“Two seconds after you knelt down,” She grumbled. “You really should have listened to Aideen.”
“And you really should know better. When have I ever listened to Aideen?”
Padding over, Chewy looked at the page and read the rods aloud, “If you’re reading this… Then I failed.” Looking up at me with a disgusted expression, he added, “Well, that’s encouraging. Thanks, Mom.”
Knowing that Theresa, Arthur, Otis, and Mona were also right behind me, I continued with my plan and started reading aloud. “Day four. Carving in the west corner. The Queen cries when children die.”
Carefully turning the worn parchment, I continued, “Day seventy-eight. Four carvings and three passages down the wall. She loves too much.”
On the next page, I was engrossed. I had to keep reading. “Day two-hundred-and-two. Middle of the next wall. Carving with the gray skies. The final wall must never be seen.”
As I kept going, it became apparent that pages had been ripped from the journal. Not only were there jagged-edged scrapes of parchment stuck into the binding, but there was also a space about a quarter of an inch that showed the dried glue and strings in the spine. Looking at the next page, I read, “Day two-thousand-one-hundred-and-three. I am in a completely different chamber, looking at the back wall, and I am beginning to think the Queen was never the danger.”
“Huh?”
Looking up at Zelda, I got a shrug. Theresa just raised her eyebrows.
Kai yelled, “Keep reading.”
Maeve growled, “Hold still, Kai! If you don’t stop wiggling like a worm on a hook while I put these stitches in, you’re gonna have a bald spot for the rest of your life.”
Following my Mate's suggestion, I once again turned the page. This time, the writing was different. Very pretty. Very precise. Very feminine. It had to be Barney’s grandmother’s script, and it said, “The danger is… what will awaken when she refuses the crown.”
“OH. MY. GREAT. GODDESS,” I sputtered.
Absolute silence fell over the entire chamber. I knew it was trite, but I thought I could hear a pin drop in this joint.
I was so confused, and thankfully, or so I thought, was Kai. “What in all that’s holy does that mean?” He blustered.
“Who cares?” Zelda stormed. “This is terrible!”
“Or is it?” Maeve questioned.
“Can you call Fate?” Theresa asked. “I have a few questions for Her, questions that will need to be answered at the station.”
“You’re gonna arrest Fate?” I couldn’t believe I was having to ask that question.
“No, I’m going to ask Fate some questions,” The White Tigress corrected. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Okay, good!” Chewy cheered. “That means we’re going back to town so I can get tacos, right?”
“Seriously, Chewy?”
I just barely got the words out of my mouth before the chamber started to shimmy and shake like the Tilt-A-Whirl the Jackson Brothers Fair sets up every July. Dust rained down from overhead. Rocks and pebbles of all shapes and sizes danced across the floor.
“What the…?”
Cut off by a bone-rattling rumble, I was up on my feet, turned around, and ready to set whoever or whatever was about to make an appearance on fire, when Mona let out a throaty, gritty growl that set the nerves I had left on edge. In the blink of an eye, Arthur stepped in front of me.
Kai was up on his feet, looking pretty rough, but still drop-dead gorgeous. I could feel his head pounding through the Mating Bond we shared, and asked, “You sure you should be on your feet, Fairy Man?”
“Absolutely. Whatever is coming, we stand together.”
“Damn, I love you.”
“Get a room,” Maeve huffed.
Eyes snapping to hers, I was ready to tell my sister to bite me when the rumble and the quaking got worse. Spinning toward the noise, I saw an entire stone wall slowly move, like the pocket doors in my house.
