Chapter 5 #3
“I don’t,” I said icily, cutting him off again.
“I know how powerful the magic of expression is. I know what a great power it is to make someone cry with a painting or a sculpture. To be able to imbue art with so much meaning so it provokes great emotion is truly magical.” This was my hallucination, goddamnit.
I knew what I was talking about. I didn’t need someone to mansplain it to me, even if he was an imaginary man.
Donovan stared at me. I held his gaze, then tapped the fridge again, and wrote creative stone = the power of expression. “I’m guessing the magic made him better at manipulating people.”
Nobody answered me. I turned around and raised an eyebrow. It was my “come on, people, please don’t disappoint me” face.
“Uh, yes, my lady,” Eryk said hastily. “That is exactly what it did.”
“Great. What else has he devoured?”
“A handful of others. Most were from magically weak realms, because he found them easier to infiltrate and rob, but all the stones still gifted him with some magical power. The banshee stone, which gave him the power of knowing when someone will die, and the eovine stone, which helps him sense where someone’s loyalties lie, and the eeek eeek peonnak stone, which—”
I held up my hand. I was obviously getting tired; my hallucinations were getting sloppy.
“Okay. So, if I close a spark stone, that realm’s magic will be protected, and the little brother won’t be able to absorb the magic.
Are there any other side effects from closing the stones?
” I knew all about side effects. My medication had some fun side-effects where they made me forget what I’d opened my closet for, and they caused me to put on a ton of weight.
Luckily, I was too poor to eat these days, so I was almost back to my usual figure.
And there was barely anything left in my closet, anyway, so my options were already limited.
Eryk cleared his throat. “If the spark stones are closed by the Chosen One, then the realm will go on as normal. They will keep their powers, but the creatures of that realm will find their evolution paused. They will retain their magic and their world, but they will not grow any further.”
“Hmm. Bummer.” I clicked the cap on and off my marker. “So, that brings us to you guys. You’ve obviously been doing okay so far, stopping your brother from getting his hands on each stone. Why did you show up here now?”
“So far,” Cress said. “Connor has mostly targeted spark stones from the realms in the Upper World. Of course, these stones are the most magically powerful, so he has focused on those.”
“Of course,” I murmured. “Because knowing when someone is going to die is a fabulous power to have.”
Cress ignored me. “We have now ensured that all of the stones from the Upper World realms are safe and well-guarded. But recently, the Elonn Fae guardian of the scribe stone has gone rogue. This Elonn elder has come here, into the Middle World, with his realm’s spark stone.
We are afraid the weak magic of the Middle World will not be able to sustain his protections on the stone.
” She paused, grimacing. “And now we also know that Connor has entered the Middle World. He is here, somewhere in the human realm. So far, we have decided not to bring you, the Chosen, the One of Every Blood, into this mess, because it was a problem for the Upper World. Now, it might be everyone’s problem. ”
I shot a glance at Donovan. His expression told me everything I needed to know about how much worth I’d bring.
Maybe this episode—this hallucination—was my subconscious way of rebuilding my confidence. I’d find the stones, defeat the bad guy, and prove to this huge, brooding sexy asshole that I was worth something.
“Cress. This is futile.”
She flinched.
“We do not need her,” Donovan growled. “We must find the scribe stone ourselves and make sure it is guarded properly.”
Cress lifted her chin. “We do need her. We have no experience in this human realm, and here magic is hidden by law, so our usual methods are forbidden. We can’t find it without her, Donovan.”
Donovan’s eyes flashed dangerously. “She does not know what she is doing.”
“She will learn. The scribe stone is too important. We must find it before Connor does.”
I was losing control of this conversation. “Why is this one so important?”
“The scribe stone’s power is unfathomable.
” Donovan didn’t bother turning to face me; he spoke to the wall.
“The Elonn are keepers of knowledge. Their magic is steeped in being able to assess information and find a drop of truth in an ocean of lies. If their spark stone is devoured, my brother could absorb any number of related powers. The ability to predict the outcome of any conflict, for starters.”
“Right,” I said, running my eyes over the notes on my refrigerator.
“I’ll make a deal with you, Donovan.” Finally, I faced him directly, acknowledging him for the first time.
Ignoring him wasn’t going to work; he was far too arrogant to have his confidence dented in any way. Matching his energy might work better.
