The Emerald Key (26 page)

Since the men’s tasks depended on electricity, they opted to practice their other skills. Alex “moved” the furniture back to the awed cheers of the others.

“Sure wish I had that skill when Dori gets in one of her rearranging moods,” Greg said. They all laughed when she punched him in the arm.

Greg and Nic went up against each other in a mock sword battle as Alex gave them tips on positions and finesse. Nic taught them rather unorthodox moves that, while not kosher, worked well. Of the four, Ryan showed the least skill, but made up for his lack by sheer determination and stamina.

While the men showed off their prowess, the women gathered in a corner and worked through their skills. Late into the evening, each pair went off to separate bedrooms.

Nic lay with Cass in his arms. “How soundproof are these walls?”

“They’re not. We used to listen to Minerva and the others through the walls all the time.”

“Damn.”

Cass rolled on top of him. “So what? Exactly what do you think the others are doing right now? I guarantee Phoebe isn’t sleeping.” As if to prove her point, they heard muted laughter and rhythmic squeaking from the next room. Cass ran her fingers over Nic’s bare chest. “So, shall we follow suit?”

She grinned when Nic flipped them both over and set their own rhythm in motion.

* * * *

“Nic! Cass! Fire!”

At Greg’s alarm, Nic and Cass scrambled into their clothes and joined the others on the back porch. Flames engulfed the roof of the barn. “Phoebe! Can you stop it?” Cass cried.

“I tried. Whenever I stop one, another pops up.”

“Alex, can you move as much snow as possible to the roof?”

“Sure, but—”

“Just do it. Dori, as soon as he does, melt it.”

Nic ran toward the barn. “Nic! What are you doing?”

“Getting my truck out! Ammo in the back. Too dangerous.”

Ryan ran after him. “The source is probably inside.”

Inside, pockets of flames ate at the old wood. Nic yanked open the door to his truck but jerked back when Cass clambered into the driver’s seat.

“Help Ryan.” She yanked the door shut and roared out of the barn.

Nic and Ryan beat at the flames with old blankets, but they refused to go out. “It’s no use,” Ryan yelled. “Get out!” He shoved Nic aside as a rafter fell and together they ran out.

Phoebe, Dori, and Alex had the outside flames under control, but couldn’t handle everything. “Use your amulets,” Cass yelled as a section of the roof collapsed.

Both women grabbed their necklaces and focused their efforts. Kyrie and Cass joined hands and held on to Phoebe and Dori. With the entire group working together, they soon had the fire extinguished. Exhausted, the group hugged each other, celebrating their victory. Then they heard the sound of a single round of applause from behind them.

As one, they turned. Cass recognized the strange customer from her store standing on the porch, but he appeared older, thinner, as if he’d been ill. Behind him stood a half dozen men, all armed with guns. Coming up on their sides, another half dozen.

“Bravo. Bravo. Very well done.” He came down to their level, one word to a step, but stopped well out of reach of the group. “Before you get any ideas, if any one of you so much as twitches, my men have orders to open fire.”

“They would catch you as well,” Cass pointed out.

“Not necessarily.” He gestured and his men moved in front of him, and trained their guns on Cass and the group. “Problem solved.”

“Who are you?” Nic asked.

“Oh, forgive my manners. I am William Raynes. At your service.” He sketched a brief bow.

“Why have you been hounding us? Kidnapping us? Making our lives miserable?” Cass asked.

“Why? Because you hold the power. You hold the keys to Lemuria. I’ve been searching for them for more years than you can imagine and now, they are within my reach.” He studied the shivering group. “Ah, once again my manners are lacking. Shall we all move into the cabin? I’m sure we’ll be more comfortable there.” The gunmen moved as one to herd Cass and the group into the cabin where William directed them to sit at the table. He took a place at the head.

“So, I finally have you all together. I’ve waited a long time for this day.”

“You had us all at the hangar. Or most of us,” Cass pointed out. She gripped Nic’s hand under the table and grinned when everyone’s hands joined.

Puzzlement marred his forehead. “What hangar? What are you talking about?”

Cass and the others looked at each other. “The airport hangar. Yesterday. Phoebe, Dori, and Kyrie?”

