Queen Mecca

by Leia Stone

  As he stepped closer to us, his attention was drawn to the painting, and I saw what looked like a dark shadow flicker in his gaze. The lightning color which broke up his icy blue eyes shimmered, reacting to the energy. “I see.”

  He examined the piece for a long time, stepping closer and closer until he was only about a foot away. He ran his hand a few inches off the painting. Eventually, he turned and returned to where we were all waiting.

  “I’m glad you called me before tackling this. The painting is not emitting the darkness, it comes from an object hidden behind it. It’s beyond my knowledge of the dark arts, and trust me, I have a lot of information squirreled away about that branch of magic.” He looked more than a little perturbed by this.

  Shaking that off, Baladar rolled up his sleeves and started barking orders. “Violet, fetch some twenty-four karat gold powder. Nikoli, get the salt.”

  They both nodded and did their freaky magic born thing, disappearing in an instant. Baladar knelt before Finn, who was at my side. “Sweet Finn, might I trouble you for a few drops of your majestic blood?”

  My eyes widened, but Finn just calmly tipped his head to show his assent.

  Are you sure? I asked my other half.

  He needs it, was Finn’s reply.

  Baladar produced a small dagger from within his cloak. Finn extended his right paw and Baladar whispered a few words before cleanly slicing a small incision and taking only a few drops of my familiar’s blood, catching it in a tube. Finn didn’t even flinch, which was no surprise to me. He was one of the toughest beings I had ever met.

  “Boo!” Violet yelled just over my right shoulder, and I jumped, clutching my chest.

  With a laugh and a wink, she stepped past me.

  “You need therapy,” I told her.

  Violet nodded. “I absolutely do.”

  Nikoli popped in then and suddenly the laughter dried up. Baladar was all business as he instructed Kade, Finn, and me to move back and sit on the bed, away from their immediate spell area. Kade wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and the three of us perched on the edge of the bed. It felt weird; this was where the Red Queen slept, and although her body was gone, her spirit wasn’t. She’d hate us even being in her private quarters. On her bed would be even worse.

  I focused then as the spell began. “Violet, present your offering,” Baladar instructed.

  Violet nodded, placing a small jar of powered gold on the floor in front of the painting. It had no lid and was only half full. Next, Nikoli spread his salt in a circle around the three of them and then placed the remainder inside Violet’s jar of powdered gold. Then Baladar sprinkled Finn’s blood around the circle of salt, letting the last drops land on the salt and gold inside of the jar. A sudden and strong energy came over the room, which had my pulse racing erratically as the mecca inside of me started to thrash about.

  The three of them quickly held hands, forming a triangle as they began to chant. “The power of three, the power of three, the power of three. Do not harm thee. Do not hide from me. The power of three, the power of three, the power of three. Reveal to me! Reveal thyself to thee!” At the last they shouted in unison, and with a pop the painting flew off the wall and crashed to the floor in front of the circle they had created.

  Nikoli, Baladar, and Violet still held hands, but they were now all looking at the small safe that had been hidden in the wall. When the painting had flown off, the safe door had also popped open. Holy mother.

  I was up and walking towards it before I even realized what I was doing.

  “Arianna!” Kade growled, at the same time Baladar said, “It’s okay to approach it now.”

  Of course Kade didn’t take his word for it. He was also up off the bed, stepping in front of me before I could reach the safe.

  “I’ll look inside first.” His tone was hard. He was not taking no for an answer.

  That was my overprotective bear. Always putting himself before me.

  I stayed right behind him as he side-stepped the magic born and their circle, closing in on the safe. “The dark securities are mostly dispelled,” Baladar reassured us. “But whatever is inside that safe is also dark, so proceed with caution.” Not the best reassurances, but we’d take it. We didn’t have much choice.

  I peered around Kade to see that the hole was small. Not much could fit inside. “What can you see?” I murmured, feeling for some reason like I needed to whisper.

