by Jaymin Eve
How was that for some crazy logic. The sorcerer turned then and continued walking, the rest of us following.
“I never knew it was so … full-on in here,” Jacob murmured, his eyes darting up again. “They just entomb them and let them suffer for the length of their sentence.”
“I guess we just have to be grateful that only the very worst supe criminals are sent here,” Braxton said, “the ones the councils feel there’s no hope for.”
Grace looked jittery, her eyes wide as she said, “Remind me not to break the law. I would hate to ever be in a position to come here.”
My chest tightened at the thought, my reply gruff: “That won’t ever be happening. You could never commit the sort of crime that would get you sentenced here.”
Jessa, who had been quiet since demanding answers from Cherik, gave a little start. “Why was Vlad not in here? He was a mass murderer. One of our worst criminals.”
Vlad had attacked her a few months ago in the Stratford prison, intent on raping and killing her. There was no love lost there. We had heard he was dead now, but no one knew for sure. She was definitely right, though. If there was ever a supe who belonged here, it was that vampire.
“Vlad had friends in high places,” Cherik said, surprising us all by answering. “There was an igloo-cell with his name on it, but last minute he was transferred to another prison.”
A slight pink tinged Jessa’s cheeks as she pressed her lips firmly together. I could see her hands were trembling. Jackson let out a low cry, picking up on his mom’s fury; her expression softened, and she patted him on the back, offering comfort. It seemed to calm her too. Braxton, obviously upset that his mate was almost killed by a supe who should have been here, was doing his dragon growl thing, my dragon responding as my chest started to shake too.
I have a dragon. Still un-fucking-believable.
Cherik led us deep into what felt like a never-ending world of ice. It was a desolate and colorless world, and it would be near impossible to find our way around down here. There was nothing to use for landmarks, everything looked the same.
“It’s just a little further. Hurry now.”
Mischa was the first one to notice the secret room. “Whoa,” she murmured, her green eyes wide and unblinking, focused on the ceiling.
Looking up, I wondered how we’d missed it until now. It must have its own magic, hiding until it was ready for us to see. This cube was at least fifty times bigger than the prison ones. Cherik paused when he was close, looking around. He moved a few feet to the right and then took a step up into the air. He followed that by another step, rising slowly. Braxton followed close behind on the invisible stairs.
“You should hurry,” Cherik called down; he had reached the side of the cube now. “The stairs change position every five minutes.”
We used each other for balance, making it to the top unscathed, and entered an open doorway.
“That door better not close behind us,” I warned the sorcerer when he came into sight. My dragon chafed at being inside, and it made me uneasy. Was it smart to speak to an elder like that? Probably not, but I was past caring at this point.
“It will not close,” he replied without expression. I waited a few more moments, and when the door remained open, I was able to push my beast back down. Turning, I took in the room with one long look. It was impressive, and nothing like I had expected, designed like a huge library, with thick rugs on the floor and a roaring fireplace along the front wall. Magic was awesome.
Farther inside, dark hand-carved shelves lined each wall, and within those shelves were a multitude of objects, ninety percent of which I didn’t recognize, but I sensed great power hiding within many of them.
“This room is named as a secret keeper for a reason,” Cherik said, watching us closely. “You will guard its secrets, or you will find yourself in a much smaller, less comfortable version of this.”
Not even a thinly veiled threat there.
“I know my brothers and sisters asked that you touch nothing but the book of magic you seek. I will relax this rule slightly. You might have to touch some objects to find the book. You have ten minutes before we must return to the surface. The eleven of us are required to continually renew the power of Jeste. Otherwise we risk some of the more powerful breaking free.”
We really didn’t want that to happen.
Braxton took charge. “Everyone split up. We’re looking for Le Tatana, also known as the original book of magic.”
Everyone headed in a different direction, moving straight to the shelves. Almost every shelf had books on it, and we would have to check them all. I started with a shelf that stood a few inches above my head, shuffling through the heavy tomes there. Most of them were books of magic, according to their titles, but nothing jumped out as the book we sought.
“What if it’s called something else?” Grace said from the next shelf over. She was patting Evie gently on the back, the baby wiggling restlessly. They had been so good up till now, but our baby luck was no doubt going to run out soon.
“I found it!” Jessa’s shout echoed through to us. We hurried to the back of the room. “It almost fell on my head. Pretty sure it knew we were looking for it.”
The book’s nickname was the original book of magic, so no doubt it was infused with energy beyond our understanding – a consciousness, even, in the same way the Book of Guidance, which overheard supernatural sentencing back in Stratford, could make decisions. These books had so much magic infused within them they were no longer inanimate.
When Jessa came into sight, I zeroed in on the book. As a very rare object, there was no reason to have a preconceived notion of how it would look. I hadn’t seen it, or even a picture before, but I was still surprised. It was only as big as a piece of paper. I’d expected a book so powerful would be huge and heavy, hard to lift or move. Lucky for Jessa’s head it wasn’t.
The cover was a faded red, Le Tatana carved into it. There was no way to tell what material the cover was made of. It had a leather look, but I didn’t think it was. More than likely it was a skin of some type.
