The Brotherhood of the Snake (Return of the Ancients Book 2) (3 page)

I held my breath.

He straightened slowly, waiting an extraordinarily long time before answering, “Rafael is correct, Melody. But he neglects to mention that the Glass Wall was fractured before we even arrived. It was breaking on its own. Perhaps the lizard people have gained additional abilities you’ve not yet uncovered.”

A look of alarm crossed her face.

I gaped at Jareth, shocked.

He was lying, too. Why were they both lying to their own mentor? And why weren’t they accusing each other? Apparently, Melody didn’t suspect them. She opened her mouth to speak when the golden bracelet on Rafael’s wrist suddenly glowed.

Lifting his hand, he glanced at the mirror, and a spark of light jumped from his bracelet to splash across the surface.

The shape of his mother, Zelphie, shimmered into view, beautiful, slim, and graceful with perfectly coiffed hair and well-manicured nails. She was in Rafael’s quarters in Avalon, standing in front of his round, red couch.

Confusion shadowed her eyes as she said, “Their Majesties have demanded my return to the City of the Queens at once. They claim that you’re embroiled in a plot of the worst kind, Rafael. They demand that both Marquis and I return as hostages immediately!”

Rafael’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“They fear you’re plotting for the throne,” Melody murmured, focusing her gaze over Rafael’s head, apparently reading his fate lines as only the Fate Trackers could. “I’ve warned you of this, my prince. The blood of the Royals runs strongly in your veins, and virtually all branches of this dangerous path you tread now lead into the darkness that I foresaw…”

She was still speaking, but my attention had fixated solely on one word.

Prince?

I’d heard Jareth call him that, but I’d thought he was being sarcastic.

Rafael was a fairy prince? A prince of the Fae?

And what was all that loving and not loving Sydney stuff about?

My head began to ache, and I suddenly wished they would all disappear so I could think, but then Zelphie’s cultured tones brought me back to the present.

“—
I’ve always given the Queens my loyalty and support,” she was saying. “It’s been over five ages since my line lost the throne. I’ll never plunge Avalon into chaos for personal gain, and neither will my son. We are content to remain as we are.” She spoke with an air of finality, but a faint sadness lingered in her eyes.

Rafael stirred. “But there will always be those who plot to use us, Mother, even against our will.” An expression of distaste played across his face. “For now, it’s wiser for you to remain in Avalon and to go to the Queens.”

“Return to Avalon with me, Rafael,” Melody suggested, laying a hand on his arm. “I’ll explain to the Queens what you and Jareth have discovered. All will be forgiven—”

Zelphie nodded in agreement, but Rafael lifted a long finger for silence. Shaking his head, he firmly stated, “No. I’ll remain here.”

Apparently, Melody wasn’t thrilled with that response. Her blue eyes darted my direction, and again I felt the cold chill ripple down my spine.

“And why is this?” she pressed, her lips thinning with displeasure.

With a glint of challenge in his eye, Jareth chimed in, “Yes, pray tell why that’s so.”

Rafael’s jaw locked, and he sent Jareth a scathing look. “That fracture you found in the Glass Wall, Jareth. Weren’t you going to retrieve a record of that for Melody?”

“Ah, yes.” Jareth nodded as a corresponding venomous look flashed across his face. “But first, the Queens are expecting the imprint of those lizard voices from your trion, are they not?”

They glared at each other.

“I see,” Melody said as her unnerving gaze once again settled briefly on me.

There was no mistaking the malice this time.

I swallowed.

A moment later,
I felt Rafael’s hand resting lightly on my arm. 
His touch was warm, comforting, and I wondered if he shared the same sense of uneasiness about Melody.

Then, in the mirror, Marquis appeared to stand by Zelphie’s side.

I still couldn’t believe he was Rafael’s father. He was short, his hair a light brown, and his wispy mustache barely covered his upper lip. After subjecting me to a cursory glance, his expression turned cold and uninviting.

It wasn't until Rafael's arm slid about my shoulders that I realized I'd unconsciously moved closer to him. And in spite of Marquis and Melody's disapproving looks, I stayed there.

“Harmony is with the Queens,” Rafael's father informed everyone. “She’ll stay there for now.”

I felt Rafael’s arm tense.

