“I’ve got two big stones here,” Thomas said.
“Six here,” Mariana called. “They’re all identical!”
“Three!” TS said.
“Then let’s go,” Thomas said. “We need to tell Jon what we’ve discovered.”
With one last look around, we gathered by TS and headed up the stairway with three stones across the bottom step. The stairs opened into a tunnel that soon turned into a cave.
“I sense water,” Dani announced. “A lot of it.”
We rounded a corner and were almost blinded by a bright light. I winced and shielded my eyes, hoping my night vision spell would wear off quickly.
“Whoa!”
“What the?!”
Instead of the park, we came out of the cave on a sandy beach.
“Oh no,” Thomas gasped. “Not this!”
Dani moved protectively between Charlie and the water.
“Wait,” TS barked.
At the same moment, I felt a sudden rush of emotions. “I sense Rak!” I cried.
“And Shannon!” A look of alarm crossed TS’ face and I saw Thomas take a step toward him. For one horrible moment, I thought that the labyrinth had only delayed the effect of Delilah’s death and waited with bated breath for TS to collapse. He sighed and the concern was replaced by a brief flash of grief. Thomas put a hand on his shoulder and they shared a small, sad smile. Then, TS took a deep breath. “We’re back.”
“Yeah,” Dani agreed, looking at his compass tattoo.
“But where are we?” Charlie asked. “We’re not in the park.”
“Did we take the wrong doorway?” Mariana asked. “The minotaur said three stones!”
Oh no. “He also said to kill Alaria,” I groaned.
TS growled. “The minotaur wasn’t telling us how to get back to the park, he sent us through the doorway to Alaria.”
“We got our asses kicked by one blood wizard,” Dani said. “How the hell are we supposed to fight this mistress?”
I gasped. “Fletcher said that!”
“Said what?”
“Fletcher used the word mistress, didn’t he?” I said.
“He did,” TS confirmed. “Same one, you think?”
“Could be,” Thomas said grimly.
Mariana cleared her throat. “The minotaur said Alaria is something more than a blood witch… you don’t think…”
“Arcanist,” TS snarled. “Impossible.”
“We are even more fucked,” Dani groaned.
“Before that, we need to figure out where we are,” TS said. “Carefully.”
“Danio?” Thomas asked.
“Well, you’re not going to like this,” Dani said. “But we’re on an island.” He looked around cautiously, then went down to the water and dipped his hand in. “Atlantic, at least,” he said almost instantly as he pulled out a small ball of water. He took a bite out of it like an apple, letting the rest of the water fall away. He frowned. “Caribbean.” He stood and shook his head. “We’re on an island in the Caribbean.”
“Which island?” Thomas asked.
“I don’t know that!” Dani jerked a thumb at Mariana. “She’s the one who vacationed here.”
“Once, a couple of years ago, and we only went to a couple of the main islands,” Mariana said. “There are thousands down here!”
“Guess we have to look around then,” TS said grimly. “Find a way to contact Jon if we can. Worst case, we’ll have to have Dani just swim somewhere and send help.”
Dani glanced at Charlie, but nodded.
We made our way down the beach nervously. I couldn’t believe we managed to escape the labyrinth only to be stranded on an island. Dani and Mariana would be able to swim away, but Charlie wouldn’t survive even a few minutes in the ocean. I also doubted the two of them could take anyone else with them, not from here all the way to New York.
I was just starting to wonder if the island was inhabited, when we rounded a dune and found ourselves in the shadow of a huge building. It was made of large pink concrete and looked like some sort of mermaid castle.
“What the hell?” Dani asked.
A huge dock, easily big enough for a cruise ship, jutted out into the water away from the castle. There was a large sign on the beach.
“Welcome to Mystic Cay; the Caribbean’s best-kept secret,” I read. “All-inclusive resort.”
“Key,” Mariana said.
I turned to her, confused. “What?”
“When I was here with my family,” she explained, “our guide told us it isn’t “kay,” it’s pronounced “key”.”
“As in mystic key?” I cried.
“Mystic key,” Dani echoed. “like the thing Fletcher told Jen to find if she wants to become a blood witch?!”
We all looked at each other in horror.
“It wasn’t a thing, it was a place,” TS breathed.
“And we’re here,” I whispered.
Mystic Cay. The place a blood wizard wanted me to go, the place where we were supposed to find and kill someone who might be an arcanist.
“I say we leave,” Thomas said. “We need reinforcements.”
Nobody argued. Quietly, urgently, we rushed back down the beach to the cave. But our footprints only led back to a solid wall of dunes. The entrance to the labyrinth was gone.
