by Jamie Davis
“Good,” Quinn said, checking the door. She scratched the center of her chest. Her scar itched, and she wondered if it meant anything. Pushing down her worries, Quinn pulled on her gloves and said, “Get the box ready as I lift the bowl.”
Taylor joined her in front of the shelf holding the bowl and held open the flaps of the box while Quinn picked up the artifact. She bent down and placed it in the cardboard box.
Taylor flipped the flaps closed and smiled. “One down.”
Quinn’s scar twinged again, and she jerked her head around to check the open doorway. It was clear, and she turned back and went to help Taylor with the big green egg.
Before they even got to the egg, a voice from behind her froze them in their tracks.
“My dear Huntress, if you wanted to borrow one of my toys, why didn’t you just come to me and ask?”
Quinn and Taylor turned around to face a tall, thin woman with long straight hair the color of honey draped over her shoulders. The tips of her pointed ears peeked from beneath her hair on either side. Behind the woman who had to be the fae princess Aurora stood four burly guards, each armed with black batons in addition to holstered pistols on their hips.
Quinn’s shoulders sagged, and she raised her hands to match Taylor’s, holding them high.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Quinn sat beside Taylor in the front row of theater seats, their hands bound in front of them with zip-ties. The four guards stood with their backs to the screen, watching the two. They made no menacing moves other than standing there, black police batons held in front of them.
The princess had left without saying anything else. Quinn hoped Clark had enough sense to try to get away. She knew he wouldn’t, though.
She heard him in the distance, answering that particular question. The voices drew closer, and Quinn and Taylor twisted in their seats to see the doorway. Clark and Aurora entered together. Another pair of guards came in behind them, but they weren’t detaining or holding the hunter. His hands weren’t bound, either.
“My cousin likes to play these little games. It’s one of the reasons I moved out of the city. I grew tired of the constant drama.”
“I wish I had the luxury to just disconnect,” Clark said. “Unfortunately, I have to keep the world from descending into a festering pit of demons.”
Aurora laughed, a silly, high-pitched giggle that was going to be annoying if it happened often. “Clark, my dear, the world’s always descending into the pits of hell, according to you hunters. You should see things from my side. Take the long view. It’s much easier on the blood pressure, I assure you.”
Clark’s eyes darkened for a moment. “Aurora, I’ll remind you that while the fae were taking their ‘long view,’ my clan and all the others were wiped out. You helped create the hunters so they’d be there to protect you from the forces of evil. Without them, you’re just as vulnerable as everyone else.”
The princess waved a hand at Clark. “Pish-posh, Clark. You’re always so doom and gloom. It’s why we could never make our thing work.”
“That and you’re like a thousand years older than I am.”
She smiled and waggled a finger in his direction. “I’m not going to be tricked into revealing my age, my dear. Sorry.”
Quinn was tired of the friendly banter. She cleared her throat and held up her hands, bound by the thick plastic zip-ties.
Aurora glanced at Quinn and Taylor seated nearby and smiled. “Release them. They’ve learned their lesson.”
Two of the guards flipped open folding knives from their pockets and came forward, cutting the plastic ties with flicks of the sharp blades. Quinn and Taylor rubbed the red marks on their wrists for a few seconds.
Quinn stood and faced Clark and the princess. “Clark, why don’t you introduce me to your friend? Apparently, despite our efforts to hide, she was expecting us.”
“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you, my dear. At least, not this soon,” Aurora said. “However, even out here in the hinterlands of the Eastern Shore, we’ve heard about you. I took the time to learn a little about you and even managed to lay my hands on a photograph of you. Your high school yearbook photo, actually. It’s quite nice, although it doesn’t capture the fierce determination in your eyes.”
“If you weren’t expecting us, how did you know we were here?” Quinn asked.
“When Zephyr, my security assistant, told me the video cameras were on the fritz and he couldn’t figure out the problem, I wondered if something was up. Then Vince reported that one of the plumbers was a shifter, probably a werewolf. I became sure something was going on. I know most of the supernaturals around here, and I didn’t recall any who were in that particular line of work. Those with sensitive noses tend to avoid that sort of dirty work for the most part.”
“That’s it?” Quinn asked. “We got caught because of Taylor?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences, my dear. I had Zephyr reboot the video cameras into an old system I made sure we kept around for backup. Then I watched from his command center as you all went about your little caper. It was quite entertaining. Of course, I recognized Clark right away. You were next. The only one I don’t know is your friend here. You said her name was Taylor?”
Aurora walked over and extended her hand to Taylor. “I am Her Royal Highness, Princess Aurora. It’s a pleasure to meet you and welcome you into my home, even under these unusual circumstances.”
Taylor looked confused but took the princess’ hand in hers and shook it. “It’s an honor, I guess.”
Aurora giggled again and said, “As I was telling Clark on the way here, Filippa and I are rivals. We constantly vie to outdo each other. I’m afraid you three got caught up in one of her little ploys to get back at me.”
