The Jade Dragon (2 page)

“Calm yourself, my beauties.” Anton was unconcerned. “We are in no danger.” He looked at his brother-in-law, sadness in his eyes as he studied him closely. “Your aura is muddy and flaring out in wide arcs of red. It won't be long before you lose control of your actions despite your experience, age, or intention.”

Gregori sunk into a chair, his shoulders hunched, his voice filled with desolation. “I can see no answer to this puzzle.” He rested his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped, his fight gone.

“There has to be a way.” Eleisha sat opposite him, sending a quick spell to fuel the flames in the fireplace. She was cold from the shock of the day's events and she didn't think she would ever be warm again. “I don't believe the Fates rang the bells because it took their fancy. We have to trust there is a reason for their madness. First of all, we must find them so they can explain. I know someone who might know where they're hiding. But I'll have to reveal why we're looking for them.”

Gregori looked up, a hopeful glimmer in his eyes. “Who is it?”

“Zelda Mortiboy.”

“Zelda!” Anton exclaimed. “No!”

“She's also … ” Liquid filmed in Eleisha's eyes, “ … Alice Greenwood's best friend. We need her on our side. You know she will go after Gregori herself if we don't do something. And soon.”

Zelda Mortiboy, Wizardess of Winterbourne and Prime Wizardess of the Supreme Council of Magical Beings was the most senior member of the Council; definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Anton's arms encompassed his wife and he kissed away the tears spilling down her cheeks. “Do not cry, my beloved.”

Gregori looked to Anton. “I would have the world safe. You must do what needs to be done. Plus, there is the fact that Alanna is only fourteen. She is not strong enough to bind her magic with mine, especially now, with her psyche damaged from the accident. If I'm to survive long enough to prove my innocence, I must bind my magic with another.”

“Once bound with another, it can never be undone.” Anton declared unnecessarily. They all knew Gregori was grasping at straws. “Damn those Fates,” he roared. “How dare they do this without some kind of explanation?” He swung to Eleisha. “There's only one solution I can think of. You're not going to like it but we're going to have to ensorcel Gregori until Alanna is old enough to bind her magic with his.”

“No!” Gregori whirled and static bolts of electricity shot from his fingertips, scorching the floor around him. Smoke rose around him like a shroud. “I refuse.”

“Trust me, Gregori. It's the only way.”

“Call Zelda to Marylebone,” Anton instructed Eleisha. “We're going to need her help for it to be effective. Now. Be quick about it!” Before Gregori could move, Anton encircled his friend with an arsenal of all the spells he could muster in that moment, hoping it would be enough to hold him, a man he considered a brother, until Eleisha returned with Zelda.

Runnels of tears ran down Eleisha's cheeks but she waved her arms in an arc until her hands met above her head. “I'm sorry. I can think of no other solution. We must do this or we will lose you.” She disappeared in a blink, leaving him alone with Anton.

Gregori's body shook with undiluted frustration and anger at the injustice of it all. “I am already lost.”

Greenwood Gallery, Raven's Creek, ten years later

“Witches' Warts! I can't see a thing!” Alanna Greenwood's exasperation was obvious. It was her own damn fault she'd lost her magic. Although there was no way she would be admitting that little fact out loud to anyone anytime soon. How the hell could she contact Marylebone, the Supreme Ruling Coven of all witches, to report that cracks were beginning to appear on Gregori every day?

They were barely visible but Alanna had looked at him often enough over the past two years to see even the smallest of changes. She leaned over the water of the ornamental pond to inspect the jade dragon more closely. “Yes,” she declared, even though there was no one there to hear her. “There's another one.”

Sworn to secrecy by Marylebone not to reveal to a single soul about the life imprisoned within the stone, she debated what she could do but came up with nothing. Zilch.

She rocked back on her heels and stared at the stone fence surrounding the courtyard as the first car of the day roared its way down the street. It was five thirty in the morning, daylight a mere suggestion on the horizon. She yawned and rubbed at her eyes. She hadn't slept well since Marylebone had bound her magic for breaking witch law a few weeks ago.

