by Linsey Hall
“Moon’s gone back behind the clouds,” Aidan said.
“Yeah.” I shivered. The enchantment was eerie, flashing this place in and out of existence at the whim of the moon.
We explored the interior of the broch for a moment, but there was nothing inside. Just a few dark gaps in the thick walls. I was about to explore one when the world lit up with sound and noise.
It took me a moment to realize.
“The moon has come out from behind clouds,” I murmured. The walls were once again complete, but it was the hustle and bustle inside the broch that was so unexpected.
A fire glowed in the middle while people sat and stood all over the small space. They were semi-transparent, as was the fire, but they were living their lives like it was a normal day. Someone was cooking, and another was weaving. Several men sat on benches around the hearth, chatting.
I glanced up, and the sight of the platforms extending out from the walls above made my head spin. There were multiple stories in the broch, but the center column was open all the way to the roof to allow the fire’s smoke to escape. There were people on the upper levels, too, though I couldn’t tell what they were doing.
But no one seemed to notice us.
“We’re invisible to them,” Aidan said.
“Yeah.” I realized that I couldn’t quite make out what everyone was saying. Not because they spoke an old version of Scots dialect that I didn’t understand, but because their voices were muted in the same way that their figures were. Like they were half on this plane and half in the next.
“I suppose we should look around,” he said. “The entrance is supposed to be in here somewhere.”
“I want to check out that gap in the wall there,” I said.
Aidan nodded. We cut through the broch, dodging people and two small piglets as we made our way to the gap in the wall. When we reached it, we had to wait for a woman to move out of the way.
Eventually, she did, going into the gap in the wall and turning left. I followed her, watching her climb up narrow stone steps sandwiched between the thick exterior walls of the broch. When she disappeared at the top, having gone out onto one of the wooden platforms, I looked right.
There was a set of stairs leading down, into the ground.
“Those look promising,” Aidan said.
I nodded and stepped toward the stairs. As soon as my foot landed on the top stair, the magic hit me, rolling over me in waves. My dragon covetousness welled, the strongest I’d ever felt.
“Very promising,” I gasped. “There’s something really valuable down here. I feel it.”
Slowly, I made my way down the narrow stairs, using the walls for support. Aidan followed close behind. I shook my right hand, igniting the lightstone ring so that the yellow glow filled the dark spaces.
The stairs went on forever.
“Thank magic I’m not claustrophobic,” I said. Still, my heart raced.
At the bottom, a passageway carved out of the earth led into the darkness.
“Super creepy,” I said. But my dragon sense roared. Whatever was at the end of the tunnel, I wanted it. Bad.
“Watch out for traps,” Aidan said as we started down the tunnel.
“Will do.” This looked like just the type of place to have them.
But as I walked, I felt nothing but welcome. Like I was supposed to be here.
This was all fated. From Aethelred’s prophecy to the Ceasg, Nuckelavee, and MacKintosh who waited for me. This place that welcomed me was just icing on the cake.
It terrified me. Not just because I wasn’t sure I could accomplish whatever I was fated to do, but because Aethelred had prophesied one of our deaths. Me, Nix, or Del. It was the thought of losing Del or Nix that scared me most. It was crazy, but I hoped it was me. I’d meant it when I’d said I didn’t want to live in a world without them.
“You’ve been pretty silent.” Aidan’s voice snapped me out of my dark thoughts.
“Yeah, uh, sorry. Just focusing.” Why was I lying to him? He loved me. Besides Nix and Del, he’d been my biggest supporter ever. “Actually, I’m just really worried about all this. And Nix and Del.”
Aidan’s big hand gripped my shoulder comfortingly. “It will be okay.”
I relaxed a little, wanting to believe him. But I kept my wariness wrapped around myself like a cloak as I walked through the passageway. No booby-traps appeared, though. The feeling of belonging remained, as well as the sense that there was a massive amount of treasure at the end of this passage.
