Macabre Melody: Book 7 in the Spellsinger Series

by Amy Sumida

  “Did you see the gargoyles take him?” I knew Slate's men had been the ones who grabbed us, but he hadn't gone into details and I was curious.

  “Not exactly.” Fred grimaced. “Cerberus was running toward us with Tessa. You were watching the sky. Then Cerberus suddenly dropped to his knees. Tessa screamed, but then she fell forward too. It was only seconds before they were taken up into the sky by an invisible force. We know now that it was gargoyles, but at the time, we had no idea what had taken them.”

  “And me.”

  “And you.” He nodded. “We tried to warn you, but then you started to fall and before you hit the ground, you were surging up into the air. We could only watch helplessly.”

  His hands clenched into fists, and I laid my hand over one of them.

  “There are times to be peaceful and times to fight, Fred,” I said gently. “Perhaps the time has come for your people to learn about the latter.”

  Fred's hand unclenched, and he sighed deeply. “You may be right. We need to know how to better defend ourselves. Ah, here we are.”

  Fred gestured to a cute house; half brick and half wood. The wood was painted white and there were rosebushes in the garden. A couple of Sasq'ets opened the door and waved to us. But they were pushed apart by a little Sasq'et girl who ran down the steps, shrieking in delight.

  “Ms. Elaria!” Tessa shouted as she hugged me.

  “Hi, honey.” I hugged her tightly. “I'm glad to see you too. You doing okay?”

  “I'm doing so good!” She beamed up at me. “Wanna see my room?”

  “Sure.” I gave my men a shrug as I was pulled up the steps. “Hello,” I said to her parents in passing.

  “Welcome to our home, Spellsinger,” Tessa's father said with deep sincerity.

  “Thank you! Nice to meet you,” I called back over my shoulder as I was yanked along.

  Tessa's parents chuckled.

  “This is my room!” Tessa's hand squeezed mine eagerly just before she released it to push open a door.

  Her bedroom was painted sunrise pink and a white, canopied bed sat in the center of it. A pink television was on a white desk across from the bed. Monster High dolls perched on a shelf to the right. Werewolf fur, snakeskin, and tentacled limbs were just some of the creature features the dolls boasted, but they also had beautiful faces with dramatic makeup. I smiled at that; what perfect playthings for a little Sasq'et.

  Tessa pulled me over to a low window seat strewn with pillows and children's books. Beneath it was shelves full of board games. She let go of my hand to plop down on the fluffy, sheepskin rug and pull out all of them.

  “Do you want to play a game?” She looked up at me hopefully.

  I glanced back over my shoulder where my men were crowded around the open doorway. They smiled and nodded; they were up for whatever I wanted to do.

  “Sure.” I sat down. “Which one do you want to play?”

  The men chuckled and hurried away to have some hot cider with Tessa's parents and Fred, the Sasq'et elder. They may have thought it was cute that I was willing to play with Tessa, but that didn't mean they wanted to crowd around her fluffy rug and roll plastic dice.

  “This is my favorite.” Tessa lifted a worn box. “Wait! No; this one!”

  Tessa shoved aside the other boxes and opened the chosen one. It was shinier than the others; a brand new Candy Land game. I wasn't surprised; even I knew that children loved this game. I had never played myself—having grown up in a time before such things—and I was hoping that I might actually enjoy it. I watched as Tessa set up the plastic gingerbread figures and then placed the cards on the board with its bright pictures of gumdrops, lollipops, and ice cream.

  “Mr. Jago bought this for me,” Tessa said proudly. “We played every day.”

  “What?” I whispered in shock.

  “Mr. Slate came a couple of times too.” She looked up with a wide smile; her eyes full of hero worship. I wasn't sure if it was for me or the gargoyles.

  “Slate did?” I asked in shock. “The Zone Lord?”

  “Oh, yeah!” Tessa jumped up and went to her bed where a pile of dolls laid. “He gave me this. Look at her; she's just like me!”

