It was so odd to me, this ancient work of art in the middle of New York, the place I’d called home all my life. Yet here it was, in the middle of everything, yet hidden. The sounds of the city filtered away as we moved deeper into the school.
We walked down a hidden set of steps and ended up in a stone room with a pentagram inlayed in the floor. Thick wooden tables lined three of the walls, and floor-to-ceiling shelves stood at the back of the room. They were covered in magical supplies, jars filled with herbs and potions. Zinnia walked over to one and pulled out an amethyst stone shaped like a crystal and hanging from a long silver chain. She held it up to us, and the thing began to swing wildly, without her hand even moving.
“I’ve got the pendulum. Ophelia, where’s the feather?”
Ophelia ran to the corner of the room and dug into a shelf lined with boxes. “I’ve got it. I know I do.”
We stood waiting while she opened and tossed every box onto the floor behind her. A pile of boxes and odd pieces rolled over the stone floor until she came to the last one and whipped out a black feather. She held it up. “Got it.”
“We need a map. We’ll start with the U.S. first, then go from there.” Zinnia glanced at Ophelia, “Where are the maps that you said you were putting in here?”
“Hey, I can’t be expected to do everything.” Ophelia moved to another shelf at the back of the room, about to throw its contents on the floor in search of a map.
“You know what? I think I got this.” I held out my hand, and my power easily flowed over the floor covering the pentagram shape. A map of the United States appeared at Zinnia’s feet. It was bigger than I expected—big enough for all of us to gather in a circle around it and for there still to be room.
“Excellent.” Zinnia stood over the map with the pendulum in hand. She wrapped the chain around the end of the feather and let the pendulum swing over the map. “Show me Matteaus.”
We waited in silence as the pendulum swung around and around but never stopped. Her silver magic flowed from her hands, all the way down to the map, yet nothing happened. Zinnia made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat and dropped her arm. “This isn’t working. I should’ve known it wouldn’t. They’re the Fallen; they’re too clever to be found from one of their feathers.”
Nova pointed toward the map. “What if you try to find a power surge, like an insane amount of power gathered in one place? If the rumors are true, then they all live in the same compound.”
“But again, would they be dumb enough to let a power surge like that be so visible?” Beckett pressed his lips into a hard line, and I wanted nothing more than to turn to him and press my mouth against his. To tell him we’d figure all this out.
I couldn’t think that they would. These were the Fallen, the fallen angels chosen to rule our world with an iron fist. They were as old as time and more powerful than anything any of us could imagine.
“No, the
y wouldn’t.” My mind latched onto one single thought. “They really wouldn’t.”
“What do you mean?” Zinnia arched her eyebrow at me.
“Well, there are supernaturals all over the world, so searching for power could go in any direction. But what if we search for no power at all? Like an absence of power altogether, because they are that good, and they would be that hidden.” I glanced around at the others when my gaze finally landed on Penndolyn. She smiled at me.
She smirked motioned toward the pendulum. “Search for no power at all.”
“Let’s do it. Couldn’t hurt.” Zinnia’s silvery magic flowed down her arm and circled the pendulum. It flailed around, spinning faster and faster until it flew out of her hand and imbedded itself in the map and the floor beneath it.
We all leaned in, but I was closest. “The Fallen are in… southern New Jersey. That can’t be right.”
“Why not?” Beckett leaned in closer to me to examine the map.
“Because there’s nothing there—it’s the Pine Barrens. That’s where the mafia goes to get rid of bodies because no one ever finds them—because there’s nothing there.” I shook my head. “I mean, I guess if there was a place to be, it might be there.”
Nova stood up straight. “Are we really going to do this? Walk into the Fallen compound?”
We all stood there, dead silent, thinking about the enormity of what we were contemplating doing. Just showing up at the house of the ones who ruled us all? Then my mind seized on one thing and one thing only: Logan needed us, and we needed them. “We don’t have a choice.”
Chapter 6
Beckett
“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. I should’ve packed my shinier weapons.” Ophelia skipped around our group in circles, too excited to contain herself.
“They don’t even know we’re coming. We’ll all probably end up dead.” I couldn’t believe that the day had started with so much hope, and now I was desperate for any kind of help. I needed to move, to be searching for Logan. This felt horribly like a field trip, complete with knights, queens, and heirs.
“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Astrid walked beside me, our shoulders nearly brushing. I wanted to reach out and touch her, to wrap my fingers with hers. But we were still forbidden and had to hide what we were to each other, at least in public. The other heirs knew, but outside of that, we had to keep up appearances. Even more so now that we were heading into Fallen territory.
“This was as close as I could get using Google maps. I can only go to places I can see, and if I can’t see it, we can’t go there.”
“So, the middle of a forest, on a dirt road that looks like it’s haunted, is the closest?” She kicked a rock in her path and smiled up at me. For a moment, I forgot what I was going to say. I was lost in her emerald eyes and shining dark-burgundy hair. I cleared my throat.
“Don’t worry, Astrid. I’m scarier than anything you could face out here.” Ophelia beamed at us then danced back toward Cross.
Zinnia, who stood on my other side, chuckled. “She does have a point.”
This was a moment in time that no one should ever forget. The warlock heirs and witch queens were lined up and united in one cause. When I glanced over my shoulder at them all, it was an odd view. Tabi stood in the middle tossing fire balls back and forth between her hands, Serrina and Ashryn whispered in quick hushed tones. Nova pulled one of her gloves off and was swing it back and forth as she walked. Grayson stepped a little too close to her. He glanced down at her hand and stumbled away.
