The Castle: Prequel to the Guardian Angel Series

by Melissa Johnson

  Chapter 4

  That horrible day had been three long days and nights ago. She’d hoped Thaddeus had been wrong and soon Eric or someone – anyone – would come across the Barrier. But each day at the Castle proved Thaddeus had indeed isolated Dragon’s Keep. If that part were true, then what of the rest? She stayed paralyzed with fear, afraid to attempt going back to Dragon’s Keep when she knew Eric would want to confront Thaddeus.

  But she tried to think of what she could do from her end to ruin his plans. She had plenty of ideas…poisoning his food had been a particularly appealing idea, but he was watchful for that tactic. Any hope of getting a look at his scrolls was also out of the question. Thaddeus watched her like a hawk. By sheer force of intimidation he had others watch her too.

  The situation was hopeless, she thought now in the quiet of the Gathering Room. She picked listlessly at her muffin until it was a pile of crumbs on her plate. Next to her sat Marigold and Seymour. She had told them about her encounter with Thaddeus but had not confided her theory about the locket. It rested heavy against her chest.

  The rest of the Gathering Room was half-filled with a weary collection of off-duty professors and Guardians. There were very few full time Guardians left, mainly those, like Marigold, who had been on assignment when the Barrier went up. As Marigold had described, when she’d tried to teleport back to Dragon’s Keep it had been like running into an electric fence that threw her back to where she’d started.

  When Thaddeus had said he had weeded out the undesirables, he hadn’t been exaggerating. With few exceptions, she could tell he’d chosen carefully who would remain. If there were one characteristic he’d looked for it had been “timid.” These were not the leaders. Every once in a while a sniffle would break the silence, as if a breakdown were imminent; otherwise they kept their heads down.

  Seymour heaved a deep sigh. “What to do? What to do? What to do?”

  His litany burst upon the silence like a succession of popping balloons. Every head in the Gathering Room turned to stare at Seymour.

  The crying started again.

  Marigold groaned and dropped her head in her hands. “Great. Now look what you’ve done!”

  “Sorry,” Seymour muttered.

  “It’s all right, Seymour.” Heather patted his hand. He meant well. Seymour always meant well.

  Everyone took a collective indrawn breath and Heather tensed, instantly guessing at the cause. Thaddeus. She’d done everything in her power to avoid being alone with him, but now he swept into the room and moved unhesitatingly in their direction.

  “Well, well,” he began, looking over their group. “If it isn’t the hooker, the out of work magic professor and the…” He hesitated over what to call Seymour. “…whatever you are. What a surprise to find the three of you together. How goes the plotting of my downfall?”

  No one answered. Heather kept her gaze firmly downcast. As if they’d invited him to join them, Thaddeus pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “Ahh, why so glum, my chicks? The sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day. Oh, wait. That’s not the sun shining is it?”

  Thaddeus gestured to the floor length windows where the drawn back curtains let the light from the Barrier into the room. Marigold said something under her breath followed by Seymour falling into a sudden coughing fit.

  “You should get that cough checked, Fenton.”

  Thaddeus leaned back in his chair. “I wonder how our long lost friends on the other side are faring, don’t you, Heather?”

  Marigold practically sputtered in her outrage. “Quit tormenting her! How dare you act as if you care!”

  “I care deeply, Marigold. So deeply, in fact, that I left them a gift. They will have found it by now.”

  Heather finally raised her eyes. He watched and waited for her to ask for more information. Of course, she was curious but it galled her to let him pull her strings.

  “What gift?” Seymour asked. A muscle near Thaddeus’ eye twitched with annoyance.

  “A very special gift. I didn’t want to leave them totally in the dark, so to speak, so I left some informative documents behind. My journals, personal notes from my experiments, those types of things.”

  If she had been standing she would have fallen down. He’d left his work at Dragon’s Keep? She could hardly believe her ears. It couldn’t be that easy. No, his notes were probably useless ramblings.

  A shiver crept up her spine when he said the most amazing thing.

  “Yes, clever girl. You pieced it together correctly. They have the means to defeat me right in their hands but can’t do a thing about it!”

  But what if they could? Hope flooded her in such a rush that she thought she must have every thought written on her face. But she needn’t have worried. His focus had shifted inward to his gleeful imaginings of the reaction of Eric and the Council. She didn’t have to ask why he’d left his journals behind. Of course, he hadn’t left them by accident. He’d wanted Eric and the Council to know what he’d done.

  Thaddeus stood. “Carry on. But do try to keep your scheming to your off hours.”

  He left them, whistling as he wound through the tables.

  Marigold barely waited until he was out of earshot. “Bastard. Self-important pig. Oh! I can’t stand how he taunts us! I’d like to wipe that smug expression off his face.”

  Heather hardly heard Marigold’s tirade, her mind working frantically. Thaddeus’ own words in his journals could very well be the key to undoing what he had done. He never expected them to be of use since no magic could be done at Dragon’s Keep. But she was the link to the Castle. If the Council could figure out the spell, they could turn the tables on Thaddeus.

