Cast into Darkness

by Janet Tait

  So much for the direct method. He’d have to come up with another way to get the stone.

  His heartbeat slowing to normal, he ran through the options as he left the edge of the Hamiltons’ tree-covered estate and reached the outskirts of the little town of Paumanok. One thought kept returning to his mind.

  Kate. She had the stone. She trusted him. There must be a way to use her to retrieve it.

  By the time he’d slipped across the old wooden bridge leading into town, he knew what he had to do. But the certainty that his plan would work didn’t settle his nerves or lead to his usual pre-op calmness.

  Instead, Kate’s eyes, gazing up at him as she lay against the pillow last night, kept intruding on his thoughts, like a haunting melody that wouldn’t stop playing.

  Kate reached the small clearing a few minutes before 9:00 p.m. Thick with a few old oaks and a dozen tall, gray-barked catalpas, the grove stood past the Sanctum at the far western edge of the estate, near the perimeter wall that ran up against Paumanok Road. Back when she and Brian had been kids, they would run to the grove to escape the pressure of studying. The other students attending the family’s school with them were more interested in playing on the beach and sneaking over the wall into the nearby town of Paumanok. So she and her brother had the little stand of trees all to themselves.

  Fireflies hovered around her, darting in and out of the grove. The lightning-struck oak they called the Old Bear still loomed over the clearing. She wondered if anything remained in their secret hiding place under its roots.

  The swing survived, hanging above a new growth of blackberry bushes, their aroma sweet in the night air. The thick rope looping the wooden seat around the branch above looked too frayed to hold Kate’s weight, but the big deadfall below provided a good bench. Kate brushed off the dirt and fallen catalpa bean pods and sat to wait for Brian.

  She rubbed her fingers against the tree trunk’s rough bark. Brian had missed dinner. And so had Dad—delayed at the office by another one of the hundreds of emergencies that always seemed to come up. Victor had run through, muttered something about reinforcing the security grid at the western wall, and teleported out. Not that she’d missed his company. But Hayley and Grayson sat around the oak dining table and talked magic, and there didn’t seem to be anything for her to do but play with her peas and fret until nine o’clock came around.

  She reached into the pocket of her shorts and let the stone slide through her fingers. At its cool, soothing touch she jerked her hand back out. The damned thing would probably cause her to lose more time. The last thing she wanted.

  Crickets droned above the quiet grove. No Brian. She checked her watch—quarter after nine. He’d better show. And after all she’d been through, he’d better tell her where he’d gotten the stupid thing and what made it such a supersecret, “don’t tell Dad” big deal.

  A hand touched her shoulder. She jumped. “Brian! Don’t scare me like that.”

  He stood next to her, wearing a blue Hamilton T-shirt with the double-H logo, but she could see only his face and part of his chest. As she watched, the rest of him appeared, as if she were watching an old-fashioned Polaroid picture develop before her eyes. She’d seen the effects of a cloak spell before, but why did he feel the need to hide in his own home?

  He put a finger to his lips, then whispered, “Sorry I’m late.” After sitting down next to her, he scrunched up his eyes and his body stilled. His fingers tapped out the points of a triangle on the log, and he chanted a low incantation.

  “What spell did you cast?” she asked.

  “I cloaked us.”

  “You’re worried about eavesdroppers? Here?”

  He gave her a look that made her wonder what she’d missed. “You have it with you?”

  Her hand went to her pocket. She slid it inside and touched the stone.

  He needs it back? Well, I need some things, too. Like an explanation.

  She pulled her hand out empty. “No. Tell me where you got it.”

  “On a mission.” His lips tightened.

  “Yeah. I know what that means. You aren’t going to say a thing.”

  “Sorry. It’s classified. You know how this works.”

  “I know all too well.” His “don’t tell anybody” crap must mean that his mission wasn’t official. Somebody else in the family played a dangerous game. “Why did you give me the stone? Why not Dad or Grayson? Or even Victor?”

  Brian shifted on the log. “Look, I was in a bad situation. You were the first person I thought of. I’m sorry I can’t explain everything. You’ll just have to trust me.”

