by Sarah Noffke
“Fine, I get that you don’t trust me, and I understand why. Lots of shifty things happen at the House of Seven, but I’m not like Adler or his minions. Raina and I are working to restore balance to the House.”
“How?” Liv challenged.
“Well, for one, I don’t hunt down and dispose of magicians who aren’t registered. I warn them. Give them ways to hide.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because killing our own is wrong. Killing the innocent is wrong, and it was never the House’s right to own a magician’s magic. That’s not how justice works.”
Liv didn’t want to admit it, but Stefan sounded a lot like her. For that reason, she was even warier of him. Someone trying to get her trust would say exactly what she wanted to hear.
“I work alone,” Liv said after a moment of deliberation.
“It appears that you work with the lynx.” Stefan motioned to Plato.
“That’s because I know I can trust Plato. I don’t know a thing about you.”
Stefan gave her an amused look. “You named your cat after a philosopher?”
“I didn’t name him.”
Plato twitched his tail in irritation. “I’m tired of people thinking I was named after him when it was the other way around.”
Liv took a step back. “I’m going to open a portal and leave. You’re not going to follow me anymore. If you want me to trust you, stop stalking me. Tell me what you know about the House and share information with me, then we’ll see what happens.”
Stefan nodded. “Fine, that’s fair enough. But if I need my television fixed, can I come by the shop again?”
Liv turned around, putting her back to the warrior. “No. And you shouldn’t be watching television. Go work your cases, already.”
She opened a portal and disappeared, Plato following her.
Chapter Thirty-Two
After portaling three more times, Liv was certain Stefan wasn’t following her. “What are your thoughts on him?” she asked Plato as they hiked up the lush green hill on top of which the monastery was situated. It was an old stone building with three tall towers that rose high into the pristine blue sky.
“I think he’s hiding something,” Plato said, aware she was referring to Stefan even though they hadn’t spoken for ten minutes.
“Like that he’s behind whatever is going on with the House?”
“I don’t think so. My instinct tells me he isn’t lying about letting off unregistered magicians. Still, I think it’s dangerous to trust anyone but Clark with what you’re investigating.”
Liv agreed with a nod. Ian’s and Reese’s deaths were still a mystery. So were her parents’. Maybe they’d gotten too close to the truth, but someone would have to know that, and that person could be anyone. No, it wasn’t smart for her to build bridges with Stefan. Not until he had proven he could be trusted.
“Do I ring the doorbell?” Liv asked when they made it to the large door at the front of the monastery.
“I think you knock,” Plato told her, nodding in the direction of the large knocker on the door.
Liv had considered breaking into the monastery to investigate, but that felt wrong, considering what it was. She might not be a religious person, but she respected the sanctity of other people’s religions.
The knock echoed through the grounds, sending a sudden chill over her arms. If she were caught there by someone from the House, she didn’t know what she’d say. Clark had said she could plead ignorance, but that would only work for so long.
A man dressed in long brown robes pulled the door open, his expression uncertain. After taking one look at Liv, he turned and strode into the monastery. “Follow me,” he said, walking away with a slight limp.
Liv was unsurprised to discover that Plato had disappeared. She sped up to catch the old man, which wasn’t hard. “Hello, my name is—”
“I know who you are, my child, and I’m taking you to what you seek.”
Liv tilted her chin to the side, trying to decide what she should say to that. She had this whole fake story lined up, but it appeared that today she didn’t get to be Ethel Notterbottom—which was slightly disappointing.
“How do you know who I am?” she finally asked, smiling at monks as she strode by some who had gathered in the courtyard.
“I just know,” the man answered. “I am Niall, and I have been taking those from the House of Seven to this location for as long as I can remember, although I can never remember who I take or why.” He shrugged his bony shoulders. “It’s not my responsibility to know, though. I’m a simple servant.”
This didn’t make any sense. The canister was in this monastery, but House members came here to find something. What was it?
“We’re going down now,” Niall said, grabbing a lantern by a set of stairs and descending into darkness.
Liv tensed at the top of the stairs, trying to decide if she should follow. The monk seemed harmless; it was more about what might be waiting for her in the dark tunnel. She’d come this far, though and reasoned that she couldn’t turn back now.
“You don’t remember who from the House comes here?” Liv asked.
“I don’t remember many things about these trips,” Niall said.
Memory charms had obviously been used on the monk, and as Liv strode through the damp tunnels, she realized that there was one at work on her too. She had no idea where they were and had an inherent feeling of being lost.
After they took several turns, Liv felt she was in a maze and could never find her way to her destination alone. Getting out, however, didn’t seem hard. Just considering the idea made her feel that she’d be instantly spat out of the area if she so desired. This was a strange magic, one she had never heard of.
Niall stopped without notice and held up the lantern. “What you seek is there. I’ll wait for you if you like.”
Liv looked down to where the tunnel dead-ended, a shudder tickling her core. “You should go. I don’t want to keep you.”
The monk nodded. “Very well. Until next time.” He turned, limping back the way they’d come, the lantern light making the edges of his figure glow slightly.
