Chalice of Life

by R. A. Rock

  “It wasn’t like that.” Finn shook his head. “Never mind.”

  “She’s not… dead… is she?” Jayde said.

  “You mortals,” Ethan said. “Always so worried about death. There’s worse things, okay?”

  “She’s not dead,” Finn said. “I can feel her Starlight.”

  “Me too,” Ethan said.

  “So what do we do?” Jayde asked.

  “We get the Chalice,” Tess said, prying her eyes open.

  “Oh Tess, thank goodness,” Jayde said, putting her hand on her chest.

  Ethan helped Tess sit up.

  “What were you thinking, channeling all that power like that?” he said, feeling angry, though he wasn’t sure why.

  “I was breaking the spell?” Tess said, narrowing her eyes at him. “Like we planned.”

  “That wasn’t like we planned,” he said, giving her a hand up. “We planned to use our combined magic.”

  “And it wasn’t enough,” she said, getting annoyed. “So I brought in some more.”

  “You could have been killed, Tessa,” he said, furious.

  “Are you angry because I could have killed myself and ruined everything? Or because you don’t like that you were shown up? You always have to be the center of attention, huh, Ethan?”

  Ethan blinked and his jaw dropped in outrage. “I didn’t…”

  “Hey,” Finn said, clapping his hands between them and getting their attention. “Hey. Break it up. We’ve got a Chalice to get. You can fight later.”

  Ethan looked at Finn. The Fae man was right.

  “So,” Finn said. “What kinds of magical booby traps are we dealing with here, Ethan?”

  Ethan gazed around the room. “There aren’t any.”

  “What?” Jayde said. “After all we’ve been through? He wouldn’t just leave the place unguarded.”

  Ethan shrugged. “I can’t see any magic in here, except right around the Chalice.”

  “Okay,” Finn said, with a shrug. “What the hell? Let’s get it.”

  He walked straight across the floor to the pedestal where the Chalice was standing. Jayde glanced at the others and then walked quickly up to join him.

  Tess glared at Ethan and followed the other two. Ethan shook his head. The woman was maddening. Risking her life like that. For a stupid old cup. He stalked over to the Chalice, just wanting to be done with this stupid mission.

  Standing around the pedestal, no one said a word.

  The Chalice of Life was incredible. Forged entirely from Starlight, it was pure magic. Like the gold the humans liked so much but more—much more. Ethan could see the Light Magic coming off the Chalice, and it was so bright that it almost blinded his magic sight, as Tess called it.

  Jayde’s eyes were huge and Ethan couldn’t help but smile. The little human had waited her entire short life for this moment.

  “So what sort of traps are on the Chalice?” Jayde asked.

  Ethan kept his hands in his pockets to avoid reaching out to touch it. The urge was quite strong and he noticed that the others had their hands in their pockets or behind their backs, too.

  “I can’t see anything except the Light Magic of the Chalice,” Ethan told them.

  “So there are no traps, or you can’t see them?” Tess asked.

  “Not sure. But I feel like there aren’t any.”

  “So what do we do?” Finn said, his eyes darting from person to person.

  “Pick it up,” Ethan said. “We just pick it up.”

  “Tess should,” Jayde said. “It’s her quest.”

  Ethan felt a little sorry for Jayde. She so clearly wanted to be the one to touch it. But she was being noble. He loved when the humans were generous. It was like a child sharing their toy with another toddler.

  Sometimes humans were decent.

  Upstanding.

  Good.

  It reminded him of why he protected them.

  “Okay,” Tess said. “I’m going to do it.”

  Ethan watched as she reached out with her graceful hands. They were all on edge, waiting for her to pick it up and see what booby traps that released.

  She swallowed and brought her hands closer.

  Closer.

  Then she picked it up. Or she would have if her hands hadn’t passed right through it. Finn’s mouth fell open and he tried too. His hands also clutched at nothing.

  “Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me,” Finn said, making fists and shaking them. “It’s insubstantial? A fucking ghost chalice? Oh, I am so damn sick of this shit.”

