Tristan scrunched his forehead. "The throne room is part of the queen's private quarters. Once we're in the tower, I can teleport someone into her space. But what's your plan at that point?"
Adrianna said, "I cloak the two of us, then you take me into the room. Once we confirm it's empty and no guards are in the immediate area, you leave me and bring the other three in while I start working on the curse."
Tristan cocked an eyebrow at her. "I never said I was going inside the throne room."
Evalle placed a hand over Storm's, silently asking him not to take Tristan's head off. She looked to Tzader, who had no sense of humor whatsoever when it came to a mission.
Tzader told Tristan, "Fine. If you're afraid, just get us to that first room and we'll do the rest until it's time to leave. If we get captured, you're free to teleport away and save your ass."
"I never said I was going to abandon anyone, either," Tristan snapped.
Evalle caught a dose of surprise coming from Storm and snippets of the same from Tzader and Adrianna. It had taken Evalle a while to figure out Tristan, but she'd come to realize he had backbone and pride, and a healthy dose of honor. Few others knew that because he buried his good traits beneath layers of jerk personality. He hated to give any impression of being a hero or loyal or dependable, but he was all of those things.
He was finally showing more of his true colors.
She gave him a little help accepting his role. "Tristan, do you remember the TAmr Medb room where Lanna and I were held before I evolved into a gryphon?"
He nodded.
"That would be where I'd teleport in. What do you think?"
Sitting forward to lean on his forearms, he ran a hand mindlessly through his hair. "That would work. I don't know if the soundproofing spell on that room is still in place, or whether it will hold against the new queen, but it's our best shot for entering undetected." His eyes flicked around, the way they did when he worked out an answer for himself. "I have teleported individuals I couldn't link with, but those times happened with plenty of recovery in between. I'm talking days. I can link with Tzader and Evalle for additional power, but just in case, we need to find a way to bind Adrianna ..." He glanced at Storm. "And him to the group."
Evalle wanted to thump Tristan on the head. He'd been doing so well acting like a normal person. But that evidently just got too freakin' taxing. She turned to Storm. "Think we can make this work?"
"Should be able to." Storm asked Adrianna, "Can you weave an invisible chain around all of us?"
"Hmm, I see what you're saying. I think I can do that. Sort of like creating a spell that affects a group instead of just one."
"Right. Make it so that everyone is affected the same way."
"Not too tough, actually."
Tzader interjected, "Good thing, because you're going to need all you've got to break that dragon's curse, and I just heard from Quinn. We're leaving in five minutes."
Chapter 26
Lanna peeked through the crack in the door to Feenix's playroom. She watched Feenix fly around the room and dive-bomb Oskar, who danced around on his hind legs with no effort.
Evalle had told her Feenix was fine with Oskar, maybe even liked having company. Oskar was locked in an invisible cage, but Feenix could fly in to visit.
She didn't understand the strange noise that Oskar made, but she could tell he was not at all intimidated or frightened by the gargoyle.
Feenix flapped slowly, landing inside Oskar's invisible cage.
Oskar dropped to four feet, then sat as a dog would.
Feenix said, "Play?"
He got an empty stare for that.
Using one of his chubby hands to pat Oskar's head, Feenix appeared confused. "Name?"
Lanna couldn't watch any longer.
It was in her blood to offer help anywhere it was needed, and lately she saw many opportunities, but had few takers. Like Cousin Quinn and his friends. They accused her of interfering, but she had used her majik to help them many times. She'd checked the conference room and they were all gone. Before leaving, Evalle stressed to please not be caught in the room with boys or Cousin's head might explode.
Poor Cousin had been left to find white witches.
She'd tried his cell phone and left a message to call her, but she'd heard nothing. Cousin had too many things worrying him. He needed her help, but he did not know how to ask for it.
Family took care of family, and she was the only one here for him.
When she stepped into Feenix's playroom, Oskar jerked around and started making that awful frog squawking, if a frog could squawk.
