Magic Kingdom (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 3) (17 page)

“Don’t talk like that,” he said fiercely, holding to her. “Don’t ever talk like that.”

Alex laughed weakly. “I don’t know what’s the matter with me, Logan. I’m seeing visions of myself as a monster who burns the world and kills everyone, including my friends and family. So excuse me if I have to take a moment to freak out.”

“You take as much time as you need.” Logan turned her around, then hugged her tightly to him.

She set her head on his chest and closed her eyes, drawing in slow, deep breaths. A few breaths later, she cracked open an eyelid.

“You’re still wearing clothes,” she commented with a crooked smile.

“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed.”

Alex snorted.

“When I hear you screaming, I’m not going to waste time taking off clothes before running into the shower.”

Alex looked up at him. “I love you.”

He took her hand, kissing her fingers. “I love you too.”

Alex set her head back on his chest and closed her eyes again, trying to purge those horrible visions from her mind.

* * *

After the shower, Alex put on fresh clothes. So did Logan. They both opted for full-leather bodysuits this time because—well, you know—life. Life would hit them hard no matter what they wore, and at least this way they got to look like superheroes.

Alex was sitting on one of the sofas in the living room, her legs sprawled over the plushy armrest. A bowl of soup sat on the coffee table beside her. It was chicken noodle soup, the magical cure to any ailment. Pretty much anyway.

Logan had made her the soup. He was sitting on the sofa opposite hers, reading through that evil list of artifacts. It was ten stapled pages, printed front and back. And that was just the list of possible items stolen from thefts one, two, and four, which they were attributing to the thief Logan had dubbed Triple Threat. The stacks of papers with pictures and descriptions of the artifacts were overflowing all over the table beside him.

Alex was putting off working through those paper stacks, instead busying herself with more cheerful matters. She was looking through the Dragon Born book for an explanation to her madness. So far, however, she’d found nothing to explain why she was losing her mind. She finished off the last of the soup, then grabbed the mug of hot chocolate next to the bowl. Logan had made that for her too. A big marshmallow bobbed atop a sea of creamy chocolate.

“I love you,” she told him.

He looked up, his smirk peeking over the stack of papers. “Of course you do.”

She laughed.

The front door closed with a resounding thump. The problem with big castles were the big, heavy doors. Every time someone closed one, you heard it echo through the whole building.

Heels clicked down the hallway. The sweet, gentle aroma of Naomi’s magic wafted through the house. A few moments later, she stepped into the living room. She was still wearing the same fancy evening gown from last night, though the sleek silk was looking a tad wrinkled.

Alex smirked at her. “You didn’t come home last night. Did you meet a handsome fairy at the gala and he invited you back to his place?”

Naomi caught herself mid-sigh. She stopped, taking a long, close look at Alex. “Are you all right?” she asked in a concerned voice.

“How do you always know?”

“When something is wrong?” Naomi asked. “I just do. Call it magic.” She smiled. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really, but I guess I should. You’re not the only one who’s been having visions.”

“You?”

“Yes. But they’re more like nightmares. I kill everyone. The world’s cities are burning. I attack Sera.” Alex’s words died in her throat.

Logan took her hand. “Alex believes she is seeing what she will become,” he told Naomi.

Naomi glanced down at the Dragon Born book. “Can Dragon Born mages see the future?”

“Not as far as I know,” replied Alex.

“Alex, those dreams are horrible and scary, but they are not real. And even if they were visions of the future, they cannot be the only vision. You are in control of what sort of person you will become.
You
. Not your nightmares.”

“You don’t understand. I already am that monster.”

“The last time I checked, you killed monsters to protect people. That is who you are. You would never burn down cities or attack innocent people, especially not Sera.”

Logan nodded in agreement.

“What does the Dragon Born book tell you?” Naomi asked. “Have you learned anything useful?”

“Not really. I’ve been reading through it, but it’s more about connecting to my dragon and my twin than it is about spells and magic. It’s not a history of all the Dragon Born who have ever lived and what happened to them. Or even a list of those who went insane. I need a book about that, if there even is such a thing.”

Naomi glanced at Logan’s stacks of papers. “What are you reading?”

