Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) (21 page)

The Daemas didn't seem fazed by our words and turned back to my father. "I need you to return with me and complete your obligations so our houses can be united. After our marriage is consummated, I do not care how you spend your idle time." Her nose wrinkled in obvious distaste.

"I have tried time and time again to dissuade you from this path," my father said. "It is obvious you cannot be swayed. If this is what it takes to keep the great houses united, then I will do it."

"I have transportation outside," Kassallandra said.

"Let me say my farewells, and I will be ready."

She nodded. "I will wait in the foyer. Do not take long, or I will suspect you've run away again and assume you do not intend to complete your obligations." One of her bodyguards opened the door and her entourage left.

Dad blew out a breath and looked at me. "I guess this is it for now."

I heard a cracking noise and realized my fists were clenched so tight my fingernails had drawn blood. I forced them open and took a deep breath to remain calm. Dad and I had been over this situation more times than I could count. Personally, every molecule in my being wanted to go through with Ivy's idea and blast Kassallandra. Politically, we had no choice.

No choice at all.

Chapter 19

Just before Dad left, he took me aside. "Are you going to take my advice on Kobol Prison?"

I nodded and recounted what Kassus had told me about the portal blockers and where they were located, then gave him a quick rundown on the adventure with the scorps in the artifact room.

He tapped his chin. "I'd say this confirms Vadaemos is helping Daelissa. Scorps are some of the nastiest spawn to control because they have a hive mind."

"Could you control them?" I asked.

"Of course." He shrugged. "For someone of my ripe old age and experience, it wouldn't be too hard, but it's like having a constant buzz in the back of your head. If you just leave a hive of scorps unattended, they'll kill anything and everything until their physical shells expire." He waggled his hand. "Anyway, the bottom line is pretty simple. You have to play the deactivation music for both portal-blocking statues at the prison so you can open a portal behind Daelissa's defenses and steal the cherubs from her."

I frowned. "How am I supposed to get past her defenses to deactivate the portal? She probably has an impenetrable wall of vampires, battle mages, and rabid flying butt monkeys around the prison."

He nodded. "You can bet she'll have every little thing in the area under scrutiny. Squirrels won't be able to make it past her perimeter without a valid ID."

"What about air-dropping someone?"

"The prison is too large for a magic barrier, but a ward shield wouldn't be out of the question. Anything that crosses the air space above the prison would be detected and tracked."

I groaned. "I wouldn't put it past her. All her battle mages have to do is tap into a ley line with a generator and they could sustain a spell like that indefinitely."

"I'd suggest using a demon, but Vadaemos has probably put demonic traps in place." He pulled out his arcphone and scrolled through images of complex patterns. "I'm looking through my contact list to see if I know any demons who might be able to infiltrate a protected area, but I'm coming up dry."

"I don't see phone numbers."

He chuckled. "These are the summoning patterns."

"I seem to remember finding a book full of those patterns in Mom's office back before I knew what I was."

"Yeah, that was my demonomicon—think of it like the demon yellow pages." He flicked off his phone. "Sorry, son, but I don't know how to help you with the first part." He glanced toward the door. "If I think of anything, I'll let you know." He turned to leave.

I gripped his arm to stop him from turning. "Dad, be careful. I have a really bad feeling Kassallandra will do anything to get you out of the way once she's the Maedras of both houses."

He grinned. "I'm counting on it."

I raised an eyebrow and opened my mouth to ask a follow-up question, but he put a finger over his lips and shook his head.

"Don't worry about me, Justin. I'm doing my small part to help save the world. Use your friends to help you find a solution." He squeezed me in a tight hug. "I'm proud of you."

Before I could say anything, he turned and left, walking down the long, winding driveway where Kassallandra waited.

Elyssa appeared at my side. "Are you okay?"

"As okay as possible, under the circumstances." After all the mental preparation for this day, I hadn't expected it to hit me so hard. My stomach felt like a knotted lump of anger, frustration, and sadness. Dad, unfortunately, was right. We all had our parts to play, and he was a lot more devious than he looked. I'd learned that first hand.

