by Linsey Hall
The trapdoor burst open. Stale air wafted out, and I stumbled back, covering my mouth to keep from breathing in the dust.
When it settled, we all stepped forward, peering in.
A pale blue light gleamed from within. Ancient stairs led deep into the castle. The air smelled of water and dust, a strange combo.
“Whoa,” Rowan murmured.
“No kidding.” Bree stepped onto the first stair, avoiding the cooling puddle of metal. “Let’s check it out.”
“Shouldn’t we tell someone where we’re going?” I said. “In case it’s dangerous.”
“Plan B?” Bree asked.
“I couldn’t possibly wait.” Florian drifted through Bree, who shuddered, and started down the stairs.
I shrugged, then followed. Between us, we had some mega power. And nothing could hurt Florian. If we got in a pickle, he could always go for help.
We hurried down the stairs, our footsteps silent on the stone. The blue light that glowed grew brighter as we went. It felt like forever that we descended, going deep below the castle.
The Protectorate was built on a massive cliff overlooking the North Sea, so there was plenty of space below ground.
“When was this built, do you think?” I asked.
“Never heard of it in my day,” Florian said. “It’s centuries old, at least.”
Finally, we reached the bottom. The staircase opened up into a massive cavern. Blue luminescence glittered in the ceiling, dripping down to light the entire space with a ghostly glow. A lake sat in the middle, sparkling from the blue light above.
“Wow.” The word rushed out of me on a breath. I’d never seen anything like this place.
It was as if magic had come alive.
Except… “Do you guys feel any magic?”
“None,” Lachlan said.
“Nothing.” Bree frowned.
“That’s weird, right?” Rowan asked. “You’d expect it, in a place like this.”
“Yeah.” I went left, exploring the walls of the cavern, looking for any clues about what this place was used for. My friends joined the search, pacing around the large space. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the glowing blue lights that glittered in the ceiling, but eventually, I was drawn toward the lake in the middle.
The water looked black as tar where the blue lights didn’t glitter on it. In the middle was a small island, upon which sat a pedestal.
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Bree said.
“Agreed.” I paced around the lake, eyeing the empty pedestal in the middle. I pointed to it. “That’s weird, right?”
“There should be something on it,” Lachlan said. “This place was built for it.”
On the other side of the small lake, I found a strip of ground that led to the pedestal.
I raised my hand, igniting the lightstone ring on my finger, then hovered it over the skinny land bridge.
“What are you looking for?” Lachlan asked.
“I don’t know. Footprints, maybe. I might be jumping to conclusions, but if something is supposed to be on that pedestal and it’s not, then that means it’s been stolen. And I don’t want my footprints erasing whatever is here.”
“Good thinking.”
I glanced up and caught a smile on his face. It flattened out, as if he didn’t want me to catch him smiling. Strange. I turned back to the ground to study it.
“There are no footprints,” I said. “Almost like…brush strokes?”
“A broom, maybe?” Bree asked.
“Could be. Something to clear the path.”
A deep meow sounded from the other side of the cavern. I straightened immediately, recognizing it as Muffin’s You gotta check this out meow.
He meowed again, and I hurried toward him, finding him in a darkened nook in the cavern. He stood at a hollowed out tunnel, staring into the darkness as it disappeared into the distance.
“Holy fates.” I stepped closer to the tunnel and studied the carved out sides of it. The stone was a lighter gray. Fresher.
“That looks newly made,” Lachlan said.
“Oh boy.” I turned to face the others. “I think someone has broken into the Protectorate.”
2
For a few seconds, there was dead silence.
“Shouldn’t that be impossible?” Rowan asked.
“They strengthened the defenses on the castle walls a couple months ago,” Bree said.
It had been as a result of the bastards who had been hunting me and my sisters, but it had made the castle that much stronger.
“How long could it take to tunnel into here?” Florian said. “We’re hundreds of feet deep. And this is solid stone.”
“Depends on what kind of magic you have,” Lachlan said.
I leaned against the wall, my mind racing. Someone had actually broken into the Protectorate. Recently.
I hurried toward the land bridge again, wanting to see if I could find anything at all.
My friends followed, stopping along with me at the bridge that led to the pedestal in the middle. It was glaringly empty.
I turned to Bree. “Can you fly over the land bridge, see if you see anything?”
I knew we needed to alert Arach and Jude—the rest of the Protectorate—but this would only take a moment. And I didn’t dare walk on the bridge.
Bree nodded. Her magic filled the air, bringing with it the scent of cedar and the sound of a whistling wind, and her wings flared from her back, silver and bright.
A moment later, she was airborne, hovering over the land bridge, her face pressed nearly to it. She wore her own lightstone ring, which shed a golden glow on the dirt.
A few moments later, she returned, landing next to me. “Nothing. They brushed away all footprints.”
I frowned. “There might be more clues, but we need to tell the others.”
“Immediately!” Florian was extra pale, even for a ghost.
Lachlan was pacing around the chamber, Muffin at his side. They were clearly looking for clues.
“Come on!” I shouted to him. “We’ve got to go let the others know.”
