Mystics 3-Book Collection (57 page)

“To the fourth floor,” answered Mrs. Dupont,
“That’s where the surprise is, my dear.”

The woman with the globe pulled the metal
screen closed and pressed the floor button. As the elevator jerked
and lifted, Zoey searched for her friends, but she couldn’t find
them. They were gone.

Zoey forced the tears from her eyes. She
still had time.
Think
, she told herself,
think!

After a short ride, the elevator shifted and
stopped. The woman pulled open the elevator door and shoved Zoey
out.

They stood in a triangular glass room. The
stars and moon glowed above her. The floors were marble and were
covered with strange runes from an ancient language. A round stone
dais stood on a red circular symbol painted on the floor in the
middle of the room. Glass vials that churned with different colored
liquids sat above long tables set against the wall to the right. A
metal contraption with tubes and wires and a variety of used
syringes lay on another table. A single chair with bloodstained
leather restraints was the only other piece of furniture in the
room.

Zoey imagined that this must be Mrs.
Dupont’s secret operating room. And Zoey had a pretty good idea who
she experimented on—herself.

An old-looking vial with a metal stopper
caught her eye. It was isolated from the other materials and was
enclosed in a very secure-looking glass box. Inside the vial a
black liquid stirred as though it were alive.

The black oil.

Z
oey looked away
quickly. The last thing she needed was for Mrs. Dupont to figure
out why she and her friends had come here in the first place. She
continued to glower at Mrs. Dupont and to play the angry
victim.

Mrs. Dupont waved a red manicured hand at
the woman with the red globe. “I don’t need you anymore, Deathray.
You can go.”

“Of course, Mrs. Dupont.” The woman bowed
her head slightly. Her eyes caught Zoey’s, and she smiled. “See you
later, little girl.”

“Don’t bet on it.” Zoey’s wrists burned from
the bonds, and her shoulders started to throb. She watched Deathray
disappear down the elevator. That woman gave her the creeps.

Mrs. Dupont smiled. “Beautiful, isn’t
it?”

She raised her arms. “This is the portal
chamber - where the magic happens. This is where I made my first
important discoveries about the blood of the Originals. Just one
drop of that ancient blood can do marvelous things.”

She paused and looked at Zoey. “A large
quantity of it can open portals to the Nexus.”

“Great, you’re going to bleed me to death,”
said Zoey. She moved towards the tables innocently.

Mrs. Dupont laughed, and Zoey cringed.

“You’re very funny, you know. I’m not going
to
bleed
you, silly girl. No. I need all your fantastic
blood inside you. I need all your abilities and all of your
strength.”

“I’m sure I should thank you.”

Zoey scanned the table. If she could find
something to break her bonds, then she could get her hands on the
black oil, save her friends, and make her grand escape. Trouble
was, she didn’t exactly know
how
she was going to do all
that.

“So what is it you want me to do exactly?”
said Zoey. Small talk might give her enough time to figure out her
next move.

Mrs. Dupont peered at her, and her voice
rose.

“You’re the key that unlocks the
doorways.”

“I don’t get riddles, never have,” said
Zoey.

Mrs. Dupont’s black robe trailed at her
heels as she strolled around the room. “The Great Junction, my
dear.”

“Never heard of it.”

“The Great Junction is the event that occurs
when two portals from different worlds align. They make a permanent
doorway, and the two worlds merge together.”

Zoey raised her brows. “And why would anyone
want that?”

Mrs. Dupont sneered. “To rule both worlds.
The time of the Originals has come. It’s time to bring back the old
ways and rid both worlds of the monsters and the weak. Millions
will die, perhaps billions. Those who oppose the old ways will die,
and those who bend to my will will survive. It’s inevitable. It has
been foreseen. Your world is over.”

“You’ll never be able to do this,” spat
Zoey. “They’ll stop you.”

“Who’s going to stop me?” questioned Mrs.
Dupont. “Do you mean your precious Agencies? By now all the
Agencies around the world have fallen victim to the black oil. In
just a few days, they’ll be nothing left but memories.”

For a few seconds Zoey said nothing and just
glared at the deformed woman.

