by Jessica Grey
“He travels a lot; maybe he was getting home from somewhere,” she said shakily. “I mean he really does travel a ton, I barely knew him when I used to hang out there all the time.” She shrugged back into her hoodie, which was actually less wet than the rest of her in spite of having been used as a mop. It had been balled up under her arm when she ran and had been protected from most of the rain. “If it had been his mom I might have just stuck it out and tried to explain the situation to her, but there is no way that would have worked with Mr. Reed.”
Becca was still visibly trembling. She took a few deep breaths before pulling back away from the curb.
“You did really good, Lilia,” Alex said as they rejoined the stream of traffic.
“Thank you. I think my heart almost stopped beating when that car came.”
“Mine too,” Becca answered grimly. “I don’t think any of us will be joining the CIA anytime soon.”
“What is the CIA?” asked Lilia.
“Spies.” Becca laughed at Lilia’s horrified look. “But good spies. There’s no way they’d hire me; I’m horrible at lying.”
“Me too,” Alex admitted. “But one of us is going to have to get good at it because we are going to have to text Luke’s mom at some point and call that college scout.”
“Yeah, I’m kind of totally leaving that one up to you,” Becca informed her. “I’m just the driver,” she grinned at Alex. “You, my dear, are our fearless leader.”
“And frankly, that should frighten all of us,” Alex sighed in resignation. “We still have to figure out what to do with Lilia for the night; there’s always my place. Probably a safer bet than a hotel or something, although you have to stay too. Might be easier to sell my mom on the idea because she’s met you, as opposed to me just bringing a strange girl home.”
“I am not strange,” Lilia said, indignant.
“I meant strange to her, not in general…just…Never mind; you’re right, you aren’t strange.”
“Not strange, just unknown,” Becca offered helpfully. “But we will introduce you and everything will be fine.”
Alex picked up Luke’s cell phone and ran her hand over it. She wished she could believe that everything would be fine, but as she stared out the window up at the menacing gray sky, it was becoming harder and harder to believe.
~ Chapter Eleven ~
THE CALL TO the college scout was the easiest, mostly because Alex got his voicemail. She claimed to be Luke’s mother, fabricated a family emergency, and said Luke would get back to him at a later date.
Texting Luke’s mom from his phone was harder. It took her half of the drive. She kept messing with the phrasing, trying to make it sound more realistically like Luke. His phone was so basic that it didn’t feature any of the helpful texting technology normal people had come to rely on. Pushing a button three times for one letter, only to miss it and have to scroll through again, stretched her patience past the breaking point. She figured Luke must not spend a lot of time texting, an assumption borne out by the small amount of conversations in his phone’s memory.
Becca finally looked over from the driver’s seat in exasperation as Alex, cursing profusely under her breath, deleted her fourth attempt at a message.
“Just say ‘Hi Mom, got a ride to the airport. See you on Monday.’ I fail to see what’s so hard about this.”
“What if she texts back? Trying to get all the pertinent information in, but in, like, a casual manner.”
Becca shrugged. “If she texts back, we deal with it then.”
“Okay.” Alex painstakingly typed in the message and hit send. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath as she stared at the screen until a message blinked back a moment later.
- Ok. Be safe. Love you. -
Alex let her breath out in a rush. Sent a quick “Love you too,” back to Luke’s mom and smiled up at Becca. “I think we’re golden.”
“Told you.”
“Yes, you did. Don’t let it go to your head.”
They split up at the employee entrance. The museum looked mostly deserted, but Becca took Lilia with her to reconnoiter the front offices while Alex headed straight back to the storage rooms.
The spell Lilia had worked on the storage room door was still in full effect. Alex tried to open the door twice, both times forgetting halfway through what she was doing in favor of the most random of thoughts. The second time she was several feet down the hall on her way to alphabetize some old records before she realized that she was being manipulated by the distracting spell. She eventually gave up and just waited outside the door for Becca and Lilia.