“Did we learn about this book in school?” Jacob asked. We were all gathered around Jessa now.
“It’s bound in a skin from a rare, possibly extinct Faerie creature,” Grace said, surprising us all. “It’s pure fey magic in those pages.”
Which explained why it was so powerful. The oldest, strongest spells came from Faerie.
Braxton leveled a look on her. “Why do you know about this and we don’t?”
Grace didn’t even blink at his abrupt tone. I wanted to smack him in the mouth, but it wasn’t the time. “Advanced magic classes. I’m sure taking over the council early meant you missed some of the essentials.”
She was right there. We’d pretty much stopped taking classes by twenty-two. Since we shouldn’t have finished college until twenty-five, we did miss a lot.
“I also moved into some of the advanced classes early,” Grace said gently. “Because I was homeschooled and finished my general schooling early. When I tested as a healer, they wanted to focus my training, get me out on jobs.”
Pride struck me, and I couldn’t seem to tear my eyes from her. Her confidence shone through and she was fucking sexy. To distract myself, I brought focus back to the book. “We should hurry up and find that tracking spell.”
Grace stepped closer to Jessa. “Josephina said we would have to use my blood.”
Everything inside of me rebelled at the thought of her bleeding for this, but there was no time to argue. “Let’s just see what the spell says first.”
There was a long bench on a wall nearby, running about waist-height across one of the bookshelves. It was wide enough to lay the book on.
“Is it safe to just open?” Jessa had her hand on the clasp.
Braxton tried to nudge her aside. “Not for you. You have Jack.”
She let out a growl loud enough that Mischa and Grace jumped. “I know what you’re doing, dude. Next tim
e, you carry Jack and I’ll be the one taking all the risks.”
Braxton just grinned, dropping a kiss on her snarling mouth. “Sure, baby, whatever you need.”
She shook her head, a grin fighting to break out across her face. “I’m going to stop thanking the fates for you soon.”
Her words were soft, not even remotely as angry as she probably intended them to be. Braxton didn’t reply, he was too busy reaching for the leather strap holding the book cover closed. As the tie fell away, he lifted the front cover and let it drop open. All of us tensed, waiting to see if there would be any reaction, but the book just lay there. I couldn’t even feel any energy from it.
Jacob leaned in closer. “It hides its power very well. Guess that’s part of how it stays out of hands it shouldn’t be in.”
That in itself was a powerful magic. Grace surprised all of us by leaning forward and placing a hand on the first page. “Show me the spell to find the jeweled princesses.”
I didn’t want to distract her, but that action was strange enough that I reached for our bond. Iciness lashed at me, and the first thought I had was of that energy she had said appeared after her gran stabbed her. I probed along it, but there was no way for me to reach her.
She didn’t look to be in any distress, so I kept my eyes locked on her face, ready to get her out of the way if the book reacted. When the pages fluttered, I looked away long enough to see that Grace had lifted her hand to let the book flip through its pages. It stopped about a third of the way through, on a yellowed page covered in dark ink.
“It’s not in English,” Maximus said, letting a few curses rip, before managing to calm himself. “We probably should have expected that.”
Grace’s slender fingers dropped to the book again. “Show me,” she murmured. I would have sworn that swirls of blue appeared on her cheeks, very pale as they flashed across her skin. When I blinked they were gone, and I wondered if I’d imagined them or if the ice was completely infiltrating her magic. She lifted her hand off the page again. The letters shimmered as the unfamiliar script shifted and moved across the page, rearranging itself. Letters formed words. Words we could now read.
“You’re definitely no ordinary witch,” Jacob said, examining her. “I can feel the bonds there, to our homeland. To Faerie.”
He was right. That icy magic, it was changing her energy. The darkness was still there too, but that at least felt kind of subdued.
Jacob placed his hand on the book. “Show me,” he said.
Nothing happened.
Braxton looked amused by this, crossing his arms and leaning back against a shelf. “Looks like Grace has more command than you, Jake.”
Jacob winked at Grace. “I’d listen to a beautiful woman long before a dude, too.”
“Stop flirting with her.” My words were short.
He winked at me this time. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little competition, bro?”
Before the situation could escalate, Grace turned and stepped right into me. She placed both hands on my chest, staring up into my face. The fire within me eased and all of that rolling energy was replaced by a slow, unfurling warmth.
“You don’t have to ever worry about competition, Ty,” she said, loud enough for Jacob to hear.
My idiot brother dropped a hand to his chest, acting mortally wounded. But his eyes were sparkling. Grace stuck her tongue out at him. “I adore Jacob, he’s family, but you are … so much more than that. You’re my mate.”
My lips found hers, and despite a squirming baby and lots of cleared throats, I didn’t release her for many long moments. When I finally pulled away, I found Jessa and Mischa grinning broadly, while my brothers looked exasperated – exasperated with more than a touch of understanding.
The book glowed then, drawing all of our gazes again. “We should hurry and read this spell,” I rasped out.
Grace stumbled a little, her cheeks flushed a dark pink. She recovered after a beat, and stepped closer to the book – aka her new best friend. She leaned over and I could see her lips moving. I read the text over her shoulder.