  He didn’t answer immediately, leaning closer. “It’s … a book.”

  A book? I wasn’t sure exactly what I had been expecting, something a little crazy maybe, like some sort of crystal, a severed finger from a fae. Basically anything, which would explain the crazy darkness that felt like it was still lingering about.

  But a book…

  “Don’t underestimate books,” Kade said, tuning into my thoughts. “Words are more powerful than almost anything else in the worlds. We have no idea what sort of information this book could contain.”

  Violet hovered at my right shoulder. “It could be a special spell book. Maybe it is one of those lost from the original witches. Or the fae. One which deals in magic long forgotten.”

  That piqued my interest. “Maybe it’s magic that can take down the Winter Court?” I breathed my hope out loud. “We need to open it.”

  Chapter Three

  Yin and Yang. Dark and light.

  Before Kade could stop me, I dipped under his arm, popped up in front of him, and snatched the small book up. The sound of him cursing was lost as energy slammed into me and my knees buckled. I dropped down, my eyes locked on the black tome clutched between my hands.

  “Ari!” Kade and Violet both yelled my name.

  With a lot of effort, I lifted my head and said, “I’m okay, it just took me by surprise.” Large hands fitted under my arms and lifted me back to my semi-steady feet. “This energy is weird,” I said breathlessly. “Like familiar … but also like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

  I noticed Baladar had remained in his spot across the room, his expression creased in concerned lines. He was peering at the book, but didn’t seem to want to get closer.

  “Do you know something about this?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on him.

  He sighed. “Tell me about the symbol on the front cover.”

  I wasn’t even surprised that he knew there was a symbol on the cover, despite the fact he had not stepped foot near me or the book. I let my eyes run across it, but didn’t move my hands to trace it as I would normally. This was mostly because my hands were molded around the sides of the book, seemingly held there by my fae and mecca energy — which was smashing inside of me like crazy.

  The symbol was etched into the cover, which was not made of any material I had ever seen before. It was thick and smooth, like leather, but with a consistency that felt hard like a metal. It was definitely organic … an animal skin maybe. It actually kind of reminded me of the ercho that tried to kill me in Central Park.

  Baladar let out an impatient sound, so I quickly focused on the symbol. “It’s carved into the cover, and it looks like an inverted tree, gnarled and dead, roots sticking up from the top, and the branches burrowing into the ground. There is a stone in the center, the heart of the tree.”

  The ancient magic born staggered forward. His face was frozen, mouth open, eyes wide. I found myself mimicking his panicked pose, part of me wanting to thrust the book away, but still being unable to remove my hands.

  He spoke, barely above a whisper: “Is the stone black?”

  I nodded, and in a flash he surged forward, his body shrinking into a half-crouched position. He began chanting and waving his arms wildly in the air. I looked to Violet, who was watching him with a look that was part shock and part intrigue. I knew, though, that just like me, she had no idea what he was doing.

  As I turned back to Baladar, he thrust his hands at me and Kade, and suddenly a gale force wind slammed into us, knocking us both back into the wall, and in that moment the darkness th
at had been leaking from the book was gone.

  As I straightened myself off the wall, low growls were rocking my chest. My wolf didn’t like being thrown around like that. And judging by Kade’s scowl, he wasn’t much happier about it. Baladar spoke quickly, throwing in a bow for extra measure. “Forgive me, Your Highnesses, I had to act quickly.”

  Ignoring the magic born for a moment, Kade turned to me. His face was still etched with dark lines of anger, but this faded slightly as his thumb traced across my cheek. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said. Which was mostly the truth. The right side of Kade’s body had slammed into mine; my shoulder and elbow were aching, but that would heal soon enough.

  Kade draped an arm around me, his fingers softly stroking my shoulder. He could feel my pain and he wasn’t happy about it. Together we faced Baladar.

  “What did you do to the book? How dangerous is it?” I asked, knowing he would have only acted that way if we were dealing with something serious.