  “I do. More than anyone. But—”

  “I need the stone. Please. Cut the interrogation and give it back.”

  Kate picked up a twig and twirled it in her hand. Why wouldn’t he answer her questions? His reluctance to talk had to be more than the usual family secrecy. She needed to get through to him, somehow. “Do you know what happened on the freeway?”

  “No. Should I?”

  “I got attacked. This girl blew out my tire. Then she hit me with a fire spell—”

  Brian grabbed her arm. “Kate, are you okay? Damn. I’m sorry. I had no idea—”

  “I’m fine, she didn’t…she didn’t hurt me. She wanted the stone. But if Victor hadn’t been there, I would have been…” She shuddered when she thought back to the flames coming at her. “Afterward, I did what you asked. I lied. I sat there in Dad’s office and I didn’t tell him a thing about the stone. I kept your secrets. I think you owe me an explanation.”

  Brian let go of her and leaned back, bracing his hands against the log. He sat for a long moment. Then, “It’s very old, maybe ancient. Do you remember what Grayson taught us about the First Era? When we were kids?”

  “Sure. I always did better in History than you.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, maybe. I think the stone dates from then. Pre-Atlantean times, or a little while after. We can’t make anything like this anymore.”

  “Wow. What does it do?” She remembered a little about the First Era—the casters back then could do world-altering spells, stuff casters found impossible today. Ancient magic, forbidden magic. But that was before casters were forced to channel magic through their minds and paranoia became a side effect. Before the caster community went underground.

  He hesitated. “I don’t know, exactly. I need to find that out. Evaluate it in the Sanctum. I do know this much: I had a quick look at it before I gave it to you. I’ve never even heard of an artifact that has as many spells layered into it. It’s potentially more powerful than anything we’ve found. Maybe more important than the artifacts Grayson has locked up at Lost River. Do you understand what that means?”

  “Yeah.” She’d been raised on the tales of how their grandfather had wrestled those artifacts from the bloody hands of Arkady Makris. They were the foundation of the Hamiltons’ magical arsenal.

  “We can’t let another family get a hold of it. Not the Makrises or anyone else. It could mean another war.”

  “Shit.” She peeled the bark off the twig in her hand. Who would send him to get something that powerful? Grayson? Victor? It couldn’t have been Dad. Otherwise, why tell her not to talk to him? Unless Brian wasn’t working for anyone. Her hands went still, the twig forgotten.

  I should give the stone to Dad. It’s his job to sort this stuff out. I should turn this whole mess over to him.

  But then I’ll never find out about the stone. Dad and Grayson will take it into the Sanctum and shut the door.

  Or she could do as she promised and give the stone back to Brian. Keeping her word to him had caused her nothing but trouble since he’d shown up at the theater last night, stone in hand. Brian, who wouldn’t give her a straight answer to any of her questions.

  Brian, the one person in the family who trusted her with something magical.

  Bean pods crunched underfoot as she stood. “Fine. I’ll give it back, but in exchange, I want to be in on the testing. I want to
know what this thing does and what makes it so all-fired important.”

  “Absolutely not. Way too dangerous.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “So, you don’t know what it is or what it can do, but you know it’s ‘way too dangerous’?”

  “There are reasons only casters are allowed in the Sanctum. No matter what the stone is, having you inside the Sanctum with me while I figure it out is a bad idea.”

  “Worse than me telling Dad that you gave me the stone, told me not to tell him, and then left me defenseless against some crazy girl with a fire spell and a yen for ancient artifacts?”

  Brian stood. “Aren’t you a little old for the ‘I’ll tell Dad’ routine? Kate, just give me the damn stone.”

  “What if I don’t?”

  “Then I’ll have to—”

  “What? Take it? You’ve learned a lot from Dad.” Her jaw tightened after snapping out the words.

  “That’s a low blow.”

  “Maybe. But don’t tell me you weren’t thinking about it.”

  “I would never do that.”

  “Not if you had a choice. But do you?”

  He sank back on the log, his face in his hands. “Not for much longer.”

