The Inner Circle (Return of the Ancients Book 3) (27 page)

In Avalon, I’d seen it glow, just like my skin had in the mirror last night.

What did it mean?

Lost in thought, I munched on my tuna sandwich, half daydreaming.

I didn’t notice it at first. But soon I realized that my bracelet was glowing again. A soft aura of rainbow colors circled the entire thing.

I didn’t even think about it first.

I just did it.

Bringing my hand up to the mirror, I tapped my phone and replayed the video.

This time, I got quite a different response.

The video played, and Melody’s tiny voice whispered from my cellphone speaker, “
I will succeed with or without Rafael’s aid. I will see Avalon purified and the vermin of the Brotherhood and Earth eradicated from existence!”

The words were scarcely finished, when all of the sudden I saw another Melody in the mirror’s reflection. But it was a much larger, life-size Melody.

The evil mastermind herself was standing behind me. And she was livid.

I didn’t stand a chance in the face of such fury.

But before I could even
think
of running, a heavy hand fell upon my shoulder and Rafael’s deep voice said, “I’ll not allow her to harm you, Sydney.”

Relief flooded through me as Fae Protectors began shifting in all around the coffee shop. Their trions were at the ready as sparks leapt from their bracelets.

Brock had brought along Al, who, thankfully, was wearing his Faraday cap.

And as I strangely wondered what Samantha would say when she came back, more Fae were popping in.

The customers started screaming.

A barista fainted.

In midst of the chaos, Marquis arrived with Blondie.

Blondie looked dreadful. Severe gashes and bites covered his face and body. He’d lost an entire ear, and his wounds still looked raw and bleeding.

Apparently, Mesmer bodies didn’t heal very fast, even with the help of Marquis’ Fae technology.

But it didn’t stop him from mesmerizing. Opening his mouth, Blondie rumbled the single word of “sleep.”

It was instantaneous. Every human in the coffee shop went into a catatonic state.

But only the humans.

I barely had time to wonder before I noticed the intricate chains hanging around the Protectors necks. Dangling on the end of each necklace was one of Jareth’s protection runes. Their trions were aimed evenly at Marquis, Melody, and Blondie as they looked to Rafael for instruction.

“Stop this madness, Melody,” Rafael’s cool voice cut the air.

“Never,” she shrilled in reply. “Not even you can stop me now, Rafael.”

Rafael’s gray eyes locked with hers. “I’ve stopped you many times before,” he said. “This time will be no different.”

She paused. I figured that meant she was surprised by what he said, even though she didn’t show any outward signs of it.

Blondie chose that moment to turn towards Melody and rasp, “We saw the message. Betrayed. You betrayed us. You seek to
destroy
the Brotherhood.”

It was my turn to be surprised. Apparently, my video broadcast had been picked up by the Brotherhood as well as the Fae.

Melody didn’t even try to deny his accusation.

“Fool,” she spat. “Did you really believe I would labor all those years to create your Body of Kings?”

At that, Jareth rose to his feet. And keeping his eyes glued on Melody, he advanced in slow, measured steps.

“Then for what purpose
did
you create me, Melody?” His voice snaked through the tension-filled room.

He’d only reached her halfway before Blondie blocked his path to sniff him with the interest of a predator. “Your body is destined to be mine,” he said with unblinking black eyes.

Jareth just sneered outright in return. “Never will you possess me, I can promise you that,” he swore. “This body is mine and mine alone.”

Blondie hissed and drew his lips back in displeasure.

“Yes, Jareth’s powerful,” Melody said proudly. “An unforeseen side effect. And he’s a true Mesmer, as much as you are. You’ll never be able to possess his body.”

Blondie screamed as all the Fae gasped.

But Jareth was oblivious to everyone but Melody. “What was the purpose of your experiment? Why did you do this to me?” He held out his hands in a pleading gesture.

But Melody didn’t answer.

“I’m not one of them,” he told her desperately. So desperately, it was as if he needed to convince himself.