~~~***~~~
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Continued in Book Three: Magic Awakened
Coming August 20, 2020
Clear waters, pristine beaches, and the bones of human sacrifices…
“Part fantasy, part mystery, all awesomeness!” – five-star review from award-winning book blog, 2 Girls and a Book
They say it took one hundred magical beings to defeat the first Arcanist. Great care was taken to ensure the secret to his malevolent power died with him. Now the brutal reign of the Arcanist has become little more than a scary bedtime story. And yet, the descendants of his loyal followers are sworn to find a way to bestow his dark magic upon another. If they succeed, they’ll unleash a new terror upon an unsuspecting world.
On the surface, it looks like a tropical paradise, but the island is hiding a sinister secret; it’s teeming with blood witches. Brought there against her will, Jen knows that she has to escape and warn the magical world about what she has learned. Staying means certain death, but trying to escape looks just as lethal.
See where it all began in Semester Aboard, More than Magic #1
Sun, sand, and… stakes?
From USA Today Best-Selling author, Elizabeth Kirke, comes a tale of magic on the open sea!
Jen Maddox knew a summer study abroad, with a cruise ship as her campus, would expand her horizons. But she could never have fathomed how life altering the sea would be.
With seagulls cawing overhead and whitecaps crashing against the hull, Jen catches a glimpse of something not humanly possible. She would have believed it to be a dream, had certain enigmatic passengers not gone out of their way to cover it up.
Determined to discover the truth, Jen finds herself face-to-face with a nightmarish creature prowling the ship on the hunt for its next victim. Can she learn to tap into the newfound energy swirling around her in time to save all those aboard? Or will the vessel sink under a tidal wave of looming darkness?
About the Author
In spite of having neither magic nor a clone, Elizabeth manages to write, format books, and dabble in design, all while wrangling two young sons, a dog, and a husband. She’s the author of the award-winning, urban fantasy More than Magic series, the award-winning and USA Today Best-Selling, paranormal romance Curse Collectors series, and usually has a few more projects up her sleeves.
When she isn’t writing or designing, Elizabeth can be found knitting, gardening, baking, or looking for lost sippy cup
s. A few highlights from her bucket list include visiting Wales, Easter Island, and Japan; learning a second language; and coming across a total stranger reading one of her books.
You can keep up with Elizabeth on social media:
Website
Patreon
Join the More than Magic Patreon community and get behind the scenes info, see new covers and extras first, read exclusive stories, get swag, and more!
Facebook
Get alerts for new releases by following:
Amazon Author Page
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Twitter: @more_than_magic
Instagram: ElizabethKirkeAuthor
Also by Elizabeth Kirke:
The More than Magic Series
Upper Young Adult Urban Fantasy/Paranormal (Suggested Ages 15+)
Semester Aboard (Book One)
Snow Bound (Book Two)
Soul Choice (Book Three)
More than Magic: Rise of the Arcanist, A Serial Series
Magic Betrayed (Book One)
Magic Vanished (Book Two)
Magic Awakened (Book Three) August 20, 2020
The Curse Collectors
New Adult Paranormal Romance (18+)
Carved in Cherry (Book One)
Wrought-Iron Roses (Book Two)
Standalones
Saint’s Grove – Racing Time (18+)
Book Four of a Multi-Author Adult Paranormal Romance Series
Danio’s Prelude (18+)
Adult Short Story Collection from More than Magic – (suggested) Book 2.5
Looking for something a little different?
Try Elizabeth Kirke’s Paranormal Romance Series,
The Curse Collectors
Carved in Cherry
One thing set Lydia Shaw and her store apart from the other antique shops in town…
Lydia’s collection was plagued by curses, and it was her duty to break them.
Rachel, Angie, and Jo knew nothing about their aunt’s secret life. In fact, they didn’t even know she owned an antique shop, until they inherited it. Unfortunately for them, Lydia passed down more than just her store. The sisters are the proud new owners of countless deadly curses, buried under centuries of dust.
Lydia also left behind her apprentice, Peter. He does everything he can to protect the girls, as they explore their new store, unaware of the dangers it hides. In spite of his efforts, Rachel finds herself obsessed with opening a strange trunk, Angie has vivid dreams, haunted by a man who claims he needs her help, and Jo’s imagination starts to run wild.
When one of them falls victim to a curse, it’s up to Peter and her sisters to save her. But, if Peter can’t teach them to wield a magic, that he barely understands himself, she’ll be the first one to die.
Get it here!
Magic Vanished Page 14