Clark shook his head. “People could have gotten hurt. We needed the bowl, and when she told me you’d bought it, I just assumed…”
“What?” Aurora asked. “That I’d gotten it as a memento of the long-lost hunters? On the contrary, my dear, I bought it because my seers told me to. It was never meant for me to keep it. I bought it to hold until the time came to return it to the new hunter clan they predicted would rise from the ashes of the old ones.”
“Wait,” Quinn said. “You mean we could have just asked you for the bowl, and you would have returned it to us?”
“Of course. I don’t believe in that stupid human adage about possession being nine-tenths of the law. Ownership of mystical things runs much deeper than that. I can’t imagine the bad luck keeping it for myself would have brought me. I told all this to Filippa when I bought it. It was one of the few times we found ourselves in agreement.”
The princess turned to one of the two guards standing near Clark. “Zephyr, please go and get the container we had made for the scrying bowl. It wouldn’t do to have it break in transit.”
The taller of the two guards left, heading at a fast walk for the exit.
Quinn’s anger at Filippa continued to grow. First, the woman had betrayed them, getting Miranda killed. Then she’d sent them here on this wild goose chase to retrieve something they could have gotten for free.
“Why? Why did Filippa do all this to us?” Quinn asked as she tried to sort out what was going on.
“I suspect it was to get her hands on that silly dragon egg.” Aurora nodded to the large green ceramic egg still sitting on the shelf.
“Wait, a dragon, like, for real?” Taylor asked, turning to stare at it.
“Oh, yes,” Aurora said. “One of the smaller ones, to be sure, but a dragon, nonetheless. Filippa made a calculated guess that this would be the year the thing would hatch finally. Whoever has laid hands on it during the last phase of the moon each year imprints the beast like a duckling. Of course, it only happens if it hatches during that next year. Once the year passes, for the month of the anniversary, another might submit to the imprinting process. It’s due now as a matter of fact, which was why she sent you. Luckily, none of you touched it.”
Quin
n stared at the egg and swallowed hard. “Um.”
Clark rolled his eyes, throwing his hands in the air. “Oh, my God. You didn’t!”
“It was only for a second. The outside was so smooth, and it shone so brightly under the lights.”
“Aurora,” Clark said, turning to their hostess, “I assure you she’ll do whatever she has to do to transfer ownership back to you.”
“Well, well, this is an unexpected turn of events,” the princess said. Her lips broadened into a huge grin, followed by the silly giggle again. “Oh, Filippa is going to be so angry. I can almost hear her screaming now.”
“There must be something I can do to give it back to you,” Quinn said. “Just tell me what to do. Magic can undo anything, right?”
“Unfortunately, not in this case,” Aurora said. “Dragons utilize wild magic, siphoned directly from nature. Only a sentient being can harness the wild magic and control the dragon once it’s born. That’s why most of the wild un-imprinted dragons had to be killed millennia ago. They couldn’t be controlled and destroyed whole swaths of land in their rampages. Eventually, we discovered how to gather the eggs and imprint them, although only a few varieties survived at that point. This is the last of the green dragons. Unless it is allowed to mate with another variety of dragon, it will be the last of its kind.”
“So, I’m stuck with a dragon.”
“Oh, of course not. That will only happen if it hatches while it’s in your care, which is highly unlikely,” Aurora explained. “You can return it to me next year, and I’ll take the responsibility back from you.”
Taylor smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Quinn. What are the odds of it hatching on your watch?”
“Don’t even joke about it, T. I don’t want this.” Quinn turned back to Aurora. “Your Highness, how long does it take for a dragon to mature enough to hatch?”
“My cousin and I have been passing this one back and forth for the better part of two hundred years. The odds favor your being able to return it to me intact.”
“I will definitely do that. I’m putting a note in my calendar to remind me now.” Quinn pulled out her phone and jotted down the message on the same date next year.
“We are stuck in one way,” Taylor said.
“How?” Quinn asked, looking up from her phone.
“We can’t go back to Filippa. If you own the egg she wants, there’s no way she’ll give us her blood to use in the ritual to rebuild your amulet.”
“If you promise to return the egg to me, Quinn, I will gladly agree to come and give a few drops of my blood when the time comes to use the bowl in your ceremony. Will that suffice, or does it have to be Filippa’s?”
“No,” Taylor said. “The instructions merely said ‘highborn fae.’”
“Then I will certainly suffice. Clark knows how to reach me when the time comes. I suppose you’ve already found a blood relative to contribute to the amulet blessing ceremony as well?”
“No,” Quinn said. “But we‘re going to find a workaround for that requirement.”
“There’s no need to do that, my dear,” Aurora said. “My chief seer was most specific in her vision. A great huntress and her mother would use the bowl to bless the beginnings of a new clan. Since you’re here, your mother must be somewhere nearby.” Aurora clapped her hands. “It’s all sort of exciting, don’t you think? Things have gotten rather boring since the hunters left us.”
“We didn’t leave, Aurora,” Clark said. “We were killed off and purged from the records.”
“Semantics. Sometimes great magic must reset itself. The magic used to create the original hunter clans was among the greatest created by the forces of light.”
Quinn didn’t know how she felt about finding out her mother was alive and had survived the purges. If she had survived, why hadn’t she come and retrieved her daughter? Quinn’s brows lowered as anger at her parents she thought she’d dealt with long ago resurfaced.