We all departed the chamber, racing toward the top. Muffin led the way, sprinting up the stairs on his skinny legs. My lungs were about to burst by the time we made it back into the library. Muffin darted off, and we followed.
Bojangles and Princess Snowflake III were still on the table in the main library. Princess had managed to pry the red jewel off and was now staring at it in delight. I ignored her, hurrying through the library and into the hall.
“I’m headed to Arach’s room first.” I turned right. The dragon spirit who’d given her magic to create this place didn’t actually live at the castle, and she couldn’t be called on command. But if she were going to arrive, it would be there, in her office on the main floor.
The halls were quiet as we ran. It was after eight at night by now, and anyone who’d finished working had probably gone to the Whisky and Warlock, our favorite pub in Edinburgh. I just prayed that Jude was still here.
When I reached Arach’s room, I didn’t bother knocking. The door wasn’t locked, but when I entered, it was totally empty and cold. Dead, almost. Normally, the room had life to it. There were dozens of colorful paintings on the tall walls, and the warm wooden furniture gleamed under the lamps.
But now, it felt like it’d been empty for decades.
I turned to face my friends, dread opening a hole in my chest. “This seems wrong.”
Bree’s face was pale as she inspected the room. Rowan looked worried, and Lachlan was unreadable.
I turned back to the room. “Arach. We need you.” I turned to look at Bree. “You said she came when you called once.”
“I think she did. Or it was a coincidence.” Bree’s brow wrinkled. “Arach? We’re desperate here.”
We waited a few moments more, every minute lasting a lifetime.
“I don’t think this is working,” Lachlan said.
“We need to find
Jude,” Bree said.
“Agreed.” I started toward the door, but it swung open.
In the hall, Muffin turned a corner toward us, followed by Jude and Hedy. The head of the Paranormal Investigative Team—the PITs, for short, which was truly a terrible acronym— walked in front of Hedy, the head of Research and Development. The lavender-haired witch looked concerned. Jude looked determined.
“Your cat brought us here,” Hedy said.
“Any ideas why?” Jude stopped dead at the entry, her eyes widening as she studied Arach’s office. “What has happened here?”
So she agreed. Something was off in Arach’s office. “I don’t know.” Worry tugged at me. “But it might have something to do with a theft beneath the castle.”
Jude’s starry blue eyes met mine, and her brow wrinkled. “A theft under the castle?”
“We have to show you.”
She nodded quickly. Jude was the head of the PITs for a reason. Cool under fire and one of the smartest strategists I’d ever met, she didn’t dawdle in an emergency, that was for sure.
My heart raced as I led them all back down to the cavern beneath the castle.
“I had no idea this existed.” Jude stepped onto the stairs leading from the trapdoor.
I showed her everything—the cavern, the pedestal, and the newly dug tunnel—and she didn’t say a word. Hedy was silent, too, but her eyes darted everywhere, taking in every detail as concern and wonder flitted across her face.
Lachlan was silent throughout the whole process, quietly observing. He was an outsider here, not a member of the Protectorate or even a temporary staff member.
“We need to call all the department heads together,” Hedy said. “We’ll meet in the round room.”
I wasn’t surprised that we were meeting in the Undercover Protectorate’s version of the war room. It was reserved for Big Deals. This was definitely a big deal.
Ten minutes later, I followed everyone into the round room. A huge circular table sat in the middle, though it was removed for big meetings when the whole Protectorate had to squeeze in here. But for now, it was just the department heads, the investigators on the PITS, and those of us who’d originally found the cavern.
We were the first to arrive, but Caro, Ali, and Haris stepped into the room just a few minutes later. Besides Bree, they were the three other members of Jude’s division. The one that I wanted to join.
Ali and Haris kicked a hacky sack between them, their dark hair glinting in the light of the wall sconces. The room was done in a medieval style, with stone walls, tapestries, and old-looking lights. I had a feeling that it hadn’t changed since it was first built.
Caro flipped her platinum hair over her shoulder as she sat next to me. “You know what this is about?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “But better wait for Jude to explain.”
The other department heads filtered in after the PITs. Letitia Hedwing came in first. I’d never spoken to her personally, but knew that she was in charge of the Interspecies Mediation department. There could be a lot of fighting amongst the supernatural species, and her calming presence probably did wonders for that.
Potts came in second, and the crotchety old day librarian shot me a look that could freeze iron.
Bree leaned close and whispered, “Whoops, I think someone figured out we broke into the library.”
“Technically, we broke through the library,” I whispered back, as I looked away from his angry gaze. “And we were in Florian’s domain anyway.”
“They fight over it.”
“Men.” I turned my gaze back to the door as Jesse Ammons entered. The leader of the Demon Trackers Unit was built like a football player, and no doubt he used that strength to take out plenty of demons who shouldn’t be wandering the earth.
Technically, this was all way above my pay grade. As a student—and not an ace one at that—I shouldn’t be here. Nor should Rowan, who was even farther down the totem pole than I was. Lachlan might be a magical powerhouse, but he wasn’t a member.
