Chapter 22
Desmon
My mate held Q-Tip in her arms as she placed her hand on the shard of pottery, which was now laid on top of one of the Polaroids so that the etchings on the back of the piece lined up with the pattern on the photo.
We had been so focused on the flowers on what we thought was the front that we had barely given any thought to the bumps and lines on the back. With the Polaroid of the larger piece, it had become clear that those formed a geometric pattern with a definite center and arms that radiated out, like a snowflake.
Carly had taken one look at it and lit up. “I’m so stupid! Duh! The key! This is the key!”
I’d had no idea what she meant until she’d explained it.
“Back in high school, I had a science teacher who brought in a metal plate, sprinkled sand on it, and then touched the plate with various tuning forks. The sand danced on the plate until it formed a similar pattern. Using a different tuning fork changed the pattern. It was designed to show us that sounds were actually vibrations. I thought it was pretty cool, but like most things in school, I never thought I’d actually use it in real life.”
It was a musical key.
The second Carly had described the experiment with the metal plate and sand to Seth, he’d nodded vigorously, exclaiming, “Yes! I saw that on the internet.” And that was why we were now in my library, and Seth was playing tones from his electric guitar for Carly until she found the right one.
“Nope, too sharp. We’re close, though. Maybe down a semitone?”
Seth tried again, playing something a little flatter.
Carly frowned. “I don’t think that’s right, either.”
“Why use the modern Western scale? I asked. “The demon who set this up is old. Ancient.”
“True. And there are cultures with musical systems using microtonal notes even today. Hang on…” After a bit of fiddling with his instrument, he tried again.
Q-Tip was the first to react. His ears perked up as he scrambled to a sitting position from where he had been attempting to do an impression of a blanket.
“Ooh! I think we got it.”
“Okay, that’s terrific, but how are we supposed to use it?” I asked the room in general.
“Remember those buttons with the flower? Maybe they need a certain frequency to move.” Carly grabbed the other Polaroid and placed the ceramic shard on it, showing the front.
“Hey! Look at that! I think you’ve got it.” Seth peered at the swirling lines of flowers that would’ve looked like mere decoration to anyone else. “The question is, which order do we play them? Right to the left? Or left to right?”
“And are there consequences to guessing incorrectly the first time?” Carly asked.
She was getting the hang of this competition. If we got it wrong, there might be a punishment. Something that would be painful for a dragon, but potentially deadly for anyone else. Option two, nothing would happen. I could never be sure.
“I will try it on my own.”
Carly looked concerned. “But what if—”
“The punishment never kills the participant,” I said, hoping that was true. It had been so far, but that could change. Demons tended to have a perverse sense of humor, and it got worse as they got older.
“Yeah, I guess it’s not very entertaining if one of you croaks before the finale,” Seth said. “Okay. I can set up my amp and get this tone running through the statue, then step back to let you do the rest. That way, I can keep a shield around you just in case, and we’ll be there if anything happens. You know Matty’s going to be upset if an army of ghouls gets teleported here and he misses a big fight.”
Carly looked thoughtful but didn’t say anything.
“Fine. But you will all stay well back and out of the room when the time comes.” That seemed to appease the wizard. “And we cannot let anyone else see those photos. They must be destroyed as soon as possible.”
“Okay, then, I guess you’ll have to memorize these icons,” Carly said. “I already did, just in case.”
“Yeah?” Seth covered the shard and photograph. “What are they?”
Carly listed them from right to left. Interesting. Modern Western cultures read things from left to right.
“Hey, not bad,” Seth said checking the icons. “You got it.”
“I…um…kind of cheated.”
“How?”
“I’m still touching the shard. Ever since we figured out the key, it’s been repeating the icons back to me.”
“And it’s listing them right to left?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“Then I guess we have our answer,” I said, taking the Polaroids from her. “Is it still repeating without you holding the Polaroids?”
“It is.”
“And I have the order memorized now too,” Seth said. “There’s only four of them.”
I held up the Polaroids and then, facing the center of the room, turned safely away from my books and friends, I let out a small stream of fire and watched the photos burn.
The wait for the museum to close so that we could test our theory felt like it lasted an eternity. Neither of us had an appetite, and that had left poor Elana thinking we didn’t like her attempt at Chicken Adobo. I made a note to tell her later that it was very good.
She didn’t know any of the details surrounding the competition; she just knew that there was one happening, and that it was important. Seth hadn’t wanted her to worry. It was better that way.
But finally the only moving things in my museum were my golems, and it was time.
Despite Seth’s assurance that Mateo would want to be here, I did not ask him to join us. I did not bring Carly either. I worried that they’d be injured if anything happened. Seth was powerful, but the more people he had to protect, the thinner he had to spread his magic. It would be safer for everyone, and him, if it were just him and me. Carly had very reluctantly agreed.
He connected the amplifier to the statue, something I didn’t quite understand. Hell, I didn’t understand most of this. I’d never thought of sounds as patterns before in my life. But since both Carly and Seth were so sure of it, I deferred to their superior knowledge of these modern ideas.
Imagine that! A dragon deferring to two humans! But I had to admit that when it came to things like science, I was several centuries behind. I knew that modern technology worked, but not how it worked. That was Emmett’s claim to fame, not mine.
With Seth standing just outside the exhibition room playing the note, I approached the statue. I felt his magical shield around me.