  The night air suddenly felt chilly through her thin top. “Are you in trouble?”

  He hesitated. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  She stood, studying him. Maybe, maybe not. But despite all his cloak-and-dagger games, nothing in this world could make Brian be untrue to his family. That was all she needed to know.

  Kate sighed and pulled the stone from her pocket. When he glanced up at her, she said, “Here,” and held it up. It caught the faint moonlight and shone with an emerald glow in her hand.

  “Kate.” Brian’s voice wavered. “Where’s the silk I gave you to hold it with? And when the hell did the stone turn black?”

  Kate stared at the stone’s round, dark shape. She thought back to when she’d first seen it, in Brian’s hand. Had it been just last night?

  White. The stone had been white.

  Why hadn’t she been able to remember that before now?

  “Kate, this is important. Has anything strange happened with the stone since last night?”

  She opened her mouth to answer. To tell Brian about the lost half-hour in the dressing room, the hours lost earlier today in her bedroom. To tell him how the stone’s weird green glow had increased, how its deep blackness had pulled her in until she couldn’t resist its call. To tell him how she hadn’t been able to remember the stone’s original color after it mesmerized her the first time.

  But nothing came out.

  “Shit. You said you remembered the rules.” He grabbed her arm and ran, pulling her after him. She clutched the stone in her fingers as they wove in and out of the trees, her feet sliding on the leaves underfoot.

  “Where are we going?” she gasped out.

  “You wanted to know what the stone can do. Fine. Now we don’t have a choice.”

  As they broke through the cover of the trees, their destination lay ahead, its slate roof glinting with reflections of light shining down from the night sky.

  The Sanctum.

  Brian darted across the lawn to the Sanctum’s door, Kate in tow. He put his hand on the lock plate. The door responded to his touch, swinging open without a sound. Beyond the faint light of the entryway, the room seemed dark and still.

  He motioned her inside. “Quick.”

  Shock fused Kate’s feet to the floor. “I…can’t. You know that. Nulls aren’t…”

  “You were pretty eager to help me test the stone a few minutes ago.” He sighed. “Never mind that particular Rule. Just go.”

  She slipped inside, and he followed. As he did, the room awakened. The lights, a dim glow as Brian opened the door, burst into radiance as he strode into the room and shut the door. The vision before Kate took even the thoughts of the stone from her head.

  Rays of light shining down from the ceiling caught the amber, gold, and bloodred crystals embedded in the walls, and the whole room glowed with brilliant color. The gemstones lay in intricate spiral patterns across the walls, floor, and ceiling, swirling in configurations that made Kate dizzy as she tried to trace them with her eyes. She had long forgotten what the lines and swirls meant—she only remembered that the crystals, rare gems that amplified and held magical energy, were essential to the functioning of the Sanctum.

  Interspersed among the crystals were lodestones, square-cut rocks whose magnetic properties insulated the room from outside influences and, working with the crystals, absorbed the backlash so that spells cast in the Sanctum were free of paranoia. Too bad no one had figured out a way to make that work in the real world.

  Kate fixed her gaze on the large ring of amber stones set into the center of the floor—the circle stones. She remembered a little about their function from her magic test—the one time she’d been inside the Sanctum before. Most big magical workings took place within the circle stones, which protected anyone outside the rings from the energies cast inside. Of course, that barrier could work both ways, confining a caster within the stones via a strong magical shield. The circle stones—along with the crystals and lodestones—made this place more than a round room.

  The Sanctum served as the total fulfillment of what magic meant to her family.

  Brian passed his palm over an array of crystals planted in the wall by the door. With his head back, he concentrated as he chanted a spell. The crystals lit up, initiating the legendary protections of the Sanctum. No one could interrupt a session once a Sanctum’s protections were invoked. At least not without considerable effort.

  A gentle thrumming came through the floor, up to her feet. A soft, almost imperceptible hum. The voice of the Sanctum. The stone in her hand murmured in harmony with that voice.

  Kate held it up and looked into its depths, the room’s lights glinting off its shiny surface. A strong greenish sheen glimmered in its darkness.