At that, Blondie drew back his gargoyle lips again. “You are one with the Brotherhood,” he rasped. “I’ve seen your hunger. You can’t deny it.”

As he spoke, I heard the scrabbling sound of claws against the floor.

Mesmers.

More Mesmers were coming.

And they began to pile into the coffee shop, materializing from the ceiling.

“Hunger,” they droned in hollow voices.

Jareth paled. “They’re doing something to me,” he gasped.

“Eat. Taste,” they invited.

I wanted to run over, grab him, and get him out of there, but I couldn’t move. My body was suddenly too heavy to move.

Apparently, the Fae Protectors suffered from the same affliction because though I could see the horror etched upon their faces at the events unfolding before their eyes, none of them moved or spoke a single word.

None but Rafael.

Perhaps it was because he was a pureblood, but somehow, he managed to speak, even though his voice was heavy and his words slurred. “Don’t give in, Jareth!” Rafael warned in a gruff voice. His words sounded slurred and his tone heavy.

It was hard to think. My brain felt fuzzy, and suddenly I knew what it was.

Jareth’s control was wavering.

And if he succumbed to the Mesmers, we’d all lose the protection of his runes.

He must have followed my thoughts, because he turned towards me and gasped. “I hear them, Sydney. I hear their voices, they’re like sirens singing.”

“Don’t listen to them!” I finally managed. My throat was dry and my voice cracked.

But he wasn’t listening to me. He was looking at Blondie.

“Join us, Jareth,” Blondie rumbled. “Together, let us make Earth our playground. You have the blood of kings. Join us, and you can travel the dimensions. Taste the tulpa. You know you hunger for it. Even now, we see your desire, your hunger.”

The mention of the mutant tulpa threatened to fill me with fear, but I valiantly struggled to ignore it.

The last thing I needed to do was to make that thing stronger.

In self-defense, I thought of my Pikachu tulpa.

The response was immediate.

Blondie let out a squeal, much like he had when Ajax had attacked him, and all at once I could move.

I didn’t hesitate. I lunged at Jareth and threw my arms around him. “Don’t listen to them, Jareth! Don’t listen!”

Somehow, Rafael was moving too, crying, “No!”

But Jareth’s response wasn’t what I expected.

Pulling a knife from his belt, he launched it straight at Rafael, embedding it deeply into the center of his chest.

With a horrific gasp, Rafael collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain as Jareth recoiled with a stricken expression, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just done.

I was at Rafael’s side, wrenching the poisonous knife free.

He was bleeding. And I didn’t know what to do other than to put pressure on the wound like Al’s survival training had taught me.

The Fae Protectors around us couldn’t help. They still seemed to be rooted to the floor.

Rafael managed to lift his head. “Don’t do this, Jareth. Conquer this. This is your
Blue Thread!
”

I froze in horror as pain crossed Jareth’s face, a deep raw pain.

Turning to me, he choked. “I’m going to fail, Sydney. There’s no hope now for any of us. It’s
impossible
for me to make the right choice.” His eyes were haunted and tortured.

I just stayed where I was, pressing down hard on Rafael’s chest.

“No,” Rafael disagreed weakly. “You’re stronger than this, Jareth.”

For a moment, Jareth hesitated.

And for a moment, I really believed he was going to listen.

He bowed his head.

But when he lifted it again, my jaw dropped open in disbelief.

Scales covered his skin, dark, glistening scales, rippling down his arm and spreading up to his neck and face. And as we watched, his eyes morphed into reptilian slits.

“Don’t do this,” Rafael whispered. “I
need
your help.”

Jareth tilted his head, and a dangerous glint flickered in his eye. “As your Fate-Tracking Counterpart?” he asked.

I could feel Rafael’s muscles tighten under my hand. I knew he wanted to sit up, but he was too weak. Through white lips, he replied, “Much more than that. Are you not my brother also?”

Dark emotions played over Jareth’s face.

He was clearly struggling.

In an impossible, deep voice, a voice as deep as any Mesmer I’d ever heard, he said the last words I ever could imagine. “I have a whole world of brothers. I don’t need you. I am one with the Brotherhood.”