“Hey, only Dr. Fredericks is still in his office, but it sounded like he was getting ready to leave. Lilia says the spell on Nicholas’s door looks good,” Becca said as she and Lilia came up the hall. “Why are you still standing out here?”
Alex looked pointedly at Lilia.
“Oh! The spell.” Lilia smiled proudly. “This one is still holding quite strong, as well?” She touched the door and it shimmered at the point of contact. Her eyes unfocused once more and she spoke a few soft words. The magic unraveled off the door like thread from a spool, floating down in loose coils. Alex looked down at her feet, half expecting to see a pile of shimmery magic on the floor, but the floor was clear and the door looked just as it had before.
Luke was still sleeping in the enchanted bed, and a quick look by Alex into the adjoining room confirmed that Lilia’s spell was still in full effect there as well. Nicholas was firmly asleep with no signs that he was waking any time soon.
“There are five other crates,” Becca said when Alex returned from checking on Nicholas. “Plus that monstrosity.” She tilted her head towards the bed. “They’re a lot smaller than it, the next biggest is less than half the size.”
Alex nodded slowly, looking at the crates. “I guess this goes without saying, and I doubt we’re going to be finding any new enchanted people, but nobody do anything stupid à la Luke and kiss anyone.”
Becca snorted. “Agreed on the kissing. Will we be able to know if we’re messing with something that has a spell on it?”
They both looked at Lilia.
“I can tell, if the spell is strong. However, sometimes it is hard to know right away.”
Alex grimaced. “Let’s just agree to be careful then.”
The first few boxes didn’t hold anything that gave the appearance of being extraordinarily magic. There were several sets of jewels, but as Alex ran her fingers cautiously over them she didn’t feel the same hum of magic or pull that she had felt with the stones in the bed, just a faint buzz that she probably wouldn’t have even noticed if she hadn’t been hyper aware.
When Alex opened the second to last box Lilia gasped. Wrapped in a heavy faded cloth lay a crown, a delicate golden circlet encrusted with diamonds that surrounded a large, deep green emerald.
As Alex grasped the crown, her fingertips brushed the gems and a tingle of magic shot up her arm. It was different—a sweeter, purer feel than the magic she had experienced before. An image of a woman’s face flooded into her mind. She was breathtakingly beautiful, even more beautiful than Lilia, although quite similar. Her eyes were almost the same shade of blue, but they were filled with sadness. Her face was pale, bordering on pallid. The crown was nestled in her golden curls, the emerald glowing with a dull fire.
The vision evaporated as Lilia snatched the crown from Alex’s hands.
“My mother’s crown!” Lilia’s words caught on a half-sob.
“It’s very beautiful,” Becca turned to Alex with a concerned look. “You okay? You looked like you weren’t quite here.”
“I’m okay. Lilia, did your mother look like you.”
“Yes,” Lilia’s fingers were stroking the crown as she held it in her arms almost like a baby. Alex suddenly felt very sorry for her.
“When I picked it up, it was like I could see her. She was very beautiful. Her hair was more curly than yours.”
Lilia loo
ked up, surprised. “Yes it was. You could see her?”
Alex nodded. “It was similar to when I touched the stones in the bed earlier, sort of a vision.”
Becca looked flabbergasted. “Are you serious? I wonder if it’s just you, or if the same thing would happen if I touched them?”
“I don’t know.” Alex shook her head. “But when I touched the crown it was different, I felt the magic but not the same kind of sucking and pulling feeling I got from the stones on the bed.”
“Totally crazy!” Becca looked at Lilia. “Could I touch the crown?”
Lilia nodded and held the crown out to her. Becca ran her fingers over the large emerald in the center a frown creasing her forehead.
“Nothing,” she confirmed as her fingers danced over the diamonds. “Well that’s kind of a bummer; maybe you’re just more sensitive to it or something—” She broke off as her fingers slid off the stone and onto the golden band. A faraway look slipped into her eyes as her fingers circled the band, gripping it tightly. She lifted it out of Lilia’s arms, almost not seeming to realize she had done so.