“If I find Smaug crouched on a pile of gold at the end of this tunnel, I won’t be a bit surprised,” I said.
Aidan chuckled, and we kept going, occasionally having to duck beneath a tree root or dodge around a boulder protruding from the dirt walls.
“We’ve gone at least four miles,” Aidan said after almost an hour.
“We must be near Glencarrough, then.”
Ten minutes later, my dragon sense roared so strong within me that my palms started sweating and my heart pounded.
“We’re so close.” It was hard to get the words out. My whole body was vibrating with the sense that we were near the greatest treasure I’d even encountered.
When the tunnel spilled into a massive cavern, I had to blink to make out what was within. A pedestal sat in the middle of the space. A bright golden glow shined from it, nearly blinding me.
But I didn’t need sight to find it. My dragon sense pulled me toward it, and I followed it without hesitation. I just wanted to touch whatever made that glow. To hold it in my hands.
“Stop!” A sharp voice cracked in the silence.
I stumbled to a halt, though I wanted to race to the pedestal. But the voice commanded attention, and I gave it. Aidan and I waited silently for a figure to join the voice.
The air was so stale that I wondered how much oxygen was actually in the room. This place was long abandoned.
The figure that approached from the side of the cavern was nearly transparent. She glowed with the same golden light that emitted from the pedestal, though she was paler. When she neared, I realized that her face was featureless. As if someone had just erased whatever had been there and left a blank slate. I wasn’t sure why I thought she was a woman, though I was certain of it.
“You are Cassiopeia McFane,” she said as she neared.
“I am. Who are you?”
“The Watcher of the Power.”
“That’s quite a title.” She didn’t laugh at my lame joke. I fidgeted. “What is this place?”
“Come.” She led me over to the pedestal.
As we neared, I realized that an egg sat upon it, large and black and shot through with golden veins of light. It seemed to vibrate.
But it wasn’t the sight that hit me so hard in the chest. It was the power. It was dark and light, Shifter and Magica. It was everything. Life, death, joy, sadness. A blank slate of magic and power that could fuel the world.
Did it?
“What is this?” I asked. It had to be what Victor wanted, but what exactly was it?
“It is the Stone of Power.” She held her hand out to it, but didn’t touch. “It is the reason that Glencarrough was built here.”
“Is it evil or good?” I asked, trying to get a feel for it. My fingertips itched to touch it, but I dared not.
“Either. The evil one seeks to break it open and make the power his own. If he does, it will become evil. And he’ll be capable of the greatest magic the world has ever known.”
I swallowed hard. That was really bad.
“The Heartstone and Glencarrough protect not only their stronghold, but this as well,” she said. “For thousands of years, it has been protected by those who live here. You walked through one such community when you entered.”
“The broch was built there to protect this?”
“Yes. It is one of the most important magical artifacts ever found. No one knows where it comes from, but it contains more magical energy than any thing or person
in the world.” Her head turned toward me. “Even you.”
I clenched my fist to keep from touching it. “Is it a dragon egg?”
“Perhaps. If so, it would make sense that you are the one prophesied to protect it.”
It did make sense, though that was a lot of responsibility. “Can I just take it and hide it somewhere else?”
“No. Only great magic can remove it from here. You do not possess that. Not alone.”
“Not alone?”
“You would need your companions to do that—Death and Life. With them, you can remove the stone.”
Okay. So I just had to come back here with Nix and Del, and we’d take this thing and hide it somewhere else.
“Why us and not the Alpha Council? Don’t they live here to protect it?”
“Yes. And for many centuries they have. They are the descendants of the people in the broch. But what is coming is stronger than they are. Only the Triumvirate can defeat it.”
Oh, man. The words put a thousand-pound weight on my shoulders.
“To protect the Stone of Power, you must defeat the one who seeks to use it for his ill will,” she said.
Victor. “Any tips on how to do that?”