  The book felt lighter in my hands now, as if Baladar had chased away the darkness completely.

  He stepped closer now and peered down, shaking his head. “What you hold in your hand is the origin of dark magic … the birth of evil … the opposite of all that is good in this world. If the mecca is Yin, then this is the Yang. The great balance requires both dark and light. Welcome to the dark.”

  I opened my fingers and let the book crash to the floor.

  Kade growled lightly, his arm tightening for a brief squeeze, before he started rubbing my arm again. “You said it was okay to approach.”

  Baladar bent and picked the book up, careful not to touch the crystal. “I never expected this could be inside the wall. How the Red Queen got her hands on something like this is far beyond me. But it’s harmless now, as long as nothing reawakens it.”

  A wave of tingles worked down my spine, goosebumps crossing my skin. “Reawakens it? It’s alive?” No wonder the material felt like skin of some kind. Violet had better run me one of those salt good-juju baths later, because I was feeling energetically icky.

  Baladar didn’t answer me. I was pretty sure he wasn’t even listening to me. His eyes were locked on the book, and no doubt the wheels were turning in his head. That incredible intelligent brain would be running through all of the possibilities.

  “This explains a lot about the changes in the Red Queen,” he blurted, as though he couldn’t keep the thoughts contained any longer. “She would have had no idea what this was. Nor Sabina or the council. No one is old enough. But she would have felt its power. That’s why she stupidly kept it close. It must have infected her … sleeping so close to the darkness, night after night.”

  My breathing slowed. I had heard rumors that the Red Queen hadn’t always been so … cold. She had always been strong and merciless in war, but there apparently was a time in the beginning of her reign when she was kinder … more genial. Calista and I discussed it a few times, both of us blaming her multiple miscarriages and wars for her hard, cold exterior — the burden of being queen had hardened her. But maybe it was this.

  Kade let me go, stepping closer to the book. “What’s inside?”

  Baladar shook his head. “No one left alive has that knowledge, but history tells us that this book should never be opened. The information inside would turn the purest of magic borns into the devil himself. Besides, it’s not what’s on the inside that matters, it’s what’s on the outside.”

  Violet stepped forward. “The crystal,” she whispered, hovering her hand over it. Nikoli was watching silently from afar. His eyes were not on the book though, but on Violet.

  Baladar nodded. “There is one story, told only by word of mouth, that has been passed down to me from my ancestors. To be quite honest, I didn’t completely believe it. As a young magic born I thought it was more metaphorical, and as an adult I never saw any evidence to prove it, but … not now. This confirms it.”

  Violet, who had her eyes still locked on the dark stone, lifted her head to Baladar. I didn’t like the spark of excitement I could see in her light eyes. She was intrigued. Which wasn’t a problem in itself, but darkness was not something she needed to be close to again.

  Baladar set the book down on the edge of the bed and motioned for us to join him in the living room of the queen’s quarters. It was like he didn’t want to tell the story in front of the book. We all followed him out, taking seats on the sofas. Finn curled up at my feet.

  Baladar was the only one standing. “In the beginning of time, the four great gods created the Earth. They argued over which races they should create, who should have what powers, and what would govern them all. In the end, they created the humans, witches, and fae. After this, they each took a piece of their soul and infused it into the Earth as a power source for their creations. This became the mecca.”

  Kade said what we all were thinking: “This is not the story we are told of creation.”

  Baladar gave him a sad smile. “Creation stories get changed as the next generation sees fit. Everyone wants to put their spin on it. This is one which was lost over time, and it was one I have never believed.” When no one said any more, he added, “Shall I continue?”

  Kade nodded, and through our bond I could sense that like me, he wasn’t shocked by this revelation. We had been lied to about wolves and bears being bonded mates and meant to rule together, so it wasn’t a crazy jump to expect we’d been lied to about other things as well. Still … the mecca was a piece of the gods’ souls … that terrified and excited me. No wonder the power felt limitless.

  I leaned forward as he started speaking again, not wanting to miss one word.

