Soul Stone Mage Complete Collection Boxed Set
Page 101
“I’m not completely following, but I’m guessing that’s because I’m missing important details,” Nenet stated.
“Yes, there’s more to the history. Most aren’t aware of it all,” Ata said, dropping his crook by his side and letting out a weighty sigh. “You see, the reason that vampires, specifically founders, aren’t allowed to enter the Great Pyramid is for their protection. The only thing that can end a founder is located right here.”
Ata pointed at the stone casket before them.
“Khufu?” Nenet gasped, stepping back, fearful for her end. My existence as a vampire has been miserable, though, she reasoned. I should be plotting my own immortal death, at this point.
Ata nodded. “The king holds the key to ending the founders’ reign.”
“But how were you able to break the enchantment that kept vampires out of here?”
“The spell stated that as long as Khufu slept, the wards would protect the vampires, keeping them out.”
A thud echoed on the other side of the stone lid.
Nenet jumped and then braced herself, smiling wide. “Oh! So you…”
“I’ve woken the sleeping king.”
“Which is how Cordelia and Hamilton and the rest of us have been able to enter the Great Pyramid,” Nenet said.
“Yes, and when I’ve figured out how to free him, you must get as far from this place as possible.” Ata’s voice was commanding, the tone he’d used when he was king.
“But you’re trying to open it now,” Nenet remarked hotly.
“With little hope that I’ll be successful,” Ata protested, shaking his head. “I’m only testing the bounds of the spell. This king was entombed with the notion that if he was ever awoken, it would be because a war with vampires was threatening to end all magic.”
“So this was a safeguard that the gods put into place to ensure that vampires didn’t take over Oriceran?” Nenet asked.
“Yes. Now I must undo a spell that a hundred witches and wizards performed to seal Khufu away.”
“If anyone can do it, it’s you, Ata.”
Chapter Six
Azure threw the lamp down on the couch before flopping down in the chair beside it. The carriage was quiet, since most were still enjoying the festivities that would no doubt go on until the bonfires burned out. The wereanimals were still filled with insecurities, and their transition into the culture of Oriceran would take time, but Azure felt they’d made progress.
A bouncing noise shook Azure from sleep. She sat bolt upright to find Manx in goat form, kicking a ball across the marble floors of the large interior of the carriage. Blisters made to catch the object with his teeth, but stuck his horn straight through the inflated ball instead.
“That’s the third ball you’ve punctured!” Manx complained.
Blisters shook his head, but the ball didn’t budge off his horn. “I’m sorry. I’m really trying to be more careful.”
“What’s going on?” Azure asked, pushing up out of the deep seat, exhaustion making the task more difficult than it should be.
“Blisters is ruining everything, per usual,” Manx stated, jumping up onto the table and bleating at the unicorn.
“I’m not!” Blisters exclaimed, still shaking his head.
Azure held up a cautious hand to encourage Blisters not to shake his mane as she approached. She pulled the deflated ball from his horn.
“Why don’t you two find a different game to play,” she suggested.
“Like Russian Roulette?” Manx offered.
“Like Elements.” Azure pointed at the deck of cards she’d been using with Monet the day before.
“I think pin the tail on the unicorn would be better,” Manx stated.
Azure, unhurried, rotated her chin, giving him a cold stare. The pooka morphed into his black rabbit form, his nose twitching.
“Don’t try that sweet little bunny routine on me,” Azure warned.
“If you’re not too busy playing with the farm animals, I’d like a word,” Bob called from the couch. He’d slipped out of his lamp and now hovered in the air, sitting crossed-legged.
Azure rolled her eyes. There was definitely not going to be any rest for her. “What?”
“I seem to remember that you were trying to free me from this tiny, dank prison.” Bob cast his arm in the direction of the golden lamp lying on its side under him.
“Yes, I still plan on it,” Azure stated through a yawn. “I’ve just been busy.”
Bob tilted his head to the side, listening. “Is that music I hear?”
“Oh yes!” Blisters skipped over, nearly running into Azure as he passed on his way to the couch. “There’s a fun celebration going on for the wereanimals. You wouldn’t believe all the different kinds of food they are serving. Figs, berries, chocolate covered strawberries—which I’m not sure why you’d ruin chocolate like that. And there’s all sorts of cheeses. Cheddar, blue, gorgonzola, goat—”
Manx shifted back into his goat form and groaned. “I take offense to that.”
“I don’t believe you were milked to make the cheese,” Azure stated dryly as Monet and Ever entered the carriage.
“Oh, a party. With fine foods. And music,” Bob said bitterly. “That must be nice. I’d love to go to such a party, but as you might remember, Queen, I’m locked inside this closet you all call my home.”
“I can grab you a doggie bag, if you’d like,” Monet said, sounding amused.
Manx changed to his black dog form and barked.
“I think you’ve offended him,” Ever said.
Monet laughed. “And yet, I don’t give a damn.”
“You know damn well that I can’t eat while imprisoned in the lamp.” Bob threw his hairy arm to his forehead dramatically. “My miniscule confines curse me to never be hungry, sleep or suffer from old age.”
“And the problem is?” Monet asked, drawing out the last word.
