Wicked Omen (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 1), page 15
I didn’t have a response to that. Instead, I spun in a circle. “What exactly are we looking for here? Because there isn’t one door in the hallway only portraits.”
He stepped back and leaned against the wall. He pressed his lips together like he was debating on whether or not to continue arguing with me. He signed. “Do you feel anything?”
“What?” Whenever I’m around you I feel lots of things.
“Magic, do you feel any creator magic?”
I looked up and down the hall, waiting for the portraits to start moving and saying something helpful the way they did in my favorite books. Instead, they all sat silent, unsmiling and cold as stone. I bit my bottom lip and said nothing. I didn’t feel anything but their unmoving glares on me.
“Close your eyes.” He shoved away from the wall and stepped in close to me.
“No, that’s silly.”
He moved closer and when I made a move to step back, he grabbed my shoulders and held me in place. When I didn’t close my eyes he arched his eyebrow at me and pursed his lips, waiting.
“Ugh, fine.” I let my eyes slide shut and sucked in a deep breath.
“Good, now let your magic go. Picture yourself finding the next clue.”
I tried to do as he said. I felt the warmth in the palms of my hands and tried to let it go. But I didn’t feel anything beyond that.
“I don’t feel anything.” I wanted to prove I could carry my weight with the team and this wasn’t helping.
Before I could open my eyes, he sucked in a breath. “You might not feel anything, but you’re doing it.”
He dropped his hands from my shoulders, and I blinked my eyes open and watched as my magic wound itself in a smoky circle around a single picture. It was of a young man who sat ramrod straight. His dark red hair was cut close to his head and fanned back from his face in soft waves. He had on a black three-piece suit, complete with pinstriped vest and tie. His high-collared shirt looked stiff against his skin. His hands were folded on his pants, and there on his pinky finger was the ring I now wore on my middle finger. The emerald was a vivid green, with that snake surrounding it. I stepped back, taking in the whole picture. The frame was thick, with swirling golden snakes. At the corners were those depictions of the face of medusa and those swirling snakes.
And there it was. “I feel it.”
The pull was faint at best, but it was there, calling to me like a whisper in my ear. No, not a whisper, a cry of pain. I reached out toward the bottom right corner of the painting. I hooked my finger behind the corner and pressed the button. I took a small step back, watching as the painting slid into a pocket in the wall, revealing a set of steps covered in spiderwebs. They hung from the ceiling all the way down the walls and across the stairwell.
“Nicely done.” Beckett held his hand out in front of himself and the webs all gathered into a ball of webs shaped like cotton candy. Spiders crawled all around it, in and out of the opening between the silky strings. Beckett tossed the spiders out of sight.
“Now who’s doing impressive things?” I stepped forward onto the top step.
“I only got rid of the webs.” He followed behind me.
“And yet I would not have taken one step in here if they were still here.” I took another step down and it continually got darker. Soon I couldn’t see two inches in front of my face.
Beckett chuckled. “You’re afraid of spiders?”
“Ya think?” I stopped walking and he bumped into my back. “Beckett, I can’t see anything.”
“What are you gonna do about it?” His words sounded so matter-of-fact, like I had control over how much we could see.
“What do you mean what am I gonna do? What are you gonna do?” I reached out in front of me to feel nothing but air.
“Well, I can only move things, but you can, you know, conjure things.”
I closed my eyes and pictured little blue glowing whips lining the walls and stairs. When I opened my eyes, the stairs were lit with tiny blue floating lights. Pride coursed through me and I smiled to myself. Little by little I was learning to control my magic. Sure, they were only lights. On the upside, they weren’t giant, man-eating plants. I didn’t want him to see me get all excited over some little lights. But I really was. Control yourself, Astrid. I followed my lights all the way down the stairs to an empty room. A completely empty room. “I don’t understand, there’s nothing here.”
Beckett ran his finger over the dust-covered walls as he walked the parameter of the room. “There has to be something.”
I held my hand out, willing myself to feel the call of the magic I’d felt upstairs. There in the corner of the room was a faint hint of it. I stumbled forward and reached out my hand and smacked into something. A small statue of medusa appeared without a speck of dust on it as though it’d been hidden in plain sight for centuries. It was beautiful, she was beautiful. Like a model she stood poised, posing in a long skirt and something like a bikini top. At the center of her chest was a small square shape. I looked down at the emerald and then began to hold it to the statue.
Beckett grabbed my wrist. “Wait, we don’t know what that’ll do.”
“This is what we’re here for.” I pushed my hand forward and shoved the emerald into the little dent made for it. One of the snakes on the statue’s head shifted to life. It turned from that green patina color to gold. Its tongue darted out like a real snake. I took a step back. Beckett dropped his hand from my wrist. And we both backed away. The snake dropped to the floor, then slithered across the ground in quick, darting motions. It launched itself, shooting straight at me. A scream ripped from my throat just at the snake wrapped around my wrist and slithered up my arm. Time slowed as it opened its mouth and sank its teeth into my skin. Pain shot through my arm up my shoulder and into my head. My knees gave out and then I dropped to the ground and let the pain explode in my head…I gasped as the vision took over.