Zelphie apparently noticed. “She is safe, my son,” she assured softly. “It’s wiser for her to remain in Avalon for a time. You know this well!”

They exchanged a long look filled with hidden meaning, and as Rafael began murmuring to his mother, I grew increasingly aware of his closeness. Beginning to feel awkward, I waited until his attention focused on the forms in the mirror and took advantage of the opportunity to duck from under his arm and escape.

Turning, I found myself face-to-face with Jareth, his dark eyes appearing almost angry.

His reaction irritated me, mostly because I didn’t know why he would be mad at me. But then he always seemed cranky.

We didn’t speak. We just stood there, glaring at one another.

“Then I’ll return at once.” Melody’s voice rose. “There’s much I must say to the Queens.”

I turned back to the mirror to see Zelphie raise three fingers to her cheek. “We shall speak again soon, my son,” she promised.

As the images in the mirror faded, Melody bowed to Rafael, and without once looking at me, disappeared in a cloud of mist, leaving droplets of water sliding down the living room window.

There was a short, stilted silence that Jareth broke with an acidic chuckle.

“And now you’re deliberately misleading Melody, Rafael,” he said with a smirk. “You’re lying to our mentor.”

“I might observe the same of you.” Rafael smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“Oh, this game you’re playing intrigues my dark side.” Jareth eyed him up and down. “And now with Sydney in the mix, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to witness such a fine self-destruction for all the riches of Avalon.”

With a flash of fire, Rafael retorted, “And I shall relish revealing to the Queens how you withheld tidings of the Tulpa. How you’ve deliberately misled them. And the part you played in breaking the Glass Wall.”

Jareth angrily slammed his palm flat against the wall.

I sighed and closed my eyes. “Please just go away,” I mumbled, knowing it wasn’t even a possibility. Still, it felt good to say, so I said it again. “Go very, very,
very
far away, Jareth.”

He shot me a hostile glance and began drumming his fingers on the wall again.

Steeling myself for whatever was ahead, I turned to ask Rafael, “So what do we do next? Are we still running?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. He drew his hand over his face, leaving a dark trail of eye makeup down the side of his cheek.

He looked exhausted.

For one moment, I wanted to reach up and touch his cheek. The next moment, I was startled that I’d thought such a thing.

“We must find the Tulpa, Sydney,” he was saying. “My mother has bought us a few days now. We must find the Tulpa and deliver it to the Queens as proof that the Glass Wall was a fraud. If it had really been protecting humanity, the Tulpa could never have come to this dimension. It’s the only way either of us will be safe, safe from the Queens’ wrath over the destruction of the Glass Wall, and safe from the Tulpa itself.”

I shuddered, recalling the Tulpa.

Rafael's fingers covered mine, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

I’d never thought the Tulpa might try to find and devour me once again. I wasn’t even sure I could let myself think of that possibility just quite yet. Instead, I nodded numbly and asked in a slightly garbled whisper, “Where did it go?”

“The Tulpa is still here,” Jareth answered unexpectedly, focusing his eyes into the distance. His voice was oddly low and gruff. “I can smell it.”

Rafael raised an elegant brow his way. “Smell it?” he asked.

Remembering the Tulpa’s orange tentacles reaching out to consume me, I knew that I never wanted to see that thing again. But I didn’t want to live in constant fear of it, or the Queens, either. I knew I’d be much better off just getting the whole thing over with as quickly as possible.

As much as I didn’t want to, I forced myself to take a deep breath and say, “Then we really don’t have a choice. If it’s still here, let’s find it and get rid of it as fast as we can. What do I need to do?”

Rafael towered over me, regarding me through hooded eyes for several long moments before finally asking in a slightly bemused tone, “What did you eat to make you so brave, little human?”

I shrugged lamely, feeling a bit flustered. His expression made my skin tingle. It wasn’t a bad feeling, but one I wasn’t used to.

Jareth moved to stand in front of me and offered one of his protection runes. “You’re going to need this, Sydney. Take it.”

My head snapped back. Did he seriously think I was going to accept his protection? After he’d screamed and pointed his trion directly at me, basically forcing me to run through the Glass Wall?

With a mutinous look, I stubbornly pointed to my missing chunk of hair.