  “No, no, no, no,” Finn said, pacing back and forth in a small arc. “Not again.”

  “You two have seen a ghost chalice before?” Jayde inquired.

  “Let’s just say we’ve been having some difficulties with insubstantiality lately,” Tess said, feeling sour. “And leave it at that.”

  “How can this be?” Finn said. “Is it just an illusion?”

  “No,” Ethan said. “I can hardly look at it with my magic sight, as Tess calls it. It’s blinding me, it’s so powerful. That’s definitely the Chalice.”

  “Why don’t you try?” Tess suggested.

  Ethan reached out, and his hands passed through just like Tess and Finn’s had.

  “Well, he certainly wouldn’t need any other booby traps if nobody can pick the damn thing up,” Jayde commented.

  “But Sakiwayo,” Tess said, perplexed.

  “What about him?” Finn said.

  “He came in here and drank regularly, right? He had to? That’s what allowed him to live so long?”

  “Yes,” Finn said. “Or that’s what he told us anyway.”

  “So, how did he pick it up?”

  “Well, maybe when he disengaged all the booby traps, it also shut off whatever this trap is?”

  “I don’t think it’s the same thing,” Ethan said. “The magic has a different feel from those other traps. This feels more like it’s a property of the Chalice itself.”

  “Sakiwayo could pick it up,” Tess said. “That has to be the key. Somehow.”

  Ethan squinted at Jayde, who was staring with longing at the Chalice. Then he cursed himself for being so prejudiced against humans that he couldn’t see that the human was the solution.

  “The answer is the human.” Ethan shook his head. Should have known.

  “What?” Jayde said, taken aback.

  “Chasm and Severance,” Tess said, smacking her forehead. “He’s right. I’ve been thinking about this wrong all along. Would the King have truly been worried about humans getting the Chalice? Probably not. This place is incredibly shielded from anyone without magic. He would have counted on them, first of all, not finding the place and, even if they did, not being able to get in. So who would he really have been warding the place against?”

  “Other Fae,” Finn said, understanding hitting him. “The Faerie from the prophecy, most likely.”

  “Exactly,” Tess said, pointing at herself. “Yours truly. So I can’t pick up the Chalice. No Fae can.”

  “What about Ethan?” Jayde said, her face puzzled.

  “He’s a magical creature too, so it probably works the same way.”

  “Doesn't matter how the damn thing works,” Ethan said. "All we need is a human to pick it up."

  All eyes turned to Jayde.

  “You’re a human,” Ethan said, pointing out the obvious. “You try.”

  Jayde stepped up but then hesitated.

  “What’s wrong, mortal? You afraid?”

  “Yes,” Jayde said, not insulted at all. “And justifiably so.”

  “What’s the worst that could happen?” Ethan asked, spreading his hands.

  “I could lose my very short—as you all keep pointing out—mortal life.”

  “You telling me after all this time searching, you don’t want to pick it up?” Ethan said, his tone doubtful.

  Jayde grinned at him. “Good point.”

  She brought her hands together as Tess had
done, but as she came in contact with the Chalice, it became solid again, and she lifted it off the pedestal. The magic swelled and Ethan could almost hear a sound like a choir singing.

  “Damn, mortal, you rock,” Ethan said, lifting his hand for a high five. Then he dropped it with a shrug since her hands were kind of full of the Chalice of Life.

  They all stared at it. Its solid form was even more magnificent than when it was insubstantial and there was a sense of deep peace emanating from it.

  “Finally,” Jayde breathed in awe.

  “Finally, we got it, Finn,” Tess said, giving Finn a brilliant smile that made Ethan feel a little jealous of the Fae man. Tess never smiled like that at him.

  But their attention was suddenly pulled away from the Chalice as four stones came flying and landed at each person’s feet.

  What now, Ethan wondered.

  Chapter 52

  A Fae man strolled into the cavern that held the Chalice of Life. His hair was blond, like gold, and his clothing immaculate. He wore a modern suit in charcoal grey, hands in his pockets as he approached.

  Whistling.