Feenix looked upset with Oskar. "Lanna friend."
Lanna eased closer. "Thank you, Feenix. Oskar is just scared of me."
"Othkar?" Feenix echoed.
Oskar quieted and looked back at Feenix, who grinned a little two-fanged smile.
"I need something, Feenix," Lanna told her favorite gargoyle. Not that she knew any others, but Feenix would always be special to her even if she met a thousand more.
Feenix said, "Lug nuth?"
She grinned at his favorite food and walked over to grab three from his small barrel. When she turned back, she tossed one to him.
Feenix flapped his bat wings, lifting in the air to snag it. He chortled as he swooped around the room like his NASCAR idol, Danica Patrick.
Lanna clapped for him. "You are so smart. Here, grab this one." She threw the other lug nut toward the pen where Oskar waited as Feenix flew back, excited.
The lug nut flew within six inches of Oskar, whose forked tongue shot out and snatched it into his mouth.
Feenix landed and stared at Oskar, horrified. "No. Mine."
He had just offered Oskar one a moment ago. Lanna said, "I have more, Feenix."
Oskar kept turning the steel chunk around in his mouth until he spit it out.
Feenix backed up and made a sound that was the gargoyle equivalent of eww.
Guess he didn't want a lug nut with Oskar saliva and hair on it.
Lanna stared, realizing she had what she needed. Gross, but that would work. "Feenix. Can I have the lug nut Oskar spit out?"
His big orange eyes widened as if he had no idea who she was. Feenix said, "Yuck," as if warning her she didn't want to touch that.
"I know, but I want to use it to find Oskar's mama. I would touch his hair, but he got very upset when I tried." She wasn't sure just how much Feenix understood, so used the simplest explanation she could.
"Hair?" Feenix got a gleam in his eyes when he looked at Oskar. The gargoyle reached out his hand, palm facing down, to pet the familiar.
Oskar closed his eyes and dipped his head for Feenix. On the last pat, Feenix swiped a sharp claw over the hair sticking up and sliced off several strands.
Oskar didn't seem to even notice.
Feenix picked up the loose hairs and waddled over to Lanna. "Hair. No yuck."
She took them and felt a vibration. "Very good, Feenix. Be nice to Oskar while I'm gone. I'll be back soon to play."
Clapping his fat little hands, Feenix laughed. "Lanna play!"
Oskar danced around on his hind legs, no worse for the loss of hair.
Lanna tossed Feenix two more lug nuts. He scarfed them up and kept flying, clearly not willing to touch any with Oskar spit on them.
Racing back to her room, she grabbed a jacket and thought about telling the boys she was leaving. But that would be a bad idea.
They would want to join her. Too many people would draw attention. All she had to do was find the witch Mattie and call her cousin. Simple. No trouble that way.
Cousin could not yell at her for getting into trouble, and would surely want to reward her with much shopping. She needed new clothes. Brasko women must always dress well.
After thinking through potential problems, she left a note for the boys that she would be back by midnight so that they didn't call anyone because they were worried about her. She also suggested they stay away from the third floor
so Oskar did not bite them ... just in case Feenix could get across to anyone that she looked for Oskar's mama.
When she made it down to the lobby, she found the electronic security had not been activated. Storm had left it off, thinking the ward would keep bad people out.
He would not leave Lanna and others trapped in an emergency.
He'd tried to keep Lanna contained with a spell once before. She had defeated that, and she had gained even more skills since then. If Cousin Quinn had taken the time to ask her, she would have informed him of all she had learned about herself and her abilities.
Lanna smiled. She turned the handle and pushed the door into the garage. Her hand stopped at first, blocked by the ward, but she extended tendrils of energy out around the door and created an opening in the majik. She pushed again and the door swung easily. On Treoir, Garwyli said she had power unlike anything he had seen born to a human in a long time. He trained her during the times that Tzader and Brina needed privacy.
He specifically told her to be patient, and that logic was one of her greatest weapons.