“I have never really lived! Well, unless you count the time before I was imprisoned as a genie,” Bob stated. “I was a wealthy stakeholder in the foreign markets, and had a dozen wives.”
“What markets?” Ever asked.
Bob waved him off. “None of your concern. It had nothing to do with illegal activity or evil espionage that betrayed peaceful nations.”
Monet gave Azure a curious glance. “We never said it did.”
“Stop with the accusations!” Bob bellowed, throwing his arms into the air.
Azure let out a long breath. “Look, Bob, I still plan to free you. I’ve just been—”
“Yes, please free the wicked genie,” Monet teased, cutting her off.
“I’m not evil!” Bob argued.
“You just confessed!” Monet yelled.
“It’s not like I know ten effortless ways to kill a man with a single touch,” Bob said.
“But do you?” Monet asked.
“Ha! I only know of nine!” Bob said.
“Whether you’re a criminal or not, I still plan to free you from the lamp,” Azure cut in. “I just might have to lock you up in a bigger prison afterward.”
“And when do you plan on doing what you’ve promised, master?” Bob’s voice was full of his usual repugnance.
“As soon as I have a chance,” Azure stated.
Bob stared around the room. “You don’t look very busy right now.”
“I’m actually quite exhausted,” Azure said, yawning again.
Monet pulled a potion from his robe. “Why didn’t you say so? This will have you alert for the next seventy-two hours.”
He tossed the bottle through the air and it nearly slipped through Azure’s fingers as she caught it. “Thanks, but that’s a long time to be awake.”
“I haven’t slept in a fortnight and I’m completely fine,” Monet said, swatting at something in front of his face.
“What is it?” Ever asked, peering at him.
“It’s nothing.” Monet shook his head, swatting again. “Just appears that dust termites have infe
sted the carriage.”
“Right,” Azure stated, slipping the potion into her robes.
“So it’s settled,” Bob said. “You’re setting off right now on your quest to free me. What does the next step include? You have to cut out your own kidney? Battle a deadly dragon? Drink poison?”
Azure’s eyes landed on the velvet box that the love expert had given her in Las Vegas. “No, I’m supposed to contain the essence of true love.”
Bob let out a disappointed sigh. “Well, we can only hope that it’s much deadlier than it sounds.”
“Didn’t that love expert say you should try the Eiffel Tower?” Monet asked.
Azure plucked the velvet box off the table, eyeing it. “Yes, according to her, there’s a high incident of people falling in love there, but who knows why?”
“It probably has to do with the gravitational constant of the location,” Blisters said, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
Manx shifted into raven form and flew over, circling the miniature unicorn’s head. “What have you done with the real Blisters, you imposter?”
“Would you shush it, Manx,” Azure scolded. “I want to hear what Blisters has to say.”
Clearing his throat, Blisters continued. “The attractive force between two bodies is directly relative to their mass index and contrariwise comparative to the distance between them. The gravitational constant is a product of a spacetime curvature, which would be directly affected by the field of two cosmic bodies vibrating at the same frequency, due to the energy associated with love; although this would be quite difficult to measure with precise accuracy, due to the subjective quality of such a state.”
Everyone in the room blinked with astonishment.
“What the fuck just happened here?” Monet asked, breaking the silence.
“Uhhh…as interesting and perplexing as all of that is,” Azure began, “where did you learn this?”
Blisters’ face flushed pink. “It was a little bathroom reading. I thought I was checking out a book on psychics from the library, but it turned out to be on physics. I was disappointed, to say the least.”
“But you actually understood what you read?” Azure asked.
“Of course,” Blisters squeaked. “Unicorns have an incredibly strong memory and a great capacity for understanding deep concepts.”
“You just choose not to use this inherited trait,” Monet stated.
“I can name every single American Idol finalist in chronological order,” Blisters boasted, as if to prove his point. “Tamyra Gray, Justin Guarini, Ryan Starr—”
“What’s ‘American Idol’?” Azure asked, cutting him off.
“It’s a television show on Earth that I’m auditioning for,” Blisters stated boldly.
Azure shook her head, not even wanting to know how the unicorn had gotten access to the television show.
“Speaking of Earth,” Ever stated, “I’m happy to take you to the Eiffel Tower when you have time.”
“The queen has time now,” Bob said before Azure could reply.
She made a sound of annoyed protest, but it was drowned out by her friends all talking over one another.
“I want a souvenir,” Blisters sang. “A snow globe of the Eiffel Tower. Or a bottle of perfume. Oh, and the finest dark chocolates!”
“I think I should go along,” Monet said.
Manx shifted into black cat form, twitching his whiskers. “I’ll take a can of sardines upon your arrival.”
“Fine!” Azure yelled, quieting the loud requests. “I’ll go to Paris with Ever, but while I’m gone, I need you all to watch over the wereanimals. They are still very temperamental.”
“You heard the queen,” Monet barked. “Watch the wereanimals while we get drunk on French wines.”
Azure let out a sigh. “Monet, I actually need you to stay here.”
“Why?” her best friend complained. “You don’t think that idiot savant unicorn and good-for-nothing pooka can watch over a few thousand wereanimals who are high-strung and looking for a reason to get offended?”