Lilia and Alex exchanged glances. Becca stood quietly, rooted in place, but the unfocused quality of her eyes convinced them she wasn’t there at all.
“Maybe you should take it back?” Alex suggested.
Lilia nodded and gently pried Becca’s hand off of the crown.
Becca’s eyes immediately came back into focus. “Wow.”
“Wow what?” Alex asked. “What did you see? Did you see the queen?”
Becca shook her head and Lilia looked disappointed.
“It was unreal!” Becca exclaimed. “I could see the metal of the crown being forged and hammered. But it was like looking through a very long dark tunnel…so weird. And then I could see it lying on a pillow and there were several different voices saying something about it, and hands laying on it. I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. It was very muffled, like a radio station just out of tune.” She took back the crown, held it up in front of her and stared at it, half in awe, half in horror. “I got the strangest feeling, almost as if the crown was trying to tell me about itself.”
Both girls turned to Lilia, hoping she could provide some sort of explanation.
“Can a thing have that much magic in it, that we would be able to sense it?” Alex asked. “The gems in the bed—I assume they’re part of the spell, so could they have magic enough for even someone like me to be able to feel it? And maybe the crown has some kind of spell on it that would cause Becca and I to see these things?”
“I do not know. Most natural things—the gems, the gold, those rain clouds outside—have magic in their core, but usually an ordinary human cannot sense it.”
“But maybe because these things have spells on them, that’s why we can see things?” Becca persisted.
Lilia bit her lip. “I always thought that even with very strong spells, that someone without any fae blood would not really be able to see strands of the spell, maybe just sense some of the effects, more like feelings they wouldn’t be able to explain. A feeling of unease in the presence of bad magic, or a feeling of well-being in the presence of good. I have never heard of any non-fae having such strong visions.”
She looked back and forth between Alex and Becca. “However, there does not look to be much that is magical about either of you.”
Becca burst out laughing as Alex said reverently, “And thank God for that.”
“Maybe,” said Becca once she had recovered, “maybe, there is something different about the spells on the bed and the crown, that they’re really especially strong or something. That thing,” she gestured toward the bed, “kept you asleep for nearly nine hundred years; that’s some big bad mojo.”
“But I do not understand what spell someone could have placed on my mother’s crown?”
“It could have something to do with the hands that you saw, Becca,” Alex suggested. “Didn’t you say they were touching the crown and saying things?”
Becca nodded. “Yes, but it didn’t feel like it was a bad spell. It sounded different, too, from what Lilia did to the doorway, almost like a blessing of some kind.”
“It is possible my mother’s sisters put a blessing on the crown at the time of her marriage. I know they gave her, my father, and the kingdom several blessings on that day, so it would make sense.”
“Are blessings that strong?” Becca persisted. “As strong as the magic in the bed? It gave Alex visions, maybe the blessing on the crown is doing the same for me?”
“Blessings from the fae are very powerful, but so powerful you should be getting visions from them? Not likely.” Lilia reached out and ran her fingers over the crown. “I feel the hum, the vibration of the blessing, I can tell there is powerful fae magic embedded in this crown, but only because I am looking for it. I am not seeing anything about my mother or the crown.” She frowned in concentration and let her eyes drift shut as her slim fingers curled around the golden band.
“No,” she sighed, “I do not see anything.” Lilia’s eyes snapped open, and she stared at Becca’s hand still gripping the crown only a few inches away from her own. “I wonder…” she whispered as she moved her hand and laid it over Becca’s, gripping the crown through the spaces in Becca’s fingers, their hands entwined around the delicate metal. “Ask it,” Lilia commanded.
Becca stared at Lilia blankly. “Ask it?”
“Yes, ask the crown about the blessing. Tell it you want to know who blessed it and when—to show it to you.”
“Um, just to clarify. You want me to ask the crown? Out loud?” Becca looked helplessly at Alex, who shrugged.
“There’s no one else here. I promise not to laugh at you for talking to an inanimate object, though I do not promise not to tease you about it later.”
