I felt my forehead pinch. "Fjoeruss is coming?"
The golem didn't answer.
"Well, at least it's something," Shelton said.
"I suppose." I turned back to the golem. "Did Fjoeruss anticipate us asking for help?"
The golem stared blankly ahead.
"I require information about emotion," Cinder said.
"What do you wish to know?" the golem replied at once.
Cinder looked at me. "Apparently, it was only authorized to answer something specific."
"Classic Fjoeruss," Shelton grumbled.
"It's more than I'd expected." I walked around a curtain and found lifelike limbs and torsos spread out on the floor. "Yeesh!" I jumped back. "It's like a shop of horrors in here."
Shelton stepped around and jumped back. "Christ Almighty, Cinder. Can you put this stuff away when you're finished working on it?"
"Apologies," Cinder said, scooping up arms and legs and dumping them into a chest. "I forgot how unsettling this might look."
"Did you make these?" I asked.
He nodded. "I am practicing making parts now."
Shelton took off his hat and scratched his head. "Next thing you know, he'll make his own girlfriend."
"That is one of my goals," Cinder replied calmly. "The last step—creating the spark—will be the most difficult for me since I am incapable of magic."
"I'm sure you'll figure out something." Shelton slapped his hat on his head.
I went back to the mansion and was instantly accosted by a vicious hellhound. Cutsauce was the first hound I'd ever summoned. He was also the size of a small Chihuahua and not very bright. I picked him up and let him happily lick my face, his brimstone-scented breath making me feel right at home.
"Did you miss your daddy?" I said. "Who's my happy pup?"
He yipped and wiggled in my arms. I put him down and he followed me upstairs where I flopped into bed and took a much-needed nap. Elyssa woke me with a good hard shaking since her tender kisses apparently hadn't done the trick.
"Ungh—is it time already?" I groaned.
"It's time." She brushed her lips across mine. "Up and at-em, sunshine."
I felt groggy and almost put off telling Elyssa about the bad news, but procrastinating wouldn't make it easier. "Before we get started on the festivities, I need to tell you something."
Elyssa's eyes narrowed. "Tell me what?"
"Victus let slip to Cora that I told the council about her background." My throat went dry. "She'd just told me the sky fishers would help. Now they won't because I was an idiot."
She pursed her lips and nodded. "Cora is pretty upset, I guess."
"Yeah." I ran a hand down my face. "She agreed to finish repairs on the skyway, but we just lost a huge advantage."
"Tell me exactly what happened."
I told her everything in detail and waited with bated breath in the hopes she knew of some way to help.
Her forehead wrinkled. "What's this about Victus's boy, Conrad?"
I shrugged. "Cora seemed kind of taken with him for some reason."
"That's odd. I wonder if he reminds Cora of her daughter." Elyssa bit her lower lip. "I think we should go visit her tomorrow after the wedding. Maybe we can convince her to help."
"Should I bring flowers and chocolate?" I asked, standing up and stretching.
Elyssa shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt." She slapped me on the butt. "Now, go get ready."
I showered and tossed on jeans and a button-up shirt then went downstairs.
"My lovely little lamb!" A curvy blonde gripped me in a tight hug and kissed me on the cheeks. "It's been too bloody long."
"Stacey!" I kissed her on the cheek. "It's been months."
She loaded a sigh with regret and released me. "Children are taxing, love. It seems I never have a chance to leave the house."
"Where's Ryland?" Elyssa asked.
A smirk tugged Stacey's lips. "He's tending the twins so I could escape and do my bridesmaid duty."
I chuckled. "I'll bet he loves that."
"Oh, he quite enjoys it," Stacey said.
"You certainly don't look like you've had children," Elyssa said.
"My stomach was so stretched, I thought it would never pop back into shape," she said. "I couldn't even shapeshift during the third trimester." As a felycan, Stacey could morph into most feline shapes. Her mate, Ryland, was a lycan which made them a somewhat unlikely pair that had worked out quite well.
I grimaced. "Seems like it would be kind of rough on the fetuses if you shifted into panther form."
"Perhaps." Stacey traced a fingernail down my arm. "When are you lovebirds having children?"