After making a coffee she'd wandered down from the studio in which she lived, above the Greenwood Gallery, into the courtyard for some fresh air and to check on Gregori. It was a daily ritual, rain or shine and one she generally looked forward to. That quiet time, when the world was made fresh. Where the air was crisp, untainted by the fumes and hum of traffic and the streets mostly empty of people.

She thought of her elder sister Rosa, who nagged her constantly about moving into the small cottage Alanna had purchased a couple of years ago. Lavender Cottage. A beautiful little picture postcard cottage with Wedgwood blue windows on either side of the front door and located right next door to her sister Beth and across the road from Rosa.

It had been her intention to move in immediately after buying it, but life didn't always go as planned. The day after she bought the cottage, Anton, Grand Dragon of Marylebone, the chief bigwig in the world of witches and warlocks had arrived unannounced in Alanna's studio, frightening the living daylights out of her — she would never admit to a single soul she had been scared witless — and assigned her the task of crafting a jade dragon and could she do it as soon as possible, please? So she had done so, thinking she'd move into the cottage afterward. Anton had taken the finished dragon off with him, only to return with it the very next day. He'd instructed her to put him in the courtyard and extracted a promise from her that she would remain living in the studio for the duration the dragon remained with them.

How long will that be?
Alanna had asked, knowing she couldn't refuse the Grand Dragon anything.

Anton had merely shrugged.
Who knows,
he'd said.
He's been ensorcelled in several different types of stone over the past few years. No doubt, he'll break his way out of this one, too.
The final charge from Anton, and the hardest to keep, was not to reveal to a single soul that Anton had commissioned the dragon or that there was a soul ensorcelled inside the stone.

So stay in the studio, she did. She found herself strangely drawn to Gregori, as she'd termed him, within twenty-four hours of Anton's departure. The name had sprung fully formed into her mind as she placed him on the stone lily pad in the pond in the courtyard. He'd seemed so lifelike. His ruby eyes had glowed eerily, and she had thought for a second he'd spoken to her.
Gregori
. So that's what she'd named him. The name stuck and now everyone knew him by that name.

Why Marylebone had chosen her was a complete mystery. She was nowhere near to achieving Mastership. There was no way she was as responsible as Rosa, her elder sister. Weeks ago, Rosa had bound her magic with one of the most powerful Dragons to walk the earth and had been Called to Marylebone and made immortal.

“How am I going to advise Marylebone of the cracks?” Frustrated didn't go halfway to how she felt. And it was all her damn fault. “I suppose I'm going to have to 'fess up to Goran. Surely that won't be breaking any laws?” She scowled and kicked a stone with her slipper. It hopped across the courtyard to settle next to a hydrangea.

Goran's presence in Raven's Creek was why the wrath of Marylebone had descended upon her and Beth. They'd both Called down Goran Thoreaux — accidentally — and made him Earthbound. A magical misadventure resulting in a royal slap on the hand by Marylebone.

Calling down an immortal was forbidden in the world of Witchdom.

“They should explain the laws in finer detail,” she muttered, knowing full well all laws were taught before being allowed to perform a single spell and those laws had been drummed into her years ago. “Who knew thought was as important as action!” Where was the detailed explanation alongside such a rule? Something along the lines of
Calling down a magical being can cause mayhem. Calling down a magical being can result in having your magic bound by Marylebone until further notice.

Magic was her life's blood. She was born with great magical potential, and excelled as a young neophyte in training at Kowhai Coven, the governing body for witches and warlocks in New Zealand. She used her magic as a focus when sculpting. She'd crafted Gregori at night and managed to keep Anton's secret, even though it had cost her. She was now guardian of a jade dragon with the soul trapped inside. Why Anton put Gregori in there she didn't know, but she figured he must have done something really bad to be stuffed into the beautifully crafted stone casing. Something far worse than a case of magical mayhem.

She inspected Gregori one last time. His eyes flashed red fire and she wasn't certain if the sun creeping over the fence caused it or whether the soul trapped inside had heard her thoughts and was attempting to communicate.

