“It’s likely she already knows.”
Zelda Mortiboy had been their mother’s best friend and confidant. She’d arrived in Raven’s Creek within hours of hearing of their parents’ death to look after the girls and stayed to ensure their safety, nursing them through their darkest days as they gradually came to terms with their orphaned status.
As if she’d known they talked of her, Zelda walked through the door. “You sure know how to court trouble,” she said without preamble. Her eyebrows arched behind her horn-rimmed glasses as she focused an all-too-knowing gaze on Alanna.
“And you sure know how to stir the pot,” Alanna muttered and kissed Zelda’s cheek with affection. The old woman gave her a hard time, but she always knew exactly where she stood with her.
“That’s my job,” she flicked her hand at them in a go-on, get-moving gesture. “I’ll mend the stone wall. Don’t fuss over that. Work out how you’re going to replace the jade dragon. I may be a sorceress, but I’m no artist. I’m likely to conjure up a cross between a lizard and a turtle if I tried.” She walked them to the Gallery door. “Go. All of you. Discuss. Come back and give me the shortened version once you’ve figured out what you’re going to do. It’s best to have a united front in this type of situation.”
Alanna was fed up with being blamed for everything. “It seems trouble has a way of finding me with or without a spell.”
“You’re a good girl,” Zelda patted her on the back, and both Rosa and Beth’s mouths gaped. “Go get that coffee, calm those nerves. Don’t worry about a thing here. Take as long as you want.”
“Oh shit, I’m in deeper do-do than I thought.” Alanna’s heart pitter-pattered in her chest. “You’re never nice to me.”
“I’m always nice, girl,” Zelda shrugged off her jacket and hung it on a peg behind the office door. “You’re usually too self-involved to notice.”
“That’s so not true.” Alanna trailed after her as the old woman picked up a mug, pointed her finger at it and the cup filled with a pale green liquid.
“Green tea,” Zelda said. “Full of life-giving antioxidants.”
“According to Aden, you don’t need life-giving anything. You’re immortal.”
“Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be a healthy immortal. I can shape-shift. You cannot. It would be wise to look after your health so that when immortality comes knocking you won’t look like a saggy old crone.”
“Speak for yourself.”
“Alanna!” Beth gasped. “I can’t believe you said that.”
“You were thinking it, though.”
“I was not.” Beth looked to Rosa. “Say something.”
Rosa shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I’ve only seen Zelda in her present form. Aden has seen her, though.”
“That’s what he thinks” Zelda chortled. “He hasn’t seen the real me either. You wouldn’t know who I was if you saw me walking down the street in my true form. If I revealed to everyone what I really looked like, I’d never have any peace.” Zelda practically cackled. “There are many things you don’t know about me. But there’s a lot I know about all three of you. Including this current mess Alanna’s found herself in. Here’s a piece of news for you all. I participated in Gregori’s ensorcelling. There are valid reasons for this action. No use asking what they are. I can’t tell you. Go on. Go discuss. You need a plan. Alanna, you need to get that magic back or you’ll be stuck without your broomstick for the rest of your miserable mortal life.”
“Enough of the miserable, thank-you. Besides, you forget. Goran reckons that will take several lifetimes.”
“He’s playing with you, girl.”
Rosa sighed. “Marylebone won’t leave you without the ability to protect yourself in a dangerous situation.”
Alanna’s reply oozed sarcasm. “And this morning was a fine example of just how clever Anton and Goran are?” Alanna needed something stronger than tea or coffee. “Let’s go to Clematis Cottage. I could do with a shot of something alcoholic instead.”
Chapter Eleven
The whiskey was doing what it was supposed to. “My cheeks feel numb,” Alanna said and topped up her glass.
“Not as numb as that brain of yours,” Rosa muttered.
“That’s not fair,” Alanna protested. “Like I said before. I didn’t do anything.”
“You should have told me about Anton’s visit two years ago.”
“I was sworn to secrecy.”
Rosa scoffed. “That’s never stopped you before.”