Willing her power to rise, Lanna stepped over close to the exterior door and teleported out to the street. She felt the sizzle as she passed through the outer ward and landed on the sidewalk, up against the building.
Just as she'd thought. Storm had to have set up the ward so that his group could teleport out.
Using the snippets of Oskar's hair, she followed the pull taking her toward the heart of downtown.
In her mind, she started seeing a building with columns. It had been built a very long time ago. She paused at the first corner and clutched the hair tightly while closing her eyes.
Two cross streets came to her.
The building was very close to that intersection.
She kept to herself, but stayed close to any group of pedestrians she found until she saw a policeman. Once he gave her directions to the cross streets, Lanna looked for a place to duck out of view between two buildings, then cloaked herself.
Grendal had not been seen for a while or Cousin would have told her if the monster had been spotted. Still, she would not risk his seeing her. Garwyli had shown her how to use her powers more efficiently, reducing the chance she would alert Grendal by drawing on too much energy at one time. Cloaking took only small amount now.
Walking through the city felt refreshing, even in the cold. She'd been cooped up too long between being caught with Brina in another realm, locked away in hiding, or stuck in Treoir. She wished Grendal would be captured.
She wanted her freedom back.
Excitement rushed through her when she approached the intersection she'd been hunting. She took in the park on her left as she walked up to the corner so she could peer in all directions.
There was the building just down on the right, as she'd seen it in her mind.
She looked at her hand, which was still translucent. Cousin did not realize how much stronger she had gotten in Treoir. Cloaking held much longer than before.
The hair in her hand warmed and vibrated.
Confident she was hidden from view, she walked slowly toward the building.
The doors and windows had been boarded up long enough to have dirt piled along the ledges. No one had disturbed that in a long time.
She climbed through bushes at the side and searched for a way in. Flashes of images came to her, of women strapped to tables. One cried, and Lanna sucked in quick breaths at the pain another woman suffered.
Using the cell phone Quinn had given her, she tried her cousin and got his voice mail. She couldn't breathe. Whatever was happening here had to be bad majik. She pressed the button for Trey McCree. Cousin had said to call him any time, day or night, if Evalle or Tzader was not around.
She said, "Trey, this is Lanna. I am--"
Trey asked, "Quinn's cousin?"
"Yes. I found Mother Mattie, but ..."
Lanna dropped the phone and doubled over, trying to hold onto what she'd eaten for lunch. The phone fell into a crack in the foundation. This was awful. She had to hold on and tell Trey more.
A hand slapped over her mouth and an arm hooked around her waist, yanking her up. Lanna reached up, trying to pull the hand away.
That's when she saw that her arm had turned solid.
Her cloaking had failed.
Chapter 27
Tribunal meeting--Nether Realm
Quinn held himself rigid, feeling like one of the Queen's Guard in London as he waited for the three Tribunal deities to appear on the raised dais he faced.
But the Queen's Guard was part of the human realm where rules and laws applied. There were no absolutes here in the Nether Realm, unless you considered being subject to a god or goddess's mood or whim to be a rule.
Calling in three gods and goddesses for yet another conflict between the Beladors and Medb could just about guarantee a cranky trio, which would require deflecting their annoyance onto the Medb as quickly as possible.
Sweat drizzled down Quinn's neck, but no one would see him sweat beneath the suit he wore. Still, when five minutes had come and gone without anyone manifesting on the dais, he started to sweat in earnest.
Tzader would be leaving for TAmr Medb based on what Quinn had told him.
Quinn knew of no prior Tribunal meeting where the gods and goddesses had failed to appear. What now? He fought the urge to pull at his collar so he could breathe. He'd decided on the way here that he had to go strong or go home.
Shoving power into his voice, he called, "Sen!"
Energy swirled next to him and the liaison, who stood another four inches taller than Quinn, said, "What?"
"Where is the Tribunal? As Maistir, I have too many agents depending on me to stand here doing nothing."
"Would you rather come back later?"