Elyssa kissed me on the cheek. "I love you."

The knot melted a little. I turned to her and held her tight, savoring the feel of her soft curves against me. Warmth and hope and concern radiated from her. "I love you too." A little more tension untangled. I held onto her, living in the moment. I had a feeling once Daelissa started her offensive, those moments wouldn't be too pleasant to live in.

"Let's go grab a bite," Elyssa suggested. "How about the Copper Swan?"

My stomach growled. "I haven't had decent Chinese in weeks."

We took a flying carpet from the mansion. I skirted around the Arcane University campus and went to the lip of the cliff facing into the canyon where the city of Queens Gate resided. Tudor-style houses dotted the green landscape while massive dome buildings dominated the center. It looked like something out of Victorian-era London. Across the canyon on the opposite cliff, I saw the organic curving structures of Science Academy.

"I never get tired of the view," Elyssa said, drawing in a deep breath of the cool air.

I grinned. "This is my favorite part." With that, I angled the carpet off the side of the cliff.

We blurred down the rocky face, riding the carpet like a surfboard. Using my feet to steer, I dodged outcroppings, bushings, and boulders. Elyssa shrieked with delight, her arms releasing my waist as she held them high in the air.

Within seconds, we reached the gentler curves of the canyon bowl. I flew our ride over a flock of sheep. The animals hardly bothered to look up, probably because they were so used to university students trying to scare them all the time. I swooped around trees and slowed down once we entered the city limits. The local constables were strict on speeding no matter if you rode a broom, a carpet, or a three-legged jet-powered ostrich.

A large red sign bore a warning:
You are now entering MIZ (Magical Interdiction Zone). Unauthorized use of magic is punishable by fines up to 10,000 tinsel.

My skin tingled, though I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or a psychosomatic reaction to seeing the jackboot of tyranny crushing our magical freedoms. "Since when did they restrict magic use in a pocket dimension run by Arcanes?" I asked.

Elyssa shrugged. "I'll be it has to do with university students blowing something up."

"As usual they're punishing everyone instead of the idiots," I grumbled. "Do flying carpets count as using magic?"

"I doubt it." Elyssa parked our ride in front of the restaurant which, true to its name, was shaped like a giant, copper swan. We got off and she rolled up the rug. "Carpets are enchanted to fly and run on aether batteries, so it's not like we're using magic to make it fly."

"True." I really didn't feel like dealing with the local authorities. From my limited experience, most of them seemed to enjoy giving students a hard time.

The dinner crowd at the Copper Swan was smaller than usual, but I didn't complain since we didn't have to wait for a nice booth seat. Elyssa and I sat on the same side. After we ordered, I put an arm around her and she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"Much." I took a sip of hot tea and told her what my father and I had discussed about Kobol Prison.

"Maybe we could play the deactivation sequence really loud from a distance," she said.

I chuckled. "That would have to be some sound system."

Her eyes brightened. "We could drop boom boxes with parachutes from our flying carpet."

A laugh burst from me. "Are you stealing ideas from my diary again?"

She gently hit my chest with the palm of her hand. "I'm serious, Justin."

"It's doubtful the boom boxes would make it close enough to deactivate the statues, plus it would draw too much attention to the roof." I sighed. "If they found the statues, they might figure out what they are, and the element of surprise would be ruined."

Our food arrived. I downed my chicken lo-mein with gusto while Elyssa devoured half a crispy duck. Our waitress, a slim woman who seemed far too cheerful to really be a vampire, brought us our fortune cookies and bill.

"Do you need anything else?" she asked.

I looked around at the nearly empty restaurant. "This place is usually so crowded. Is something going on?"

Her smiled faltered. "I don't think so." She seemed to reinforce her smile, but now it just looked fake.

I narrowed my eyes, but didn't press her further. I really didn't want to know if they'd had a mutant rat infestation or something horrid like that. I handed her some tinsel—Overworld currency—and returned a smile of my own. She hurried away.