  Tessa picked up a porcelain doll that had been designed to look like a Sasq'et. Golden brown fur—real fur from the look of it—was laid carefully over the doll's body and a crown of fake flowers perched on its head. Purple flowers, no less. Just like the kind she'd been wearing when we were captured. The doll's hands only had fur on top, with delicate claws tipping each finger, and the glass eyes matched Tessa's; a pale shade of blue. Tessa stroked the fur lovingly as she brought the doll over to me to inspect.

  “I didn't know they made dollies like me,” she whispered in awe. “Humans think we're monsters.” She nodded up at the Monster High dolls. “But Mr. Slate bought this for me in the Zone. He said that Beneathers know beauty takes many forms. He said I'm a pretty girl and one day, I'll be a beautiful Sasq'et woman.”

  She handed me the doll.

  I gaped from Tessa to her doll and then to the shelf. I'd thought—as I'm sure her parents had—that the monster dolls had been perfect for her. But seen through the eyes of a child, they were a badge of shame. Tessa didn't play with them but instead kept them on a shelf to remind her that she was just like them; a monster who could never go down into the human world. She had to hide among her own kind; high up in the Blue Mountains.

  Slate had known exactly what would make a little Sasq'et girl happy. Tessa's own parents hadn't known, but he had. How? Why had he even tried? Sweet stones; I'd thought I'd seen the true man beneath the mask, but I'd only glimpsed a portion of him. The hard-faced Zone Lord—a man of business and war, blood and money—had gone through the trouble of picking out a doll, perhaps even having one custom made, that would make a little girl happy. Something that would make her dismal stay in his jail brighter. Make it seem like an adventure instead of an ordeal. Slate had fucking played Candy Land with her!

  Slate and Jago. Damn, how—

  “I miss them,” Tessa said softly as she took the doll back. “Mr. Slate and Mr. Jago. They were fun. They took me to the park too; there was a lake that we went swimming in.”

  A lake? A park? Gargoyles could swim? What the hell had been happening right beneath my nose?

  “I miss them too.” I hugged her to me tightly so she wouldn't see the tears in my eyes.

  I was shaken. Deeply touched. I wanted to pull out my traveling stone and take Tessa to the Zone with me that very instant. But I couldn't. I owed my lovers more than that. I had betrayed them. Maybe not on my own, but I'd done it. I needed to make amends. So, I blinked away my tears, sat back, and pasted on a glorious smile.

  “Mr. Slate is wrong.” I swept back a soft tendril of Tessa's fur that had fallen over her eye. “You're not going to be beautiful.”

  Her dark chocolate eyes went wide.

  I hurried on before she was hurt, “You're beautiful now, Tessa. That beauty will grow as you do.”

  Tessa's eyes gleamed with hope. Not pride, but hope. She hoped that I was telling her the truth. My throat constricted. I couldn't leave it like that.

  “Humans find you beautiful too, you know? That's what those dolls are about.” I pointed at the shelf. “Little human girls adore them because they are a dangerous beauty; a shining power they can never have. It's like dreaming about being a princess. The word 'monster' is the new 'princess.' They want to be like you, Tessa.”

  Tessa's eyes widened as she looked at the Monster High dolls. She gaped at them—her little fangs showing—as her perceptions shifted. With her arms firmly around her Sasq'et doll, she folded herself back on the floor and continued to stare.

  “I'm a princess?” She whispered.

  “Absolutely,” I said. “And I should know; I'm a queen.”

  Tessa's smile was worth spending the next hour playing the most tedious game ever invented.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Weeks flew by filled with
dress fittings and court business. My men started to relax. Torin and Declan returned to their kingdoms to prepare for our weddings and see to their people. Banning returned to Kansas and his gura, and Gage even went home to visit his griffin family. Only Darc remained with me. Kyanite was his kingdom now too.

  We'd received word that a new Howlite king had been chosen by the jewel... and a new queen. They were currently courting; trying to decide whether to marry or kill each other. Ah, royal romance. I'd made the Howlite Court human, but not the entire kingdom. So, not only were the new royals “born” but so were their nobles. A fresh crop of Howlite Shining Ones was rising in power to fill the abandoned Howlite Castle.

  That's how it works in Tír na nÓg; nature abhors a vacuum, and so do the Jewels.

