Chapter 420: Maji Chamber
We were a quiet bunch heading back to the house. Liam was lost in thought and his own inner geeky excitement, grinning at me from time to time, a kid on his way to a toy store. Galleytrot padded beside him, tongue lolling out, Sassafras perched on his wide back. I almost told him to get down, but just rolled my eyes.
This town was weird on its own. A silver Persian riding a giant black dog wasn't going to be news.
And Charlotte? Well, she was Charlotte. Chatty Cathy, that one.
Naturally, when we piled into the van waiting in my driveway, I was stuck driving. Not that I minded. I liked to drive. But there were too many of us to fit in a normal-sized car, so I was forced to take the family minivan.
Yup, really cool, Syd.
I still missed Minnie, my turquoise and white Mini Cooper, cursing the Dumont brothers, Jean Marc and Kristophe, under my breath yet again at the memory of my exploding car. Jerktards. While their attempt to kill me had failed, thanks to Charlotte's timely arrival, I secretly wished she'd shown up before they'd gotten their greasy little hands on it.
And while riding the veil was more fun and I probably should have just pulled my companions all along behind me to speed the trip, to be totally honest, there were times a girl just wanted to drive a car.
Galleytrot leaned through the gap between the front seats, Charlotte firmly belted into the passenger's side, and breathed his earthy smelling breath on me. Not that I normally minded, but his head was the size of three dogs and was very fluffy, black fur brushing against my cheek.
"You said there was writing on the walls of the maji chamber?" His tongue swept out to lick his chops, making me shudder and cringe sideways. I loved the big mutt, but he was creeping me out.
Guess I just wasn't used to having him so close anymore.
"Yeah," I said. "Gram said it was maji, so I took her word for it." My attempts to reach her and tell her where we were going fell on empty air. Wherever Gram was, she didn't want me interfering.
Fine, leave me out of important stuff yet again and see what kind of trouble it brings.
Bitter? Who, me?
Galleytrot retreated, much to my relief, Liam taking his place.
"I can't wait," he said, magic so tightly wound it made me nervous. Didn't they realize I had to concentrate to drive? "I can't believe I didn't think of exploring the cavern under the mansion before."
More coincidence?
"You're certain the vampire's human servants won't mind our intrusion?" Sassafras sat in Charlotte's lap, every once in a while standing up and putting his paws on the dash so he could look outside, chattering at a bird or some other interesting thing moving past. He hated it, but he was still a slave to his cat nature at times.
"I'm sure." Well, mostly sure. I'd only been to the mansion once when the sun was up and the Council not occupying the property, shortly after Mom's trial. I'd shown up a few minutes too early to say goodbye to Uncle Frank and Sunny. The clan butler, for lack of a better term, had been very gracious and didn't hesitate to let me inside.
Mind you, now that I thought about it, then it had only been minutes to dark and I was alone. Maybe carting a vanload of paranormals, one of them a werewolf, into Sebastian's house while he was still asleep wasn't a good idea.
Too late. I pulled into the driveway and checked the clock on the dash. Just after 2pm. We had hours yet before vampire wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey. I shrugged to myself as I parked in front of the big main door. If we weren't allowed in, we'd come back later. A pain in the rear, but we'd survive.
The moment I knocked, the door swung open and my worries were extinguished as the tall, slender man in the black suit on the other side smiled at me and held out his hand to take mine with real warmth.
"Coven leader," he said. "Welcome."
I gestured behind me as the gang trooped their way up the stairs. "I hope it's okay," I said. "We want to have a look at the chamber under the house."
He bowed to us, still smiling. "Of course," he said. "At your service." He pulled the door open wider, wavy black hair streaked with liberal gray glinting in the sunlight shining over the marble floor. More confident, I entered, Sassafras darting around my legs and into the house while the rest followed more slowly.
The big door thudded shut behind us as I turned to face the butler. He gestured with slow grace toward the wide hallway I remembered. "My lord has instructed me to allow you entry at any time," the butler said, striding along beside me as we moved deeper into the house, past carved wooden doors along a carpet so red and plush it felt like walking through clouds.
"Thank you." I struggled with his name. I knew it, didn't I? Been introduced before. Shaun? Stanley?
I sucked at people.
"Stewart, coven leader." His smile was soft, kind. How did he know I couldn't remember? "Here we are." He paused by the door as memory gripped me. The last time I'd stood here, Gram waited for me on the other side, Mom's trial in full swing. I half expected the crazy old lady to be there again, disappointed to find the room empty.
"If there is anything I can do," Stewart said as he bowed again. "Please, do not hesitate to ask. And if you are still here when my Lord awakes, I'll inform him of your studies."
"Thank you, Stewart." I found myself smiling back as he turned and walked away in his same long, slow stride, eating the distance, until he was gone around the corner.