To unbind a protection spell. To retrieve a lost power
Blood of bound. Ties of earth. World of elements. Life of curse.
Ten drops of red. Ten strands of hair. Take the words, and reverse them there.
Wandera susten caresin letch naninda revele.
Unveil the path to each reveal.
Grace was already reaching to pull at her hair. “Do you have a blade?” she asked me.
I pulled a short, ultra-sharp dagger from my belt. We often needed to blood-let for spells, and this one drew cleanly. I expected she wouldn’t ask me for help; as a healer she had no problem with blood, but I still didn’t like it.
She took the dagger from me, sliced through ten strands of hair, and then draped them on the pages. “Where should I drop the blood?” she wondered out loud.
“Into the book.”
The voice came from behind us. Cherik had clearly returned to hurry us along. “The magic is in the pages. It will take your offerings, and if worthy will grant your spell.”
Grace didn’t hesitate, she pressed deep into the tip of her left pointer finger and squeezed ten drops out onto the old parchment. The blood sat on the page for a second, then slowly absorbed in, leaving no trace.
“Wandera susten caresin letch naninda revele,” Grace recited after the last drop had fallen. “Show us the princesses.”
We waited for a full minute, but nothing happened. I quickly read through the spell again, trying to decipher where we went wrong. “Maybe try those words in reverse,” I suggested, guessing at the cryptic bullshit on the page.
She nodded in quick jerking motions. “Yep, that might work.”
The tension was strong as we all waited. Grace spoke the same ancient words, before taking a deep breath and then repeating them in reverse. As the last syllable fell from her lips, a wind whipped up around us, loud and blustery. Nothing moved on the shelves, no papers fluttered in the La Tatana, but all seven of us were being thrashed around, our hair and clothes torn at by the breezes.
“What the hell is happening?” Maximus roared, reaching out and hauling Mischa into his side. He curved around her, and I did the same with Grace. Braxton lifted Jessa up and dropped her right in the center, beside Grace. We formed a circled around them at the same time the winds went extra crazy.
Braxton’s hand landed on my shoulder. I dropped mine on Maximus’s, and he did the same to Jacob. When we were a full circle, linked together, our bond kicked in hard, increasing our powers.
I wondered if there might come a day when that changed, when our souls were so interconnected we were pretty much always linked. I hoped it didn’t happen. I didn’t want our individuality to bleed away like that, but if the fates decided that was our path, I would deal. There were worse things that could happen to us.
The bond flared strongly, power glowing around us as our bodies expanded. I couldn’t see anything outside of the turbine surrounding us in a swirling mass. As it pressed in closer, my dragon fought to be freed, and I could see a flash of scales across Jacob’s cheeks, even though it seemed to disappear right after.
“Hold on!” Braxton yelled, just as the wind imploded into us.
Grace Carter
From the moment we stepped into the secret keeping room, I had felt drawn to something in there. Several somethings, actually … which was weird. I wasn’t the sort of magic user that bonded to powerful objects. Although, I guess I was no longer the same magic user. Icy bursts of energy had started to filter back through my veins, and this time they felt more permanent. Whatever Gran had unlocked inside of me, it was starting to settle in.
When we first split up to search, I headed for the closest draw I felt. It turned out to be a set of stones, diamonds actually, according to their name plaque. There were four, each the size of a golf ball, sitting along a small stand. As my hand hovered over them, a need to touch them had my insides clen
ching. Blue snowflake patterns frosted along the edge of my vision, and for a second I thought it was snowing in the library. Could I really be the diamond princess?
Jessa had called out then and I was able to break away from whatever spell those crystals cast over me. I felt both relief and disappointment as I hurried away, only allowing myself one glance back. I expected that icy feeling in my body to disappear again, like it had all the other times … but it didn’t.
When I reached Jessa, I realized the book gave me a similar feeling as the stones. Not quite as strong. More like it was connecting with me to act as a guide, sending me these nudges, telling me what actions to take. I knew to touch my hand to the book. I knew to ask for what I wanted. The spell appeared and I didn’t hesitate to use my blood and hair.
It seemed to have worked. Or at least I hoped it did, since we were being spun around in a whirlwind. Strong arms wrapped around me, and some of my worries eased. I felt protected … needed … loved.
You are.
Our bond hummed between us, no competition for the quad bond. It was like the two bonds existed in parallel. Neither of them crossed or shared power, and somehow Tyson handled both.
Both increase my powers, my dragon and sorcery … I hope I can handle it.
You can. I didn’t even have to think about it. I didn’t like to label myself a stalker, but I had spent a fair amount of my youth observing Tyson. He was too friggin’ good at everything, the sort of supe that made the rest of us feel inferior.
The noise around us was quieting, and I tilted my head back to see better.
Is the wind dying off? Can you see anything? I asked. He had the height advantage.
Yes, it is. And … we’re definitely not in Antarctica any longer.
Well, crap. It took another few minutes for the wind to completely dissipate, and even though it hadn’t felt like our feet left the ground, we were clearly nowhere near the ice cavern of Jeste prison. We were on a mountain, trees and a long winding road behind us. The air smelled sweet and dry. The sun was setting off in the distance.