The Mesmers surrounding us all began to cackle, and then the windows of the coffee shop shattered, along with every lamp, glass, and plate in the place.

Before Jareth, a dark hole began to form in the center of the room. And for a brief instant, I could see down into it, into the darkness beyond, into what looked like the gates of hell.

But there was something coming up, reaching out to emerge from the black gaping maw that was clearly the portal to the second dimension.

It was grotesque. Huge. With multiple wriggling tentacles.

It was the mutant tulpa.

The End

Click this link for a list of Carmen's books on Amazon

Like many of us on this planet, Carmen Caine/Madison Adler is from another world. She spends every moment she can scribbling stories on sticky notes that her kids find posted all over the car, house, and barn.

When she is not working as a software engineer, she is busy ferrying her kids to various appointments, writing lyrics for her husband's songs,raising her Doberman Ajax, attempting to tame her three insane cats, scratching her three Nigerian Dwarf Goats behind the horns or coddling her flock of thirty bizarre chickens from around the world.

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THE GLASS WALL SERIES

The Glass Wall

What if humans were more powerful than they thought? What if an alien race had a reason to keep humanity entrenched in fear? And what if ancient beings that we've met before were still trying to protect us?

And just what if the fate of Earth depended upon an average 17-year-old girl with a few secrets of her own?

Would she discover that the power of love was truly the strongest of all?

Prequel - the short story "Behind the Mirror"

Rafael Channing is a Fate Tracker, protecting his world and Earth from disaster, but what should he do when disaster appears in the form of love?

Book One - The Glass Wall

17-year-old Sydney's only interest in life is flying under the radar.

But destiny has other plans when the tall, handsome, formal, and unusual Rafael Channing moves into the neighborhood. Athletic and with killer looks, he wears black eyeliner like a magician and seems to be watching Sydney's every move.

What starts out as a light-hearted investigation with her gadget-happy foster father takes a serious turn when she discovers that Rafael isn't human. Add Jareth, the country's latest rock sensation, into the mix and Sydney is swept into a mysterious world of Tulpas, the Fae, and the Brotherhood of the Snake.

Sydney doesn't know she's a Blue Thread of Fate. She doesn't know the fate of humanity depends on her choice of whom to trust--Jareth or Rafael. And she certainly doesn't know that she's taken the first step on the unexpected path of love.

Book Two of the Glass Wall- The Brotherhood of the Snake

The excitement and mystery continues as the romance begins. After breaking the Glass Wall, Sydney finds herself on the run with Rafael. And as her feelings for him awaken, danger arrives in the form of Mesmers, agents of evil sent by the Brotherhood of the Snake.

But when Jareth struts back onto the scene, it isn't long before Sydney finds herself immersed in sinister secrets, and the subsequent whirlwind of events leaves her wondering just who is right and who is wrong?

Book Three of the Glass Wall - The Inner Circle

As the predictions from the Hall of Mirrors come true, Sydney seizes control of her destiny and makes a choice between Rafael and Jareth. A choice of true love.

And as she evades Mesmers, Tulpas, and the Fae's Inner Circle, she discovers the power of human thought.

But then one of the three makes their Blue-Threaded decision, the decision of fate.

Is it the right one?

Book Four of the Glass Wall - The Egg (2014)

A death. A beginning. And the final Blue-Threaded decisions are made.

A NEW ADULT PARANORMAL SERIES

The first book of other-worldly creatures: “Monster” (2014)

THE HIGHLAND HEATHER AND HEARTS SCOTTISH ROMANCE SERIES

The Kindling Heart

(Scotland, 1478) - Ruan MacLeod was through with women. They were nothing but trouble. Leaving the rash life of his youth behind, he returned to Skye, seeking peace. He never meant to split the clan or start a war with the MacDonald of Duntulm. He certainly never foresaw an arranged marriage to the most scandalous woman in Scotland. Even though she was twice his age, the size of a horse and mother to more than one illegitimate child, he agreed to secure his sister's freedom.