He had a point, and if he was right all of this might be able to end right now. If the house was cloaked we could break it and find the mirror a heck of a lot faster. The crazy fun house of magic crap would be over with. I was game for that.
Anna stared at my brother. Only one word pushed past her lips, “Try.”
“What do you mean try?” Jasper sneered. “I have tried. You’ve been with me as I scoped out each crazy room after the next, searching for a cloaked mirror.”
“Exactly,” she said. A mischievous grin twisted onto her face.
I gasped as understanding of what she was getting at passed through me.
“You can’t find what you aren’t looking for,” I said. “It must be another part of the spell they created.”
Anna nodded, her grin growing. “Yes! You can’t find what you aren’t looking for.”
“I don’t get it,” Tristan admitted.
“Don’t feel bad,” Jasper insisted. “I don’t either.”
I released a long sigh. How could they not be following this conversation? Yes, it had taken me a bit to understand, but now that I’d let them in on what Anna had been hinting at they should be good. I opened my mouth to explain, but Anna held up a hand.
“Let me.” I nodded, allowing her to fill them in. I didn’t think I had the patience anyway. “All along, you and Piper have been searching for a cloaked mirror inside this house without any luck. You were searching for something that doesn’t exist. There is a mirror here, but it’s not cloaked. The house is cloaked, and its hiding the mirror from you. You’ll never find it. That’s the cloak. You couldn’t feel it because you were looking for a small—albeit powerful—cloak placed on a small object, not a large cloak placed on something massive. Get what I’m saying?” “Hmm.” Jasper scratched at the back of his neck. “So, you’re saying we didn’t feel the cloak placed on the house because we didn’t know to look for one?”
“Exactly,” Anna said.
“The old woman knew it too,” Tristan insisted. “She told us as much with her riddle about mice.”
“How though?” Jasper asked. “And why didn’t she say something specific?”
“She gave us a warning,” I said. “That has to count for something. It helped Anna figure everything out.”
Jasper shook his head. “It seems fishy to me is all I’m saying.”
“Maybe she couldn’t flat-out say what type of magic was at play here. Maybe the riddle was all she could offer. Well, that and the orange rock.” I said.
“Do you still have that?” Anna asked.
“Of course.” There was power within it. Witnessing it take down Seraphina had been proof. I reached into my pocket for the rock and held it out.
“May I?”
“Sure.” I passed it to her.
“I can’t believe I didn’t look at it before. This is carnelian,” she said.
“And that means?” Jasper asked.
Anna swallowed hard before shifting her eyes to my brother. I licked my lips. Was there something bad about the stone she didn’t want to share?
“Carnelian is a rock used to clarify goals and amplify magical powers…among other things.” Her gazed drifted back to the stone, and I swore I noticed her hand trembled.
“What other things? Can it help us take down the cloak on the house?” I asked. It was the next logical step if everything Anna had said was true.
“It can.” Sadness shifted over her face, dulling her features and causing her eyes to gloss over.
Did she not want this to end? Or was there something else she knew the rock could do that she wasn’t willing to share with the rest of us.
“What’s wrong?” Jasper pulled her into him and cocooned her in his arms.
My heart warmed at the fact that he’d picked up something was bothering her. Normally my brother wasn’t so intuitive with people. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She lifted to her tiptoes and kissed him, then she pried herself from my brother’s arms. “Okay. Let’s use this rock and some of Piper’s blood to break through the cloak on the house. Then we should be able to find the mirror easily.”
Chills slipped through my core. This was the part I’d been dreading most.
“What do we do once we find it?” Tristan asked.
Thoughts of Meili and the red smoke filled my mind. We hadn’t discussed what would happen once the mirror was found. How were we supposed to get the magic out and into the dragon shifters?
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Anna moved to the center of the courtyard and sat, still clutching the orange rock in her hand. “Anyone have a pocket knife?”
A lump formed in my throat. Asking for a knife meant my blood would be spilled soon. My knees wobbled at the thought.
Jasper patted his pockets. “Nope.”
“I don’t have one either.” Tristan scratched his head as a boyish smile twisted onto his face. “I guess that was something we should have thought about beforehand.”
“We’ll just have to find something in this room then.” Anna stood and began searching the room for something to use.
Jasper and Tristan jumped into action too, but I remained where I was. My feet were rooted in place as cold chills rushed through me. I didn’t want to be cut. I didn’t want to feel any pain. My heart raced as the weakness in my knees grew. How much blood would be needed to break the cloak? No one had ever been able to tell me. Now that I knew the cloak was larger than we’d anticipated, I worried the amount needed we leave me lifeless.
“Piper. Help us look,” Jasper demanded.
I heard him, but I couldn’t make myself move. Helping them find something to slice me open with wasn’t high on my priority list. Tristan came up behind me. He grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together. His touch steadied my racing thoughts, but it didn’t push them away.
“Relax. I told you once I wouldn’t ever let anything happen to you. Meili isn’t here. Neither is anyone else from my tribe.” He pressed his warm lips against my temple. “I promised you I would let the magic die if it meant you getting to live. That promise still stands, Piper. You mean more to me than my magic ever could.”