Liv opened her palm and summoned a light, but nothing happened.
“Your magic doesn’t work here,” Plato said, appearing beside Liv, the white tip of his tail standing out in the dark.
Liv rolled her eyes and pulled a flashlight from her pocket. “I bet you’re screaming, ‘I told you so’ in your head right now.”
“I’m not one to gloat,” Plato said. “But it’s good that you have a backup option since you can’t use magic here.”
Bouncing the beam of light around the tunnel, Liv searched, unsure what she was looking for. A round blue and green stone in the center of the space caught her eye. She strode over, recognizing how similar it was to the circle on which she stood in the Chamber of the Tree. Symbols like those in the House of Seven were etched around the circle.
“Can you read it?” Plato asked.
She squinted at the symbols, hoping that would help. “No. Why, should I be able to?”
“You have the ability as a Warrior of the House, but the skill hadn’t developed yet.”
Liv knelt, rubbing her hands over the symbols. As she had guessed they would, they danced and glowed under her fingers, responding to her touch.
Something pinched her in the leg and Liv stood suddenly, pushing her hand into the pocket of her pants to find out what was poking her. She withdrew her mother’s ring.
The symbols on the ground began to shift, rearranging themselves. Liv put the ring in the palm of her hand and the symbols froze, looking as they had before.
She glanced at Plato. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“No, I don’t believe I am,” he stated. “What do you see?”
She opened her fingers and picked up the ring, sliding it over the symbols. They floated into the air, transforming into a language she understood. “The ring decodes the ancient lan
guage.”
Plato took a step forward. “And now you know one of its purposes, although there must be more.”
“Like the wall in the library,” Liv said.
“What do the symbols say?”
Liv pulled the ring away and the symbols reappeared. Again she ran the ring over the symbols, and again they morphed. It says, “Look toward the heavens. Climb high to reach the treasure.”
Liv’s chin tilted backward and she looked up, realizing at once that she was under one of the towers of the castle, which rose probably ten stories. Around the wall of the round room were pushed out rocks that formed small ledges. They went around and around, all the way up to the top.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Liv said dryly. “There has to be another way.”
“You can’t use magic, so I don’t think there is,” Plato said.
She growled at him. “You’re the cat who always lands on his feet. Why don’t you climb up there and let me know what’s in the room?”
“We both know I don’t need to climb to get up there, but I also can’t go up there without you.”
“How’s that?” Liv asked.
“I just tried. Something’s preventing it. I’m guessing I need a House member to invite me.”
“How come I can’t use magic here, but you can do your Houdini act?”
“My magic doesn’t have the same restrictions as yours,” Plato explained.
“You’re a very strange creature.” Liv slid her mother’s ring onto her finger and put her flashlight in her mouth since she’d need both hands to climb. She pulled herself up onto the first ledge, which was about three feet off the ground. It was so narrow that half of her foot hung over the side. Each block was roughly two feet long and the distance to the next ledge was about the same, but each was a foot or so higher. It was like a really shitty staircase.
It was evident to Liv that she was going to need her hands to climb and her mouth was getting tired already, so she put the flashlight in her pocket with the beam of light facing up so she could still see.
Carefully, Liv jumped to the next ledge, gripping the wall for balance. The rough stones gave her some purchase, but she recognized that wouldn’t save her if she lost her balance.
The higher Liv climbed, the less inclined she was to jump from step to step. There was no magic to save her if she fell. There was no one to save her either, not that she regretted telling Stefan to buzz off. Liv wasn’t a princess in a tower looking for a hero. She was a Warrior, climbing to the top of a tower in a castle for justice’s sake.
Plato appeared a few steps up, looking down at her as she continued the trek. As she got close to the slab he was on, he disappeared and reappeared a few ledges up.
“Are you trying to tease me with how easy this is for you?” Liv said, sweating.
“I’m supervising,” he said simply.
Liv’s foot slipped as she stepped onto the next ledge, and her knee banged into the stone. Her hands caught the rock at the last moment as her legs dangled under her. She tried to pull herself up, but couldn’t manage it. Instead, she swung her legs to the side, catching the step she’d just come off with her foot. Once she was sure she had it, she pushed off the stone she was holding, bracing herself against the wall.
For a long minute, Liv breathed hard, pressing her cheek to the stone. When her heart had slowed down, she opened her eyes to find Plato regarding her calmly from up high.
“I need to work out more,” she told him.
“I thought you handled that near-fall well.”
“I couldn’t do a pull-up, which is going to change when I get out of here.”
“I can’t do a pull-up either if it makes you feel better.”
“It doesn’t.” Liv stepped carefully to the next ledge, keeping her center low. She continued to move like that around the tower, getting into a rhythm as she climbed higher and higher.
She didn’t mean to, but when she was close to the top, Liv looked down. She immediately regretted it. “Holy shit! It’s a long way to the bottom.”
“So don’t fall,” Plato said, now a step below her.
“Thanks. Your advice is stellar, as always.”
“Anytime,” Plato replied.
