The Failsafe Prophecies (8 page)

An image of a woman came on the
screen. She had long blonde hair, and was in some kind of sleeping
trance, elevated above nothing.

“It’s Blu.” Wraithe spoke
firmly.

“Ah… no, Sir. Her gown is clearly pink
and…”

“She would
never
wear pink!” Bala
exclaimed. “She hated what it did to her complexion.”

“I don’t give a damn if
the dress is blue, pink, or plaid. The
woman
, it’s Blu Stevens, betrothed
to Prince Phillip of the twelfth realm, or as most of us know it,
the Marrow.”

“Is that a kitten?” Ivin pointed at
something on the screen, causing the other four to look
closer.

“No… uh, I do believe, that is a
rose.” Oz gave words to what the rest were thinking.

“If you saw a kitten, Ivin, then
that’s her protector. He’s shifting. He usually takes the form of
an owl, but if it’s shifting, there’s something in the energy
that’s making it hard to hold its form.” Bala twisted her fingers
in visible worry as she spoke.

“Well there’s clearly an energy field
around her.” Rigo pointed to some distortions in the
picture.

“Ivin, can you tell through this
screen if her soul is intact?” Wraithe hoped they could at least
get one of their questions answered about the fate of the missing
women.

“No. I’d need to be able to touch her,
or at least step into her energy field, but Bala can.”

Bala took a step back and rung her
hands.

“I don’t feel it.” She rubbed her arms
as if she’d just gotten a chill.

“Soul, no soul, kitten, rose, blue,
pink, all great questions of the world, but are we forgetting the
most important one?” Rigo stood there and stared at them all for a
second before finishing his statement. “Where the hell is
she?”

“Ah… Sirs… Madams…” Oz blushed. “It’s
clear she’s inside the castle at the Magic Kingdom.” He pointed to
several identifying markers: flags hanging on the walls, tables,
chairs. But none was more clear than the slight view of a carousel
through the large leaded glass windows.

“The one here?” Rigo asked.

Oz looked at him as if he’d sprouted a
second head.

“There is only
one
Magic Kingdom. If
you are confusing Disneyland in California with…”

“We don’t have time for the full
history of the Disney legacy right now, Oz.” Wraithe placed his
hand on the boy’s shoulder and he silenced immediately.

Rigo laughed outright and all the
others stopped to stare at him.

“What?” He splayed his hand out
towards the screen. “They put Sleeping Beauty inside Cinderella’s
castle. Even the dark can’t keep that shit straight, so don’t jump
on me.”

Wraith rolled his eyes.

Ivin snickered.

“Have they figured out she’s there?”
Wraith asked the most obvious of questions, knowing there may have
been an invisibility spell, but then how would the cameras have
picked her up.

“Oh no. They know.” Oz punched in a
few other numbers and the camera angle switched.

“Oh.” Wraithe uttered just the one
word upon viewing the picture of what looked to be seventy
personnel from the combined forces of park security, Reedy Creek,
and the Orange County sheriff’s department.

There was a barricade in place, every
Disney suit within probably a fifty mile radius was present and
accounted for, and the cherry on top − at least two agents from the
FBI.

“We’re going to need a containment
crew.” Rigo stated the obvious.

All five of them stood in silence for
a moment taking in the scene before Bala asked, “How do we get her
out of there?”

Wraithe thought about that for a
moment. There were several options, they simply had to choose the
one that had the highest success potential and lowest human
casualty risk.

“Uh… Sirs…” Oz broke in, his voice
trembled.

“Oh what now?” Wraithe’s patience was
being pushed to its limits.

He looked back to the
screen which had yet another angle on the camera, one
outside
the castle where
there were no less than twenty roahn-ami coming into
view.

“Shit.” Ivin spoke without thinking,
then put a hand over her own mouth.

“We’re going to need a
really
big
containment crew.” Rigo’s tone grew dark.

Wraithe took it all in.
The prophecies, the events of the past few days, what he was
looking at now. There was no more running or denying the truth.
This war was here, and it was
now
.

Chapter Six

Kane pressed the nerve in the woman’s
neck a little more gently than he had in each of the men. It stood
against all he was as a man to harm a woman, even like
this.

“I thought when you said you’d handle
these three, you were going to use your charm and celebrity.” Ivin
questioned him as he gently laid the guard on the floor beside the
two men he’d already incapacitated.

He stood, straightened his jacket and
smiled at her.

“My charm and celebrity is rather
limited to a female audience in most cases. What does it matter?
You got what you wanted, now it’s your turn.” He gestured up the
staircase.

He, Ivin, and Bala all moved up the
stairs in silence. When they arrived at the top, Ivin motioned them
to wait.

Bala nervously bounced on her toes
while Kane calmly watched Ivin summon her magic.

She raised one hand above the other,
moving it in a circular motion above the other until a deep purple
smoke appeared between them. She blew it on the chaotic order in
the room just beyond where they stood.

Each person Kane could see from where
he stood immediately fell into a deep slumber. He had to assume the
rest had as well.

“We’ve got ten minutes. I can’t do
anything else after that.” Ivin spoke as she motioned them to
follow her.

They stepped out of an exterior
waiting area into a grand dining hall. Normally, the setting would
be full of tourists enjoying a meal, but of course the entire space
was off limits while security attempted to figure out the
paranormal.

“Impressive.” Kane realized he’d never
been here before. “I think Wraithe’s royal banquet hall has a more
personal touch though.