I closed my eyes and pulled in a deep breath. “Thank you,” I whispered as I exhaled.
“This end table has a glass top.” Anna gripped the edges of the table and dragged it into the center of the courtyard. The metal legs scraped against the stone of the ground as she went. “We can smash it with something and use a shard from it as a knife.”
Jasper walked to where she was struggling to pull it across the room and hoisted it into the air with ease. “Allow me, sweetheart.”
Tristan pulled me to the water feature with him. Water trickled from the mouth of a stone lion and pooled into the base. Change resting along the bottom glittered in the sunlight, but it was the large rocks strewn about that captured my attention. Tristan grabbed one. “This should work to break it.”
Three minutes later, there was glass all over the ground, and Anna had my hand in one of hers while gripping a large shard of glass in her other. I squeezed the orange rock she’d given back to me in my opposite hand. My thumb rubbed against its bumpy surface.
“Close your eyes, Piper. Focus on breaking the cloak on the house. Now that you know about it, you should be able to feel it,” Anna insisted in a soft tone. My heart pounded, but I did as she said. “You should be able to tap into the sensation of your patents, the one from when we first located the mirror.”
My lips pressed together as I reached out with my mind, hoping for a connection with them. Cool air ruffled the hair framing my face. My stomach flipped. Was it my parents reaching out to me? Did they know Japer and I were here?
As though my thoughts were the extra edge I’d needed to connect with them, warmth bloomed through me. I recognized the sensation instantly—it was their magic; it was them.
A smile spread onto my face as I released a long breath. Bliss. My parent’s magic felt like bliss. It
reminded me of what it had felt like to be hugged by either of them. An ache built in the center of my chest. I missed them. What had happened wasn’t fair. They should still be here, breathing, living, loving me and Jasper. “Focus on the cloak. Do whatever it is you would when attempting to break one,” Anna said, pulling me from the emotional wreckage I’d been drowning in and bringing me back to the present. “Go through the motions, Piper.”
Even though I couldn’t use my hands, I could still imagine I was in my mind. I envisioned them in front of me, searching for the cloak even though I could already feel its magic coursing through me. It called to my own magic and my blood. There was a coldness about it. It was what separated it from my parent’s magic for me. Where their magic was warm and light, the Vodun magic at play was heavy, dark, and cold.
I concentrated on grabbing hold of something tangible, even if it was only in my mind’s eye. Cloaks of this size always had a shape. I just needed to figure it out.
As I continued prodding with my mind, I determined this was the largest, most powerful cloak I’d ever encountered. Strength pulsed from it, causing my faith in myself to waver. My magic wouldn’t be strong enough to take this thing down.
But my magic isn’t all I have available, a tiny voice in my mind reminded me.
My fingers tightened around the orange rock Kalisa had given me. I pushed with my mind, attempting to tap into its power. Something shifted in the air, and my parents’ warmth rushed through me as though a dam had been opened. A shape formed in my mind—a dome.
The cloak was a dome, and the house was nestled in its center.
“I’ve got it,” I said. My palms tingled as I focused harder. The orange rock warmed and I squeezed it tighter. Was it amplifying my magic?
“Okay, now try to find its weak spots,” Anna said. “Release all other thoughts and focus on its weak areas.”
I pictured myself walking around the perimeter of the dome, poking and lifting with my mind along the bottom edge, searching for a way under, a way out. Air blasted against my face when I thought I’d found one. I cocked my head to the side and pushed with my mind again.
There it was.
“I’ve got one,” I said.
Anna’s grip on my hand tightened just before pain pierced my palm. Warmth pooled in its center as a stinging sensation traveled to my wrist and up my arm.
Anna had spilled my blood.
The sensation of parents’ magic humming through me intensified. The Vodun magic pulsed with anger. And somewhere within everything the dragon magic reached out to me.
It brushed against my skin, leaving its tears behind. Sadness trickled from it, melting my heart. It had been trapped inside this house—inside the witches—for too long, but somehow it knew I’d been sent here to free it.
I listened as it whispered sweet nothings to me. My parents’ magic infused with mine, and the rock I held continued to amplify everything.
“Focus on the cloak, Piper,” Anna insisted, forcing my thoughts back on track. “Take it down.”
More weak spots revealed themselves to me. Maybe it was because I had already found one, or maybe it was because the all the magic in the room was helping me. Either way, I latched on the largest area with my mind and pushed. The familiar tingle that always blasted through me when I located a cloak rolled through me. It was strong enough to rock me on my feet. It didn’t loosen my hold though.
My palm burned as blood continued to leak from my open wound. I knew it was the cloak taking what it needed to reverse itself. I was feeding it. Sickness sloshed through my stomach at the thought. My knees buckled; I was no longer able to hold myself up. As I fell to the ground, the rock heated to scorching levels, burning the flesh of my palm. I gripped it tighter, not wanting to let go until I was positive everything was finished. The cloak wasn’t budging yet, but my blood was still flowing.
A scream built inside my chest as the scorching stone melted the flesh off my palm. My fingers flew open to let it fall, but it remained where it was—fused to my skin. Sweat beaded across my skin. Another scream crawled up my throat as nausea rolled through me. Black dots speckled my vision and tears seeped from the corners of my eyes. Jasper’s voice boomed around me, but his words were distorted.