Chapter 20
Astrid
The venom/potion rushed through my veins and I felt the ground beneath my knees. The pain that’d dropped me there subsided and, in the distance, I heard Beckett’s voice calling to me. I whispered something, saying I was okay, yet I wasn’t standing in the room with him anymore. Instead, I stood on a mountain top just outside of a cave. In my hands was a metal box that was pieced together like a puzzle. The contents slid from side to side, heavy, like a book. My hands were not my own as I handed the box over to delicate feminine fingers. No, these were the hands of a man. My arms were clad in a suit and reluctantly I gave the box over. I felt the pang in my chest as it left my fingers. “Kill all who seek it.”
Her voice was soft and sweet. “I vow it.”
“There will only be one heir and one alone.” I looked longingly at the box, knowing this would be the last time I saw it. My death was imminent, and I knew it. It was a cold ball in the pit of my stomach. Death was breathing down my neck and I’d done all I could to secure my bloodline for the future. There was nothing else, nothing but time to wait. “Only one who will be able to see your true beauty, my friend.”
“You flatter me. Perhaps lure your enemy here, let me have my way with him. I can save you, save your line.”
This was a dream and I was in someone else’s body. I wanted him to look up. To show me who he was talking to, though in my gut I already knew. I shook my head. “I had hoped to one day find a way to free you from this place. My only regret is that I hadn’t. Alataris closes in even now. The only thing stopping him from absolute power is you. It matters not what happens to me now, but what my future heir does for the warlocks led astray.”
“As you wish, my friend. Though if I ever do come across him, I will gladly add him to my collection.”
A chuckle rumbled in my chest. “Of that I have no doubt. But remember only my true line will use the gift you bestowed upon me.”
I sucked in a sharp, deep breath and withdrew from the vision. I was back in front of Beckett in the dank basement. The snake dropped from my arm back onto the floor. In the short time I’d been under, Logan, Cross, and Maze had made their way down the stairs to stand around me.
Beckett was on his knees in front of me. His eyes were desolate, and he bit his bottom lip with worry. “Are you okay?”
A slow smile spread across my face. “I know where the book is.”
Chapter 21
Astrid
After only four hours of sleep, I sat in the passenger seat of the truck as it bumped along. The early morning sun shined down on me, warming my skin through the window. I curled into my jacket, huddling down into the warmth. I’d gotten ready for our little trip by wearing my jeans, hiking boots, a thick sweater, and my school jacket.
“All I’m saying is this is a really bad idea. Really bad.” Logan leaned forward and popped his head in between the two front seats.
I glanced over my shoulder toward Beckett. “Yup.” Was all he said, agreeing with Logan.
Cross turned the truck up a hidden path in the tree and we bounced even harder. “We all know you don’t agree, otherwise we’d be portaling.”
“Yeah, I’m not leading us into a death trap.” He gazed out the window, never looking at me.
“Then what are you doing here?” I turned back around.
Maze chuckled. “I just want to see how this plays out because this is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen.”
“I wasn’t asking you,” I muttered.
Beckett cleared his throat. “I’m making sure you don’t die.”
After about twenty minutes of arguing, Cross and Maze had taken my side and convinced Beckett to go along with this mission. For whatever reason he was the deciding factor no matter what the rest of them thought. What he said went, like he was the king of the warlock and I couldn’t help but wonder what that was about. If we were all the founding bloodlines, what made his more influential than the others?
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
In truth I was scared shitless, but I didn’t want him to know that. I didn’t want him to see that if my plan didn’t work, if the vision I’d gotten wasn’t true, if it was some kind of wicked prank, I could end up dead within seconds. But something in the pit of my stomach told me if I ever wanted to know if I really was the Lockwood heir, this was one hell of a way to find out.
Cross pulled to a stop just outside of a winding set of stone steps leading up to a cave in the side of a mountain. “You ready for this?”
I nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. Sharp cold wind smacked into my face, blowing my hair out behind me. I could see my breath in small white puffs of smoke. I slammed the door behind me and shoved my hands into my jacket pockets. It was too damn early in the morning to have to stand out in the freezing cold, let alone climb an endless amount of steps to get into that cave. I walked around the car to face the rest of them. They all looked like they’d just been talking about me. One moment their heads were bent close together and the next they were all looking in my direction.
Waves of disapproval rolled off of Beckett. He’d barely said two words to me all morning and now he looked at me like I was crazy.
I strolled up to them. “If you really think I’m the Lockwood heir, then this shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“Astrid, there’s got to be a better way than this.” He shifted from one foot to the other and kicked at a rock on the ground.
I smacked Maze in the arm. “Tell him it’s going to be fine.”
Maze rocked back and forth on his heel then shrugged. “Eh, it could work.”
“You didn’t say that before we left.” Now I had flutters in the pit of my stomach. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.
“No, I said it’d definitely prove if you’re a Lockwood.” He shrugged and began walking toward the stairs. His long black trench coat billowed out around him and his hair blew out from his face in wild twists. When none of us made a move to follow him, he glanced over his shoulder at us. “What, aren’t we going?”