“I am sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about. You are the only one I’ve kidnapped. I would love to know how you got out of there alive. You must be more special than even I imagined. But no matter. You are all going to help me get to where I belong. To Lemuria.”

“Let it go.” Nic’s words echoed in Cass’ mind. From the looks on the other’s faces, they’d heard him too. “Keep your hands linked. I can hear you all that way. Let’s hear what he has to say. Let him defeat himself.”

Cass squeezed his hand twice to let him know she understood.

“And what makes you think we’ll help you?” Phoebe asked.

“Simple. I’ll kill you if you don’t.”

“You need us to open the door,” Cass said.

“Not really. Oh, I agree, it will be much easier if you are there, but, according to my sources, I don’t actually need all of you. Besides, I won’t kill you first. I’ll kill the men first, then you. One by one.” He glared at Nic. “Starting with this one. And for each time you refuse, the next person will die more slowly, and painfully.”

“Okay, we get it,” Cass said. “But we don’t know how to get to the cavern. We don’t know where the tunnels are.”

“So find one.”

“Nic, tell the others. Go with me. Trust me. Wait until we’re all in the barn.”

“We knew of one in the barn, that is if the fire didn’t destroy it,” Cass said.

William shook his head. “You should do more homework. That’s the wonderful thing about the tunnels. They are nearly indestructible. There are five, but only four are the true ones. The fifth was…an accident.”

Cass studied his face. “You created one? You were trying to open a new doorway and made a mistake?”

“A miscalculation. But no matter. We will go to the barn once you’ve cleaned up. After all, you can’t open the doors to Lemuria looking the way you do. One person at a time. And leave the door open.” He nodded and two of his goons dragged Cass up. Nic rose to help her and they knocked him back to his chair.

“Nic! Stop. It’s okay.” She touched his face. “It’s all right. Trust me.”

“How touching. Now go.”

She turned to him. “There’s only one problem with your grand master plan,” Cass said. “We’re still without electricity. No electric means no well pump. No pump means no water.” She wasn’t about to tell him about the generator sitting out back next to the woodpile.

“How primitive. Fine. Then we go as is.”

They all looked to Cass, who nodded. She hoped Nic had been able to convey her plan to the rest. As a group, they made their way to the barn. Charred beams coated with snow and ice lay on the ground. Burn marks scored the walls. Only the stones at the back wall stood solid and undamaged. The strong aroma of kerosene mingled with the stench of smoke.

Cass feigned pressing on the stones. “I know it’s here someplace. The rest of you, push on the stones.” She waited until everyone had lined up against the back wall.

“Now!”

* * * *

Steve pressed the gas pedal down to the floor, skidding on the icy road. “You should have come to me sooner. We might be too late.”

“Darling, if you don’t slow down, you’re going to kill us before we get to the party.”

His foot eased minimally on the pedal. “Why would William have gone without us? Did you do something? Say something to him?” He wrestled the steering wheel when the car skidded on a curve. The tires gripped the gravel at the edge of the road, giving him some control.

“Not at all. But darling, if you want to take his place by my side, you need to be alive. And so does he until we have the door open.”

His foot lifted a little more and he gained control. “Once the door is open, I’ll kill him and we will take it all.”

“Yes, darling.”

“I’d still like to know how they got out of the hangar.”

“It’s not important. You’re done with that work now anyway.”

Steve grinned at her. “Soon we will have everything we want.”

“Oh, yes, dear. Everything I’ve always hoped for.”

A wall of fire leaped up between Cass and the others and William. Beyond it, snow and debris swirled, obscuring them even further. More than half the men scattered, ducking from the lethal missiles. Alex lifted his hand and William rose to the remaining rafters, screaming his rage. The rest of his men ran out.

“I think we’re good, Phoebe,” Cass said. “But stay ready.”

“Done.”

“Cass, I have an idea, but I need Kyrie’s help,” Dori said.

“Go for it.”

Her two friends put their heads together and a minute later, she chuckled as the snow swirled around the doorway to the barn. While still swirling, the snow melted and then formed a door of solid ice.

“Nice trick,” Nic said. He glanced up at William. The words coming from his mouth would have scorched a sailor’s ears. “Think you could do the same thing to him?”

“I’ve never tried anything like that,” Dori said.