  A chiming alerted me to a call on my contact charm. I pulled it out eagerly. I'd called Slate a few times, but he'd been as brief and curt as our initial contact. He would talk to me long enough to determine that I wasn't coming to see him anytime soon and then cut me off. He never called me. Not once. I was starting to get annoyed. And maybe a little worried.

  “Hello?”

  “Ellie-phant, do you have plans for today?” It was my father. My heart sank, and I flushed; feeling guilty for being disappointed.

  “Not yet. Why?”

  “The Coven is meeting to discuss the Gods,” he said crisply. “They'd like for you and the others to be there.”

  “When?”

  “Two hours.”

  “We'll be there.”

  We made our goodbyes, and I hurried off to find Darc. We spent the next hour and a half contacting my other lovers and letting our court know that we'd be gone for awhile. I contacted Slate and asked him to join us, but he immediately refused; saying that he was too busy with zone business. I fumed. Was I wrong about him? Was our love one-sided? Out of sight, out of mind?

  I went to the Coven meeting with a heavy heart and a distracted mind. But the rest of my lovers were with me so I tried to focus on them. No; not the rest. My lovers; period. Slate and I hadn't consummated our relationship. We weren't lovers. The thought was sobering. Had I made a mistake? If I had, I'd have to find someone to take his place. And I had no idea how long I'd have to do that. The RS remained silent on the subject. In fact, she'd only popped up a few times since I'd left the Zone. Mainly, she just took the power she needed when I made love to my men and gave us strength in return. If I hadn't been so worried about Slate, I would have been pleased with the arrangement. As it was; it was annoying. And frightening. Every time the RS fed, the power she gave us in return lessened. I knew she was weakening. The Rooster was right; she needed another source of fuel. Why wasn't she complaining?

  You know what you need to do; get it done. I ain't your fucking mama; I'm not going to remind you. RS finally spoke but then was gone again.

  Maybe she was mad at me too.

  I'm with you, my love, Kyanite said reassuringly. You can always rely on me.

  Thanks, Ky.

  Heads up; the Witches are restless.

  I frowned at that and tried to shake myself alert. I was striding through the halls of the witch mansion on Coven Cay; an island owned by the Witches. The hallway floor was parquet wood; polished to a mirror shine. Our heels clicked on it hollowly but most of the echo was absorbed by heavy, tapestry curtains. The curtains were pulled back from a line of windows on our left that let in the afternoon sunlight; illuminating the wood inlay of mystical symbols in the floor. The whole place was filled with magic; surely there was enough power here to locate the rising Gods?

  Two burly, male, witches stood guard outside the council room; one earth and one air. They opened the double doors for us and nodded grimly to me as we passed through. As soon as the doors had opened, a wave of arguing voices rolled over us. I grimaced as I searched for my father.

  Robert Scorcher was near the far end of the rectangular configuration of tables. He sat at one of the long sides of the rectangle while the Witch Leaders sat at the shorter end. I nodded to Vivian and Odin; they were the two leaders I knew best. Glinda was nice enough to me, but I wasn't as close to her as I was with the other two.

  My father had saved us seats. There was one extra chair after we all sat.

  “Where's the gargoyle?” Dad leaned over to me to ask.

  “Busy,” I whispered.

  He gave me a frown but didn't say any more.

  “Quiet!” A masculine voice lashed over the assemblage.

  Everyone shut up and stared at the fourth witch leader. There was a leader for each elemental house. Odin was the leader of Earth, Vivian was Water, Glinda Air, and this man, Osamu Hinote, was the leader of Fire. I barely knew Osamu which was odd since he was the head of my father's house. But Osamu was even more of a scholar than Odin was. He traveled all over the world—following rumors of rare objects, manuscripts, and spells—and was rarely found at Coven Cay.

  Osamu narrowed his dark eyes at the gathering of witches as his thin lips tightened. He had what I liked to call the Asian Glare of Doom, and he was using it to its full potential.

  “We will get nowhere if we persist in this fashion,” Osamu declared. “We are witches; we have knowledge passed down through millennia available to us. Has the library yielded no results?”

  A few voices started talking at once, and Osamu sliced his hand through the air. They stopped.