Taking a deep breath, I found the tiny button-like flowers on the life-sized faun’s pan pipe. I pressed the first one, and this time it depressed with a soft click. Then, it bounced back to its original position.
Well, would you look at that. At least the first part of our theory was correct.
I pressed the other three buttons in order and held my breath. I didn’t know what I expected would happen. Would an army of ghouls descend on me, like Seth had surmised? Or would a giant fireball land right where I was standing?
Neither happened. Instead, one of the statue’s horns swung open to reveal a hidden chamber. Inside was a compass, smaller than a watch face, hanging on a thin chain.
“Don’t touch it!” yelled Seth.
Few dared give a dragon orders, but I understood it was out of concern for my safety so I let it slide.
He approached and focused his attention on the compass for a moment. “Okay. There’s magic, but it doesn’t feel malicious.”
I leaned in and sniffed. “I don’t smell anything dangerous either.”
I picked it up.
“The question is, is this the artifact itself? Or another clue to lead us to the artifact?”
“If it’s the artifact, then the competition is over right now,” I said.
“How do we know if that’s happened?”
“The Gamemaster shows up and announces the win.” He’d appeared every time I acquired one of the pieces. I imagined it would happen the same way with the final piece, but maybe with more fanfare.
We waited, but nothing happened. We portaled back to my library where Carly was waiting. She blew out her cheeks, clearly relieved, then hopped off the armrest of the chair she was perched on, hurried over, and hugged me.
“You’re alive. And you haven’t been turned into a frog!”
I had no idea why she thought that would happen.
“You were right,” I said, holding up our prize. “We have another clue. So tell me, my little detective, what should we do next?”
“Well, it is a compass,“ she said with an exaggerated eye roll. “ Maybe , and I know this seems a bit farfetched, but maybe you should follow it.”
The little minx!
I held it out to her. “Does it tell you anything?”
She touched it. Nothing happened.
“I guess we are following it then.” I turned to Seth. “Can you transform this compass into say….a ring, without affecting the magic?”
Seth frowned. “Maybe. I’ll have to spend some time with it before I will know.”
Time to lay the cards on the table. “In case you haven’t guessed, Carly is my mate.”
Seth didn’t seem at all surprised. “I already guessed from the fact that she was covered in ash and soot when we first met but was completely unharmed.” He gracefully didn’t mention that she’d also been completely naked. “Congratulations.” He turned to Carly. “I’m glad you’re the one his dragon chose. I like you. You’ve got a brain and you know how to use it.”
Carly blushed, her cheeks going as red as her hair. “I’m still getting used to the idea. It’s not every day that a girl suddenly finds herself mated to a dragon.”
“Shifters move fast when it comes to mating. Dragons are no different.”
I growled, and Seth chortled.
“FYI, dragons hate being referred to as common shifters, even though they totally are.”
The corners of Carly’s lips lifted in amusement. After several applications of the healing salve, her injury was barely visible. Magic was truly wonderful stuff.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.
“Now that you’ve had a laugh at my expense”—I held up the compass—“I believe I know why Emmett came to the museum today, beyond making a scene.”
“He did? And you didn’t torch him? I’m surprised.”
“Usually I would, but I believe he was trying to help me with the competition.”
I hadn’t told anyone how I’d gotten my hands on the Polaroids. If Emmett was willing to risk his scales to help me win, then keeping his secret was the least I could do. Dragons and demons cheated all the time when it came to these games, but it was very bad news indeed for anyone who got caught.
“He has made a large bet on me,” I explained. “It would make him very wealthy.”
“That makes sense.”
“He can’t help me by telling me what I don’t already know or sabotaging my competitor, but he can do other things to influence decisions and choices.”
“In what way?” Seth asked.
I thought, trying to come up with an example that humans would understand. “If this were a game of darts, he would not be permitted to touch the dart or blow on the dart or in any way affect how the dart moves, but he could make a loud noise right before one of the competitors threw their dart, distracting them.“ I frowned. “The comparison isn’t quite parallel, but it is close enough.”
“I see,” Carly said. “So you think he came today to…make that loud noise.”
“Exactly.” I held the compass out to the only wizard I had ever fully trusted. “Enchant that compass to look like a ring. It doesn’t have to fit Carly’s finger; she can wear it around her neck on a chain. Thanks to Emmett’s little visit to the museum the other day, the news on the grapevine is that I’ve been distracted from the competition by the discovery of my mate. We can play that up to conceal our search for the final artifact.”
Carly looked confused. “How do you propose we do that?”
She’d said the word without even realizing it.
“Tomorrow, we will announce our engagement. The media will eat it up. Then, we will head out on our engagement trip.”
Carly didn’t reply. She just stared straight ahead.
Had I said something wrong? “Humans do that, do they not?” I looked at Seth.
“They do, but, um, Boss, I think you just broke her. She’s in shock.” He looked at Carly, then back at me again. “Also, if you don’t mind me saying, zero out of ten for style on that proposal. I suggest you get a real ring and try again. I understand why you had to do it, but still, not romantic. I think you’ve got some groveling to do.“ Seth said. He took the compass from me. “I’ll get this thing transformed. I’ll stay at your estate while I do it. I don’t trust this anywhere else.”
Humph. I was a dragon. We were not known to be romantic. We were known to be self-serving, prideful, and aloof. But for my mate, I would try.
“Tell Liam I’ve got a job for him. I need his brand of security on this trip.”
“On it.”