There were only five more steps to the top, which led to an opening in the ceiling of the tower. Liv had no idea what she was climbing up to and risking her life for, but everything she had found had led her there. Whatever was at the top of this tower, she’d face it.
She looked back at Plato when there was only one more step left. “Can you still not get into the room?”
He shook his head. “You have to go first. I need you to invite me in.”
Liv swallowed, turning back to the ledge. She ducked her head so as to avoid hitting the ceiling and crawled onto the last step, poking her head through the hole. Then something she hadn’t expected during the long, arduous climb happened. The ledge she was standing on shifted, partially falling out of the wall. Liv grabbed the edge of the hole, her feet kicking. The stone dislodged from the wall completely, tumbling to the ground below.
Liv nearly screamed as her legs dangled. She tried to find the step before the last one, but it was too far away. Liv tried to find her footing on the wall, but her hands kept slipping. She was blind, looking at the stone in front of her, and her fingers had cramped. She was sure she was about to fall to her death when her boot found the hole the stone had fallen out of. Liv sucked in a breath as she regained her balance; her heart felt ready to jump out of her chest. Although she had saved herself, Liv didn’t want to stay there much longer.
“I’m freaking getting strong enough to do a pull-up,” she said, emphasizing each word as she pushed off with her feet and pulled herself up through the hole.
When she’d cleared it, Liv pushed away, trying to put some distance between the hole and her.
Blinking to clear her vision, Liv realized that this room was much brighter than the tower she’d just come from. She stood, her breath hitching in her throat. Liv didn’t know what she had expected to find in this room, but what she saw was definitely not it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Liv had come all this way and nearly fallen to her death to try to determine what had happened to one canister of stolen magic. She spun around, her mouth hanging open as she gaped at the hundreds of canisters lining the shelves that filled the circular room. Glowing blue canisters sat on top of one another on dusty shelves.
“What in the world?” Liv whispered.
“Well, now we know what happened to the canister,” Plato said, now beside her. “It joined the others.”
“Who is hoarding all this magic? And why?” Liv stepped closer to the first row, reaching out to touch a canister. It glowed brighter when her finger grazed the glass.
“And storing it in a monastery run by mortals.” Plato strolled around the room, inspecting the contents.
“I fear we have more questions than we do answers at this point.”
Liv followed his path, lost in a daze as she walked around the small room. “I just don’t understand why this is here, or how it got all the way up here. Climbing up was terrifying. I couldn’t imagine doing that with a canister of magic as many times as it would have taken to get all these up here.”
Plato stopped in front of the hole in the wall, peering down at the floor far below. “May not be a good time to bring this up, but have you figured out how you’re getting down with that first step broken?”
Liv pressed her eyes closed, feeling stuck. “Yeah, I don’t know. I guess I’ll be living here. Maybe you can go back and tell Clark to come and rescue me, although I’m not sure how he’ll do it without using magic.”
“Isn’t it ironic that you can’t do magic in the monastery, and that’s where all this magic is being stored?” Plato asked.
Liv scratched her head, tension making it ache. “I don’t understand anything that is happening here.”
A soft hissing at Liv’s back m
ade her straighten. “Please tell me that was you, Plato.”
“It wasn’t.”
Liv tentatively turned around not seeing anything at first, only the glow of the canisters. Then she saw them—two bright yellow eyes staring at her from behind two canisters. Were there rats up here? she wondered, stepping back.
The eyes moved forward, and a snake’s head materialized between the canisters. Gracefully, the snake slithered down from the lowest shelf, its body winding around the canisters. It had to be over twelve feet long.
“Ummm, Plato? What do you make of this?”
“It’s a lophos,” Plato said, and for the first time in their five years together, there was an edge of fear to his voice.
“A lophos?” Liv asked as he took the position beside her.
“It is a magical serpent that doesn’t age or need food to survive. It’s used to guard important items, and when someone trespasses into its territory, it paralyzes them using hypnotism.”
“How do I fight it?” Liv asked.
“That’s the thing. You can’t.”
“Can’t? Do you mean I can’t without magic?”
Slithering to the ground, the serpent moved back and forth like a silky ribbon.
“Liv, there is no spell that will stop a lophos’ hypnotism.”
The snake hissed, a long melodic sound that laced around Liv’s thoughts, carrying her off to a faraway place.
“But you’ll be okay? Can you get out of here? Go back and get Clark.”
Plato swayed, his head lolling. “Liv,” he said his words slurring. “Lynxes have many enemies, but none more dangerous to us than the lophos. I can’t combat…”
The cat slumped to the stone floor.
“Oh no, you didn’t,” Liv found herself saying, although she didn’t know why. It was hard for her to remember exactly where she was. All she knew was, some dumbass snake had just messed with her cat.
The snake hissed again, its long forked tongue flicking out of its mouth.
Liv shook her head, trying to dispel the strange feelings attempting to take over her. She bent over, scooping Plato’s limp body from the floor and cradling him to her chest. “Look, I get that you have a job to protect this magic. I’m not here to take it. I’m trying to figure out…” Liv’s voice trailed off as she tried to remember why she was holding a strange cat and standing in a room with a bunch of glowing snow globes.
