As I jogged down the stairs to the basement and reached out for the magic of the portal, I reminded myself that there was no such thing as a perfect life, and it didn’t do me any good to stare after something I could never have.
CHAPTER SIX
I pulled Kandy through the golden magic of the portal from the bakery basement. Warner had preceded us. The green-haired werewolf stumbled forward, though her footing should have been solid on the white marble floor. She grabbed my shoulder for extra support as she gasped, her eyes blazing green. Claws appeared at the ends of her fingers to dig into the flesh of my shoulder.
“Ouch.”
“Easy, wolf,” Warner said as he turned back to us. His tone was kinder than I expected.
“The magic,” Kandy muttered. Her voice was pained. I could feel her attempting to rein in her shapeshifter magic as it rippled down her arms and across her body.
The portal closed behind us and Kandy half straightened, though she was still gripping my shoulder. My first visit to the dragon nexus had been overwhelming as well … and I’d had the magic of all nine guardians to contend with then. I still wondered how I survived that first onslaught. Now, of course, I’d built up a tolerance.
Pulou strode into the circular room underneath the archway that led to the dragon residences. I instantly knew that his presence wasn’t a coincidence.
“The far seer sends his greetings to Kandice Tate, enforcer of the West Coast North American Pack, friend and bodyguard to Jade Godfrey, the warrior’s daughter. I am Pulou, the treasure keeper of the guardians. One of the nine.”
Kandy pushed away from me, as if to force herself to stand without assistance before Pulou. She nodded her head in a brief bow, but then kept her gaze downcast somewhere around Pulou’s chest.
“We are well met, treasure keeper,” the green-haired werewolf said.
Pulou shifted his gaze from Kandy to me, and then to Warner. “Alchemist. Sentinel.”
“Treasure keeper.” We all spoke in unison.
“Are you ready for what lies ahead, Kandice Tate?”
Kandy squared her shoulders and lifted her gaze to meet Pulou’s. “I prefer to be called Kandy, treasure keeper,” she said. “My mother was Kandice.”
Pulou grinned at the green-haired werewolf. “We all have our ancestral burdens to bear.”
Kandy nodded. “I’m always ready, guardian,” she said. “Just don’t tell me I’m going to die.”
Pulou lost the smile.
“I know who the far seer is,” the green-haired werewolf continued. Kandy was always quicker at putting things together than I was. Dread ached through my chest, momentarily taking my breath away.
“It is indeed a great and terrible thing to be seen by the far seer,” Pulou said. “But it is not to you his gaze falls, werewolf.”
Then he looked at me.
“Are you going to tell me not to go?” I asked.
“No. You will proceed as tasked,” Pulou answered. “I have a gift for your companion.” He reached into the pocket of his fur coat and pulled out two gold bracelets. “At the behest of the far seer.”
The twin bracelets were carved with runes I had no ability to read. Actually, they were thick — over three inches wide — and more like cuffs than bracelets. They were edged with a raised lip that was speckled with tiny, densely clustered diamonds.
With no hint of hesitation, Kandy held her arms out to Pulou as if she was about to be arrested.
Something about the gesture struck me. “Wait …” I murmured.
“Indeed,” Warner said. “Beware of dragons bearing gifts of gold and gem.” There was nothing accusatory in the sentinel’s tone. He spoke as if discussing the weather, though he avoided Pulou’s gaze when it turned toward him.
My stomach churned uncomfortably. I had always trusted Pulou without a second thought. I didn’t want to question that, not for one moment.
“I’m not an idiot,” Kandy snapped. Then she took a step toward Pulou. “I accept that the far seer believes these will help me protect Jade Godfrey on her quest.”
Pulou nodded, then carefully slipped the cuffs over Kandy’s hands and onto her wrists. When he let go, the magic of the cuffs — by their dense, earthy taste, they were of sorcerer design — flared and then constricted. The cuffs tightened on Kandy’s thin wrists. I had no idea how the werewolf would get them off without a blowtorch now.
“I take half-form,” Kandy said.