Charlotte was already at the wall, hands reaching for the stones when I joined my posse inside the large room. I ignored the fancy furniture, the walls lined with bookshelves and what were probably priceless paintings and tried to follow Charlotte's hands as she pressed the right combination. Good thing one of us remembered. I'd been watching, but Gram had been too quick for me. Charlotte selected each slotted piece with precise confidence. Within a tense moment where Liam practically quivered in anticipation, the floor beneath us groaned and dropped away, revealing a set of stairs.
"After you." Liam tried the gallant thing, but I just laughed.
"You're kidding, right?" I gave him a gentle shove and watched as, grinning like a little kid at Christmas, he trotted fearlessly down the steps and into the darkness below. Galleytrot went after him, Sassafras waiting for me at the top, tail wrapped around his paws. I bent and lifted him into my arms without thinking and was a little surprised he didn't protest.
"What's wrong, Sass?" I stroked his fur while he shivered slightly.
"I don't know," he said. "There's something..."
He was right again. I felt it too, now he'd made me aware. It could have been the mix of my magicks kept me from noticing it at first. And my initial visit was wrapped up in fear for Mom and anxiety over Gram's plan. But now, standing there with myself in balance and with Sass's attention to focus mine, I became acutely aware of the pressure of something, as though walking down the stairs would be the equivalent of going under water.
"Did you want to wait up here?" I half-bent to put him down only to have him swat me.
"Don't be ridiculous." He growled softly, though made no attempt to leave my arms. "Well? Are we going or not?"
I laughed under my breath as I descended, the underwater feeling dissipating as I passed the third stair. Was there some kind of protection on the staircase? Likely. Though there didn't seem to be one on the mechanism controlling it. Odd. But at least Sassy wasn't shivering any longer, so he must have noticed the release as well.
By the time I joined Liam at the bottom, his green Sidhe magic lighting the way, I was a little creeped out. Not by where we were, but by the memory of why I'd been here last time. I knew Gram was a good enough Necromancer there was no way even a smidge of the echoes of the people she'd raised would be hanging around. But, on the other hand, she'd pulled a large number of ghosts out of the gray place where they lived. Even someone as talented as her could have made a mistake.
But no, I was lying to myself. It wasn't the ghosts she raised making the hair stand up on my arms or driving me to form a large ball of witch light I shoved before me like a beacon. It was the ghost who latched onto me when the doorway first opened, the one I was responsible for, the one I blamed myself for.
Alison. Part of me feared there might be part of her still here. But worse, that the monster she'd become might use this place as a hideout. Meeting up with blood-sucking Alison's echo, now a twisted and black creature influenced by Ameline Benoit, in a dark and creepy underchamber hidden below a vampire lair was the stuff of horror movies.
The ones where the heroine dies in the end.
I almost yelled at Liam not to go into the side chamber. Wasn't the handsome guy always the first one to bite it? Instead, I shook myself internally and got a freaking grip. Sometimes I had to remind myself I didn't have to worry about horror movies.
I was way scarier than any Hollywood creature, thanks.
A breath of air passed over me as I walked into the circular room, but it was welcoming, almost a blessing, as though someone bent to kiss my cheek. I relaxed instantly, my witch light floating up into the darkness, lighting the room like a sparkling chandelier. I was proud of my control, considering a few short years ago I could barely shield a lit candle for more than ten seconds before distraction killed the flame. But no one paid attention to how awesome my skills had become and, with a little shrug for vanity, I let it go.
Hard not to. Especially when I could barely keep the grin of affection off my face. Liam dashed around the room as if he didn't know where to start, hands running over the carvings, entire body quivering in excitement. When he turned to me, his eyes glowed with Sidhe magic and his smile so wide his white teeth caught the light from above.
"This is amazing!" He went back to his studies, whispering to himself while Galleytrot stayed close. I almost told the big dog to back off and let Liam have his space only to bite my tongue. Liam was important, very, very important, to a lot of people. Um, to the whole world, actually. As Keeper of the Gate in Wilding Springs, only he was able to answer the knock when the Sidhe came calling. Which made Galleytrot, a hound of the same Sidhe, uber protective.
Fair enough. And Liam had to be used to him by now, not even tripping over the massive black galoot as my friend wound his way around and around the room, starting first in the middle of the wall only to swear at himself and crouch-walk his way again only this time focused on the bottom, near the floor.
I sighed and set Sassafras on the altar pedestal in the center of the room, looking around, now a little bummed since I couldn't read any of the words myself. The apprehension of meeting up with Gram's ghosts was banished in favor of boredom.
Charlotte prowled endlessly, as though restless. But when I asked her what was wrong, she just shook her head and growled before beginning her pacing again. I felt calm, more calm than I had in a long time, and even Sassafras acted like this was no big deal so I let the weregirl have her nervous explorations and hopped up to join my demon cat on the stone.