“It was Anton. Grand Dragon Anton. How many visits would you say you’ve had from the head of Marylebone?”
Rosa shrugged. “None before I was Called.”
“No sense in blaming anyone,” Beth stepped between them. “Calm down. Zelda’s correct. We need to provide a united front.”
Alanna looked at her fingers. They were beginning to feel as numb as her cheeks. “I can look after myself. He’s not that scary.”
“He siphoned Anton and Goran’s magic. He could have taken yours from your aura as well.”
Something she hadn’t thought of. “No. He wouldn’t do that.”
“Don’t be fooled by his charm.”
Alanna scoffed. “You can’t judge. You weren’t there. You haven’t met him.”
“Rosa.” Beth interrupted once again. “Before you return to Marylebone could you check the protection spells around the Gallery to ensure the repairs Goran did to them are all working correctly?”
“Listen to you,” Alanna sneered. “I’ve already got rid of one bossy-boots for a sister. I don’t need another.”
“I’m not doing this just for you,” Beth shot back irritation in her tone. “I’m doing this for all of us.”
Alanna felt color rise on her cheeks. “The morning’s been the strangest ever. It’s all getting to me.”
“And alcohol first thing in the morning isn’t going to help either,” Beth pointed out the obvious. She headed into the kitchen. “I’m going to make coffee and I’ve some healthy blueberry bran muffins I baked earlier. You need to eat something. I’ll zap them in the microwave.”
All the bravado Alanna had been hiding behind deflated and she sunk into the closest chair before her knees buckled and she ended up in a puddle on the floor. “I don’t know what to do next.”
Rosa accepted a muffin from the plate Beth held out to her. “Hopefully, Gregori’s gone for good.”
“But why would he do that,” stated Alanna. She might as well tell Rosa the rest. “He’s um … suggested that I’m his destined mate?”
Rosa’s muffin slipped through her fingers and broke into sections on the polished floorboards. “You’re what?”
Chapter Twelve
Aden Dragunis stalked the halls of Marylebone with his familiar, Albert, at his side. “Quiet little one. Don’t let others think you’re looking for anything. Best not inflame a situation already out of control.”
Albert nodded his head, a hint of smoke puffing out as he settled on Aden’s shoulder. “Albert search out Gregori. Call you straight away. No fires today.”
“Go quietly. Go invisible,” Aden instructed. He looked over his shoulder to assure himself they were alone. The hallway was a busy thoroughfare but he was on Marylebone time and that meant it was early evening. Even immortals liked to relax at the end of a long day. “Now.”
He was asking a lot of Albert, who loved nothing more than to display a show of bright color and sparks whenever he winked in and out of wherever he went. But this time Albert nodded his head and whispered, “invisible,” before going deathly still, and quietly fading away until he was a mere smudge of gray on Aden’s shoulder.
“I go now,” he whispered into Aden’s ear. “I send thoughts to you if I see Gregori or anything strange.”
“Good. I’l
l start from basement level and work my way up. You start from the top and work your way down. We’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”
“Over and out,” Albert whispered and the weight on Aden’s shoulder lifted, his familiar gone seconds before a neophyte walked down the great winding staircase into the hall.
Cloaked in his official robe, Aden was second only to Anton in the Dragon hierarchy. No one would question his presence in any room of Marylebone House. Only those who were invited to Marylebone could enter its walls. The general public walking past as they made their way to work or home, would not actually see the building as it was shrouded by magic and visible to very few.
Aden strode down the hall, his official Dragon’s cape floating lightly behind him, to the office he kept at the rear of the building. He pushed the door open and blinked, immediately certain someone had been here and he’d bet a year’s worth of spells it had been Gregori.
They’d once companionably shared this room, Aden as his most senior apprentice and Goran as Aden’s apprentice. Gregori’s desk against the far wall had sat unattended and untouched for the past few years. Until today. He spun full circle, building a protection spell about him and sending out a search spell at the same time to ensure he was alone.
