The Arcana (The Scrying Trilogy Book 3)

by Jaci Miller

  The scent of apple blossoms drifted on the warm breeze, and she inhaled deeply. There were a few crab apple trees on the marina property, but these were nothing like those. These trees had sturdy trunks with smooth white bark unblemished by time or the elements. An umbrella-shaped canopy, which stood about seven feet above the ground dazzled with beautiful rust-hued leaves and white flowers the size of dinner plates.

  “What type of trees are these?” Kai asked Sebastian.

  “Apple blossoms,” Sebastian said. “You have them in your world.”

  “Not like this.” She caressed one of the leaves. Its surface was soft and fuzzy yet prickled her skin.

  “Many of the species transferred from our world to yours could not maintain their significant stature without our magic. Stunted versions seemed to be a better fit.”

  “What else on Earth comes from your world?”

  A twinkle reflected in his eye. “Your world was born from this one. There is a little part of everything from ours in yours. While some are significant like the apple blossom, others are more subtle; like the way a warm summer breeze can taste like the ocean or how the full moon’s beams ignite a gentle tingle across one’s skin.”

  Kai smiled. Sebastian had a way of making the answer to a simple question so much more. He obviously had an affection for both worlds and an appreciation for the things most took for granted.

  “Thank you,” she said, tenderly touching his arm.

  “For what?”

  “For just being you.” She winked and followed the others toward the sanctuary leaving Sebastian to trail behind bewildered by her comment.

  At the end of the apple blossom corridor, a tall rock face greeted them. It stretched out endlessly in each direction, disappearing into the distant horizon and the clouds above. The stone was smooth with no door or opening, nothing to indicate there was a hidden sanctuary behind its surface.

  “How do we get in?” Tauria ran her hand across the warm rock while Diego paced back and forth sniffing the ground.

  “There is a door, we just need to find it,” Sebastian answered.

  “How?”

  “For that, I do not have an answer although I believe Rafe may.”

  His green eyes twinkled with amusement as he grinned at the warrior’s shocked face.

  Rafe glowered. “Why would you think that?”

  “Adaridge thought you might need guidance when the time came. Someone to prod you at the right moment.”

  “So, he told you of the Druid knowledge he imbued me with.”

  “He did. And now my friend, it’s time for you to draw on that knowledge. Somewhere in your mind is the location of the keyhole. Find it and the door will be revealed.”

  “But what of the key?”

  Sebastian reached under his armor and tunic and lifted a thick metal chain from around his neck. At its end was a small iron key.

  Rafe raised an eyebrow.

  “It would be too tempting for one person to have both the knowledge and the key,” Sebastian explained. “Adaridge put his trust in the prophecy and in us. Let us not let him down.”

  With a stern nod, Rafe began to pace the rhythm of his steps matching the tranquility of the grove. The others backed away allowing him to move unencumbered on the ground in front of the rock face.

  Kai watched intently as his eyes fluttered closed.

  The sun shone on his skin as a light breeze ruffled his hair. His eyes moved rapidly back and forth behind closed lids as if processing information or images only he could see.

  The more he paced, the calmer Kai became until she too sensed the elemental magic hovering all around them, old magic, Druid magic.

  Abruptly Rafe stopped pacing and turned toward the wall of rock striding to a spot near the last apple blossom tree. He slid his hand back and forth across the rock face until his fingers found what they looked for.

  “Here,” he said.

  Sebastian hurried over, iron key in hand. His fingers grazed the stone near Rafe’s. He nodded his appreciation as he inserted the key into the invisible keyhole.

  “Adaridge chose wisely,” he said clapping Rafe on the shoulder. “Come. Let us see what the Druids left us.”

  The lock screeched as he turned the key and a puff of smoke floated into the air. Resounding clicks echoed somewhere in the belly of the rock face and a portion of the surface, the edges invisible to the naked eye, began to slide sideways.

  As they entered the cool, damp passage the rock behind them slid back into place shutting out the sunlight and leaving them in a pressing gloom.

  “Does anyone have a light?” Kai asked.

  “No need,” Sebastian said. “Patience.”

  Moments later a glow appeared above them. Lines of light scurried across the ceiling bathing the passageway in their soft sparkle.

  “This way.”

  The group followed the lights down the stone corridor and into a small, dimly lit room. It was sparsely furnished. A wooden bench sat against the far wall next to a bookcase, a few dusty old tomes scattered along its shelves. In the room’s center sat a rickety table and chairs.

  “This, is it? It’s not very impressive,” Kai murmured surveying the bleak surroundings.

  “Oh, this is not the library,” Sebastian said. “This is the common area for the Druid’s living quarters.”

  He crossed the small room at a hurried pace and disappeared into the dark of a narrow hallway on the opposite side.

  “Keep moving,” he called back to the others.

  As she walked down the hallway, Kai peered through a door to her left. This room was bigger than the last but just as meagerly furnished. Besides the small desk, wooden bunk beds were the only other fixtures.

  Catching up to Sebastian she linked her arm through his. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”

  “I am not sure I understand your inquiry.”