“We’re trying to figure out how the thefts last night and this morning are connected.”

“There was one this morning?”

“Yeah, zombies in the graveyard,” Alex told her.

“Sorry I missed it.”

“Don’t be. They exploded all over me.”

“Eww.”

“Exactly,” said Alex. “Say, you might be able to help us. We know two of the five things stolen: the Fairy Crown and the Hellfire Ruby. Both are fairy creations.”

Logan handed Naomi the pictures of the artifacts.

Naomi looked at the photos. “I know of them. And I know how they are connected.” She reached her hand out to Logan’s list. “May I?”

He handed it to her. She picked up a highlighter, then scanned the lists, marking one item from each one before handing the papers back to Logan. Alex joined Logan on his sofa to get a peek at the three items Naomi had highlighted bright pink. Along with the Fairy Crown and the Hellfire Ruby, Naomi had marked a cloak called the Midnight Cape, a magic sword called Asunder, and Dragon Skin, a pair of battle gloves said to be made of dragon scales.

“Your thief is collecting a set of seven enchanted artifacts called the Ornaments of the Dead,” she told them.

“What do they do?” Alex asked.

“They control the dead.”

Peachy.

“There are two items missing,” Logan commented.

“Yes,” Naomi said. “A belt with three stones called Orion’s Belt. And Starlight, a moissanite ring.”

“That means the thief will strike again,” Logan said.

“Yes.”

“Wow, thanks. You just saved us from more boring research,” Alex told her. “If only we’d had these lists to show you last night.”

“That wouldn’t have helped. I didn’t know about these objects the last time I saw you. I only learned about them when I was reading through some books in my Gran’s library last night.”

“So the thief wants to control the dead.” Alex looked at Naomi. “But he can do that already. He used magic to control ghosts and zombies.”

“Maybe he’s using the artifacts to gain those powers—or to boost powers he already has. He might be a necromancer,” Naomi replied. “He started with ghosts, the easiest of the dead to control. Then he moved on to the next easiest: zombies. He’s gaining more and more power over the dead as he collects more artifacts.”

“Well, let’s stop him before he manages to make a demon his errand boy,” said Alex. “We need to figure out where the last two artifacts are being kept.”

“I know where one of them is,” Naomi told her. “Orion’s Belt is hidden inside of the Witches’ Cauldron, a brothel in the city center owned by three fairy sisters.”

Alex and Logan jumped to their feet.

“Let’s check out the Witches’ Cauldron,” he said.

She smirked at him. “You’ll have to rename the thief Double Threat now. Using artifacts to gain magic powers is cheating.” She turned to Naomi. “Care to come with us?”

“As much as I’d hate to pass up a visit to a fairy brothel, I have to pass. I need to infiltrate Nymphenburg Palace.”

“I thought you did that already,” Logan said.

“Yes, well, that didn’t go quite to plan, so now I have to get back in.” Naomi folded her hands together and flashed him her sweetest fairy smile. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Now that the gala is over, the gates are closed again. You will need to sneak inside,” he told her. “I have some equipment that might be of assistance to you. A box full of electronics. It’s in the pantry, way in the back.”

Naomi gave him a quizzical look. “What is a box of electronics doing in the pantry?”

“It’s not the only box of electronics back there,” Alex commented. “Or weapons.”

“Ha. Well, it’s a good thing there’s no actual food back there. I’m not counting the beef jerky since that doesn’t qualify as food.” Naomi made a face.

“Actually, Kai ate the beef jerky.”

“Did he? Good.”

“And the commandos went grocery shopping,” Alex added. “There’s real food in there now.”

“Good,” Naomi said again. “I’ll have to check that out now. I’m starving.”

“When you go to infiltrate the palace, use the small blue box,” Logan told her. “There’s a small device in there, about the size of a lipstick tube. Turn the ring and it will disable the electronics in the building for a few seconds. That should be long enough for you to get inside.”

“Cool,” Naomi said. “Just like a spy.” She grinned at him. “So, is the tube actually a tube of lipstick?”

“No.”

Naomi looked at Alex. “You need to teach him about dual purpose accessories.”

Laughing, Alex slid the Dragon Born book back onto the shelf. “See you soon, Naomi.”