Except we were the ones who’d found the cavern, so here we were. And they couldn’t pry me from this seat if they tried. I wanted to know what the heck was up. I felt like the castle had asked me to find that trapdoor when I’d had the vision of it.
“Why are we here?” Jesse asked.
Jude spoke first, explaining what we’d found under the castle. My gaze darted between everyone’s faces. Had any of them known it existed? From the looks of confusion and wonder, I’d give that a big fat nope.
“You’re telling me that there’s a massive cavern under my library?” Potts demanded.
“It’s been there for many centuries,” Florian said. “I didn’t know much, but I recall vague rumors from my day.”
Considering that his day had been nearly three hundred years ago, this was old info. But with ancient supernatural caves, sometimes old info was the best info.
“What kind of rumors?” Jude asked.
“That Arach’s magic was beneath the castle,” Florian said. “Most of us knew that it was, and one scholar surmised that there must be a cavern there. To be honest, I forgot about it a long time ago.”
Potts huffed. “Of course you did.”
Florian’s gaze shot to the old librarian. “Why you saddle-goose, what did you just say?”
“Gentlemen.” Jude’s commanding voice cut through the room as she raised her hands. “That’s not helpful. Florian, continue.”
“As you know, we have no record of how the castle was originally formed, other than knowing that Arach gave her magic to create this place, back when she was a living dragon.”
“No one has bothered to ask her?” Lachlan said.
Florian arched his brows. “We’re not idiots, Arch Magus. We did ask her, but she didn’t know. No one knew. That was the point. Her magic was so powerful that it was hidden by two other dragons—two older dragons who knew that their time was coming. The knowledge was lost with them intentionally, and because of that, it was protected. They didn’t want anyone to find Arach’s magic. Even she didn’t know. Though she knew it was nearby, she didn’t know the precise spell by which it was imbued within this place.”
“That way no one could get the information out of her.” Lachlan nodded. “Smart plan.”
Magic swelled in the air, bringing with it a pale glow from the side of the room. I turned, squinting.
Slowly, Arach appeared. The dragon spirit was in her human-shaped form, but she was paler than normal. Dimmer.
“Arach!” Jude stood.
“Sit.” Arach’s voice was weak as she drifted over to the table.
“What’s wrong?” Hedy asked. “You look weak.”
“I am.” She sank into an empty chair, her face drawn. “I think something is wrong. I feel…emptier.”
Everyone at the table shared an uneasy glance. Normally, Arach was a powerhouse.
“You look faded,” Jude said. “Weaker.”
“I am.”
“I think someone stole your magic from beneath the castle.”
Arach’s eyes flared wide. “Is that where my heart was hidden?”
“It seems most likely, yes,” Lachlan said. “Especially given that you’re experiencing weakness now.”
“We should assume it was your magic,” Jude said. “And that someone tunneled though the earth to reach it.”
“This is very bad,” Arach said. “Without my heart, I will fade away soon. And the magic that hides the castle will go with me. Anyone will be able to find us.”
Dread opened a hole in my stomach.
Not Arach.
Not the castle.
Jude nodded, her expression grim. “We need to find your magic quickly.”
I leaned forward. “I want to help.”
“You’re still in training,” Jude said. “You need to finish that.”
“I was allowed to help Lachlan last week.”
“Last week, everyone was involved because there were so many wa
ys the clue could be interpreted. We’ll put our best investigators on this. If we need more people, then you may be called in. But for now, you must continue your training.”
“Enthusiasm will only get you so far,” Hedy said.
I tried to keep the scowl from cutting too deeply into my face, but this sucked. Helplessness welled within me. “But I had the premonition that we’d find the trapdoor there.”
“And if you have another one, let us know,” Jude said. “But your magic hasn’t been reliable lately, has it?”
“No.” I bit the word out.
“It’s because you need to continue your training. We can’t risk your life when we have so many other skilled investigators to start on this. But I promise, if we need more hands on this, we will let you know.”
Arach met my gaze. “It is for the best, Ana. You must become stronger, or the risk is too great. I have some time. If it becomes dire, I will let you know.”
I nodded stiffly, unable to argue with Arach, but it wasn’t nearly over yet. If they were putting their best people on this, that meant Bree. She was on the PITs. I could help her.
“Caro, Ali, and Haris will get started on this,” Jude said. “I’ll help as well, and we’ll call in some individuals from Ammons’ Demon Tracker Unit.”
“Not Bree?” I asked.
Jude’s starry blue eyes met mine, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.
“She’s on a job to find a dangerous demon that is terrorizing Ireland.”
Bree met my gaze. “I depart in the morning.”
Dang.
“We’ll have another meeting tomorrow,” Jude said. “In the meantime, let’s get to work.”
I stood, my mind galloping away like a runaway horse. How was I going to get in on the investigation? Caro, Ali, and Haris were my friends, but they were also professionals. Jude had made it very clear what the score was, and they’d heard it.
“I’m going to rest,” Arach said. “If I can think of anything helpful, you can find me in my office.”
I studied her, my stomach twisting at the obvious weakness I’d never seen her exhibit.
As everyone left, Jude caught my eye from across the room. “You’ll be in class tomorrow night?”
