by Linsey Hall
According to the ancient treatise I’d read, this place was known as The City of the Monkey God, and a massive monkey statue had once held a place of honor in the temple. I’d bet my luckiest necklace that the monkey was the decayed artifact that had blown this place to bits after it had been abandoned.
“It’s pretty,” Nix said as we climbed over rubble covered in flowers.
Birds chirped in the distance, an ever-present jungle soundtrack. At one point, a monkey darted out and poked me.
“Haven’t seen people ever, I’d guess,” Nix said.
“Yeah.” I focused on my dragon sense, letting it tug me through the destroyed temple. It was a faint feeling, but strong enough to follow. A few minutes later, I stopped. “I think we’re here.”
“Yeah?” Nix looked around. “Looks the same as everything else.”
It did. Just piles of stone scattered here and there. “It was a doozy of an enchantment if it caused this much damage when it finally went boom.”
Nix stepped back. “I’ll just let you do your thing.”
“Thanks.”
The size of the place sent a niggling sense of doubt through me. Could I really bring back something this huge? And to the right time? The doubt was familiar, but I quashed it. I now had control of my magic. I could do this. It might not feel familiar to trust myself, but I was going to make it feel familiar.
Practice, practice, practice.
I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes, envisioning this place as it might have once been. I didn’t have a lot to go on. There had been no illustrations in my book, just a brief mention by a historian that an ancient culture had lived in a city deep in the Honduran jungle. They’d died out or abandoned the place around the turn of the first millennium. Sometime later, the magic in the monkey statue had decayed fully and exploded.
Magic thrummed beneath my skin, coalescing to form an orb of light in my mind. I used it to feel the history in this place and bring it back.
Sweat broke out on my skin as I pushed my magic, giving it everything. Though I had control of it now, it was still like a muscle, and I hadn’t worked out. Exhaustion trembled through my limbs as I worked, keeping ahold of my magic and molding it to my will.
“Whoa.” Nix’s quiet exclamation made me open my eyes.
The familiar blue glow spread out from me, reaching across the floor. Piles of rubble disassembled and rolled upward, forming walls. Stone animal heads that had broken off long ago returned to their rightful bodies. The place rebuilt itself, piece by piece, creating a massive room that was fit to worship any god.
My heart leapt. I’d done it!
In the center, a huge stone statue grew.
“The monkey,” Nix said.
I grinned as I let my magic flow, feeding the statue and bringing it back to life. The final result was over twenty feet tall, expertly carved and brimming with magic. In front of it, the air shimmered, roughly human shaped.
“Del!” Nix pointed to it.
Shoot. I pulled back on my magic, careful not to go too far. Last thing I wanted to do was bring back any living beings. The shimmer in the air faded, leaving just us and the monkey. Light streamed in from gaps in the wall near the ceiling, shedding light on the massive space.
Nix walked in a circle around the monkey. “This thing is bigger than I expected.”
“No kidding.”
“We’re going to have to change the procedure. Put the magic in something smaller.”
“Yeah. I’m not interested in trying to haul a replica of this guy out of here.” Normally, Nix took the magic from the original artifact and put it into an identical replica she’d conjured. This was not normal.
“How about a mini monkey?” she asked.
“Perfect.” I stepped back and pulled out my cellphone, then began to snap pictures of the monkey statue and the surrounding temple, keeping my ears perked for the sound of approaching footsteps. I’d brought this place back to a period when it should be abandoned—approximately 100 years after the last recorded habitation—but you just never knew.
Near the monkey, Nix set to work. This was her specialty. When we’d set up our shop, she had learned how to magically forge the artifacts Cass and I found so that we could put the originals back in their resting places. It kept our consciences clean and us on the right side of the law. Normally, she’d do it at the shop, but she’d been ready to get out from behind the desk.
Her magic swelled around her, the scent of flowers delicate on the air. She knelt and pressed her right hand to the monkey’s leg, then hovered her other hand over the ground. When she closed her eyes, the hum of magic grew.