He followed my train of thought easily. “Then don’t trust me!” he exploded, tossing it to Rafael instead. “I’ll protect Rafael. It’ll be up to him to protect you!”

To my astonishment, Rafael accepted Jareth’s stone.

I stared at him incredulously. “You’re really going to trust him?” I asked. “After what he just did?”

Rafael’s face was slightly amused as he held up Jareth’s stone between two long, elegant fingers. “I’ll only trust him in this matter of the Glass Wall. He’s just as interested in finding this Tulpa as I am, if not more so, though his motivations are clearly different than mine. For me, it’s enough.” He hesitated a moment before adding, “For now.”

My mouth dropped open. I was about to challenge him further when a spark of light appeared on his fingertip. It flared brightly, growing to about the size of a pearl before moving to float over Jareth’s stone. It hovered there a moment and then dove straight in.

Immediately, Rafael’s golden symbol appeared, covering Jareth’s. The golden symbol that I’d come to recognize as fairy protection was etched deeply into the stone.

I knit my brows a little. Someday, I was going to have to ask about these sparks of light. Someday.

At the moment, I was overwhelmed.

Rafael touched my hand, sliding the stone into my fingers.

Surprisingly, my cheeks reddened of their own accord.

I was at once disturbed and excited. He’d touched me before. I’d never reacted like that.

Quickly, I turned away and held the stone up, pretending to inspect it.

Rafael’s golden rune was stamped over Jareth’s black one, but I could still clearly see them both. Their symbols reminded me of their personalities. Rafael’s was refined, elegant, and sophisticated while Jareth’s was alluring, dark, and mysterious.

“Your Blue Thread is growing stronger, Jareth,” Rafael suddenly said from behind me, his tone was even and measured.

“As is yours, Rafael,” came Jareth’s sardonic reply. “In fact, you’re walking such a dangerous line with Fate that I can no longer allow you to be alone. From this moment on, I’ll be keeping a much closer eye on you.”

I looked up, puzzled.

Rafael was plainly bewildered as well and obviously less than thrilled. “Meaning?”

“I’ll be moving in with you, Rafael,” Jareth announced, indicating the empty living room with an arrogant toss of his head. “I had to throw your furniture away to make room for mine.”

Chapter Two - Shadows in the Night

Jareth pulled what looked like a small white pearl from his pocket and tossed it in the air. As it landed on the floor, it melted into a marble-sized pile of purple goo.

I’d scarcely raised a brow before the purple goo thinned and began spreading rapidly in all directions, covering the floor with a purple sheen.

Before I could move, it slid under my feet, mutating along the way into a black and white checkered rug before racing toward the walls, leaving a trail of furniture and modern sculptures in its wake.

Several black leather couches popped into view, followed by a stone coffee table and three electric guitars on stands.

Rafael made a sound of disgust and shook his head, evidently disapproving of the décor.

“How?” I mouthed in wonder as a ten-foot-tall statue of an elephant rose from the goo to fill an entire corner of the living room.

“Programmable atoms,” Jareth replied with a careless shrug. Stalking over to one of the guitars, he plucked it from the stand and subjected it to a detailed inspection.

Before I could ask any more questions, a small cloud of mist appeared in the center of the room with a distinct
poof
, and Ajax streaked out of it, launching himself at Rafael and wagging his entire hindquarters in a dance of delight.

“Ajax!” Laughing, Rafael dropped to one knee, greeting the black and rust Doberman with a hug.

The dog exuberantly pranced around Rafael for a time before finally peering arrogantly down his long, black muzzle in my direction. He gave me his version of a fake dog smile—all teeth and no sincerity.

“Nice to see you, too, Ajax,” I muttered, wondering what I’d ever done to deserve such treatment, but seeing him reminded me of what was at stake. Shaking off the distractions of the programmable goo, I confronted Jareth, “Are you really staying here?”

His expression turned scornful at once. “Do you think you can find the Tulpa all by yourself, Sydney?” he asked snidely in return.

I could hardly believe that Jareth had once been my favorite singer. Now, I couldn’t stand the sound of his conceited voice. But still, I supposed the more people willing to hunt for the Tulpa, the better, even if one of them was Jareth.

“We must find it quickly then, before the lizard people reclaim it,” Rafael was saying, gesturing broadly to the redecorated living room. “And then you can leave.”