“They will adjust.” Pulou placed three of his fingers on the runes on the tops of the cuffs. Each glowed briefly at his touch. “Now only removable by you. But if I may offer a caution?”
“Don’t take them off,” Kandy said. “Ever.”
“Yes,” Pulou said. “You have learned to temper your strength before, but these will offer a new series of lessons.”
Kandy nodded. Pulou removed his fingers from the cuffs and the werewolf withdrew her arms solemnly.
The magical cuffs were completely incongruent to her obscenely printed T-shirt — this one featured a banana and what appeared to be grapes, but I didn’t look at it too closely — and torn jeans. For some reason that disparity made my heart even heavier.
The treasure keeper looked to me. “You are traveling?”
“Yes, but —”
Pulou turned his head as if listening to something only he could hear, then he frowned. “Where?” he asked curtly.
“Seattle, but —”
“Turn around, warrior’s daughter, and the door will take you there.”
I hesitated, a ton of questions poised on my lips and in my mind. Questions about the far seer’s vision and about the cuffs. But Pulou’s expression was stern and unyielding. I turned to face the door from which we’d come only a few moments before.
Most secondary portals led only to the dragon nexus or to the grid point portals, which were kind of like the spots where lines of latitude and longitude intersected, if those were lines of magic. Because natural magic percolated — or maybe ‘leaked out’ was a better way to put it — at these places all over the world, the guardians had anchored their portal system at each grid point.
Conversely, the nine doors of the nexus were each keyed to a different territory, and — if you knew how to use them — led to anywhere within that territory a guardian wished to go.
Or, in this case, anywhere Pulou wanted to send us.
“Hold a location in your mind, alchemist, and then take your companions there.”
Ah, I loved it when super-powerful beings simplified magic like it was at their beck and call. And maybe it was — for them — but it certainly wasn’t for me.
I linked fingers with Kandy on my left and Warner on my right.
Behind me, the magic of a portal flared. Another guardian coming through … a dozen to one, and based on Pulou’s brusqueness, it was Suanmi.
“Go now,” Pulou said.
“Inn at the Market. Suite 401,” Kandy muttered. “I booked us a room. You know, just in case.”
I stepped into the golden magic of the portal just as I felt the fire breather step into the nexus behind me. I cleared the thought of Pulou’s frown out of my mind, trying to focus solely on Suite 401 of the Inn at the Market in the very heart of Seattle. I’d been at the hotel two years ago for the chocolate festival, and had planned to go again this October. I’d stayed in a suite that had a living room overlooking the Chocolate Box, with the bedroom up a set of stairs …
∞
Kandy bore the magic of the portal better on her second passage, though it probably helped that we were stepping out of the nexus and into a hotel firmly set in the human world of Seattle, Washington. Yes, the United States of America. Rather belatedly, I realized I’d forgotten my passport.
I’d also forgotten to ask Pulou again about taking the sacrificial knife. Double damn.
The one-way portal snapped shut behind us. As in, completely shut with no hint of its magic remaining. I�
��d forgotten to arrange transportation back. That was really going to make the lack-of-passport situation worse.
And Warner wouldn’t have any identification at all, though I doubt that was ever a problem for the dragon-born who appeared to walk through the world unhindered by mortal restrictions.
Okay, so maybe dragons weren’t the only prejudiced ones.
We arrived in the living room of the hotel suite, landing only inches from the back of a plush-looking, dark-beige couch. A couple of matching chairs with dark-brown stained wooden arms, and a glass coffee table framed in the same dark wood, created a cozy seating area before us. Fresh paint was the only obvious indication that the hotel had recently undergone renovations.
The door of the cabinet that held the TV broke off in Kandy’s hand, hinges and all. The green-haired werewolf glanced over in surprise. “I was looking for the minibar,” she said.
“The cuffs,” Warner muttered as he moved from window to window to look out at the well-lit city. We were on the wrong side of the hotel for a water view, but Pike Place Market, which ran along the edge of Seattle’s downtown waterfront, was only a block west of here.