  On that spark of hope, the rest of the day became an excruciating wait until, finally, deep in the night she attempted to return to Dragon’s Keep. It had worked, although her success had been bittersweet upon finding the conditions eerily similar to Thaddeus’ prediction. Their home had been plunged into near darkness, the only unnatural light coming from the distant Barrier. Even though it was the middle of the night, a constant glow streamed in through the long windows.

  Now, in the Council Chambers, Heather leaned forward and braced her hands on the solid oak of the long conference table. She stood at one end of the table, refusing to sit in Thaddeus’ vacant chair. She’d briefed the Council on everything happening at the Castle as best she could, but her euphoria was swiftly being replaced by confused disappointment. Grim, skeptical silence greeted her from the seven remaining Council members.

  She gestured impatiently to the stacks of books and scrolls on the table. No one, including Eric, had given them more than a cursory glance. “We have the means right here to bring down the Barrier.”

  “My wife has the means to a much quicker end.”

  She looked at her husband at the end of the table. Eric looked deceptively in control, but his eyes glittered with fury.

  Their last moment of understanding, when he’d given her locket back to her at the Castle, seemed a lifetime ago. Not even the immediate relief of their reunion had lasted long. She’d barely stumbled through a tearful explanation of what had happened when he’d asked why she’d waited so long to come. He was not at all appreciative of her desire to protect him. And since then, Eric’s reaction had been much as she’d predicted. His burning desire to confront Thaddeus was palpable. Heather broke eye contact. She refused to let him intimidate her.

  But the Council members were no more receptive, even if she didn’t take their reaction quite so personal. Why wouldn’t they look at Thaddeus’ notes?

  “We can do it, I tell you,” she said, when no one spoke. “It’s the only way.”

  “It’s not the only way.” Eric bit the words out harshly. “We are wasting valuable time.”

  “Eric has a good point.” Darius, a Councilor she’d long ago secretly dubbed ‘The General’
in her mind because of his military bearing, spoke with complete conviction. He ignored her last comment and responded to Eric. “Our first priority should be to deal with Thaddeus. We can destroy his creation later.”

  Eric nodded.

  “Yes,” agreed a second Council member. She had a secret nickname for him too, thinking of him as “Kendrick the Second” because Kendrick always piped up on the heels of someone else, and that someone else was usually Eric.

  “We have surprise on our side,” Kendrick added. “Thaddeus has no idea Heather’s locket brought her here and he won’t expect it when she brings…one of us across.”

  No one questioned it would be Eric so Heather had no idea why Kendrick hesitated to name him. It also didn’t escape her notice that they all deferred to Eric, barely acknowledging her. She might as well be a piece of furniture in the room. Her frustration reaching a boiling point, she voiced a question for Eric as well. “What if it goes wrong?”

  “Thank you for your confidence in me.” Eric’s voice was heavy with sarcasm.

  She glared at him. “It’s not about my confidence in you. Even if you incapacitate Thaddeus, what will you do with him?”

  “He will be imprisoned.”

  “He will destroy the Barrier himself before he allows that to happen.”

  “Let him.”

  Heather sucked in her breath. “Did you not hear me when I told you what the consequence would be if it falls?”

  Eric looked unconcerned. “I heard you. It is impossible.”

  He thought himself invincible.

  She studied the eternally youthful faces of the Council members. Did none of them comprehend what Thaddeus had done? Even if she tended to be irreverent about their mannerisms, she respected their intelligence. She felt a bit foolish spelling it out, but she did so again. “Thaddeus only mentioned himself and Eric, but I think he meant all of you. You are all at risk.”

  The Council members shared a look amongst themselves. Edward, her favorite of the Councilors, took it upon himself to speak for the others. She thought of him simply as “The Kind One,” but even he could not quite manage to eliminate a patronizing tone. “Heather, you can’t seriously think we will die if this Barrier falls?”

  Her shoulders slumped. Finally she understood their lack of enthusiasm for her plan. Immortals, she realized, did not have it in them to take the threat of death seriously.

  But she did. “I believe him. I don’t know how to convince you otherwise, but I think we must figure out how to neutralize his spell before we risk showing our hand.”

  “Enough!” Eric practically roared the word. He abruptly stood, his chair crashing into the wall behind him. He jabbed a finger in her direction. “You will bring me to the Castle.”

  Heather lifted her chin. She understood his frustration. She shared it. But he was wrong to act so impulsively. “I will not.”

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Leave us.”

  The Council members made to rise.

  “Stay where you are, gentlemen.” She took a step back, touching her locket. “I will be the one to leave.”

  “Heather!” Eric stared at her in disbelief. “You can’t leave.”

  “Yes, husband, I can.”

  She was the only one who could. The responsibility made her knees go weak. And she knew Eric would see this as blackmail.

  Her heart ached at the growing distance between them. I have something to tell you! But how could she? The right time to tell Eric about their child seemed to slip further and further out of reach.

  She took another step back. “I see that I’m getting nowhere here. I will return once you have had the opportunity to study Thaddeus’ work.”

  Hardly believing how she’d ordered the Council – and Eric – to do her bidding, Heather initiated her teleportation spell.