I didn’t say anything, too breathless. As I headed toward the other contestants, I wondered what the kiss meant. Was Lorenzo simply trying to distract me from my nerves? If so, it had certainly worked, but I hoped it was more than that. I hoped Lorenzo felt the same way about me, that he too had trouble resisting me. It was something to ponder another time.
Having learned my lesson from last time, I didn’t try to strike up any conversations with the other competitors but stood quietly until the last few performers trickled in and the king’s announcer, the competition host, Mr. Goodwin, and his assistant, Henry, ascended the staircase up onto the stage. The judges, three middle-aged men, whom I assumed to be part of the king’s court, were already seated in wide chairs in front of the stage, their scoring cards laid out in front of them.
“Citizens of Arcadia,” the king’s announcer began and launched into a speech of how important the annual royal singing competition was, how anyone could win and that he wished all the participants best luck.
At least that was the gist of it. I could barely focus as I went over potential questions that I might be asked and tried to come up with the best answers.
I had expected to receive a number, but instead, our names were pulled randomly from a hat by Mr. Goodwin. His skinny assistant, Henry, held the hat and practically bounced around with excitement, while the competition host wore a more somber expression.
The king’s announcer took a step back, and Mr. Goodwin pulled out the first name. “Jake Terr,” he called, and I exhaled with relief, preferring to hear a few sample answers before it was my turn.
A man in his late twenties, wearing leather from head to toe, swaggered onto the stage. The crowd erupted into whispers, a reminder that our answers wouldn’t be just evaluated by the king’s representatives and the competition host, but also by Arcadia. Without the popularity vote, it would be hard to proceed to the end since the national competition was largely put on for the citizens of Arcadia, giving them a sense that anyone could become a celebrity and live the high life if only one worked hard enough and had talent.
“Jake Terr, is a twenty-eight-year-old builder, who has been calling Arcadia home for the last twenty years,” Henry said joyfully.
“Jake, what prompted you to sign up for the royal singing competition?” Mr. Goodwin asked in a friendly voice.
“I thought it would be a fun thing to do, and the prize money sounded really good.”
Jake’s response drew boos from the crowd, who appeared unimpressed by his monetary motivations.
The competition host scrunched up his nose as if he smelled something bad. “Can you give us a taste of your talent?”
“Sure.” Jake launched into a rock song, which garnered some applause but didn’t manage to turn around the crowd completely.
Next up, was an opera singer I remembered from last time. The competition host seemed fonder of her and invited her to sing. Her aria was beautiful and showed off her vocal range, but the public seemed unengaged, many falling into side conversations or wearing a vacant expression on their faces.
Sensing the crowd’s mood, Mr. Goodwin asked, “How do you plan to modernize your repertoire and approach a song that is less classical?”
The opera singer opened and closed her mouth several times, clearly not expecting that question. Finally, she replied, “If I can sing opera, I can sing anything contemporary. It’s not really art. Any child can mimic modern songs.”
It was the wrong answer, earning her head shakes and eye rolls.
As I watched the other contestants get up on the stage one by one, it became clear that the ones who did well with the crowd were cookie-cutter performers. They looked impeccable, answered diplomatically, adding a dash of humor or personality to stand out. Most of them were well-experienced performers and came from artistic families, adding to my insecurity.
Another thing that stood out was that they were all humans. While there had been demons and fae at the recording session, none had made it into the top twenty-five. Whether they had been lacking in talent or had been carefully weeded out, I wasn’t sure, but I wouldn’t have been too surprised if the judges had deliberately not let them progress to avoid the wrath of Arcadia’s citizens.
My nerves kicked back in as the performers around me dwindled. We were down to eight, and the Fontaine sisters, who had been standing far away from me at the beginning, inched toward me until they were next to me. I wanted to switch positions but knew that would only draw negative attention to me. The last thing I needed was for a newspaper to paint me as a diva.
“What are you going to say if they ask you about your previous job?” Bernadette taunted.
“I’m sure Arcadia will vote for a maid—not.” Georgette smiled viciously.
I inhaled deeply and stared ahead, pretending I hadn’t heard them.
“Halia Bright,” Mr. Goodwin announced, and I kept my back straight as I put one foot in front of the other, careful not to trip over my floor-length dress.
“Halia Bright, you’re a relative newcomer. What can you tell us about yourself?” Mr. Goodwin stared at me, expectantly.
I paused, having anticipated a more concrete question. What could I tell him? I could hardly mention that I was planning to spy on a fae council meeting later tonight or that I thought my previous employer had been involved in Queen Ella’s disappearance. I doubted I could mention that I was interested in a demon or that my best friend was in a same-sex relationship with a half-demon.
“Isn’t there anything you want to tell us about yourself?” Mr. Goodwin prompted, his expression strained.
I glanced toward where I knew Lorenzo was standing, seeking him out for support. He nodded encouragingly, and I remembered what he had said earlier. When in doubt, always get back to the singing.
“I like to sing. I’ve always loved to sing. Recently, my best friend encouraged me to step it up and do it professionally. Because of her, I was able to open for the Dark Quartet at Daydream.”