A ripple of magic burst through the room. It knocked what little breath I had left from my lungs and sent me spiraling into darkness farther. The stone fused to my palm dulled to room temperature, and my eyes closed as the crippling pain I’d been experiencing finally subsided.
The spell was over.
The cloak was broken.
The dragon magic was free.
Chapter 17
“Piper, are you okay?” Tristan’s voice filtered through the blackness. It wrapped around me and pulled me out.
My eyes slowly blinked open. Where was I? Where had I been, and what the heck had happened? My face scratched against the gritty stone beneath me as I glanced around. Tristan’s face came into view. His gray eyes shined brightly in the sunlight beating down on us. I moved into a sitting position and noticed my palms were coated in a sticky warmth. My nose crinkled as I glanced at them.
Blood and dirt crusted the surface of each hand. One was more inflamed and tender than the other. Flesh bubbled its surface as though I’d been badly burned. When I touched it, it flaked off, revealing soft pink skin beneath. New skin. A gash across my other palm captured my attention. There was a reason for it. But, what was it?
“Piper?” Tristan tried again.
I continued to stare at the gash, ignoring him. What had happened? My thumb rubbed against the sticky wound. Everything came rushing back to me then. The witches. The house. The magic. The cloak.
A hand smoothed along my forearm—Tristan’s. “Piper? You’re scaring me. Are you okay? Can you talk?”
“Yeah.” I lifted my gaze to meet his. “I’m okay.” At least I thought I was. I was breathing, and that had to count for something.
“Thank God.” Tristan leaned in and kissed my forehead. His hands pulled me until I was almost sitting in his lap. “I thought we’d lost you too.”
His words jolted me awake. “Lost me too?”
Who else had we lost? Meili had been enough.
Jasper!
My chest tightened as I glanced around the room. It couldn’t be him. He was strong. He would have been able to survive anything that happened in this room. Hadn’t I already lost more than enough when my parents’ lives were stolen? My breaths came in shallow gasps as I continued searching for the room for my brother.
There. Oh, thank God.
Jasper sat a few feet away. He cradled his head in his hands as words flowed from his mouth. They were so low I couldn’t make them out. Sobs shook his body as he started blankly in the distance, repeating whatever it was he was saying. He rocked back and forth, oblivious to his surroundings. Had there been a catch to the spell I wasn’t aware of? I wanted to crawl to him and snap him out of whatever trance he was held under, but couldn’t bring myself to move. This was a side to my brother I’d never witnessed before.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.
“He thought you were both dead,” Tristan whispered.
“That we both were dead?” Who else was he meaning?
My gaze darted around the room. I spotted her on the other side of my brother.
Anna.
She was motionless. While I couldn’t see Anna’s face, I imagined her eyes would be glassy and her lips blue. There was a stillness about her I’d witnessed before.
Anna was dead.
Again.
My chest caved in. This was why Jasper was so broken. He’d thought he had lost both of us.
“You need to let him know you’re still here,” Tristan insisted. “I tried, but it’s like he’s refusing to hear me.”
The threat of tears burned in the back of my throat as I shifted toward my brother. “Jasper.”
“Piper, wait.” Tristan grabbed hold of my arm. “Look at the rock. It’s
flashing.”
The rock. I’d forgotten about it. It was beside me, blinking in a slow rhythm as the color faded from it. I scooped it up. Warmth barely radiated from it. I noticed movement from the corner of my eye.
Anna was alive.
“Jasper!” she shouted. A smile spread across her face, but it dimmed when he didn’t respond to her.
Instead he continued to rock back and forth, holding his head while he continued to whisper whatever he was saying.
“Jasper, what’s wrong?” Anna placed a hand on his shoulder, and then jerked it away.
My heart to slam against my rib cage. What the hell was wrong with my brother?
“What is it? Did removing the cloak do something to him?” I was at his side before she could answer.
“No.”
“Then why did you jerk away like that?” I demanded.
Her shoulders fell as a tear slipped across her cheek. “Because of this.”
She reached out and placed her hand on Jasper’s, but instead of touching him… her hand went through him.
My mouth fell open and coldness blasted through my core as I stared at their hands. Oh crap.
One of them was a ghost. But, which one?
“No.” Tristan’s voice echoed the brokenness inside my heart. “You can’t be dead again.”
Again? My eyes zeroed in on Anna. Her lips quirked into a sad smile as her hands fell to her lap. She exhaled a long sigh that caused her shoulders to droop even more.
“Anna?” My voice cracked as I said her name.
She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be. I didn’t want her to be.
“He’s mourning us both, Piper,” she said, her attention having shifted back to my brother.
My breath stilled in my chest. “I’m not dead, though. I’m not. Am I?”
“No.” Another tear slipped down her cheek. “But Jasper doesn’t know that. He thinks he’s lost both of us, rounding off the list of people he’s ever loved. He’s shut down, Piper. Bring him back for me. Please. I don’t have much time left, and I have so much to say.” Her hand lifted to smooth across my brother’s face, but instead it slipped through him.
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