He and Alex sat on either side of me, protective, worried, or... maybe wanting the opportunity to speak very quietly. Eli confirmed that theory when he said softly, “The locket was concealed in a box. The box is carved from soapstone.”
He seemed to be wanting some kind of response, so I said, “Okay.”
“I’m human, and I don’t want to touch it. It felt funky, so I put the soapstone box inside a wood box.”
If a fully human man could feel the magics inside, that was very bad. Or maybe very good? “Okay.” I held out my hands, cupped as if to drink water.
Eli pulled a weapon and pointed it at the kitchen window, a cross-body aim that only a really good shooter could hope to make. Eli was better than good. With his left hand, he placed a wooden box in mine.
The sense of magic hit me instantly. I dropped the wood box on the table. It was heavier than I had expected, and it rattled and bounced on the tabletop before coming to a stop in the center of the table. As if it knew where it was.Yeah. Right.
Carefully, I opened the wood box. Inside was a small round box with a nub on top, like a small stem, the whole thing carved from dark green soapstone. I rubbed my fingertips against my thumbs, knowing that I didn’t really want to touch it either. But I was the Dark Queen. I had a job to do.
“Crap. Hang on,” I said. I went to my room and came back, putting the Glob on the table near the small stone box. The sensation of dangerous magic decreased. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
I reached over and pinched the stem. Lifted it. Power rammed out of the box. I dropped the stem, stepped back, shaking my fingers. The stone lid rolled around on the table like a slow-spinning top. Carefully, I leaned over and peered inside. Nestled in the bottom was a locket.
“Holy crap with toe jam,” I muttered.
“What?” Eli demanded.
“It looks like the winged lizard I got from Sabina, but it’s way more powerful.” It was made of the same kind of metal and was inset with powerful, clear things, a liquid droplet beneath each. I held a hand over the stone container, and I could actually feel the Glob soaking up the familiar-feeling magics. “It has arcenciel magic in it. It’s made from the scales and blood of a rainbow dragon.”
I reached in and lifted out the locket, dropping it on the table. With the Glob in one hand, I opened the locket. On one side was an ink drawing of Adan Bouvier; on the other was an ink drawing of Ka, just as Bruiser had said. I closed it with a soft metallic snap and placed it back in the soapstone container. I rubbed my fingers and thumb together. They felt slightly numb. Tingly.
“Okay. There are three magical thingies with arcenciel magic in them in NOLA, the dragon-lizard, the snake amulet worn by Shaun, and this locket. All have to be connected to whatever is happening between Sabina, Leo, Adan, Ka, Shaun, and this unknown master.”
“We need to keep the amulets separate,” Eli said. “The lizard is in the gun safe. What do you want to do with this?”
I frowned. There had been a generation of witch children that had disappeared in bursts of light. It had crossed my mind that they been stolen by arcenciels, but that wasn’t a can of worms I wanted to open. Avoiding bringing up that topic, I asked, “Would an Everhart know anything about arcenciel magic?”
“I’ll mention it to Liz when we talk later, but I doubt it.”
“Let me know if you find out anything. I’ll stick the box in my closet under Molly’shedge of thornsandobfuscationworkings.” Molly Everhart Trueblood was my BFF and the older sister of Eli’s girlfriend, Liz. All the Everhart bloodline witches were powerful, and I knew for a fact that they had access to grimoires full of ancient magic and history. Moll provided me workings for a good price, and I took care of big bad uglies who came after her family.
I put the top back on the soapstone container and closed it all up in the wood box. The wood had to have some kind of power-dampening working in it because I could handle it now without the numbing reaction. The Glob, however, was red hot, so I left it on the table as I carried the locketto the closet, placed it on the top shelf, and set up thehedgeamulet for the protective working. This particularhedge of thornswas a blood-activated, third-gen version, created to hide and protect magical thingies from thieves. I pricked my finger, initiated thehedgewith a smear of my own blood, and the energies powered up with a faint red shimmer. It covered the box, my crown (which I didn’t remember bringing home), and other, less dangerous stuff. Thehedgemight not be as powerful as a portablenullworking, but it was effective enough, and without me, it would be dang difficult to get to the locket.
I closed the doors, thinking about all the magical doohickeys I had collected. Wondering if anything new had been discovered in the foundation of the chapel.
In the kitchen, I saw that Eli had rolled the Glob onto oven mitts but that the tabletop was heat-damaged.
“Sorry,” I said, looking at the damage.
Eli and Alex laughed as if I had said something funny. And maybe I had. Of all the horrible things that happened to and around me, a small scorch mark was one of the least important. The Glob had cooled quickly, so I carried it back to its spot in the closet, in the plastic bin with all the other crazy stuff. My life was weird.
As I was standing up from the floor of the closet, I heard a knock at the door. Eli didn’t race to it, weapons drawn, but he did move fast into firing position.
From his desk, Alex said, “Front cameras show an HQ messenger. No other movement except a prostitute negotiating with a john in a Porsche down the street. Back and side cameras all negative. Katie’s Ladies cameras all negative.”
My cell rang softly, with HQ’s main number on it. “Hang on,” I said to the guys as I took the call. “Yellowrock.”
“My Queen,” Raisin said, sounding just a tad sarcastic.
I put it on speaker and walked to the bedroom doorway so my brothers could hear the call. “Ernestine?” I asked, pretty sure she would hate my nickname for her.
“Yes, My Queen,” she said briskly. “The Primo—forgive me—YourConsortrequested me to look over and translate a journal that the Pri—yourConsort—gave to me. I have messengered over the journal and my translation.”
Eli had ambled closer and said, “Your willingness and joy to bow to your queen and follow the orders of her Consort have been noted.”