“No wards,” Warner said.
“Why would there be?” Kandy was unsuccessfully trying to reattach the cabinet door. If the skyscrapers and the throng of humanity Warner could see from the windows confused him, he didn’t mention it.
“We should probably check in,” I said. I pulled a hinged case out of my satchel. Originally, the navy-blue quilted box had held an expensive pen set of Gran’s, but I’d borrowed it and lined it with lead before I started treasure hunting for Pulou. I opened it, retrieved my phone, and muttered a prayer while I booted it up. So far, the lead had protected the phone from the magic of the portal and the dragon nexus, but I was still waiting for the day it didn’t work.
“I used the gold card number and booked under your name,” Kandy said as she strode toward the suite door. The werewolf was referring to the credit card that was also permanently tucked into the lead-lined case with the hope of protecting its chip and magnetic strip from nexus and portal magic. The Scottish witch, Amber Cameron, had secured the credit card for me in exchange for a purse of dragon gold. I hadn’t realized the worth of the coins when I’d given them to the witch, but she’d exchanged them and opened a bank account that automatically covered the monthly payment on the credit card. I even got the statements by email, though I’d set that up separately. I only used the card on official dragon business.
My phone booted. Yay, me! I quickly texted our location to Gran, and then sent a text message to Wisteria.
We’re here.
Kandy flung open the door to the hotel corridor with much more force than was necessary and then grumbled under her breath about “dragon gifts” and “stupid learning curves.”
“First stop, Fran’s Chocolates,” I said as I followed Kandy out the door. The warm cream, brown, and beige decor continued through the corridor.
“They’ll be closed.”
My phone pinged.
> You’re early. It will take me ten minutes to get to you.
“Right. Tomorrow morning, first thing.” I sent Wisteria a smiley face text. “Second thing, See’s Candies. They’re both walking distance.”
“Everything is walking distance for you, Jade.”
Kandy’s tone was serious, but she smirked and playfully tapped the back of my calf with a flick of her foot when I turned to look at her. Her hand-painted Chuck Taylor Classic Hi Tops were brand new though, and decorated with what appeared to be a native-inspired design. In green, of course.
I could taste Warner’s magic behind us as the dragon stepped from the suite to follow us out. I still wasn’t completely sure whether or not the sentinel was my babysitter or my teammate.
“Wolves?” I asked, referencing Kandy’s runners as we turned down the hall toward the bank of elevators.
“B-day gift from Desmond,” she replied.
Ah, Desmond Charles Llewellyn. Lord and Alpha of the West Coast North American Pack. It had been ten months since Tofino, and yet when I thought of Desmond, I couldn’t remember anything except his hands — and seeing them close around Sienna’s head far too quickly for me to do anything but watch. Watch as he snapped my sister’s neck … watch as her body fell lifeless between us.
Sienna — whether deserving of execution or not — would always be standing somewhere between Desmond and me.
Kandy slapped her hand over the elevator call button and managed to crack it.
We both watched as half the button fell to the ground. The other half lit up helpfully.
“Maybe no more touching things … just for a bit?”
Kandy grumbled. The elevator doors open as Warner joined us. We stepped in and waited for the dragon to do the same.
The sentinel’s eyes darted around the interior of the elevator.
“No,” he declared.
Kandy snorted, but then stepped out from the elevator and crossed to the stairs without further comment. I wondered if it was the human technology or the confined space that bothered Warner, but decided it was the cramped space when his step faltered at the top of the stairs. The hotel hadn’t wasted any square footage in their stairwells, though the paint and carpeting were obviously new.
Of course, I wouldn’t have noticed Warner’s hesitation if I hadn’t been looking back over my shoulder and staring at the patch of chest hair that edged his T-shirt collar, right above the notch at the center of his collarbone.