“Let me take this one,” Cass said. She glanced at the dirt floor near the door, and the ground mounded into a pile with an indentation in the center. “Alex, put him down in the center.”

William plummeted to the ground and fell in a heap on the pile. He struggled to stand. “You can’t do this to me! I must get back! I have to open the door. I am Lemuria! You are mine!”

Cass piled more dirt around him, leaving his head free, and packed the ground down, shoring it up with wood and rock. “Dori, now you can coat that with ice. After all, we don’t want to freeze him.”

After Dori finished, Cass strode over to William. She flicked a smudge of dirt off him. “Sorry about the dirt. Now, start talking. Who else is in your little fiefdom? Is everyone here?”

He glared at her. “Not even close. You can’t stop us. No one can. My people will keep coming and coming until you learn.”

“Phoebe?”

Phoebe flicked her finger, and a tongue of flame danced around the top of the dirt pile. William’s pale face turned even whiter.

“You think a little fire will stop me? Or them? My lieutenant will stop you. Or our queen. Or any of the others. We will prevail.”

“Your lieutenant and queen?” Cass asked. “Who are they?”

“I’ll never tell you. I want to see the look on your face when you realize who they are. When you know how close I’ve been to you all along.” He coughed, wheezing as if having trouble breathing.

“Cass,” Nic said. “Is the dirt too tight? We need his answers.”

“No. He has room to breathe.” She moved close to him and touched his head. “I do believe he’s ill. Interesting.”

“I never get ill. I am William Raynes. I have lived throughout the ages. I am a leader of Lemuria.” His voice rasped and he coughed once more. Even buried in dirt, his tone still carried a snootiness Cass found almost laughable.

“And you are becoming very much human. I’d say, William of Lemuria, that your reign is about to end.”

“That’s not possible. All people of Lemuria have power. It is part of us. It flows through us, like our breath or our blood.”

Cass glanced at the others. “The others have power?”

“We all do. You can’t belong to the Brotherhood without having some, though most have so little as to be nonexistent. Everyone has a specialty. It’s what makes each of us unique.”

“What kind of power do you have?” Nic asked.

“I’m good at finding things, especially obscure things. I’m especially good at scrying.” He sneered at Cass. “Oh, yes, I know you saw me. But I stopped you, didn’t I? Nobody is better than me with seeing. And only I know the correct spells to activate the altar and transfer power from one to another. I found the ancient texts and studied them. I know how to reap power from others. How to use them to increase my own. With that, I have been able to increase my lifeline, extending this body past the lives of these pathetic humans.”

“You were the cause of that scream we heard in the cavern,” Cass said. “You killed someone?”

“I sacrificed one so her power would come to me. As leader, it is my right. I am all.”

“What kind of power do your lieutenant and queen have?” Greg asked.

“Who knows? I’ve never seen him use his. But I know he does. He has to. His aura is the strongest of all. And she…she has the ability to find those of power.”

Cass noted his hesitation. “And? Perhaps something more. Something you didn’t foresee?”

“Nonsense. I am the leader.” Even from his position in the dirt, his chin rose in indignation. “They will come to me. Rescue me. We will gain strength once we get to the altar room.” A mad grin lit his face. “Once I have your blood, I’ll be able to open the way.”

He looked at Cass. “Then I will have the control. We have to go. Now. Today is the optimal day. All the signs and texts said the door would be opened today.”

“Enough. Nic, can you gag him before I do something I’ll regret?”

Nic wrapped a scarf around William’s mouth.

“So what now?” Dori asked.

“Now, we look for the tunnel,” Cass said. “Everything happens for a reason. If William didn’t kidnap you, then someone else did. The sooner we find the answers, the better off we’ll all be.”

“So where is this tunnel?” Ryan asked. “I’ve gone all over these rocks and didn’t notice anything.”

“Nic?”

Nic went to the back wall. “If I remember, it was right…” His arm sank through the stones up to his shoulder. “I think I found it.”

“We’ll need lights,” Cass said.

Phoebe handed them each a piece of wood and flicked her fingers. The ends burst into flames.

“Wait,” Greg said. “What about our swords?”

“I can take care of that,” Alex said. “Tell me where they are.”

“Bedroom, on the headboard,” all three said at the same time, and laughed.