"Uh—" Panic flashed through Elyssa's eyes. "Not now. Not for a while. I mean, we're not even married yet."
I tried not to laugh and failed. "Someone's a little flustered."
"Someone's about to get punched," Elyssa shot back, violet eyes sparkling.
Another blonde stepped through the front door. "Stacey!" Katie Johnson ran across the foyer and gave the felycan a hug. Once she pulled away from her, she repeated the performance with me. "Justin!" Hug. "Elyssa!" Another enthusiastic hug.
After the hugs were over, Shelton came into the foyer. "We're ready to get started."
"Lead the way," I said.
We went into a rarely used part of the house and into the grand dining hall. The front half of the long room had been rearranged with rows of chairs replacing the long tables, and a raised platform where the ceremony would take place.
Thomas Borathen stood at the front of the room, face set in stone while Bella spoke with him. She turned and saw us and motioned us forward. "Come, everyone get into positions. The commander doesn't have time to spare."
"Your dad is marrying them?" I asked Elyssa.
"As head of the Templars, he's ordained," she said. "Though there are plenty of others who could do it just as well."
"At least they didn't request to use the Church of the Divinity," I said, talking about the church Daelissa's Exorcists had used for their nefarious activities.
Elyssa put a finger to her lips. "Don't give Shelton any ideas."
I spotted Adam Nosti and his girlfriend Meghan Andretti up near the front. I shook his hand and pulled him in for a bro-hug while Meghan exchanged greetings with Elyssa.
"Sounds like we have a real challenge with this Cephus guy," Adam said.
"Remember when you hacked the shield protecting the Chalon?" I asked.
He chuckled. "How could I forget? If you're asking if I can hack through a Seraphim shield, the quick answer is, I don't think so."
"Damn." I bit the inside of my lip. "I know the magic is different than what Arcanes use, but I hoped it might have some similarities."
"Seraphim magic is primal, the energy woven into different uses," Adam said. "Arcane magic is flexible and requires spells to make full use of it. If something is made from a spell, it can be hacked."
"Makes sense," I said. "Is there a way to counter Seraphim magic with Arcane spells?"
"That's an interesting question," Adam said. "It's something I've been working on."
"Hey, enough with the war talk," Shelton said. "This is my special day."
Adam snorted. "It's the rehearsal dinner, not the wedding."
"Every day is Shelton's special day," I said.
"Finally, the fairy princess wedding you've always wanted," Adam said with a grand wave of his arms.
Shelton's face turned bright red and the women burst into laughter.
"I apologize, Harry," Cinder said. "I did not realize you wished a fairy princess wedding or I would have planned a more suitable bachelor party."
That only brought more laughter which, of course, went completely over Cinder's head.
Bella brought everyone back under control and divided the bridesmaids and groomsmen then instructed us how to proceed. I'd never been to a nom wedding, so I didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be pretty simple—lining up in the hall outside and escorting in the bridesmaids. Thomas quickly ran through a rehearsal of the ceremony, and we were done.
Butler golems brought in the food afterward, heaping platters of empanadas, flat arepas, and enough beans and rice to feed an army. I was just digging into the chicharrón—thick pork bacon—when my ears popped, as if the air pressure had suddenly changed.
I caught a confused look from Elyssa and saw Stacey looking around.
"You felt that too?" I asked Elyssa.
"It's like an omniarch portal opened nearby," she said.
"But we have portal blockers around the mansion," I said. "The only way in is to use the omniarch itself."
A bad feeling inserted itself between my stomach and my heart. I pushed away from the table. "Something isn't right."
"It must have been close," Elyssa said.
Much to the alarm of the others at the table, I leapt up and ran into the hallway. I didn't find a portal, but I found what had come through the portal. A malaether crucible sat on a pedestal, the malevolent energy swirling and crackling inside. On the pedestal was a note that simply read:
From Serena with love.
Chapter 23
The glass globe looked exactly like the malaether crucible Serena had made away with at the end of the war right when I started the final boss fight with Daelissa. Though it wasn't large, it could nuke the entire mansion if the glass broke. Thankfully, it looked intact, leaving me to wonder what sort of message Serena meant to send. What really sent a cold chill into my chest was how easily she'd pulled this off.