  “No one knew you had the key to this sacred place. You didn’t think this was information you should share?”

  “No one knew Rafe had the information as to where the key goes,” he countered.

  Kai laughed. “True.”

  “When the Druid race began to die out six keys were forged by the blacksmiths of Kaizi, so the knowledge kept in the library would never be lost. The Keys of Knowledge were given to the leaders of each race. One key for all time to ensure the knowledge of the Thanissia universe would forever be shared amongst its people. After the Great War when the time of the immortals was coming to an end, all but one key was destroyed. I was given that key as part of my destiny and instructed never to reveal its whereabouts until the time it was needed. The key being in my possession was of no significance to anyone until this day so there was no reason to disclose its whereabouts.”

  “But why all the secrecy? Evidently, everyone from your world knew of the Druids and their sanctuary. Did they think it lost when the worlds fell during the Great War?”

  “I am sure most did not give it much thought. When you are losing your home, the pieces you must leave behind soon become distant memories.”

  “And the knowledge never came to Earth?”

  “The Druids have been documenting our ways for many lifetimes. The knowledge contained in the library pertains to the races of the Five Realms, elemental magic, and the Thanissia Universe among other things. Much of it is of no consequence to your world.”

  They reached the end of the hallway before Kai could ask more about the Druids. In front of them stood a tall, arched wooden doorway. Slats of metal crisscrossed its surface in several directions. At the center was a small keyhole. Sebastian removed the iron key from his tunic and inserted it, turning the bow in a very specific order—left two turns, right three, back one, forward seven. Each generated a series of whirls and clicks as a mechanism inside the door began to move.

&
nbsp; With a groan, the thick door swung open revealing an astonishing sight.

  Chapter 21

  The Library was a massive circular room with a domed, wood-planked roof towering at least fifty feet above the floor. A mammoth iron chandelier, filled with hundreds of candles, hung from its center. The wicks ignited as they entered illuminating the entire library in soft light.

  Rows of tables with bench seats lined the middle of the room a wrought-iron candelabra, candle flames flickering, sat atop each.

  Bookshelves covered every wall floor to ceiling. Rickety ladders leaned against the lower shelves and catwalks, hung from the rafters above, provided access to the uppers. A circular staircase at the back of the library wound up to a small platform, a nook, where a desk and chair rested. Gangplanks stretched from there to the catwalks providing access to the upper shelves of the library.

  “This is extraordinary,” Kai said, her eyes full of wonder.

  Sebastian nodded in affirmation.

  “The Druids were a learned people. Old-world scholars. They believed knowledge was the basis to existence and therefore took nothing for granted. Everything they knew is written in the texts stored on those shelves.”

  “There must be an extensive amount of information in those pages,” she said indicating the bookshelves, which overflowed with dusty leather-bound books, scrolls, and pages of loose parchment.

  Sebastian recognized the interest the Library invoked in her. “You have your mother’s curiosity. She too was intrigued by the world outside her own.”

  Kai blushed. “We traveled a lot because of my father’s job, all over the world to different navy bases. My mother loved it. The different landscapes, cultures, people. She had a hunger for life and for knowledge.”

  “I am glad to know your mother was happy in her new world.”

  “I think she was.”

  “Well, maybe someday you can learn more about her homeland,” he said gesturing to the volumes of books and papers on the shelves. “But for now, we have work to do.”

  “Rafe, Killenn,” he called to the warriors. “Ridding ourselves of one threat would be helpful. See if anything in the Druid texts will provide us a way to close the gateway. The rest of you search for information on the ancient dark. There may be something here that can help us with what is to come when the full moon rises.”

  He pointed to a wooden box on the far table. “The Druids kept a very simple cataloging system. It should help narrow the search.”

  Kai scowled. “I thought the Druid bloodlines ended before the Great War.”

  “Mostly, Adaridge was the only Druid left when the Great War began. He faded into the All Souls before it ended. Because of their extensive lifespans and thirst for knowledge, I am hoping there is text somewhere mentioning this ancient entity or something similar. The Druids often gathered knowledge from planes of existence not their own. It is possible they knew of this entity and therefore there may be something within these pages to assist us in understanding how to defeat it.”

  The next few hours were spent climbing catwalks, pulling dusty tomes off the shelves, and leafing through pages of text. The one volume they discovered that mentioned the ancient dark was useless and no entries existed prior to its attack on the Thanissia Universe.

  In the text, Adaridge had noted the ancient darks use of magic as food, “the entity consumes magic as substance seemingly providing it energy and strength.” There was also an excerpt about its innate ability to corrupt all but one of the natural elements, “the entity seems not to rely on the power of one element but many, consuming the magic of each realm equally. It turns fire to ash, water to ice, earth to dust, and thrives on the chaos of the elements. Oddly, air magic appears to be the one element it is unable to manipulate.”

  “Look,” Elyse said, pulling a tattered scroll from one of the lower shelves. “A map.”

  She rolled it out flat on one of the tables using the candelabras to hold down the curled edges.