  “Wanda.” Osamu pointed to a woman. “Report.”

  “Nothing in the East Library, Sir. Not yet,” she stammered. “There are still some old volumes...” her voice trailed away under the doom glare. “I will persist.” She lurched to her feet and ran out of the room.

  The glare transferred to another, and another, and another. Every library was being searched for myths on old gods but none of them had helped. Yet. There were big libraries at Coven Cay and the Coven couldn't put all of their witches on the search.

  “Alexis!” Osamu pointed at a blonde woman with a buff body. “Anything?”

  “Still following leads, Sir!” Alexis reported like a soldier.

  Osamu nodded.

  It went that way for the next half an hour. No one had made any progress but they weren't giving up either. After the reports were in, witches started speaking up again; calling out ideas on what to do about the potential threat.

  “That's quite enough,” Vivian said as she stood. “Present your ideas individually to your elemental leaders. I vote that we conclude this meeting until we have more information. Any information. Because this”—she waved her hand at the congregation—“is just a ridiculous waste of time.”

  The other leaders looked at Vivian and nodded. It was pointless to sit there and work with ifs and buts. The room cleared out, but the leaders lingered. They made their way over to my group.

  “Robert, thank you for bringing your daughter,” Osamu said to my father before turning to me. “And thank you for attending, Elaria... and consorts.”

  My men grimaced. Two kings, a griffin, a prince, and a god all reduced to “and consorts.”

  “No offense,” Osamu said quickly. “It's just easier than greeting each of you individually.”

  “None taken,” Darc answered for them. “Now, what are your four planning?”

  Osamu chuckled. “What makes you think that we have a plan?”

  “If not a plan, then an idea,” Torin said. “The four of you are too brilliant to not have one.”

  “There are possibilities.” Glinda's gaze shifted my way.

  “No,” Odin said. “Not that one.”

  “What's going on?” My father narrowed his eyes at the Leaders.

  “She's referring to last resort measures which we aren't going to bother you with unless necessary. Isn't that right?” Odin glared down the other witches; even Osamu looked away.

  “What about alerting the other realms?” I asked. “Did you discuss that?”

  “In our first meeting.” Vivian nodded. “Messengers have already been dispatched to the governing counsels o
f every inhabited planet.”

  “Well, at least there's that,” I said. “They can watch for the signs.”

  “Such as earthquakes?” Odin asked with a grin.

  His name was Odin Earthshaker; earthquakes were kind of his specialty.

  “Yes; such as earthquakes.” I shook my head at him.

  “Darcraxis was released without any quakes.” Vivian nodded her head at Darc. “We can't assume that we'll have warning signs, much less speculate on what they'll be.”

  “All we can do is hope,” Glinda said softly.

  The rest of us nodded at that. It didn't appear that there was much else to be done.

  “I'll walk you out,” my father said to me.

  I made my goodbyes to the Witch Leaders and then followed my dad out of the room. We could use our stones to travel from anywhere, but I had a feeling that he wanted to say goodbye to me privately.

  “Could we have a moment?” My father looked pointedly at my men.

  The guys looked at me, and I nodded.

  “I'll see you at home,” I said to them.

  “Always good to see you, Robert.” Torin shook my father's hand.

  The rest of the men nodded their goodbyes and traveled back to Tír na nÓg without me.

  “What's up with the gargoyle?” Dad got right to it.

  “I don't know.” I sighed. “He's being distant.”

  “Distant?” Dad growled. “What did he say?”

  “Nothing much. I tried to tell him that I wouldn't be able to return right away, and he cut me off saying that he had responsibilities too and had to see to them. Every time, I call, it's the same. Slate cuts the call short as soon as I mention anything about my delay in visiting him. Then I call him today, and he says he's busy.”

  My father laughed.

  I grimaced.

  He laughed harder.

  “How can you have so many men and still know nothing about them?” My father laughed even more.

  “You want to share the joke?”

  “Slate Devon's a leader of his people, Ellie-phant,” my father finally calmed enough to say. “He's the top dog. And here you come, shaking up his world—literally—and he's put in a position where the thing he wants most—that would be you—he can only have if he learns to share. Not so easy for a guy like that.”