Taylor must’ve noticed Quinn’s reaction and said, “Let’s not worry about that now. These things have a way of working out, don’t they? I mean, destiny isn’t just a stripper from Dundalk.”
Quinns smiled at Taylor’s attempt to cheer her up with an old joke they’d shared in school.
Clark stepped forward. “I agree. Let’s just take the bowl, and I guess the egg, too. We should really be getting back across the bay.”
Quinn got the distinct impression the two of them were trying to change the subject. She wasn’t sure why but she was glad of it. She hadn’t thought about her real parents for a long time, and she had no desire to revisit the hurt she’d felt as a child growing up in the system without them. If her mother was alive, Quinn wanted nothing to do with her.
Aurora seemed to get the message. “Of course, I understand. Clark, you keep in touch. I want a personal report from you on Filippa’s reaction to all this. That’s the only price I exact from the three of you for the affront of this attempted thievery.”
“I can do that,” Clark said.
“If he doesn’t,” Taylor said, “I’ll be happy to describe it to you in gory detail.”
Aurora giggled again and nodded. “I will take you up on that, Taylor. I suspect I’ll enjoy your account much more. Now go. Get home and assemble the rest of the components for your ritual. I will come when you need me.”
Quinn nodded and followed Clark and Taylor to the back of the room. Zephyr had brought not one, but two black cases. Somehow he knew about the egg, too. Each had customized foam interiors cut to match the shapes of the artifacts. He’d already placed the bowl in the first one. He’d left the dragon egg where it sat on the shelf and glanced at Quinn.
Quinn shrugged and walked over. She lifted the warm egg in both hands, set it in its foam cradle, and closed the heavy-duty plastic lid.
Both boxes had handles and wheels, so Quinn took the one holding the egg and Taylor the one with the bowl. They headed out to the van. Clark came along behind them, with Aurora at his side. Their caper had been a bust, but they’d still managed to land the loot.
Quinn smiled at their luck, despite the feeling she’d had earlier. She wondered what else that was required for the ritual to remake her amulet was written in the tome. She was one step closer to getting it back. Then she’d be ready to face Handon, Myles Hickman, and the rest of them. She planned on ruining their plans before they took over the world.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Given that their plan fell through at the villa, the three of them decided to return Joe’s van to him. There was no need to pretend it had been stolen anymore. It made them run later than expected heading home, so it was well after dark by the time they started along winding country roads toward Route 50, the highway leading to the Bay Bridge back across the Chesapeake Bay.
Quinn thought she was the first to notice the two vehicles following them along the dark, winding country roads. She stared over her shoulder and asked, “Clark, what are the odds Aurora changed her mind and wants her stuff back?”
He glanced at the rear-view mirror. “You talking about the two SUVs tailing us?”
“How do you know they’re tailing us?” Taylor asked, oblivious to what was going on because she’d been glued to her tablet.
“How do you know they’re SUVs?” Quinn asked. She hadn’t been able to see anything but headlights behind them in the darkness.
Clark ignored Taylor. “I know they’re SUVs because of the wide spacing of the lights and the height from the road surface. It’s a guess, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.”
Quinn tried to see what he was talking about. “What do we do?”
“We try to keep ahead of them and get back on the highway. They’ll be far less likely to cause problems with other cars around and risk being seen by a random State Trooper or local county cop.”
Another glance back, and Quinn said, “They’re speeding up. How much farther to the highway?”
“Too far. I think they just made the same determination I made
about their options. Hold on.”
Clark stomped on the accelerator, and his old sedan picked up speed. He navigated the backcountry road with surprising ease.
Quinn couldn’t see anything, but then she realized he was using his dark vision skill. Closing her eyes, Quinn muttered, “Dammit, I need to see.”
When she opened them, she could see past the area lit by the headlights. She looked back over her shoulder again. While the glare blinded her just as badly, she could make out the shadowy outlines of the big SUV bodies behind the pursuing lights. They were much closer now.
“They’re gaining on us,” Taylor called out. “Can’t you go faster?”
Clark spun the wheel, taking a sharp curve in the road. “Not if we don’t want to end up wrecking this car and making it easy for them.”
Just as Clark said it, the lead SUV gunned its engine and surged forward, tapping the rear bumper of the sedan. It wasn’t much of an impact, but at this speed, on this winding road, it didn’t have to be. The rear end of the sedan spun around.
Taylor screamed and clutched the door. Quinn shouted for Clark to watch out because the second SUV had charged past the one that struck them, and it looked like it was coming right at them.
Clark spun the wheel and slammed on the brakes, struggling to regain control. He got the steering to respond in time to avoid a direct hit from the second vehicle as it charged at them. The SUV still clipped the front passenger side of the sedan beside the wheel well.
Quinn grunted in pain, and she slammed sideways into the car door. She clutched the door, trying to steady herself as the car spun in a complete circle. Her hand caught the release handle, and the door popped open. It threatened to spill her out of the car despite her seatbelt.
For a moment, she stared at the asphalt roadway spinning past her face. Using all her strength, Quinn pulled herself back into the car as it twisted to a stop.