I channeled aether into my body, ready to throw up a shield at a moment's notice.
"Oh, god," Elyssa breathed. "Why didn't she set it off when she had the chance?"
"No idea." I examined the pedestal from a distance.
The rest of the group joined us a moment later.
"Son of a buck-toothed vampire," Shelton shouted. "Can't they give us a moment's peace around here?"
"Where are the portal-blocking statues?" I asked him.
"Last I remember, there's one in the middle of the west wing, same with the east, and another tucked into the chandeliers inside this hallway." He peered at the string of chandeliers lining the tall ceiling and pointed to one about thirty yards behind the pedestal with the bomb. "I think it's in there if I recall correctly."
"Who placed them?" I asked.
"Templars," Elyssa said. "They did it during the war for obvious reasons."
"I need to check the statue." I started walking around the pedestal when Adam shouted and grabbed my arm.
"Wait!" He pulled me back. "Something's wrong with the floor."
I looked down but didn't see anything different.
Adam took out his wand and flicked it through a pattern. Soft white light shone from the tip. Dark patterns appeared on the floor where the light touched it. "A triggering ward," he said, shining the wand all across the hall. Shadowy symbols floated like dark ghosts in the air and on the walls. His nostrils flared and he spun around. "Oh, crap."
"What?" I said.
"Nobody move." Adam shined the light behind us to reveal more symbols in the air behind us and all along the walls and ceiling. Only the floor where we stood was clear of them. "We triggered the wards when we walked in here. If we try to walk through any of them, it'll probably set off the bomb."
"If I read those runes correctly, this thing is designed like a roach motel," Shelton said. "You can check in, but you can't check out."
"Yeah, it's a one-way rune," Adam said. He swept the light back and forth, revealing runes between us and the crucible, giving us no way to defuse it.
Shelton growled. "Son of a—I'm gonna kill Serena with my bare hands."
"I will gladly help," Bella said, mustering a cute scowl that wouldn't scare anyone, even though she could easily back it up with magic and enhanced dhampyr strength.
Thomas Borathen stood calmly near the back of the group, an occasional blink the only sign he hadn't gone catatonic. "Serena knew we'd all be here tonight." He stepped forward and looked at the pedestal. "Somehow she disabled the portal-blocker and received an image of this hallway so she could open a portal here."
"When was the last time anyone checked those portal-blockers?" Shelton said.
"Probably not since the war ended," Elyssa said. "There was no need, or so we thought."
"Cuckoo!" A high-pitched warble echoed through the hall.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Shelton said.
"Cuckoo!" Something fluttered down from the chandelier where the portal-blocking statue should have been and landed on the crucible. A clockwork bird, brass gears and insides visible, tilted its head and gazed at us with creepy glowing eyes.
"I think I know how she pulled it off," Shelton said in a worried voice.
The bird's metal feet tinkled on the crucible. "Cuckoo!" It tapped on the glass with its sharp beak.
Everyone, except maybe Thomas, shouted and jumped back in alarm.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Shelton said. "Death by cuckoo?"
Adam took out his arcphone and flicked through spells. "Shut up and start scanning, Harry."
"I'm on it," Shelton grumbled, taking out his own phone and scrolling through a list. "Try the rune decoder we wrote for the Darkwater job."
"Already using it," Adam said. "Try to find a backdoor in the code."
"Nothing so far," Shelton said.
"Cuckoo!" the bird struck again.
"It's striking every minute," Bella said.
"It's not hitting the glass hard enough to break it," Stacey said.
"Yeah, but after a dozen pecks in the same place, that crucible is going to crack," I said. I drew in more aether. "If it comes down to it, I might be able to shield us."
"At this range?" Elyssa said. "You barely held together a shield at the fringe of a malaether explosion, and that was with your mom helping."
"What else can I do?" I said. "I have to try something."
Bella frowned and looked at the floor. "Adam, were there any runes on the floor?"
"Maybe we can dig," I said, converting some of the built up power into destruction.
"Don't do it," Shelton said. "We're boxed in on all sides. If you breach the floor, you'll set off the ward."