"This is definitely maji," Liam said, spinning toward me. "Do you feel the energy?"
I shrugged, picking at a hangnail on my thumb. "So?" I looked around a moment before sighing. "There's nothing here." The pull forcing me to pile my friends into the van was now gone as if it never existed. Curious, yes. But unless the source of that pull made herself-I was now positive this Iepa was manipulating us in some way-known, we'd wasted our trip.
Liam laughed, shook his head. "Oh, ye of little faith," he said. "Give me a few minutes and I'll show you something that will blow your beautiful mind."
I flushed at the compliment, but he was already at it again, moving faster this time, whispers turning to mutters as he circled and circled. By the time he stopped again, he was straining, hand above him, touching the stones, unable to reach any further.
"Amazing." Liam's awe-struck tone took my attention from where I played catch-a-paw with Sassafras. "Do you have any idea what this is?"
I drew a breath, a sarcastic snark on my lips, only to let it out in a puff of irritation. "Do tell."
Liam hugged himself. "This is the history of everything," he said.
The what? "What do you mean, everything?" I turned where I sat, eyes roving over the stones he'd been studying the better part of three hours.
"I mean, everything." He pointed at the floor, to a stone with an irregular shape, right by the entry door. "The birth of the Universe," he said, hand traveling along as he spun, "the creation of suns, planets, nebulae." His arm raised, finger still showing us the way. "The fabric of all life, all planes, the creation of the divides between them. At the hands of the maji."
I didn't want to be a wet blanket, but most religions had their creation theories. Why wouldn't the maji be any different? The idea they actually created everything sounded pretty ludicrous. But Liam was on a roll so I didn't shoot him down. Not directly.
"Cool," I said. "Now what?"
He frowned at me before rushing to my side, lifting me from the pedestal and setting me on my feet in front of him. I was a little breathless from the contact, how his power buzzed with energy, but he didn't give me a chance to stop him as he pulled me toward the wall opposite the doorway. He stopped and pointed.
"I have an idea," he said. "But you have to trust me."
Galleytrot growled softly while Charlotte rumbled her own distress.
"Will it put us in danger?" I met Liam's eyes, only to see his desperate need for me to believe in him shining from the depths.
"No," he said. Paused. "I don't think so."
Before the two overly protective canines could put a kibosh on the idea, Sassafras wormed his way between Liam and me.
"Not like we haven't faced a little danger before," he said. "This feels important, Syd."
Weird. "Did you just say I should purposely do something that might be stupid?" Who stole my cat and put this imposter in his place?
Sassafras shuddered, licking one paw a few strokes before settling again. "I'm just... I feel like there's something more here we need to know."
I opened my power, all of it, from demon to witch to Sidhe to vampire and drew a breath, closing my eyes. Felt around. Let the combined magicks I controlled wander around the room. Only to be led back here, to this wall. Something pulsed inside it, beckoning to me. The pull I'd first felt earlier, in Liam's cavern, bringing us all here, was focused in these stones. Anything able to penetrate the wards of the Sidhe to reach me had to be powerful. The cavern itself was protected by the most earth magic I'd ever come across, not to mention its own little shift in planes, making it close to impossible for normal magic to penetrate. I'd only ever felt anything reach through when something catastrophic was happening. And yet this embedded magic was so soft now, so subtle, it took searching to find it.
I let my eyes drift open, six stones glowing softly in my vision as I did, the illumination fading from them as I blinked and let the light in. I squinted and was able to see again, just barely. Without thinking, I did as Charlotte had done, pressing each of the stones. Only the ones I touched didn't depress, but began to glow, the same iridescent light I'd seen in my dream shining from them, until all six shone with happy power.
The intensity of the light grew as Liam took my hand and led me back, away from the wall, toward the center of the chamber. Charlotte clung close, snuffling the air, quivering while Galleytrot chuffed and licked his chops over and over again. Sassafras was the only calm one of the three, though his tail wrapped around my ankle, one front paw resting on the toe of my shoe.
"Here." Liam pointed to the altar and the words etched there. "This one. It means enter."
I didn't need him to tell me what word to touch, or its meaning. Now that the light glowed from the stones across the room I could feel it to my bones, what I was meant to do, supposed to do. This was my fate, my destiny and it called me from deep inside the earth as surely as if it had a voice, a heart, a soul.
But Liam was wrong. The word didn't mean enter. Not quite.
It meant Come.
The moment I touched it, it began its own glow, the energy rippling upward from my finger tips and through my arm, all the way to my heart and the vampire core hiding there.
She cried out as the light reached her, but not in pain.
In joy.
"I knew it," Liam said as the floor began to sink, silent this time, flickers of the same multi-colored magic flowing as a spiral staircase was revealed. "You have the power of the maji."
Like I needed another kind of magic to worry about.
***