“If I can find this ‘scribe stone’ and close it,” I said, doing the little air quotes with my fingers. “You guys will go home and leave me alone. This episode will be over, and I’ll be free to go on with my life in peace. Deal?”
He stared back at me, his dark green eyes fathomless. “Since I have no desire to spend a second longer than necessary in this realm, in your presence, I take your deal.”
Woah. I clearly had some unconscious self-loathing to work through. “So, this Elonn elder, the guy who has the stone. Who is he?”
“A venerable old fae. He is thousands of years old.” Donovan grimaced. “I do not understand what possessed him to come here with his realm’s spark stone.”
“What’s his name?”
“His name, in our Upper World, is Ahdeannowyn.”
“Hmm,” I said, tapping my phone. “No hits, but that’s to be expected. He wouldn’t be using that name in San Francisco. Maybe I should search for the stone itself.” I had no doubt if I’d find something. This was my hallucination; my brain wouldn’t give me something I didn’t already know.
“None of us have the power to locate the stones themselves, Chosen,” Cress said gloomily.
“You can call me Susan. It’s not much of a stretch from Chosen.” I chuckled to myself, tapping on my phone. “How were you planning on finding the elder?”
“We can try to sense a burst of fae magic, if Ahdeannowyn ever uses it.” She turned and looked very dramatically out my tiny window. “But magic in this realm is hidden,” she muttered. “It is a problem we cannot solve.”
“Every problem has a solution, Cress,” I told her. “You just have to find a new way to approach it.” An idea hit me; I closed the web browser on my phone and opened one of my favorite apps. “What does the scribe stone look like?”
She turned back. “It is a light blue, clear, like your mortal sky on a cloudless day. Perfectly round, brilliant cut, with over two hundred naturally occurring facets, and measures exactly six thumbs across.”
I tapped the information into the search bar. “Thumbs?”
“One and a half of your mortal inches.”
“So… we’re looking at nine inches in diameter. Okay.”
“Enough.” Donovan straightened up, squaring his massive shoulders. “I have indulged you enough, Cress. This is pointless. Eryk, Nate, open the portal; we will go back to our own realm and regroup.”
“Wait.” I waved my phone at him. “Is this it?”
On the screen was a picture of a crystal—a beautiful sparkling blue brilliant-cut stone.
Donovan froze. “Where did you find that image?”
“On eBay.” I shrugged. “It’s the best place to buy the most random stuff, like broken exercise bikes, or replacement remote controls for your discontinued air conditioner, or, you know, power-packed magical world-ending crystals.” I was starting to feel quite giddy.
Donovan’s expression grew thunderous. “It’s for sale?”
“Of course?”
“Ahdeannowyn must have lost it. Take us to it. Now,” he demanded.
“That’s not how this works, Donovan,” I told him, using my “patient kindergarten teacher” voice. “You have to buy it.”
His eyes bulged. “Buy it?”
“You have to place a bid on it.”
He leaned in closer to me, moving slowly, a panther stalking its prey. I caught his scent—a woodsy, clean, fresh river-leather-and-sandalwood. It was an overwhelmingly masculine scent, I almost swooned.
“Woman.” His voice grew so low, so dangerous, goosebumps rose on my arms. “If you do not procure that spark stone right now—”
“Calm down, Donovan.” I patted his arm, aiming to be patronizing, but I failed miserably.
His forearm was strapped with thick, hard muscle; the feel of him under my palm sent an unwelcome tingle down into the core of my belly.
My body refused to relax. I had to force my tone to remain casual. “I’ll just see what the bids are… oh.”
This pretty blue sapphire was well out of my price range.
“What is the issue now?”
I wasn’t about to tell the sexy imaginary fae prince that I didn’t have enough money to cover my bus fare to work tomorrow, let alone place a bid on a rock that had already gone over thousands of dollars.
“The auction isn’t due to end for another few weeks,” I said breezily.
“I’m sure we can find a work around… Oh! ”
“What now?” he snarled.
Either this was a crazy coincidence, or I’d designed this whole thing in advance and just forgotten about it.
Either way, it was fun to find a solution to every problem that came up.
“I actually know the seller,” I said happily.
“I’d recognize that username anywhere. He uses the same one on all his socials.
” I pointed at my screen at the seller details.
“ProfRizzardofOwen. He’s an art collector, an old patron of my—”
Vincent.
It felt like a stab to the heart. I clamped my lips shut and slowly took a deep breath through my nose. In, out. In, out.