The crowd applauded, and my shoulders dropped half an inch.
“I also love Arcadia. Arcadia is my home, and it would be an honor to represent our kingdom for a year and perform in front of our king. I think we have the best ruler anyone could ask for, and I hope that his wife, Queen Ella, will be found soon.”
Mr. Goodwin tensed at my answer. Henry’s chin nearly hit the ground, and the king’s announcer looked like he wanted to gag me, but the crowd went wild, several people screaming, “Bring Queen Ella back.”
Before Mr. Goodwin could redirect the attention toward my personal life, I said, “I would like to sing a sample from a song I have written for Arcadia.”
The crowd cheered harder, and I launched into the song:
Arcadia, you are joy, happiness, and love.
Arcadia, your market makes anyone feel welcome, overflowing with the most exotic spices and sweetest treats.
Arcadia, your street dancers and acrobats can bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Arcadia, you always shine bright. No matter if it’s day or night, summer or winter.
Thundering applause followed my singing, and both Mr. Goodwin’s and the king’s announcer’s expressions relaxed. I wondered if they didn’t want me to mention the missing queen because they didn’t want to draw attention to the topic until it had been resolved. If so, it was a stupid strategy. There might be people in the crowd like me who knew something about the queen. If we worked together and put our pieces of information together, we would have an easier and quicker time finding the queen.
“Thank you. Halia Bright, everyone.” Mr. Goodwin guided me toward the steps, clearly not wanting another surprise. I was happy to oblige and get off the stage.
As soon as I walked into the audience, Tia fell around my neck.
“Well done! You ruled, girl!”
Mikka nodded approvingly behind her.
Lorenzo winked at me. “See, that wasn’t too bad.”
“No,” I said and followed my three f
riends away from the market square.
As curious as I was to hear the other contestants’ questions and answers, I didn’t have the luxury. My day was far from over, and I needed all the time I could get to prepare to infiltrate tonight’s fae council meeting.
Before we made our way to the forest. Lorenzo teleported inside the patrolmen’s station and dropped off an anonymous tip at Thomas’s desk, telling him to look into Faustus’s mental institution and stating that patients had been disappearing without a trace for weeks.
Lorenzo assured me that no one had seen him, and I hoped that Thomas would take the warning seriously and not have someone like Victor talk him out of it or do a superficial investigation like they did at Madam’s Boarding House after several of her guests vanished, and one died suddenly.
“If everything went well, then why do you look so conflicted?” I asked.
“Because there was a magical object in Thomas’s office?”
“Why?” Thomas was human and didn’t have any connections to magic wielders as far as I knew.
Lorenzo shrugged. “There could be a number of reasons. He might not even know it is there.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.” Lorenzo pinched the space between his brows. “I could sense it but couldn’t get close enough to see it or figure out what it was. It’s a fae object, bespelled against demons.”
“Interesting.”
“We don’t need to worry about it for now.” Lorenzo wrapped his arms around me. I nodded, letting him know I was ready. The world spun as we teleported. The roiling sensation in my stomach quieted once there was hard earth underneath my feet again. I examined my surroundings. We were in the middle of the forest, but there were no tall oaks or a cave.
“We’re five minutes away from it,” Lorenzo explained. “I didn’t want to teleport too closely, in case any fae were posted outside the cave.”
I nodded. “How much time will we have once the astral projection is underway?”
“You’ll see the crows, the messengers of hell. I’ll see them too in my astral projection state. One crow is a warning that we only have a few minutes left. Two crows mean we only have a minute left. When the final crow shows up, you need to get the obsidian off me immediately.”
“And if I’m not fast enough, you’ll be sent to hell.”
He nodded in confirmation, and I knew I would never be able to hold out until the third crow arrived. No matter how far the fae conversation progressed, I would remove the obsidian from Lorenzo after the first bird showed up.
“If you have any problems getting off the obsidian, just pull harder.”
My gut contracted. “Do you expect there to be a problem?”
“You’ll be fine.” Lorenzo forced a smile, but I didn’t buy it, certain he was downplaying how delicate astral projection was. This, in turn, only made my resolution stronger to get him out of there when the first crow appeared, preferably even before that.
“Let’s go over the details. We won’t be able to talk once we get closer to the cave.”
I nodded. We had agreed that we would set up as close to the cave as possible but without the fae spotting us, so that I had a high chance to influence their conversation and force them to reveal their hand.
Lorenzo held out a satchel that contained six candles, a box that held red dust, and a hexagon-shaped obsidian. “You’ll place the six candles at an even distance around me. Strew the red dust counterclockwise. It’s important that the red dust connects the candles fully. If there’s even a tiny gap, the projection won’t work. I’ll go into a deep trance as you start the circle, preparing for the astral projection. Once you have cast the hexagon, you’ll light the candles, step in between two of them without extinguishing any, and place the obsidian right above my heart.”
“How will I know when the astral projection starts?”
He glanced away. “You’ll be able to tell. I’ll no longer appear to be sleeping.”
I clenched my fists, sensing that doing the astral projection would put him in a lot of pain. “Maybe we don’t need to do this. I could try getting close enough to the cave to overhear their conversation.”