Her left hand glowed. Beneath it, a small monkey statue began to materialize. A moment later, it appeared fully—a perfect replica.
“Now for the next step,” she murmured.
She bit her lip in concentration as magic flowed from the large monkey statue to Nix’s hand in the form of blue smoke. It hovered around her palm. Once she had gathered it all, she let it sit for a moment. She’d told me once that she infused it with a bit of her own magic to stabilize it a bit. Once the magic stopped shimmering and looked like simple blue smoke, she moved her hand to hover over the miniature replica and pushed it into the stone. Once it had disappeared into the replica, she picked it up and stood.
“Done!” She displayed the monkey. “The magic won’t last forever, but it’s stable enough that we should be able sell it and the buyer will have time to use it.”
“Good enough for me.” I spun in a circle, checking out the now intact temple. “And this place can now rest safe.”
With the dangerous magic now removed from the giant monkey statue, we’d changed a tiny bit of history. The magic would never blow up the monkey statue or the temple. We’d brought this place back from the dead.
“For a while at least.”
“Yeah.” Time would always win. This place would break down naturally as all ancient places did, but not anytime soon now that the monkey’s magic had been taken out of the equation.
Nix tucked the monkey into the pocket of her cargo pants and approached me. “You know, this wasn’t so hard. I don’t know why you and Cass always come back all bloodied and stuff.”
I groaned. “Jinx us, why don’t you?”
She laughed, the sound echoing in the massive chamber.
I knocked on my head for good measure and turned for the exit. We didn’t have any transportation charms, and like most magical cities, this one was protected against people just transporting in via magic. So the only way out was the same way we’d come in.
We hurried across the temple. The air in the temple was cool and the light dim. Stepping out into the sweltering brightness of the mid-day jungle was a shock to the senses. I blinked against the light, then gasped.
The courtyard all around us had returned from the past, just like the temple, and it was spectacular. I hadn’t realized my magic had traveled this far. The ground was paved in white limestone. Statues of animals and humans lined the walkway toward the moat.
“Nice,” Nix said.
Magic prickled on the air, and it wasn’t ours.
“Yeah.” My heart pounded. “You might want to conjure a weapon. I don’t know what kind of protective enchantments I brought back.”
“Oh, hell.” Her magic swelled slightly, and a moment later, a bow appeared in her hand. A quiver full of arrows materialized at her back. “You can’t just send this place back in time and get rid of whatever protective enchantments might try to get us?”
I shook my head. “Not now that we’ve taken the magic from the statue. We changed history. The temple compound was technically never destroyed because we took the magic that decayed and exploded.”
I eyed the statues warily as I stepped out of the temple.
The stone beneath my feet shot into the air, carrying me up with it. I stifled a scream. The statues weren’t the problem. The ground was.
“Jump!” Nix yelled.
>
I was at least eight feet in the air and rising. I leapt off, not wanting to find out how high this thing would take me. I stumbled when I hit the ground, going to my knees. Before I could rise, the stone I crouched on lifted into the air, taking me with it. I scrambled off. Every stone I walked on tried to carry me off, so I sprinted for it, leaping from stone to stone as they rose into the air.
“Come on!” I cried.
I could hear Nix behind me as we sprinted across the shifting ground. My breath heaved as I raced, my lungs burning. We’d made it halfway to the moat by the time the ground stopped moving. I skidded to a halt, panting.
“Oh, fates.” I panted, leaning over to prop my elbows on my knees.
Nix did the same.
Somewhere nearby, stone scraped against stone. I shot up in time to see a monkey statue come to life, rising up on two feet. It was easily ten feet tall.
“Now these things want to party?” I returned my sword to the ether, since it would do a fat lot of good against stone, and adopted my Phantom form.