She nodded. She had no features, so I couldn’t tell if she smiled, but I thought she might. “You can only defeat him away from his Circle of Power. On familiar ground where you can draw from ancient power that is yours.”
“What the hell does that mean, exactly?”
“I do not know. I am not a seer. That is part of the message I was meant to pass to you, but it is all I know.”
Excellent. Super cryptic advice that was vital to my success. My favorite kind. “Is there another part of the message?”
“Yes. You must embrace your magic to succeed.”
“How? I’ve tried.”
Her head nodded toward the cuff. “You must remove your crutch and have faith in yourself.”
I held up my wrist. “This protects my friends.”
“You don’t need it. When you embraced your magic to save Aidan, you were successful. Forgo the crutch and believe in yourself.”
“Okay.” It scared the hell out of me, but I’d do it. I’d been relying on this thing too long.
“You must go now, Cassiopeia McFane. The time is drawing near.”
“There’s nothing else you want to tell me?” Anything? Step-by-step instructions? A map? Because I really felt like I could use some help with this.
She shook her head. “No. Now go. And do not fail.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It took Aidan and me a full two hours to make our way out of the tunnel and back across the forest. MacKintosh had been waiting for us when we’d departed the broch, and he’d led us back to the river where we’d met the Ceasg. She’d been gone and the river silent, no doubt pleased that her job was done.
We met everyone back at the car. They’d found nothing. We were dirty and tired as we piled into the seats. As soon as I sat down, I took off the dampening cuff that I’d been wearing and put it in the cup holder, letting the magic flow through me. I was going to follow the Watcher’s advice to the T, and honestly, it felt good to get rid of the dampening charm.
While Aidan drove us back toward his land, I told everyone what we’d learned.
“So, do we go to the Alpha Council with this information, or do we try to move the stone ourselves?” Nix asked.
“I don’t know where we’d put it if we moved it ourselves,” Del said.
I agreed with her. What had seemed easy in the cavern—take the stone and move it—now seemed a lot more complex. Where could we store it? If that crazy underground cavern wasn’t safe, then what was?
Aidan turned the Range Rover off the main road and onto the gravel drive that led to his land. My mind was so heavy with exhaustion and worry that I almost didn’t notice the prickle of the oncoming protection charms that guarded his property.
Before we could cross over the line onto his land, noise and light exploded around us. A massive force hit the car, flipping it into the air. It crashed to the ground, roof first. Metal screamed and crunched. A dull noise blared in my head as I hung suspended upside down, strapped to my seat by the seatbelt.
All around me, the world was chaos. Smoke rolled across the ground outside. Flames licked at the hood of the car. My friends were struggling in their seats.
“Run!” I gasped.
I grabbed my dagger at my thigh and sawed frantically at my seatbelt. It broke apart, and I crashed onto the roof of the car in a heap. Beside me, Aidan was free and climbing out through the broken glass window. In the back seat, my friends were scrambling out as well.
Aidan reached for me. “Come on, Cass!”
My window hadn’t broken, so I started for him, glass cutting my palms. But the window behind me shattered and something grabbed my legs, pulling me out. I shrieked and twisted around to see what had gotten ahold of me.
A shadow demon was gripping my calves. I threw out my hand and blasted him with magic, not even stopping to think of what I was throwing. A spear of ice flew from my hand and struck him in the chest, throwing him back.
On the other side of the car, a shadow demon gripped an unconscious Nix around her waist. A millisecond later, he stepped into a silvery black cloud and disappeared.
On the other side of the car, Emile stood, dumbstruck. Next to him, the familiar gray light surrounded Aidan as he transformed into a griffin, ready to attack. I whirled around to find more demons to kill, but something hard hit me on the back of the head. Pain pierced my skull, blinding me.
Darkness followed.
Cold stone pressed against my cheek, and every muscle in my body ached. Something scratchy bound by wrists behind my back. My ankles were tied, too. Worse, I felt the familiar deadening sensation of the Gundestrop cauldron.