He shook his head. “Absolutely not. If you or I can hear what the fae are talking about, it means we’re close enough for them to sense our presence.”
“But, we overheard their conversation in the Faustus quarter.”
He shook his head. “That was different. There were others nearby, making it harder for them to spot our presence. The forest is deserted.”
I sighed, hating all those magic rules.
“I’ll be fine. We can do this. Do you have any questions?”
“No.” But I wished he didn’t have to do this and that I could help more.
His brows drew together in concentration as he studied the sun in the sky. “We need to move now. They’ll be here soon.” We started southwards. As promised, we didn’t have to walk long until a tall oak came into view. A second, slightly smaller oak could be seen not far from it. The stone cave was right behind it.
We used a thick tree trunk as our hiding spot and waited. For what felt like a long time, nothing happened, and yet, Lorenzo shook his head every time I opened my mouth to speak. Trusting his demon senses, I remained quiet, even though thousands of questions darted through my mind, and I wished we could’ve gone over the astral projection a few more times.
Finally, the fae trickled in. All eight females wore dusty blue cloaks that concealed most of their features, and yet their tall bodies, ethereal grace, and the power radiating from them made it clear that they were fae. The latter wasn’t something I used to notice, and I wondered if my increased awareness was because I was becoming more aware of the magic world or because my powers were developing.
After the fae disappeared into the cave’s opening, we waited for a few minutes to make sure that no one else arrived.
The astral projection had to be timed carefully. We couldn’t waste precious minutes on opening words, but we also didn’t want to be too late and miss something important.
Lorenzo gave me a nod, and I followed him to an area of tall, thick bushes that would cover us both from prying eyes.
In the center of the bushes was a flat area. Lorenzo lay down on the ground, his gaze focused on me.
“Ready,” I mouthed, even though my hands trembled so badly, I was afraid the candles would slip from my grasp.
Lorenzo created an X shape with his body. I placed a candle above each of his palms, beneath each foot, one candle above his head, and the final one at foot-level in line with his navel.
Lorenzo nodded approval for me to proceed. He closed his eyes, and I was on my own. I took a steadying breath and opened the box of deep red dust, trying not to think whose blood had been dried as I walked counterclockwise and strew the dust around Lorenzo, starting at the central bottom part and working my way to his right foot, right palm, to the candle above his head, then left arm, left foot, and finally, back to the central candle. When the hexagon was cast, I checked to ensure the candles were totally connected by the blood-red line. Satisfied with my handiwork, I lit the candles, once again starting at the central bottom one and working my way counterclockwise.
The air shifted, growing heavier and pressing down on me as I pulled out the smooth obsidian the size of my palm.
I felt the force of the circle pushing against me as I stepped into it to place the obsidian on Lorenzo’s chest, giving me a taste of what it would be like to remove the stone from Lorenzo’s chest.
Trying not to panic, I placed the gleaming gem on Lorenzo’s chest. A wind whipped against me, throwing me out of the hexagon. Landing on my butt wasn’t so much painful as it was shocking. I even glanced around to ensure it wasn’t a fae working against me, but there was no one. The circle had pushed me out.
Not having any time to waste, I closed my eyes and hit a low D, praying my efforts would pay off.
“Tell me why you are here. What is going o
n in Arcadia? Where is Queen Ella?”
I concentrated hard until a pounding started in my head. I let up a bit, reminding myself to breathe while channeling my thoughts. A groaning and rustling made me open my eyes only to realize that the noise had come from Lorenzo, who was twisting and turning on the ground as if he were having a nightmare.
“Tell us all you know,” I sang louder. “Tell us about the queen and what is happening in Arcadia.” I thought I heard a noise coming from the cave and dropped my voice. I needed to be loud enough, but not loud enough for them to realize that I was out here.
Lorenzo’s whole upper body lifted and crashed back down, his back and head smashing against the hard ground. Watching him being tortured and not being able to help him made me shake with rage and filled my eyes with tears. I tried to remind myself that a demon’s body was much sturdier than a human’s. Still, I found it nearly impossible not to tear him out of the projection as blood trickled from his nose, his eyelids twitched like crazy, and his jaw ground so hard I was certain he was about to break a molar.
To distract myself, and because it was the only thing I could do, I continued singing, “Where is Queen Ella? Why are people disappearing from Arcadia? What is being done to them? Why is there so much tension in the city?”
Lorenzo’s body stilled, and I exhaled, naively believing that the hard part was over. Not a minute later, the first crow appeared on his chest to the left of the obsidian.
I swallowed hard. This was too early. The meeting had just begun, and it was very unlikely that Lorenzo had gleaned any information. Still, I couldn’t put him in danger.
I continued singing and stepped into the circle. As soon as my foot went over the red-brown dust barrier, a violent shaking seized me, and my muscles went weak. I dropped to Lorenzo’s side, reassuring myself that I could do this. I had made it into the circle, and that’s what mattered.
Just as I reached for the obsidian, a second crow appeared to the right of his chest.
Halia: Daughter of Cinderella Page 22