  He looked wide awake, considering it must be around midnight. And Ethan didn’t know who the hell he was, but he knew one thing.

  That guy was going to be a pain in his ass.

  Ethan went to step in front of Jayde, but he was frozen from the neck down, and as soon as he moved, a jolt of pure agony went through him. He gasped.

  “Ah,” the man said. “Better not try to move. It’ll hurt more than way.”

  “Nyall, you bastard,” Tess said, her face furious. “What are you doing here?”

  “What am I doing?” He chuckled. “I’m getting the Chalice of Life for the King.”

  “You can’t have it,” Tess spat her words out. “We won’t let you.”

  “Oh, you won’t?” Nyall said, amused. “And how exactly are you going to stop me? Your demigod, or whatever he is, over there isn’t going to help you. This interrogation spell was developed with powerful beings like him in mind. There are only ten in existence. It can hold a Skransser, never mind someone like him. It was designed for questioning prisoners. That’s why you can move your heads.”

  “How did you even get in here?” Tess said, puzzled and dismayed.

  “Through the Passageways,” he said, making a languid gesture toward the tunnel. “There’s a door that leads right into the hallway there.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Finn said and Nyall frowned at him.

  “Language, Finnley. Just because you’re on Earth among humans, doesn’t mean you have to act like one.”

  “Fuck you, Nyall,” Finn said, as if he loved saying the nasty swear word.

  “Hey,” Jayde said at the same time as Finn. She gave him an insulted look and Nyall zeroed in on her. When he suddenly paid attention to her, she didn’t seem to know what to say.

  “You will come with me,” he told her.

  “No way,” she said, and Ethan thought she would have put her hands on her hips if she could have moved them. “I don’t know who you are, but you are not getting the Grail.”

  Nyall snickered as if everything was so damn funny. He was really getting on Ethan’s nerves.

  “Of course, I am. I’m taking it back to its rightful owner. And none of you are going to stop me. Least of all you, vermin.”

  Jayde made an indignant noise.

  “Now, come with me or I’ll kill your two favorite Faeries.”

  “You can’t kill them,” Jayde said.

  “Can’t I?” Nyall said, considering. “I’m pretty sure if they’re trapped here longer than six months, they’ll die. Because that’s what happens to Fae who stay too long on the Earthly Realm without Elixir.”

  Jayde cut her eyes over to Tessa’s, a question in them. Tess gave a tiny nod. Nyall could certainly kill them by imprisoning them here until their Starlight ran out.

  Bloody fucking hell, how did this smarmy middle management guy suddenly get all the power? Ethan didn’t say anything, just bided his time. He was going to enjoy punching that guy’s pretty face when he got the chance.

  “Fine,” Jayde said, and Nyall went and picked up her rock. He pocketed it and Jayde could move again. She gave them a worried look and then followed Nyall, carefully carrying the Chalice.

  “Thanks, Tessa. You really are proving quite useful, after all, aren’t you? Just what you always wanted.”

  Nyall picked up the other stones but didn’t put them in his pocket, carrying them in his hand so that they would still be frozen until he, Jayde, and his team were well away.

  Ethan was completely powerless—a feeling he really didn’t like. And he seethed in his frozen body as he watched the Fae called Nyall take his favorite little human along with the Chalice of Life… and leave.

  After Nyall left and the freezing spell wore off, the three of them immediately ran for the tunnel that led out of the cavern, which had so very recently held the Chalice of Life. The late hour suddenly caught up to Tess. She felt so exhausted. But she couldn’t give up now. Nor would she even consider it.

  Not when Jayde and the Chalice hung in the balance. So, Tess did what she always did. She pushed aside what she wanted and instead did the right thing. Or she tried to do the right thing, anyway. It didn’t always work out that way.

  “We have to get her and the Chalice,” Finn said, his face determined as he headed for the entrance to the cavern.

  “Agreed,” Tess said, running next to Finn.

  “Of course,” Ethan said, from behind them.

  “Oooh, that Nyall drives me crazy,” Tess said, feeling furious. “He always rides on the coattails of others.”