“Oh bloody hell, woman.” He went too far to the side and bumped into Brax who’d been prowling beside us in tiger form. He swiped at Grayson with his large paw and hissed.
Having us all together was what I’d been trying to accomplish this whole time, yet it felt empty without Logan and the rest of the warlock world behind us. “I think there’s another road just up there.”
A few yards away there was a small opening between the towering trees. Though I couldn’t see the road itself, I could see where the trees were cleared and a path of fallen leaves wound through the woods. This place was utter stillness. The only sounds other than our little group were the wind rustling through the trees and small animals scurrying around.
Tuck gave me a single look, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. Protect them all. He walked beside Zinnia, and I moved to the other side of Astrid. The four of us led the group, Zin and Astrid between us. Each of the guardians moved to the outside of the group, surrounding the queens. Cross, Penndolyn, Ophelia, and Maze lined up next to each other, bringing up the rear of our hiking party.
The moment we turned onto the path, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I felt eyes on me from all different angles, yet I couldn’t see a single person or camera. Magic hung heavy in the air. Fog rolled through the forest, and I hesitated. It was laced with something stronger than I’d ever felt before.
Zinnia sucked in a deep breath. Her sapphire eyes sparked. “You all feel that?”
“Oh, yeah,” I nodded.
Astrid rolled her shoulders and sighed. “It’s intriguing.”
Ophelia sighed. “It’s like wanting to stay and leave at the same time.”
“I think if we were human, we might all leave.” I squatted down and let my fingers drift through the fog. “Anyone else feel kind of frozen?”
We hadn’t taken another step toward where I thought the compound would be. They all nodded, and I knew we wouldn’t able to go any farther. Then, the fog parted and rolled, opening a single path right down the middle of it. It rose up on either side of us, forming giant white walls.
I took a step forward. “They know we’re here.”
“They knew the moment your portal opened up here,” Ophelia called from the back of the group. “I need to find out who their witch is. We’re going to have to exchange spells.”
Astrid stepped in closer to me and nodded toward the open path. “Shall we?”
As a group, we moved forward with only the crunching leaves and wind moving through the trees making a sound. My heart thundered in my chest as a looming gate came into view. Thick wrought iron bars surrounded a sprawling estate. I reached out my hand to grab one when Astrid pulled me back.
“Don’t.” She dropped her grip on me then picked up a stick from the ground. She tossed it at the bars. It sizzled, surrounded by little electrical sparks, then fell to the ground in a smoking heap. “That’s why.”
I smiled down at her. “That would’ve sucked.”
“Or been really entertaining.” She chuckled.
The gate whirled and groaned like it hadn’t been opened in years. I guess since they could fly, there was no reason to use the front gate. At the center, it parted and swung outward toward us. I took a small step back, giving it room. When it opened fully, it rattled and clanked before coming to a halt. “Not sure this is an invitation. But I’m taking it.”
“Hopefully, this is an invite.” I stepped through the opening and began walking toward the Fallen’s compound.
In my mind, I always pictured the Fallen compound as a military base. I thought it would be a square metal building with lasers and guns swirling around it, barking attack dogs, and maybe some spotlights. But this was wholly unexpected. It reminded me of the old sprawling Southern mansions I’d seen in pictures. Thick white columns rose up from the ground floor to the roof. Balconies surrounded each of the three floors. French doors lined each of them as though every room in the house had access to the outside.
Black shutters framed each of the windows and doors. They stood out against the white exterior of the house. The grounds extended in all directions, with wide lawns running to the perimeter fence. Beyond the electrified fence were the thick cloaking woods of the Pine Barrens. When I glanced up at the rooftop, I saw multiple cameras, all pointed in our direction.
“They definitely know we’re here.”
Then the sound of multiple guns cocking filled the air,
and I froze. Astrid glanced over her shoulder. “And Ophelia, too.”
“Hey.” Ophelia looked up at the guns on the top of the house and on the pillars between sections of fencing. “You know what? I’m not even offended. Well played.”
I waved them forward. Our feet crunched on the gravel walkway leading up to the grand front porch. My heart hammered in my chest with each step I took. We weren’t supposed to be here. I knew it; they knew it. The front door swung open, and a huge man stood there. He was in the process of pulling a white T-shirt over his head, but not before revealing his bare torso. A dark tattoo snaked from his hip all the way up his rib cage and across his pec, like the flames could burn his heart from his chest. He leaned up against the door jamb and crossed his arms over his bare chest. His vivid hazel eyes roamed over me, and then over the crew behind us.
“Mika,” Astrid whispered, “should we like, bow or show our bellies or something?”
The corner of his lip pulled up and he chuckled. He shook his head and pointed our little group. “Does he know you’re coming?”
It didn’t matter if he knew we were coming or not. Logan was missing, and I would do what needed to be done. I lifted my chin. “No.”
“Oh, this is gonna be good.” Mika turned on his heels and motioned for us to follow. He paused then looked over his shoulder. “No big cats.”
Brax morphed before my eyes from enormous tiger back into himself. Complete with his blonde crew cut hair, black long-sleeved tee and army pants. “Sorry.”
Mika waved for us to continue. “Let’s get this over with.”
We stepped across the threshold and into another world. This place was elegance on steroids. White marble floors extended out from the foyer, all the way back toward a long hallway going farther into the house. A set of double stairs bowed up in a U-shape to the second floor. I titled my head back, looking up and up to the third and fourth floors. Dark iron railings ran around each of the levels, separated by large marble pillars. White double doors were closed up tight on each of the floors.
Wicked Curse (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 4) Page 4