“I think that, although Blisters and Manx are very capable, having my chief advisor supervising is necessary,” Azure said.
“You only call me that when you’re trying to butter me up,” Monet noted.
“And is it working, chief advisor?” Azure asked, batting her eyes at him.
Monet crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Fine, I’ll stay behind while you two get to go off and have all the fun.”
“Merci, monsieur,” Azure said, curtsying.
Chapter Seven
“So you give the essence of true love to Oak once you’ve contained it,” Ever said after they’d stepped through the portal and onto the Parc du Champ de Mars.
Azure’s chin rose as she took in the structure towering in front of them, which was almost one thousand feet tall. “Yes, and then Oak gives me the weredragon scale, and I hand that off to Myrtle, who tells me how to free Bob.”
“Too bad you couldn’t have cut out a few middle men.” Ever, unlike most of the tourists on the grassy lawn, wasn’t looking up at the Eiffel Tower, but rather at the person next to him.
“Well, if I’m trying to be positive about the whole thing, at least a few people get something out of the act of freeing Bob, besides the angry genie himself,” Azure stated, a chill running down her back. There was a unique magic that radiated off the Eiffel Tower. She’d heard of it many times, but she’d never been exposed to it, and therefore hadn’t fully grasped its significance. However, standing here now, in front of the tower, she kind of understood.
“There are three levels to the Eiffel Tower, but I vote we go to the top. I’m guessing you want to take the lifts.” Ever pointed to the base.
“Why couldn’t you have simply opened a portal on one of the levels?” Azure asked, suddenly feeling dizzy from looking up. She must look like an ant on the ground to those up high.
“I tried. This was as close as the portal would get us,” Ever explained. “Certain areas don’t allow portals.”
“The House of Enchanted, for instance,” Azure stated.
“Yes, it’s a precaution put into place to keep unwanted visitors from popping up,” Ever said.
“Okay, well, to the lift, then.” Azure set off, still unsure of what they were looking for. There were people everywhere—chatting, taking pictures, holding hands. None of them looked to be falling in love or already in love, for that matter, but how was she supposed to know?
“Why can’t they sell the essence of true love in the gift shop?” Azure joked as she waved her wand at the crowd blocking the elevator. They parted, and she and Ever boarded, not having to wait or needing a ticket.
“A perk of being a queen,” he said in response to the trick, winking at her as the lift set off.
“I like people, but yes, I’d prefer to have my own elevator for the trip and not be jostled by the masses.”
Azure’s eyes widened as the lift rose, Paris sprawling out in front of her. The city spread like waves in the ocean, rippling bigger as they rocked away from a boat.
“What do you suppose Oak wants with the essence of true love, anyway?” Ever asked, watching Azure stare out at the city.
“I’m not sure. He’s a curious old wizard, though. I trust him, but I definitely don’t understand him.”
“Oh yes, I feel that way about most from Virgo,” Ever stated with a smile. A dimple rose on his left cheek.
Looking at him right then reminded her of the fate that would soon be bestowed upon her—the protector of the Howling Willow. Azure still hadn’t come to terms with the inevitable responsibility, but she couldn’t run from it.
All her life, she’d been preparing herself to be queen, and then in one night, she’d had a bigger crown thrust upon her head. Protecting the Howling Willow stole her freedom; it was the grandest honor and also the undoing of her bountiful future. She was a child to a parent who could never allow her to have her own life.
“Most don’t look so melancholy when headed to the top of the Eiffel Tower,” Ever noted gently. Azure felt his gaze on her, but didn’t dare look back at him.
“I was only remembering that soon I’ll be taking over for Mage Lenore,” Azure confessed.
“Oh, right,” Ever said in a hush. “So you’re not excited about the task, then?”
“I’m only confused about how different my life will look,” Azure admitted, reaching into her robe and withdrawing the velvet box.
“Being connected to the greatest source of magic on Oriceran is—”
“An honor,” Azure said, finishing his sentence.
“I was actually going to say ‘a huge responsibility’,” Ever said.
Something rattled in Azure’s chest like a power was trying to break loose.
“You’ll also be stronger than anyone on Oriceran,” Ever continued.
Azure’s ears popped when the elevator neared the top. She opened her mouth, trying to release the pressure. Ever’s words felt as overwhelming as the pressure that was suddenly filling her head from the altitude change.
When the doors to the elevator opened, Azure stepped forward, a swift wind covering her face. Various groups stood around the perimeter, peering through a fence that bordered the top.
“Now what?” Azure asked, mostly talking to herself.
“Dolly the love expert said that this is where a high incidence of people fall in love,” Ever reminded her. “So look around.”
“What am I looking for?” Azure asked.
Ever shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I think your instincts are good. You’ll figure it out.”
He strode down the walkway purposefully.
“Where are you going?” Azure asked.
He paused, pointing ahead. “There’s a champagne bar. I’m going to get a drink.”
Azure’s chin dipped. She wished she could sip on champagne right then, but she had a purpose and needed to remain focused.
“Come and find me when you’re ready to go,” Ever told her before turning around and heading for the bar. He appeared a bit more defeated than usual.