“So, how did you do it? I mean with the
black oil? How did you infect the mirrors and the borders without
being seen? It’s not like you’re easily
missed
.”

Mrs. Dupont adjusted the belt of her robe.
“It was too easy. Well, it’s easy to prey on the minds of the
young. Give them something that they want badly enough, and they’ll
do whatever you ask of them.”

“I’m not following you.”

“It’s of no importance now.”

Mrs. Dupont grabbed Zoey’s arm and pulled
her towards the center of the room with the strength of a man.

“It’s time we test your power.”

Zoey struggled out of her grip. “I won’t do
it. Whatever it is that you need from me. I won’t. I won’t be part
of your sick and twisted plans. I’d rather die.”

“Oh, but you
will
do it, I can
promise you that.” Mrs. Dupont’s smile vanished.

“Right now your friends are being fused with
their monsters. But if I want—I can stop the process midway. Their
organs will be cut and half merged, and their skin torn and
burning. It will be excruciating for them. They will beg for me to
kill them, to stop the pain. It will be exciting for me to watch,
but I’m sure it’ll destroy your heart, little girl.”

Zoey blinked the tears from her eyes.

“Step up on the stone,” commanded Mrs.
Dupont.

Zoey shook her head. Tears rolled freely
down her cheeks. “No.”

Mrs. Dupont raised her voice. “Get on the
stone—”

“No—”

Mrs. Dupont grabbed Zoey and lifted her in
the air. She kicked and screamed, but Mrs. Dupont’s grip was
inhumanly strong, and the next thing Zoey knew, she had landed on
the stone dais. The second her boots made contact with the surface
of the stone, she was stuck. An invisible force from the stone
itself held her down.

“What’s happening? What is this?” Zoey
wailed and tried to pry her feet from the stone, but they were
glued to the surface. She couldn’t move.

Mrs. Dupont smiled wickedly. “And now, we
begin.”

She moved behind Zoey.

“What are you doing?”

Zoey winced as she felt something cold
against her palm, then she felt hot pain.

“What did you do to me?” She could feel her
own blood trickle down her fingertips.

“Blood of the Originals, dear girl. I need
some.”

Her blood drained onto the circular symbol
on the floor until a ring of blood surrounded her. She heard a
click and looked up.

The glass walls stirred and began to glaze
over, until finally they were transformed into giant mirrors. Zoey
could see her terrified face reflected in the three great
mirrors.

“Don’t do this, please!” she cried.

And then she remembered something. “It won’t
work, you know,” she said hurriedly. “For your plan to work - you
need me to
think
about the Nexus, don’t you? Well, I won’t
do it. So it
won’t
work.”

Mrs. Dupont’s eyes widened. “I don’t need
you to think of anything. I just need you
,
and your Original
essence. These symbols etched into the stone will do all the
necessary thinking. Everything’s been planned for years. My life’s
work is written on those stones. We tried it with your mother, and
it didn’t work. But with you I can see that it’s
already
working.”

Zoey knew it was true. She could feel it. At
first she felt a cool sensation, like a sudden shiver. She felt it
crawling along her spine inside her, and she shuddered. It was like
another entity had invaded her body and was using her. She could do
nothing about it.

And then she felt a hot stinging pain like
little knives slicing her skin. She watched her reflection flicker
and warp. Her bones cracked and the pain intensified. She cried
out. Her body was on fire, and she could smell her skin burning.
Then the burning stopped.

She opened her mouth, but she was too weak
to cry out. She blinked. The symbols on the stones glowed red—and
then she fainted.

When Zoey opened her eyes, she felt the
coolness of stone against her cheek. She raised her head and looked
around. She lay on the ground - she had fallen off the dais. She
rolled over and managed to get to her feet. She blinked the
dizziness from her eyes and could see right away that the mirrored
walls had disappeared, and the original glass walls had
returned.

And something else - a blue light shone in
the dark sky.

Zoey shuffled to the glass wall and stared
out. Outside the city wall an enormous blue hole about two hundred
feet wide stood alien and majestic in the forest. The blue inside
of the hole stirred and wavered like water.