The monkey clambered toward me, too fast for a thousand-pound statue, as far as I was concerned. I called upon my new ice power, letting the chill flow through me. When it had filled my limbs, making them heavy and cold, I threw out my hands and directed an icy blast at the ground in front of the monkey’s feet. Ice formed in front of him. When his massive foot hit the gleaming stuff, he slipped, crashing to his back.
“Nice!” Nix said.
Behind the monkey, a jaguar statue and a huge stone snake came to life. Their heads turned toward us, then they charged.
“Oh, hell,” I muttered. They were all enchanted, not just the monkey. “I don’t have enough power to defeat them all. We gotta run for it.”
“Yep!” Nix spun and sprinted toward the moat.
I followed, turning occasionally to shoot ice at the statues’ feet. They slipped and fell, but more kept coming. Another stone monkey darted out from my left side, swiping a massive paw through my Phantom form.
I shot ice at his feet and he slipped, crashing to the ground. When we reached the moat, we raced for the special stones.
“Which ones?!” Nix cried.
“To your left.”
She spotted the right one and leapt across. I followed, praying they still worked. My heart stayed lodged in my throat the entire time, but we made it to the other shore safely. When I turned to look back at the temple compound, all looked normal and quiet. The statues had returned to their proper places. My ice glittered in places, but that would melt soon.
“Whew.” Nix panted. “The spell died.”
“Yeah.” I propped my hands on my hips. “It looks so danged normal, you’d think we were freaking out for no reason.”
On the other side, the jaguar lounged, half his steak uneaten and his gaze on us. The expression on his face very clearly said, Overreact much, ladies?
One minute, you’re about to die, the next, a freaking cat is making fun of you. Life.
I stuck my tongue out at him, then turned to Nix. “What do you say we get back? I think I need a bath.”
“Yeah, you and me both, dude.”
Chapter Two
By the time Nix and I arrived back in Magic’s Bend, we were dragging. Exhaustion was a monkey on my back—one of those stone monkeys we’d narrowly escaped back in Honduras.
But that didn’t mean we were sleeping. Oh no. It was party time.
I showered quickly, switched out my lucky bracelet for a lucky necklace made of fae silver, then grabbed my keys and hurried out of the apartment and down the stairs. By the time I stepped out onto Factory Row, the sun had set fully and the night was brisk. I shivered and zipped my leather jacket up to my neck, then turned left and headed to Potions & Pastilles.
Lights spilled out from the windows, illuminating the sidewalk out front with a golden glow. I pulled open the glass door and stepped into the warmth of the coffee shop. In honor of the occasion, the interior was done up in twinkle lights and balloons.
My friends had pushed the tables aside and were gathered in the middle of the room. Cass, Aidan, Nix, and Claire stood around the birthday guy, Emile. Connor, resident music expert, was in the corner fiddling with the sound system.
“Del!” Cass cried. “You’re back.”
“Yep!” I grinned as I approached. “Mission accomplished.”
“Nix was telling me.” Cass nudged Nix with her shoulder. “Not bad, all in all, huh? With your new power, the sky’s the limit in terms of the artifacts we can recover.”
It was a big responsibility, and normally that might have given me hives, but warmth filled me at the idea. I turned to Emile, the man of the hour. He was a skinny guy with dark hair and a kind face. A black and white rat sat on either shoulder, each wearing a tiny paper party hat that matched Emile’s. Emile was an Animus mage, and Ralph and Rufus were his buddies.
“Happy birthday, Emile!” I said.
He grinned. “Thanks.”
I scratched Ralph under the chin, then Rufus.
“They like you,” Emile said.
“I like them.” More than most humans, really. And it seemed that my connection to them was possibly growing.
Claire hiked a thumb toward the bar and grinned, her dark hair gleaming under the twinkle lights. “Help yourself. There’s a box on the counter.”
“You know me so well.” I headed toward the counter, grateful for my awesome friends.
I was fiddling with the spout on the box of red wine when Cass approached, silver can of PBR in her hand.
“So, when will Roarke show up?” she asked.
“Not sure. Once he’s done with the problem in the Underworld. Some minor demon uprising.”