He paused. Listened. Closed his eyes and continued to search with his mind’s eye. He used all his senses, and for a second he thought he saw Gregori wink and give him the universal thumbs-up signal. Aden opened his eyes. Yes. He’d been here. Which meant Anton was likely to have been as well. Relief flooded through him. He had no stomach for hunting or ending the life of the man who had taught him much in his tenure as an apprentice Dragon. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Think, Aden. What would Gregori do?
• • •
Albert flitted quietly from room to room, enjoying his search. He hadn’t hunted in a long time. It felt good to be useful. He started at the very top, the belfry where all the other dragons like himself nested. Here they were free to fly in and out at will, as long as they stayed within the magical barrier that protected Marylebone from being detected by mere non-magical mortals.
Clarissa, his partner, wasn’t here. But their nest of dragon-eggs was. Soon he would be a father. His insides went all gooey and he nearly forgot to be invisible. Albert wanted to stay and snuggle up with them but he moved on, remembering his task. Clarissa would not leave their young ones alone for long and if she needed to, she would ask another dragon to sit with them for her.
He made his way to the uppermost belfry to look for the oldest dragon in their ranks, Lyzander, Gregori’s familiar. The old dragon stood on the ledge waiting for his master to return, eating little and worrying them all with the sad droop to his eyes and the lack of interest in producing any fire, sparks, or smoke.
Lyzander looked over his shoulder towards the entrance as Albert entered the belfry. Pausing, he wondered whether he’d been discovered even though he was invisible. Lyzander was wily, almost as wily as his master. Albert alit softly on the floor, and paused, not moving. Lyzander stared in his direction for ages, but then blinked and returned to staring outside, his head drooping, his tail tucked about his body.
Moisture pooled in Albert’s eyes. He felt Lyzander’s despair and it made him sad, too.
Albert checked all the corners of the lair before moving down to the next floor to the private rooms of Anton and Eleisha. He hid in a corner even though no one could see him and listened. The doors were closed. No sounds. He would have to wink in and out of each room very, very quietly and very, very quickly. Eleisha was smart and she had a dragon, too. So did Anton.
Carefully, he began his search and it didn’t take long to find Anton, sound asleep in his dressing room chair. Mistletoe wasn’t there. Albert sidled up as close as possible and inspected Anton. His chest rose up and down. He breathed in and out. Albert sighed with relief. He sent an immediate message to Aden.
• • •
Aden laughed so hard his belly ached. “He got the better of you. Admit it.”
Anton sat, fuming with indignation from his chair by the fireplace. Eleisha sat beside him, her hand in his. “I admit nothing. That no-good brother-in-law wasn’t playing fair.”
“I’d say it wasn’t fair to encase him in stone in the first place,” Aden said. “You could have told me. I was shocked when I first discovered him in the Gallery and nearly ruined everything when I attempted to investigate the spells. It knocked Rosa unconscious in the process.” Aden spoke of the very first time he’d visited the Greenwood Gallery and discovered the famed jade dragon that many came to see housed none other than Gregori.
“The fewer who knew the better,” Anton said in a grumpy tone. “Eleisha was there. And Zelda knows.” He shuddered. “I guess Zelda also knows he’s escaped. She’s sure to involve herself somehow.”
Eleisha kissed Anton’s forehead and brushed a stray length of graying hair from his cheek. “Anton believes Gregori is correct. The death of Alice and Jack Greenwood wasn’t accidental. Their vehicle was protected by an anti-crash spell. We’ve quietly investigated all avenues and Zelda has never stopped looking, either. We’ve come up with nothing.”
“Rosa’s going to be furious that we’ve kept this from her. They all will.” Aden’s dark eyes sparked into a fiery glow. “What point is my role as Dragon if you don’t give me all the tools, including the information, to do my job?” He thought for a moment. There was something else. There had to be. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Anton glanced to Eleisha before returning his gaze to Aden’s. “Gregori is destined to be Alanna’s mate. Except the bells tolled for him when she was but fourteen. That’s why we ensorcelled him. Not because we believe he hurt her parents. We don’t believe that for an instant.”