Inside the hole was another world. She could
see it clearly. It was the same world she had seen before when the
interloper had opened the portal above London - a red world of wind
and rain and fire - vast deserts of smoke and ash. The Nexus.

“It worked,” she said, without turning
around. “You’ve got your Great Junction.”

Her eyes burned. She wanted to punch
something, but her hands were still tied behind her back.
Unwillingly, she had enabled Mrs. Dupont to open a giant portal
between the worlds. She knew it was bad, and that it was her
fault.

“Thanks to you,” said Mrs. Dupont,
delighted. “I knew you could do it. I
knew
you were the one.
Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Zoey blinked away her tears and turned to
face the woman. “If I did this, then I can
undo
it.”

Mrs. Dupont laughed. “It cannot be undone,
my dear. The two gateways are aligned. The doorway is open, and it
can never be closed. ”

She turned and walked over to one of the
tables. She reached out and grabbed a decanter with golden liquid
and a small glass. She was going to drink to her success.

Zoey felt the sting of where Mrs. Dupont had
bled her, but she also felt her strength slowly return. It wasn’t
over yet - she still
lived
. There was still time to get a
sample of the black oil. She pulled at her restraints. She had to
get out of here somehow.

After Mrs. Dupont had poured herself a large
drink, she held up the glass for Zoey to see.

“The best crystal of both worlds,” said Mrs.
Dupont, as she raised her glass to her lips.

“This is mystic crystal. You can’t get this
kind of quality here. I had to kill several people to get some. A
shard of this crystal will cut through anything—even the strongest
metal. It’s delicate and deadly, just like me.”

Zoey crossed the room and made her way
towards the table.

“Too bad you’re not old enough to celebrate
this moment with me,” said Mrs. Dupont as she poured herself
another. “I’d offer you a drink. It’s quite good you know,
Château Mont-Redon
. It’s French. ” She
took a sip.

“I don’t feel like celebrating. You used
me.” Zoey stepped closer and examined the crystal glass.

Mrs. Dupont smacked her lips together.
“We’ll make a great team, you and I. I know you can’t see that now,
but you can be so
much
more
here with me than with
the Agency. You’re too good for them, too strong. Your abilities
would be wasted, like mine were. But I will make you
invincible.”

Again, Zoey stepped a little closer.

“Think about it, Zoey,” said Mrs. Dupont as
she balanced herself clumsily. “Just think about what you’ll be
able to do. You’ll be worshiped.
I’ll
be worshiped. We’ll be
worshiped together.”

“Not going to happen.”

Mrs. Dupont looked at Zoey and lowered her
glass. “Hmm? What did you say?”

“This—”

With every bit of strength she could muster,
Zoey head-butted Mrs. Dupont as hard as she could.

The cat-faced woman cried out and fell
backwards on the ground. Her glass flew out of her hand, hit the
ground, and shattered on the hard floor.

“Man that hurt.” Zoey’s head spun from the
hit, and a giant bruise started to rise on her forehead. She
lowered herself to the ground and grabbed a shard of the broken
mystic glass with her fingertips.

Mrs. Dupont moaned as Zoey carefully began
to cut her bonds with the shard of crystal. She cursed as she
sliced her fingers and her palms. It wasn’t as easy as in the
movies.

Mrs. Dupont moaned again, and her head
lolled back and forth.

Zoey was desperate. Sweat trickled into her
eyes as she held the shard carefully between her thumb and index
finger and pressed downwards again. She heard a satisfying
snap
.

Her hands were free.

It was her turn to moan as she rubbed her
wrists and shoulders. Her hands were bleeding, but she was sure it
was nothing compared to what Tristan and Simon were probably going
through. And then she checked her boomerang. Mistake number one,
the Alphas hadn’t disarmed them. They were arrogant and stupid.

Zoey pocketed the crystal and ran over to
the table to get a sample of the black oil. It moved like a mass of
black leeches. She placed it on the table cautiously and then
reached into the folds of her red uniform and pulled out an empty
vial. With some effort, she was able to pour the black oil into her
vial without spilling any. It was thick, and somehow that seemed to
help. She screwed on the top and then pocketed her sample.