My skin chilled as my heart began to thud. I worked at the bindings on my wrists, trying to wiggle free as I cracked open dry eyes and saw an expanse of cobblestone ground stretched out before me. It glowed gray in the dim light of the moon.
Pain streaked through my skull as I looked up, rolling my eyeballs because I could hardly turn my head. Clouds drifted in front of the moon, glowing white at the edges. A strange blue light streaked through the sky like a starburst, but I couldn’t see where it came from. I kept working at the bindings around my wrists, but they didn’t give an inch.
“Cass?” Del whispered from behind me.
My head pounded as I rolled to see her. She lay tied on the ground behind me, with Nix on the other side of her. We were all bound and tossed on the ground like garbage. Where were our friends? Fates, I hoped they’d made it out of that ambush all right.
I looked behind Del. My stomach lurched. There were demons, all standing with their backs toward us. Dozens of them, maybe a hundred.
“They’re surrounding us,” Del said.
“Yeah,” I croaked. I looked beyond them, searching for Victor. There were walls circling the cobblestones we lay upon. They looked familiar. “We’re in the courtyard at Glencarrough.”
Figures stood at the tops of the walls. The Shifter guards. But they were frozen solid, some with their weapons raised, others in mid-shout. All were in human form. A ray of blue light pierced each. My eyes traveled along one of the rays, finally finding its termination point at a brilliant blue gem that hung suspended in the air.
The Heartstone. Somehow, Victor had turned its magic against the Shifters. It had frozen them solid.
But where was he? My bindings weren’t giving way, and fear raced through my veins like acid.
A sound echoed from the other side of the courtyard, like metal against stone. I rolled and looked over, seeing Dermot and Victor about twenty feet away.
“Ah, awake, are we?” Victor’s cold voice echoed across the courtyard.
Dermot stood at his side, a pathetic lackey. Behind him, Elenora was frozen on the steps of the main building. More Shifters were frozen around her, as if they�
��d heard a disturbance and come running.
Except Victor had frozen them all.
The Gundestrop cauldron sat on the stone ground in front of Dermot, right in the middle of the courtyard. Victor clutched the Chalice of Youth in his hand. It glimmered dully in the light of the moon, but the sight of all three artifacts made me swallow hard.
Victor had everything he needed, including us. He approached, his steps measured. But his eyes gleamed dark, avarice and evil so easy to see.
“The time has finally come, my dears.” He slipped a hand into his pocket and withdrew a knife. His gaze drifted from mine and landed on Nix. “I think I will start with you.”
Del and I thrashed, struggling up and lunging for him. A big hand grabbed me and threw me back. I caught a glimpse of a shadow demon just before his boot came down on my stomach, pinning me in place.
Another pinned Del, though Nix was still unconscious. A shadow demon stood at her side, ready to step on her if she woke.
Though the cauldron’s dampening charm suppressed most of my magic, I still had access to a little bit of it. But with my hands tied behind my back, I couldn’t shoot lightning at my enemy. I didn’t have enough power to create a big enough illusion to fool them.
Could I shift and get out of my bindings that way? With my hands free, I’d at least have some of my lightning. I closed my eyes and focused on the embers of my magic, trying to fan them into flame. Images of turning into a wolf flashed in my mind.
Shifting had always been one of the harder gifts for me to master, but I’d managed in the past. I tried to force the magic through my veins, willing the familiar warmth to fill my limbs as I changed shape.
But nothing happened. My limbs stayed cold, and my form stayed human.
Damn it! What good was infinite power if I couldn’t use it?
Victor crouched next to Nix, setting the cup at her side.
“Stop it!” I shrieked, knowing it would do no good.
The demon’s boot pressed harder on my stomach, shutting me up. I tried the last thing I could think of, reaching out for Del’s magic. If I could mirror it, I could transport us out of here.