“Yep.”

Naomi headed for the kitchen as Alex and Logan turned down the hallway, walking toward the front door.

“You know, you really should make the next toy look like a lipstick tube,” she told him.

“If I did that, there wouldn’t be enough space left for the electronics. I’d have to make the device bigger.”

“It works in spy movies,” she teased him.

“Those movies are silly and hardly realistic.”

“Perhaps, but they are oh so cool.” She opened the door and stepped outside. “And useful. So, say you’re infiltrating an enemy stronghold and then one of the guards catches you—”

“I don’t get caught,” he cut in.

“Yes, dear, you are far too stealthy.”

He nodded, apparently appeased.

“Ok, fine,” she continued. “Then when someone catches
me
, I just look all surprised and say, ‘What, this? It’s just my lipstick.’ Then I open it and slide some pretty pink lipstick across my lips. Then I smack my lips together and blow the guards a kiss. They are so distracted by my ultra chicness that they don’t even see the sword strapped to the back of my evening gown. At that point, I unleash the power of the Paranormal Vigilante down upon them.”

Logan opened the car door for her. “You have such an active imagination.”

Alex smacked her lips together and blew him a kiss. Laughing, he closed her door, then came around to the other side and got in.

As he drove around the circle drive and accelerated through the spreading gates, she pulled out her phone.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Calling my other assassin lover.”

His eyes hardened.

“Just kidding. Assassins are way too high maintenance to keep more than one.” Winking at him, she opened her contacts list. “I’m calling Marek’s mother. Some psycho who is very likely a necromancer is stealing a set of artifacts that allows him to control the dead. This is big, Logan.” She scrolled down to Margery Kensington. “I bet the necromancer tried to cover up his thefts by setting so many monsters loose on the city last night that all of Monster Cleanup couldn’t handle it. So they called us in to help. We don’t know where the final Ornament is being kept, but I bet the Magic Council does. I’m going to make Margery Kensington tell me where it is. We gave up our night off, so the Magic Council can give up the location of that final artifact. Or we can just wait until the army of the dead invades Munich. Their choice.”

“Is that what you’re going to say to her?”

Alex tapped the number. “Give or take a few words. I might spice it up a little.”

The phone rang a few times before going to voice mail. Margery Kensington’s crisp, proper voice asked her to leave a message. Alex hung up instead.

“You’re right,” Logan said. “That sure was spicy.”

“It’s no fun to mouth off to a machine,” replied Alex. “She must be in a Magic Council meeting right now. I’ll try to call her again after we check out the brothel.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Witches’ Cauldron

FROM A DISTANCE, the Witches’ Cauldron looked like any other quaint stone building with flowering vines climbing up the walls and framing the roof in a sea of delicate pink and white blossoms.

And then Alex saw the smoke. She noticed that odious mix of semi-transparent soot and magic rising from the house as soon as Logan parked the car on the street. The house had been split open like an onion, its walls melted from the front door all the way to its core.

Alex drank in the magic, swirling it around her senses to get a taste for it. A hint of that same magic from the cemetery lingered in the air. She passed under a tangled arch of snapped vines saturated with pale powder, then entered the house. With every step, the magic grew stronger. Decay. Rot. Something burning. She smelled black, oily darkness dripped over a scoop of charred concrete. Her nose felt like it had been scorched clean.

She moved deeper into the split onion, squeezing through the melted openings in the walls. Miraculously, the roof was still on, but for how much longer? The building sure didn’t look stable. It didn’t sound stable either. Every few seconds, it groaned in protest.

Alex looked up at the walls.
You and me both.

She was walking into an impending avalanche, but still she kept going. The burning swamp stench was getting stronger.

“I hear fighting,” Logan said, closing in beside her.

Alex nodded and moved faster. They entered what must have been some kind of receiving room, an open hall where the clientele met their bedroom companions. It was an odd combination of lovely pastels, shiny metallic tones, and split walls. A pretty, delicate wallpaper of cherry blossoms, golden unicorns, and dragons was peeling up from the walls. It had dissolved in a few patches, the beautiful shapes warping into bleeding trees and grotesque monsters.