Aden blew out a long slow breath of air. “Does she know this?”
“She has an inkling.”
“So what do we do now?”
“We utilize you and Albert. Perhaps Rosa as well, to keep an eye on Gregori while he’s free.”
“No. Rosa is too emotionally involved, as you so succinctly put it only seconds ago. Plus, I’m not even sure if she’ll talk to me when she learns I’ve been hiding information about her parents’ death from them all. They think it was an accident.”
Anton acknowledged his comment with a nod. “She loves you. But she also loves her sisters and has fought to keep them together all these years. She will want to help her sister. But — ” He paused and steepled his fingers, resting the index fingers against his mouth in thought. Reaching a decision, he lowered his hands. “There is one avenue we’ve never covered and I believe the trail of Gregori’s hunt will lead him directly to it.”
“And that is?”
“Alanna herself. She was in the vehicle at the time of the accident. She’s never spoken a word about it. Ever. If anyone knows anything, it’s her.”
• • •
Gregori stood on gravel in the very center of the long, open section of road and wondered how such an event had occurred. It was a back road to Raven’s Creek. The general public used freeways to get where they were going but locals used this road all the time.
Suddenly, he felt his familiar Lyzander call to him. The dragon was deeply unhappy and missed him. Gregori reached out to speak with him telepathically, but he dared not call him to his side. Other dragons would be able to track his old familiar.
“It won’t be long now,” he soothed. “Why do you call me?”
“Albert looks for you. He was sneaky and invisible, but I’m so old, I see things others do not. He hunts for you.”
“Do not worry, my friend. He won’t do anything yet. Just gather your strength for when you’re needed.” He felt Lyzander’s heart lighten a little. “Don’t waste time pining for my company. I may need you sooner than you think. Eat, drink and stay at the ready.”
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A hum of a vehicle in the distance ended their conversation. Gregori translocated behind the giant oak, the exact same one the Greenwoods’ car had wrapped itself around, and he waited. Before long, a four-wheel drive vehicle sped down the stretch of road, going too fast, its tires flinging up loose stones behind it like mini missiles as it sped past Gregori.
Going invisible, Gregori followed.
Chapter Thirteen
Aden arrived in the courtyard, startling Zelda. He grinned. One didn’t get much over her, so surprising her made him chuckle.
“Some warning of your arrival would have been appreciated. Why are you here?”
Aden shot her a withering glance. “To recreate a facsimile of the dragon. Rosa sent for me.”
Zelda nodded. “Good. I’ve already explained to customers that the dragon is away being valued for insurance purposes and will be back shortly. And I’ve repaired the courtyard walls. I figure they’ll stand for several hundred years.”
Aden eyed the woman Rosa trusted implicitly. He had ample reason not to in the past and he found it difficult to trust her now. “I’ll craft the dragon and Rosa will infuse it with spells. I may need your help.”
An amused glint appeared behind Zelda’s horn-rimmed glasses. She knew full well how he truly felt about her. “You’re asking for help? From me?”
Aden controlled the urge to turn the old hag into stone and put her on the lily pad instead. “Assist’ is a better word. I need a piece of jade strong enough to house a bevy of spells. I’m to craft it as close to the original as possible and if needs be, we’ll place Gregori in there.”
“Alanna keeps a supply upstairs.” Zelda cackled like the old crone she resembled. “I imagine she’s going to be too busy for the next couple of weeks to help you, so help yourself.”
Aden flew up the stairs two at a time to the studio and began to hunt for a suitably sized stone. He picked up piece after piece, weighing each one in his hand, gauging the stone’s ability to absorb magic without cracking, its strength, character, and willingness to be fashioned into the shape of a dragon. Alanna had an amazing collection and he figured there was several thousand dollars’ worth of jade on the shelves in one corner of the room alone.
The Jade Dragon Page 6