“Okay, well then…” Becca looked down at the crown she and Lilia were holding in their awkward entwined grip. “Crown of Queen—?” She broke off and looked up at Lilia.
“Liliana.”
“Crown of Queen Liliana, I, um, ask you to show me who blessed you.”
Alex could tell immediately that something had happened. Becca’s soft brown eyes were almost entirely consumed by the black of her pupils as they unfocused. Her face was a strange mixture of vacancy and intense concentration.
Lilia gasped slightly and tightened her fingers around Becca’s. Her eyes were closed, her forehead furrowed in concentration.
“Ask it to show you the blessing.” Lilia’s voice sounded strained.
“Crown, please show me the blessing.” The words drifted out of Becca, sounding distant and muffled, like sound waves traveling though water. They surprised Alex who hadn’t seen any sign that Becca had even heard Lilia’s command.
Lilia’s eyes remained closed, but she leaned closer to the crown, almost as if by leaning she could better hear whatever vision they were experiencing. She gripped Becca’s hand even tighter, and Alex began to be afraid that Becca’s fingers weren’t going to survive the ordeal. Lilia’s lips moved silently, as if she were trying to commit what she was hearing to memory.
“I feel it slipping…” she whispered frantically, “slipping away. Becca, tell it to show you the Queen.”
There was no response, and Alex looked at Becca in concern. Her eyes were still dilated, staring off into the distance, her breathing had become shallow, coming in small quiet gasps.
“Lilia, I don’t think—”
“Becca, ask about my mother!” Lilia cut Alex off, ignoring her concern. “Please, Becca, before we lose the connection.”
“Please show me Queen Liliana,” Becca gasped out.
There was a tense moment of silence. Even from where she stood several feet away Alex could feel the deep waves of magic humming from the spot where Becca’s hand clasped the crown. Her fingers were completely devoid of color, whether from their grip on the crown or Lilia’s grip on them, it was impossible to tell. The waves of magic felt as if they were radiating out from th
e spot, and yet at the same time pulsing in, sucking Becca’s body in towards the metal. Alex had a sudden, horrifying vision of the crown completely consuming Becca, her friend’s slight form no match for the deep, elemental power of the ancient metal.
“Becca!” Alex said sharply, starting forward.
Lilia’s fingers loosened their hold on Becca’s, and scrabbled for purchase against the pulsating magic, until they finally broke contact. Her eyes flew open as she jolted back into awareness. She took one look at Becca’s drained face and uttered a dark and foreign sounding curse. “Alex, I am going take the crown from her, catch her if she falls. The magic has too strong a grip on her.”
Alex jumped forward, positioning herself behind Becca, her hands on her shoulders, as Lilia reached out with both hands and firmly took hold of the crown.
“Get ready; I do not know how hard it will be to take the crown,” Lilia said urgently. She tugged gently, and then with more and more force. Becca was not resisting at all, and yet the crown would not pull away from her fingers. The air around them was turning a hazy golden color, the three of them in the eye of a magic storm. Wave after wave of power pulsed from the place where Becca’s hand joined with the crown, thickening the haze.
Beads of perspiration broke out on Lilia’s forehead as she pulled on the golden circlet.
“Release her, release her,” Lilia chanted in a low whisper, and almost without knowing what she did Alex joined in the chant.
“Release her, release her.” Their voices became more and more frantic as the magic fought against them, pulling Becca farther in toward the crown, her body beginning to curve itself into a replica of the crown’s shape. Alex hoped it was her imagination, but it appeared to her that the crown was also curving towards Becca. It looked as if any moment they would meet and the crown would consume her.
The golden haze was beginning to twine around Alex’s face, obscuring her view of the crown. She shook her head to diffuse the tendrils and her vision cleared for a moment, long enough to notice the dull shimmer of the emerald set in the front of the crown. Despite the panic racing through her mind, she felt the pull of the emerald, the calm, cool-green touch of it on her mind.