I tore my eyes away and jogged down the stairs to catch up with Kandy, continuing down to the lobby. The dragon would follow or not. I certainly couldn’t force him or assuage whatever concerns he had. He’d made it very clear where I ranked in his worldview … somewhere just above Suanmi’s classification of ‘abomination.’ Okay, maybe I was being dramatic, but dragons weren’t forward thinkers, and old dragons — excepting Chi Wen and maybe Bixi — were especially mired in their prejudices. And dragons who had ‘slept’ for the past four hundred and fifty years? Well, I actually wasn’t sure where Warner fell on the prejudice scale yet.
∞
While Kandy checked us in, I headed out toward the courtyard that the Inn at the Market shared with a wine bar bistro and a sushi place. The front desk clerk made no mention of us arriving from within the hotel, as opposed to through the front door. Nor did she blink at the fact that we didn’t have any luggage. She simply welcomed us back — I imagined she could see on her computer that this was my third stay — and then dealt with getting Kandy the requested key cards.
When I realized Warner was watching me exit the lobby, I resisted the urge to go around and around in the revolving door. It probably freaked him out, though he was currently inscrutable. And really, I didn’t need to be any more childish than normal. The sentinel continued to check out the lobby as if sniffing for bombs, and maybe he was. But I could tell without even trying that there wasn’t a drop of magic within the hotel — not even a tiny tint of residual magic on any of the floors. Not even from the magical portal that we’d just walked through four floors up. Yeah, my dowser senses were that sharp now.
Which is why I didn’t bother to cross right and around the corner to see if Wisteria was in the cafe yet. I knew she wasn’t anywhere nearby — not on foot, anyway. I imagined that if she came by car, I wouldn’t pick up her sweet nutmeg magic as readily.
Instead, I stepped left, crossed out of the courtyard, and down the stairs to the sidewalk. If I looked west I could see Pike Place Market at the base of the hill. The valet stand stood empty to one side. The street was cobbled, and currently clear of vehicles. I was a huge fan of the Granville Island Market in Vancouver, but it was obviously an idea ripped off from Seattle years ago. Old wooden buildings, once used for shipping and fisheries and industrial stuff, stretched along the waterfront here. The red paint of their shiplapped siding was faded perfectly to my mind. Though I couldn’t see it from this va
ntage point, I knew a large brass piggy bank sat at the main entrance a block south. I always made sure to drop a donation in the brass pig for the market’s social services whenever I visited.
Unfortunately, along with most of the restaurants within the neighboring buildings, the market was currently closed. No five-dollar bouquet of flowers for me tonight, or mini frozen cheesecake bombs from —
Minty magic tickled my taste buds, and it certainly wasn’t emanating from the dragon who had just stepped out through the stationary glass door beside the revolving front entrance of the hotel.
An involuntarily smile spread across my face. I didn’t bother looking around or questioning this sudden development.
The peppermint taste intensified. He was dampening his magic as much as he could, trying to sneak up on me. But sneaking up on me was no longer in his power.
I laughed. “Kett,” I whispered. “I can taste you.”
A breeze buffeted my face and I reached out to grab it — only to have Warner knock me spinning to the side. My right ankle twisted on the edge of the sidewalk, though I was normally very sure-footed in my 8 Eye boots, and I fell onto one knee.
A boom resounded like two cars crashing, and then the pavement underneath my hands cracked. I turned my head, my curls obscuring most of my vision, but I could see that Warner had Kett pinned to the pavement by the neck.
“No!” I cried. But even as I straightened, Kett smashed his double-fisted hands up underneath Warner’s broad chin, driving the dragon’s head backward with a sharp crack.
I gained my feet, but Kett was gone before I closed the space between us. Warner was still crouched as if he had hold of the vampire, but he was looking around, confused.
“Vampire,” Warner hissed.
“Duh,” I replied.
My ankle was killing me — it was the same foot I’d mangled in London on Sienna’s delayed booby trap spell — so I rotated it while I looked around. I spotted Kett in the deep shadow beyond the overhead light placed over the hotel’s subtle signage. His eyes were blood red, but he didn’t attack further. Warner obviously couldn’t see him, and I — again, childishly — couldn’t contain a smirk.
Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser Series Book 4) Page 9