What the...? "Why would I do that? No. I have something that requires Tribunal attention now." Quinn narrowed his eyes at the boil on the butt of creation. "You did inform them, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes." Sen looked up, putting his bent index finger to his chin. "I might not have mentioned the time. My bad. I'll tell them now."
I'll kill this prick. Give Quinn one shot at Sen's mind and he'd squeeze all the snide comments out along with the gray matter. Sen's attitude came from Quinn's refusal to drag Evalle in to be teleported to Treoir until she finished the assignment he had her on.
Sen disappeared without a word. In the next ten seconds, three beings gradually took shape on the dais.
Quinn groaned inside. Could he not get a break? Why was Loki here? That god had screwed with Evalle more than once, and his only point in living was for others to keep him entertained, which sometimes included their dying in interesting ways.
Loki stepped up. "You should be forewarned that to curb constant bickering between the Medb and Beladors, we've instituted a penalty for frivolous use of our time.
Quinn's heart stomped around in his chest, but he kept his breathing calm. "Understood. I agree that your time is far too valuable to be squandered."
Loki grinned, as if he knew just how much of a lie Quinn had just told. But Quinn hadn't glowed bright red, the sign of lying to a direct question.
Quinn had stated an opinion, merely agreeing with Loki.
Indicating the Egyptian woman on his left, in an ankle-length robe with hieroglyphic embellishments, Loki said, "Ma'at, known far and wide as the goddess of truth and justice, joins us."
What had prompted Loki to acknowledge anyone other than himself?
Quinn got his answer when the Egyptian goddess sent Loki an admiring glance.
Her jet-black hair stopped at her shoulders, cut straight as the blunt bangs chopped across her forehead. A carved gold band as thick as Quinn's little finger circled her head, both ends twisting together in the front to form a small cobra-head ornament. Thick kohl surrounded eyes as dark as night. Wide bands of gold circled her upper arms and outlined the half-moon collar that swept from shoulder to shoulder. Her sandals had been tied past her ankles
, half way to her knees, and she wore a simple shift, belted with a red sash.
Loki made no move to introduce the deity on his right, but Quinn had heard of prior visits from Varpulis, a Slavic god who should have withered into nothing by now after running in place for eternity. He had pale skin and wiry muscles, and the only color on his all-but-emaciated body was a pair of yellow shorts so bright Quinn needed sunglasses to look at them.
Varpulis showed no reaction to being snubbed by Loki, who smiled at holding all the power in this room.
Loki said, "State your grievance."
Quinn hoped like hell that he'd made the right gamble. "In the interest of keeping this as brief as possible for all of you, I would ask that Queen Maeve and Cathbad the Druid be present." Had that appealed to Loki's ego? Would he call up the queen and her henchman?
Sen appeared and spoke to Loki. "How may I be of service?"
"Send word to Queen Maeve and Cathbad the Druid. Tell them we request their presence, and if I am displeased by this grievance I will award them all of the gryphons."
Quinn sucked in a harsh breath.
He hadn't seen that one coming.
Chapter 28
TAmr Medb, home of the Medb coven
Tzader took in his team to make sure all five of them had survived the teleportation into TAmr Medb. No welcoming committee had waited for them in this bedroom suite, thank the gods, but the distinctive smell of burned limes clung to the air in Medb Central.
Evalle asked, "How're you doing, Tristan?"
Running his hands over his head, Tristan said, "That was hairy, but we're here. Let's get this done and get out."
Tzader had hoped to hear cockiness instead of uncertainty in Tristan's voice, but they were here now and there was nothing to do but move forward with the plan.
Adrianna stepped over to Tristan. "Can you jump to the throne room, or do you need a moment to recharge?"
"I'm good. Do your little cloaking trick."
"Little cloaking trick?" Adrianna gave it a beat then said, "I'm not entirely sure how Witchlock will function here. Maybe I should test it on you and seal your mouth shut. It would be so much nicer if all you could do was nod yes or shake your head no."