Elyssa cracked open her fortune cookie. "You will encounter great fortune." She winked at me. "In bed."

I pumped a fist. "Booyah!" I opened mine. "Dig deep and you can rise to the occasion."

"In bed," Elyssa added with a snort.

"Stupid fortune cookie must think I don't try hard every time." I crunched down on it.

My girlfriend put her hands over her mouth as her body shook with laughter. "I don't think rising is ever a problem for you."

"Too bad that kind of rising won't save the world."

Tears of mirth pooled in her eyes. "Daelissa wouldn't stand a chance."

I stood and posed with my arms on my hips. "Meet the spear of destiny, evil-doers."

One of the few patrons, an elderly man with a pointy wizard hat gave me a disturbed look before turning back to his plate of grilled pork feet.

Elyssa took me by the arm. "Let's get you out of here before you poke someone's eye out." Still giggling, she wiped away tears. "Oh, I wish we could go home and watch some reality TV instead of infiltrating an impenetrable prison."

I found our rolled up carpet parked between a silvery rocket stick and a flying mop, and unfurled it. "Don't worry. I plan to dig deep into my limited mental faculties and pull something out of my ass."

"Eww, digging deep and pulling something from your butt is not the mental image I want."

"Bwahaha!" I snorted. "Damn, I crack myself up."

Elyssa's eyes went distant. "Wait a minute. That's it!"

I pretended to look at my butt. "Really? Is an idea poking out?"

"No, and if it is, I don't want to see it." A grin split her face and she planted an impulsive kiss on my lips. "I know how to bypass Daelissa's defenses."

"I fly naked over the prison and draw off the guards?"

"We dig deep."

My mouth stopped moving before I could spit out another witty comment. "Holy hotdogs in a hamburger factory. That's it!" I picked her up and spun her around. "You're a genius!" I set her down. "We could ask one of the smaller leyworms to tunnel beneath it."

"Except, even the small leyworms are huge," she said. "A leyworm couldn't replay a recording or sneak around."

"One of us can follow it through the tunnel," I said.

"It would have to tunnel up at an angle, but it might work."

I considered the idea for a moment. "We'd have to be sure to go really deep in case Daelissa has some kind of underground protection."

Elyssa raised an eyebrow. "You really think she has anything like that?"

I shrugged. "We could ask Jeremiah or Kassus."

"They're at El Dorado working on the aether chambers." She hopped onto the carpet. "We should pay them a visit and make sure they're not slacking."

I stood behind Elyssa and braced myself. She was an even crazier driver than me. "Let's do it." As we lifted off, climbing above the antiquated stores and cobblestone street, I realized that the Copper Swan wasn't the only place with fewer patrons. This street was usually hopping with activity, but only a handful of people wandered about, and some of the stores were closed. The higher we rose, the more streets came into view.

Queens Gate looked like a ghost town.

"What the hell is going on?" I said.

"I was just about to say how deserted the town looks." Her eyes locked onto something and she directed the carpet down to street level in front of a large poster with the image of a middle-aged man with long, silvery-blond hair, an aquiline nose, and square jaw. Even though he had masculine features, he managed to look slightly effeminate at the same time.

The poster read:
Support the Unity Initiative
. Someone had painted a single large red word across the poster as well:
Resist!

"Cyphanis Rax," Elyssa said in a hushed tone.

This was my first time seeing the man and I had to admit I was impressed. He really should have been a male model instead of an Arcane. "What's the Unity Initiative?"

"Right after Cyphanis took over as the primus of the Arcane Council, he announced an initiative to unite the political factions under one ruler." Elyssa's eyes narrowed. "I don't know if he means for that person to be him or Daelissa."

"At least not everyone is buying what he's selling," I said, looking at the message to resist.

"You two, hold it right there!" someone shouted.

I turned to look as three men in black cloaks withdrew rods from belts at their sides and snapped them into full-length staffs. Gold badges hung around each of their necks marking them as some kind of lawmen, though they didn't look like the local constabulary.

"Say what?" I asked, surprised by the sudden hostile attention.