“Those common?” Cass asked.
“I think so? I really need to ask more about it.” Roarke and I had known each other only a couple weeks. He wasn’t technically my boyfriend, but he was the closest thing I had to one.
I finally got the little tab of silver foil off the wine box spout. “Jackpot!”
“Any luck with your dragon sense and finding Draka?” Cass asked as I poured wine into the coffee mug I’d snagged from behind the counter.
My shoulders slumped slightly. “No.”
I’d been trying every day—every hour, almost—to get a hint of Draka’s location, but my dragon sense was too weak. Like always.
I tried to shake off the crappy feeling of failure. Moping would do no good. And it was possible that she was blocked from me somehow, which scared me more than anything.
Concern darkened Cass’s eyes. “You really think something has happened to her?”
I leaned against the counter and clutched my wine. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t know her well. Just through my dreams and the few times she helped me a couple weeks ago—but why the heck would she just disappear like that? She came to me as soon as she escaped the Underworld and helped me when I was in a bind. Then, nothing. Zip. Nada. She’s gone. And I’m really worried.”
Cass squeezed my shoulder, and I leaned into her touch, but it did little to banish the chill of concern that iced my skin. I just had this feeling. And for someone as superstitious as me, that meant something.
“You know we’ll do whatever we can to help, right?” Cass said.
“Yeah, I know.” I just needed to do more. It was my responsibility.
As I raised the coffee mug to my lips, the blue light flashed in my eyes again. My grip loosened on the cup, and it crashed to the counter, shattering. I staggered, my eyes blind. Cass’s grip saved me from cracking my chin on the counter.
I panted, blinking to clear my vision as Cass helped me stay on my feet. My knees felt like jelly.
“What the hell was that?” she demanded.
“Again!?” Nix cried.
Cass’s head whipped toward Nix. “What do you mean, again?”
“She did this before! Back in Honduras. And last night.”
Cass glared at me. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
<
br /> “I didn’t think it was anything!” I rubbed my forehead, trying to dispel the ache that had set up between my eyes like a troll crouching under a bridge. “Apparently I was wrong.”
“What do you think it is?” Nix asked.
Behind her, everyone else had gathered, their concerned gazes glued to me. The front door opened, and Aerdeca and Mordaca stepped inside, looking like light and dark in their usual outfits of icy business woman and Elvira, respectively.
Great. Just what I needed. More people to witness my descent into madness. At least Roarke wasn’t here.
“Well?” Cass demanded. “What do you think it is?”
“I honestly don’t know.” I sighed. “But it’s getting stronger. And…and more familiar.” It felt crazy to say it, but it did feel familiar. “I don’t think it’s bad.”
“Hmmmm.” Skepticism flashed on Nix’s face, her brows drawing close and lips pursing.
Ralph and Rufus hopped off Emile’s shoulders and landed on the counter, then ran across and jumped onto me. They scaled the sleeves of my jacket, perched on my shoulder, and rubbed their little faces against my neck. Warmth filled my chest.
“Thanks, guys.” I stroked each on the back, then met the gazes of everyone staring at me. “Just give me some space, okay? I’ll figure it out.”
Everyone frowned, even Aerdeca and Mordaca, both of whom usually appeared aloof regardless of the circumstance.
I stared everyone down, and eventually the party started up again. Despite the drinks and music—curated by Connor, of course—there was a heaviness to the air. Like something was about to happen.
I collapsed into bed and slept like the dead.
Except for the dreams. Because of course I wouldn’t get a break. I almost didn’t even realize I was dreaming, except that I’d banished this place from my memories long ago.
But I was back there in my mind. Back where it was dark and cold. Darker and colder than any other place I’d ever been.
Damp stone, hard beneath my butt and back as I huddled against the wall of the cell. By memory, my gaze was trained on the place where the door was located. Not because I had any hope of escaping—there was no hope of escaping the Monster’s dungeon—but because I longed to see light when it finally opened.