  Finn laughed at the expression.

  “What even is a coattail?” he said, and Tess shrugged.

  When they arrived in the hallway, Tess met Finn’s eyes.

  “Do you think it’ll work or would he have closed it again?”

  “Probably in too much of a rush to get out of here,” Ethan said. “Try.”

  Finn closed his eyes and they were in one of the grey rooms of the Passageways. Ethan found the machine that spit out the passes that he needed and got one, shoving it in his pocket. It was good for three hours.

  “I know Nyall’s just following orders for the King,” Tess said to Finn as he opened the door and went out into the hall. “But it’s starting to feel personal, the way he’s trying to stick it to me.”

  “Yeah, well, it clearly is personal. What did you do to piss him off?”

  Tess wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know.”

  Finn grabbed a tablet and stared at it in consternation. “How do we know where they’ve gone?”

  Tess shrugged. “The Caretaker should be here soon. We could ask him.”

  “We don’t have time for that,” Ethan said, tilting his head back and sniffing the air. “And we don’t need the tablet or the Caretaker.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Tess said, grinning. “Can you smell them, Hunter?”

  “That’s Great Hunter to you, Stars. And I have many talents. Including a great sense of smell.” Ethan winked at her. Tess rolled her eyes as he took off, tracking Nyall’s team’s scent. “This way.”

  He started walking quickly, turning at various intersections, following nothing that Tess or Finn could identify.

  “But how will we know which door—” Finn started.

  “Faeries smell like citrus and melodrama,” Ethan told them, stopping abruptly.

  Tess held back a smile, but she couldn’t help being amused. Ethan was such a smart ass.

  “This one.” Ethan stopped, pointing at a door marked Liberty State Park.

  Tess opened it and they stepped through, one after another. They emerged in a field lit by moonlight. Nearby was a body of water that ought to have given off a fresh, clean scent but didn’t. Was that garbage she smelled? When Tess turned her head, she was startled to see an enormous statue across the water. She squinted. It was a woman holding a to
rch and a book.

  “Hello there, Lady Liberty,” Ethan said but the Fae weren’t listening to him. Tess and Finn hovered over Finn’s phone, which lit his face with a ghostly light.

  “The Caretaker told us about this app that will locate the nearest Faerie ring,” Tess told Ethan as Finn tapped at the screen.

  “Got it. Come on.” He looked down at the phone and then up again. He pivoted on his heel and started walking.

  Ethan kept pace with him and glanced at Finn’s phone. He saw that it was a map that showed the location of the closest faerie ring with a red dot. Finn’s phone was shown by a pulsing blue dot that moved as he did, indicating they were getting closer.

  “The closest one is right here in the park,” Finn told them, breaking into a jog.

  “There they are,” Tess said, putting on a burst of speed and pulling away from Finn and Ethan. Nyall glanced up as they approached, and he pulled Jayde into the circle of mushrooms. Their little group disappeared a second later.

  “Come on,” Tess called back to Finn. A minute later, they were in the same circle of mushrooms and then back in the Passageways. Tess headed for the door but Finn put his hand on her arm.

  “Tess, give me your phone,” Finn said.

  “What? Why?”

  “I can’t keep up. I’m getting too weak. You go ahead with my phone and I’ll get yours set up and follow you. Just friend me when you get my request and I’ll be able to see what Faerie rings you’ve used.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Finn.”

  “This is too important, Tess,” he said. “I’ll just be a couple minutes behind.”

  Tess frowned, pulling out her phone.

  “He’s right, Tess, come on,” Ethan said.

  “You sure?” She studied Finn’s eyes.

  “Yes, go.” Finn took her phone and gave a nod.

  Tess glanced at Ethan.

  “Okay, Great Nose.” She opened the door. “Do your thing.”

  Ethan gave her an annoyed look but obediently drew in a deep breath.

  “This way,” he said and took off running down the corridor.

  Tess followed him, hoping she could trust him to not steer her wrong. Jayde and the Chalice were too important.