  Part of her whispered a warning.

  She tried to pull the stone away, to close her mind to the force that wanted in, but too much of that power had already been down the ebony pathway it built into her very being. A small part of her awareness, helpless to act, felt the stone plant its next spell, then go back to sleep.

  Blinking, Kate slipped the stone back in her pocket as Brian finished engaging the Sanctum’s protections.

  “Are we going to work in the circle stones?” she asked.

  “I am. But you being here is bad enough. Stay out of the circle.”

  “Shouldn’t we get Grayson? If this thing is as dangerous as you seem to think—”

  “I can handle it. Just don’t look at it again.”

  Kate took the cushion he handed her from a stack on the floor, and then Brian walked to the circles. The amber stones glowed in the dim light, their facets sparkling as she moved away. She dropped the cushion well outside the ring, then sat, watching as Brian took his place inside.

  “I need the stone before I seal the circle.” Brian tossed her his handkerchief. “This’ll work for now. Don’t touch it again.”

  She hesitated, then reached into her pocket with the handkerchief, pulling out the stone. She’d heard Brian. Don’t look at it. Don’t touch it. But something else, deep inside her, whispered contrary instructions straight into her soul with all the force of ancient magic.

  Touch me. Look at me.

  No.

  Her fingers clenched tightly into a fist for a moment as she struggled with the compulsion to open her hand, look at the stone, touch it. Then her fingers moved, her hand opened, and her eyes were pulled to the dark, round mass swimming in the pool of white cotton.

  And she was lost.

  She transferred the stone to her bare hand and caressed it with her thumb. Why give the stone to Brian? She should take the stone inside the circle herself. Kate got to her feet and strode toward the circle stones.

  “Kate! What the hell are you doing?” Brian stood, his eyes na
rrow. He snapped his fingers in front of Kate’s eyes. “Shit.”

  She didn’t care what he did.

  A spell formed on his lips. Kate took another step forward as her brother cast. She felt herself lunge into the circle, dodging his attempt to intercept her. Part of her registered the electric tingle in her body as his spell hit. Part of her spoke words she didn’t understand to the stone and watched it light up with a neon-green glow, like the timer of a bomb that had just been armed.

  Then Brian’s spell took effect, and she realized with a soul-deep dread that she had walked mindlessly inside the circle holding the glowing stone in her bare hand. Obeying the stone’s will, not her own.

  Hands shaking, she tried to drop the horrible thing, only to find that she couldn’t. The stone held on to her hand, stuck with a supernatural force her frenzied efforts could not break.

  “Brian, help me!” She fell to her knees inside the circle, hyperventilating. Calm down. Brian will fix this.

  Brian grabbed her hand and tried to pry her fingers open. They wouldn’t budge—the stone glued her fingers tight, its green glow engulfing them.

  The pulsing iridescence spread up her arm. “What’s wrong? What’s it doing?”

  “I don’t know. But I have to seal the circle. Dammit, Kate. Why wouldn’t you listen?”

  Brian squeezed his eyes shut. The crystals around them lit up, enabling their protective barrier to contain any damage but also trap them inside. A lot of good that did them.

  Bile rose in her throat. Don’t throw up, don’t throw up. Frantic, she bashed the stone against the sharp crystals in the circle over and over until her fingers bled.

  Nothing. The stone still clung to her hand, unscathed.

  “Brian? Make this thing stop! What do I do?”

  “Quiet! Let me think.” He must have figured something out because his eyes got a fierce look of determination in them, and he started to cast. Brian reached out, and the wet sheen of perspiration made his fingers slide as they grabbed hers.

  He’s scared. Brian’s scared. Oh shit. What have I gotten us into?

  The stone’s green-black iridescence covered half her body now. It took her over inch by inch, leaving the sensation of a million sharp needles shooting through her in its wake. She screamed as a wave of pain started at the hand that held the stone and rode along the lime-colored glow. The darkness she’d felt at the stone’s core grabbed hold of her very essence. It ripped it apart, rewriting her down to the life-code, the heart of her self.