His unspoken words were, “prove you’re a Lockwood if you don’t die.” I pressed my lips together and followed behind him. The other three walked behind me. No one said a word and the only sound that filled the air as we climbed was crunching rock under our feet and the whipping wind. By the time we got to the top of the cliff, my cheeks stung from the cold and even though my hands were inside my jacket, my fingers were little ice cubes. Note to self, next time you climb a mountain in November wear winter gear. Goose bumps broke out over my skin and small shivers wracked my body.
The opening to the cave was only ten feet away and I stopped just before it. “If I’m not out in an hour just go.”
“Wait a second. You don’t think I’m letting you go in there by yourself, do you?” Beckett looked incredulous. When I didn’t answer, he made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat then moved to walk next to me. “Come on then, we’re going.”
I shook my head. “If you go in there, you might not come back out. I have a better chance if I go alone.” I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because of my crazy idea.
“Not gonna happen.” He took a step past me and I reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him back.
“At least wear this.” My magic swirled in the palm of my hand for a moment then a thick black blindfold took form.
“I won’t be able to see anything.” He narrowed his eyes at it.
“That’s the point, dude.” Cross took the blindfold from my hand and wrapped it around Beckett’s head. When he pulled the knot tight, Beckett winced but didn’t say anything.
Cross nodded toward the cave. “You want a blindfold too?”
I shook my head. “One of us has to be able to see.” I turned toward Beckett. “You ready for this?”
He held his hand out in front of him for me to take. “I’m ready.”
I threaded my fingers through his and tugged him forward. Again, I felt that current from his fingertips into my skin even though his hand swallowed mine whole. I stepped toward the cave and Beckett went along with me. The gravel crunched under our boots with every step we took. Before I entered the cave I took one last look out over the tiny mountain range. It wasn’t the Rockies, but it was beautiful nonetheless, with patches of green among the changing leaves. The air was crisp and cold, so fresh compared to the New York air. I closed my eyes for a second and sucked in a deep breath.
“Astrid?” Beckett titled his head all around then gave my hand a little squeeze. “We don’t have to do this.”
I took my first step into the cave opening and my heart rate skyrocketed. “I bet you’d love for me to back down now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He hesitated as he took each step but let me continue onward.
“It means you thought it was a bad idea to begin with. So, I’m sure you’d be thrilled if I gave in and walked away. But like you said we need that book to control my powers and you need me to get it to prove to whoever it is that you’re trying to prove that to.” The morning sunshine dimmed as we moved farther down the tunnel. To my right on the ground was a small rabbit statue. I tried not to stare at it and remind myself what would happen if I wasn’t a Lockwood.
“And if you aren’t a Lockwood what then?”
“Then you can put me in your own personal collection in your office as a warning to whoever else you want to try out for the Lockwood line.” To my left was a statue of a deer, a stag with antlers longer than my arms and sharper than knives standing on its hind legs.
Beckett jerked me to a stop. “Do you think this is funny?”
“Being turned to stone by Medusa a few days after my birthday is not something I consider funny.” Three more steps and there huddled in the middle of the long walkway was a man frozen in time. His clothing reminded me of the suits the gangsters of the 1940s used to wear. His hands were held in front of him and his face was a mask of pleading terror.
Beckett shook his head. “I’m not kidding. This isn’t worth losing you.”
At that exact second my heart melted just a little. But it wasn’t me he was worried about losing. It was the magic inside of me, the chance to complete his council, and the opportunity to help his beloved queen. I gave him another tug forward. “If I am who you say I am, then you shouldn’t worry about it.”
“How do you know this will work? I’ve never seen anything anywhere that says this is an ability of the Lockwood line.” He smacked his toe on another man who was frozen on his back in a scrambling away position. Beckett stumbled forward and caught himself on my shoulders. “What the hell was that?”
The long narrow tunnel opened up to a huge cavern. “You don’t want to know.”
I stepped out onto marble floors. Dark gothic columns ran from the floor to the twenty-foot ceiling. They arched up like a church. At one end was a circular stained-glass window with a large snake depicted in. The scales were a mixture of black and purple and bathed the room in dark lighting. At the other end was a statue of a cyclops. Its head nearly brushed the top of the ceiling. Its hulking arms hung down by its sides. Stringy strands of hair hung from the top of its head. Had it not been a statue, I would’ve been running scared. As now my heart hammered in my ears, my hand shook within Beckett’s.
Statue after statue littered the floor, one after another. Men, women, animals of all shapes and sizes as far as I could see. My breath hitched and I dropped my eyes to the floor. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
Beckett didn’t need to hear another word. “Let’s go. We’ll figure out another way.”
I turned away from her gallery of statues. I didn’t want to be one of them. I didn’t want lose my life just to prove I belonged to a family I didn’t feel connected with.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Her voice was sultry and exotic. It echoed all around the cavernous room.
“Keep your eyes on the ground, Astrid. It’s not worth it.” Beckett pulled me closer to him and our shoulders brushed.