  “One of the gods was obsessed with fairness. He argued that there must always be balance in this newly-created world … that nothing should be too good or too evil. In the end, the gods agreed and the mecca crystals were fashioned. They would give extra powers to the rulers so that justice could be served when needed.” Baladar put up a finger. “Then the God who was a little obsessed with fairness decided that the mecca crystals weren’t neutral in power. He argued that they felt a little too light in energy, which meant there would be an imbalance. The other gods disagreed with him, and as an act of control, or revenge, the God of fairness decided to create a dark mecca crystal. He split it in two, wrote an accompanying book, and hid each crystal book pair in each world, believing it would balance out the purple stones.”

  I shuddered again. I had almost touched that black crystal on the book. What would have happened if Baladar didn’t neutralize it?

  Violet stood and crossed her arms. “That’s not balance. That’s manipulative and psychotic.” I was glad to see some of her desire for darkness waning from her face. She now looked queasy.

  Baladar shrugged. “Hence why I always thought it was more metaphorical. ‘Keep the balance.’ But gods aren’t known for being rational. They do as they see fit and they move on.”

  “So that thing on top of the book is the dark crystal created by that god?” I wanted to confirm that this was the only one we needed to worry about.

  Kade stood. “Let’s destroy it.”

  Baladar stepped forward, both hands held in front of him. “That is not the crystal. It is a tiny sliver of it. The original piece was broken in two, and they are out in the world, no doubt making someone very, very powerful and evil.”

  I sucked in my breath. “The Dark Fae Lord.”

  Baladar nodded. “It is rumored he has one piece and that the Earth-side one is missing.”

  Violet growled. “How big are these pieces?”

  Baladar lowered his arms, hands clenched tightly at his side. I’d never seen the powerful magic born so out of sorts. “I’ve told you all I know. The God of fairness left the dark crystals, and the accompanying books, and then disappeared.”

  “I still think we should destroy the book.” Kade’s hand was on the hilt of the sword he always carried.

  Violet put her hands out. “Easy there. If we can c
onnect with the small shard on the book, we might be able to do a spell and find the stone.”

  Nikoli nodded, finally jumping into the conversation. “It would take a few days but it could be done.”

  Baladar watched the two young magic born, his posture and drawn features screaming out his weariness. “To do that, you would have to reawaken the book and the darkness inside.”

  I shared my thoughts: “Assuming the Dark Fae Lord has one of these dark mecca stones, and we use this book to find the other one, is there something we can do with it? Can we interrupt the power the stone is feeding him? Disable his armies?”

  I locked eyes with Baladar, struggling to read his expression. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “Let’s see if we can even activate a spell to trace the stone. Then we can work out how to neutralize them.”

  We sat there as a group, letting his words weigh into our minds. It was a risk, but it could turn this war in our favor. If we could dismantle the Fae Lord and his power, we had a chance.

  Ultimately, the decision rested with Kade and me. We were the rulers. The thoughts of erchos, harpies, and other unthinkable creatures flooding into Manhattan had my decision made. Through our bond, my mate’s thoughts were tumultuous, torn about what to do. But he seemed happy to go along with whatever I decided.

  “Do the spell. Find the stone,” I said with force.

  Baladar nodded. “Just be aware that any or all of us could be corrupted by the dark mecca. It’s a huge risk.”

  I already knew that, and I hated that my family was in this position, but…

  “What choice do we have?”

  Part of me was hoping someone would come up with another option, but no one spoke. It might not be the right decision, but we had to try. Especially, if it would help our people get the upper hand in this impending war.

  If only I could just ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach that made me think we might be messing with something that could destroy us all, even more so than the fae.

  We spent the rest of the night searching through the queen’s stuff, but after the dark mecca crystal discovery, everything else was mundane and boring. The Red Queen apparently had a secret love of romance novels, and crocheting. Which definitely brought a smile to my face. But I would have preferred something more we could use in this fight.