Mara shrugged. “Your mom named it. It’s a stone tablet that shows a seeker where all of the crystals are.”
Whoa.
That was … whoa. “How did it get to Central Park? Who made it?” That didn’t seem like the place for something like that. It should be in Faerie, where the crystals belonged. Whoever made it must have done so after the crystals were taken, because there would be no need for such a thing before.
Mara gave me a look that said,How should I know?
Curious.
She shrugged. “I have my suspicions. When the Winter King fled Faerie, he took many valuable possessions with him. One of them might have been this seeker stone.”
I frowned. “Then why isn’t it still with him? Or why didn’t my mom just bring it back here to the apartment?”
Mara nodded. “Your mother wondered the same until she tried to take it. It’s magically embedded and cannot be removed.”
Weird. I wondered if the Winter King or Liam knew it was there. Who else would imbed it there? Maybe a rogue person did it for safekeeping? Maybe the king knew he was going to flee with the crystals and used dark magic to make it… that way he could always keep tabs on where they were.
I stood, forgetting about the final pancake on my plate. “Well, where is it? I must go see it.”
Mara nodded, her red hair shaking around her shoulders as she stood as well. “It’s in Central Park in the Shakespeare Garden, embedded into the informational plaque.”
I nodded. That seemed easy enough to find.
Elle shoved a final pancake in her mouth and then gestured behind Mara, into her house. “Can I stock up on weapons? I used all my throwing knifes.”
Mara nodded and stood to the side.
Bashur barked and Mara shushed him. “I’ll let you out later.”
I grinned. “Does he want to go for a walk?”
The second I said the word “walk,” the giant dog began to spin in circles, yipping and panting heavily.
Mara chuckled. “Well, now you have to take him!”
“We’d love to.”
“Sure you don’t mind? He’ll drag you halfway across the city.”
I nodded. “I’m sure.”
“I’ll grab his leash.” She ventured into the house, leaving me to rub behind Bashur’s ear.
Ten minutes later, Elle was armed to the teeth and Bashur was on his leash, raring to go.
“Alright, see you in…” She checked her watch. “An hour.” Then she waved to us before shutting the door.
I looked at Elle, opening the door again, and gasped when I saw the long hallway of an apartment building and not Mara’s apartment.
“Okay, that’s seriously cool,” I told Elle and Bashur. She nodded her agreement as Bashur yanked on the leash and started to run for the elevator. I had found a key for the apartment in a dish on the entry table, so after locking up, we took the elevator down to the bottom floor.
“Hang on. Let me do an illusion to make Bashur look like a chihuahua. Some buildings don’t allow giant dogs.” Elle threw some magic over Bashur and I nodded.
“Good thinking.”
She’d been listening in our Earth Studies classes.
With Bashur fully illusioned, we strutted out into the lobby, passing a doorman. He was slouched in a chair staring at his phone. He looked about twenty-five years old, with short cropped black hair and dark skin. As we passed, he did a double take when he saw me and set-down his phone. “Are you Violet’s daughter in 3B?”