  The others gathered at her side.

  Although the images were crude and the topography simple, it was clear what the map depicted.

  “That’s the town of Brighton Hill,” Kai stammered.

  Elyse agreed. “How would ancient Druids from your time have the ability to draw a map of a town a hundred billion years in the future.”

  “That is curious,” Rafe said.

  Sebastian’s mouth set in a firm line. “The Druids possessed the ability to access different planes of existence. Although rather unsettling it is not impossible for us to assume them capable of accessing the knowledge of a distant future.”

  Kai pointed to a spot on the map. “That is the old flour mill, but why does it have those strange symbols beside it?”

  Rafe looked closer.

  Three small insignias surrounded the mark Kai indicated as the mill. He recognized them at once.

  “Those are ancient runes. A lost language. The Druids used it to code documents and text they did not want others to understand.”

  Drow raised an eyebrow. “Interesting you know that.”

  Sebastian’s eyes softened as he looked at Rafe. “Adaridge was correct in giving you the knowledge he could not pass on to another Druid.”

  Rafe gave him a sheepish look.

  “What do they mean?” Drow asked leaning in closer to the map.

  “Destiny, Decimation, Death.”

  The room went silent.

  “Does that mean the old flour mill has been the point of origin since the beginning of time?” Elyse asked.

  “It would seem we have discovered the location where the Guardian of Deities entombed the ancient evil, yes,” he said.

  “It makes sense. People always thought the place was haunted and now—Lilith, the daemon pods, the changing energy.” Stevie shrugged. “We already assumed the mill would be the battlefield. So, what does this change?”

  Rafe poked at the map with his index finger. “If this is the epicenter and not just a conduit to the other side, ancient powers would be embedded in the earth here. Meaning when the ancient dark rises his strength will be immeasurable.”

  Stevie groaned. “Could this get any worse?”

  “How are we going to defeat him without Dane?” Elyse’s eye’s filled with tears. “Or Marlee.”

  At the mention of her name the fae’s blue eyes seared with hatred.

  “We will figure it out,” Rafe said. “We must.”

  Elyse wiped at a tear trailing down her cheek.

  Without hesitation, he changed the subject. “Killenn and I found a way to close the gateway and trap the Keltie on their plane.”

  He pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket and unfolded it ceremoniously on the table. “Old Druid magic. We are going to manipulate the air to close the gateway.”

  “How? Only Marlee can manipulate air to that magnitude,” said Sebastian.

  Rafe knew exactly what the elder Warlician referred to. Elyse’s powers were not as physical as the others because for elves the magic derived from the air element was an internal conduit. It made them exceptional in battle for they were quick and agile and had heightened senses, but to manipulate air into destructive formations like tornadoes that ability belonged solely to the fae.

  He turned the parchment around, so it faced Sebastian. “It’s not elemental magic we will use but an elixir. We are going to create an explosion big enough to cause the air to expand so rapidly and with such violence, it will instantly retract upon itself and seal the gateway for good.”

  Sebastian glanced at the text. “Where shall we find those ingredients?”

  “Already have them,” said Killenn lifting a black duffel sack onto the table. “There is a storage area off to the left, in the upper stacks. A small door, not easy to squeeze through mind you but the contents of the room were worth the discomfort.”


  He untied the satchel.

  Inside were powders, glass vials, liquids, and metal containers. A coil of black wire was wrapped around a jar of umber-colored gel that pulsed with light when he shook it.

  “It seems one thing may go in our favor—”

  He was interrupted by a sound in the hallway, an echo of sorts drifting toward them from the gloom.

  Diego growled a low guttural warning.

  Rafe pulled his sword. Brannon, Killenn, and Sebastian did the same.

  The sound was soft like something sweeping across the stone—a swishing. It continued to get louder as whatever moved through the corridor got closer.

  The warriors tensed as the shadows parted.

  “I assume those are not for me?” Gabriella said, indicating the drawn weapons as she stepped out of the corridor into the light of the library. “Because you won’t stand much of a chance.”

  Rafe sheathed his blade and chortled. “Good to have you back, Gabriella.”

  The celestial reached back and wiped the dust from her wings. “That hallway is uncommonly narrow. You would think the Druids did not understand architecture.”

  “Any word on Dane?” Stevie asked.

  Gabriella flashed Rafe a quick look. “Yes. I know her whereabouts. She is in the city. New York.”

  “What is she doing there?” The shock in Kai’s voice was obvious.

  “She appears to be under the control of an incubus,” she said coolly.

  “A what?”

  “It is a long story.”

  Rafe’s face went pale, and he flexed his right hand. “Has she been hurt?”

  “We don’t believe so.”

  “We?” Sebastian inquired.

  “I made a new friend. And she is bringing us a magical army.”

  Chapter 22

  The three immortals stood at the edge of the grove, near a small pool surrounded by moss-covered rocks. The water was crystal clear, and you could see the bottom as if no water existed above it. It was neither sand, nor mud, nor rock, but a smooth surface of crystal, which reflected their faces like a mirror.