“Damn it!” she uttered for the second time that morning, not an uncommon phrase from her. “Witches' Warts with knobs on,” she muttered another curse and rubbed her hands down over her silky red PJs as she stood. “When the hell am I getting my magic back?”

Alanna trudged through the courtyard in her big fluffy slippers. It was going to be a hot day, but right now it was still early and the warmth was yet to reach the inner courtyard. The sky was turning a delightful blue. The bottlebrush tree in the corner of the courtyard was looking hopeful. She picked up the hose and turned the tap on at the wall. “I can no longer hear you, my friend,” she said to the tree, “but I know it's going to be a scorcher today, so here's a little liquid to keep you happy until tonight. Don't drink it all at once.”

Alanna wandered about, chattering inanely, as she watered the rest of the plants. She would have to disappear upstairs soon. She didn't want Rosa or Beth to find her mooching about in the courtyard talking to the plants.

She'd lied to her sisters enough. Living in the studio above the Gallery was one of them. She'd told them over and over about how much she loved living there, preferring it to Lavender Cottage. Privately, she longed to move into her home. Teasing Rosa about not wanting to live there had got her through the first two years of guardianship of Gregori, but that was wearing thin, even for her.

She wished she'd never clapped eyes on him. She was as much prisoner as he was. “Bastard,” she muttered, her temper flaring. Grabbing an old cloth, she tossed it over the offending dragon. She then emptied the remains of her coffee onto a rose bush and marched inside, heading upstairs to the confines of her studio flat.

Strange, but she thought she heard the dragon laugh.

• • •

Gregori could taste freedom. He knew the woman, Alanna, who came to check on him every morning was his soul mate. He'd known it when entrapped against his will. But right now all he cared about was freedom. When he finally managed to escape, he would be out of this tiny courtyard that had been his world for the past two years and he wouldn't look back.

He'd been imprisoned in all forms of stone over the past ten years, but this jade one had been the most difficult thus far in his attempts to break free. Still so damned angry with Anton, Eleisha, and Zelda, he spent a lot of his time imagining how he could make them pay. He only hoped that freedom wouldn't see him doing something stupid. They were wrong. All of them. He had nothing to do with the Greenwoods' deaths and before they hunted him down, he would spend what time he had left finding out just who had done the despicable act of heartlessly killing Alanna's parents, and not facing up to their crime.

Gregori looked around the courtyard through magically enhanced ruby eyes. An intentional kindness by Anton, but it turned out it was a cruel joke. Not only could he see, he could hear; he could sense emotions but wasn't able to communicate with anyone. Except once, when he'd cried out his name to Alanna. She had heard him. She must have, as she'd started calling him Gregori the day after Marylebone placed him here. Frozen in this object, with only his will and the time to work out the spells surrounding him, he was in a living hell.

But not for much longer. He'd known how to dismantle the protection spells for some time. They were not strong enough to stand against his magic. It was the Maori blessing surrounding the entire Gallery that was causing problems. It was an earth spell, stronger and more complicated than anything he'd ever encountered. The blessing's connection with spirit and the land were intertwined with the sister's spells, and every time it sensed he had found a way out it rewove itself, repairing the links. But they were weakening. It would be a matter of days before he was free once again.

Two days — and several more cracks later — Alanna met with Rosa and Beth at the Cookery Nook. Meeting for breakfast every Wednesday was a ritual they never missed, especially since Rosa had been Called to Marylebone. Life was different for all of them, as she no longer resided in Raven's Creek every night of the week. Rosa still worked at the Gallery, made her pieces of jewelry, and pottered about in her apothecary kitchen in Rose Cottage, but as a neophyte and bound to the second-most senior Dragon; she also had her own apartment in Marylebone, a place neither Beth nor Alanna could visit. And would never visit, unless they, too, were Called.

“So what's up?” Alanna tried hard to care what was going on in her sisters' worlds, when all she could think about was Gregori. This morning, another thin line had appeared, right between the eyes, stretching down the bridge of his nose. There was another one, too, at the corner of his mouth and it gave the dragon an odd, lopsided leer.