Wood paneled walls gave way to ornate
wall paper. The room’s high ceilings looked to be supported by
carved wood beams and stone arches. There were royal banners
suspended from the ceiling as well as applied to the walls. The
most awe inspiring feature of the room was its leaded glass windows
that looked over the amusement park’s carousel courtyard
below.

“Be sure you don’t tell him that,
whatever you do! He’ll probably demolish the thing to better
appease his guilt. Now come on.” Ivin grabbed the fabric of her
long skirt and forged ahead.

A matter of seconds later, Blu came
into view just as she had appeared in the video, suspended over
nothing. Her long pink gown hung like grand curtains from her small
frame. Her thick golden hair did the same. When Bala first saw her,
she gasped and stumbled, but Kane caught and steadied
her.

“Are you all right?” He didn’t know
her well, but when she stared into his eyes, he saw a deep fear lit
within them. For the first time he thought to question if her
coming with them had been a good idea.

“I have to be.” She shook off a
shiver.

The three stepped up to Blu’s body,
elevated by some form of magic to just above waist level for Kane,
nearly at head level for Bala.

Stretched out as if she were asleep,
she showed no signs of life.

“You want me to kiss her?” Kane
smiled.

Ivin rolled her eyes.

“Kane, you are arguably
the sexiest man I’ve ever met, and I’m a
very
old woman, but no. First of
all, she’d have to have her soul for that to be effective—” She
drew a breath and sighed. “—and as we feared, she does
not.”

“We have to be extremely careful with
this.” Bala pointed to the perfect rose lying across her
chest.

“Thorns?” Kane was confused
now.

“No.” Bala grew very serious. “I’m
reasonably certain that is her protector. We each have one. The
problem is, in the video we think we saw it shift from this rose to
a kitten and then back. It worries me that it may not be able to
hold its shape in this energy field. That would put a lot of stress
on it. If it senses us as a threat…”

“If you each have these things, how is
it so many of you were taken, and where’s yours now?” Kane asked
abruptly.

In his years of dealings with Wraithe,
he’d learned to question everything and never ever expect an
ordinary answer to anything.

“Obsidian is with Luxe, downstairs,
and as for the other part… I don’t know.”

“Okay we’re losing
a
lot
of time
here.” Ivin’s tone grew serious. “The magic suspending her was cast
dark, but it’s earth magic. I can reverse that easily. The sleep
factor, I’m not so sure about.”

She moved her hands above Blu’s body
and stopped at the rose.

“Bala, I’m not picking up any life
force from that rose.”

Kane watched as that fear in Bala’s
eyes grew darker. He ran his hand down her back in a show of
comfort and support.

“Let’s just get her out of here.” Bala
insisted.

Ivin went back to her magic. “Kane,
when I release her, you need to catch her, so be ready.”

He took a step closer and hoped he was
ready.

A moment later the princess’s body
fell into his arms. He quickly countered his own balance to adjust
for the added weight.

“Not to be a total spoil sport, but
what of this lot?” He gestured with his head towards the sleeping
security force.

“There will be a containment crew on
their way. Let’s get out of here.” Ivin led the way back to the
grand staircase. “The rest is up to the guys and Hayden. Gods be
with them.”

* * * *

Luxe turned a 360, taking
in the land of fantasy where they stood. Fairy tale music played
from the carousel directly before them. There were people
everywhere
amidst the
sound of laughter and the smell of popcorn and sweets. Shops lined
either side of them, and a princess meet and greet was set up
between a snack stand and a shop. Pressed concrete was beneath
their feet and the castle rose up from behind them.

From what he could see, there was no
less than twenty of the roahn-ami scattered around the area, some
on the tops of buildings, a few slithering in and out amongst the
tourists, some levitating just above the crowd.

Their own number was merely eight,
even if he included Kane, Bala, and Ivin. They were very definitely
outnumbered.

“What are we to do with these
creatures?” Rigo questioned Wraithe as they stood side by side with
Luxe, Hayden, and Thornton.

“We can’t start anything. We don’t
have the numbers and there’s too much risk here.” Wraithe spoke
calm and firm.

“I never should have allowed Bala to
come here.” Luxe spoke in self-directed anger for putting his great
love in such danger, only to have Rigo laugh harshly in
response.

Luxe stared holes in him.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was that
not a joke? Were you seriously under the impression that
stopping her
was
something you were able to do?” Rigo slapped him on the
shoulder.

Luxe respected Rigo, but in this
moment, he’d have been just as happy to run him through.

“She’s the only one that hasn’t been
attacked. If Ivin is right, that’s because of the protection of
Elethiya. None of us should have allowed her here.” He stood his
ground, realizing now what a deadly mistake they may have
made.

“Luxe, take it down a notch.” Thornton
commanded casually. “For all we know, these things could be after
Wraithe. No one remembers the last time he left Elethiya and he’s
every bit as much a part of the prophecies as you and Bala
are.”

Luxe took another view around. A
roahn-ami hissed at him from its position atop a bright green vine
made of plaster that looked to be ripping through the little shop
beside them.

“And we’ve served all three of us
right up to them! I’m going after Bala.”

He turned to storm the castle,
literally, but then he saw Bala emerge directly behind Kane, who
was carrying a still unconscious Blu.

“Thank god.” He was relieved to see
her, but he wanted her out of there, now.

The five met up with Bala, Kane, and
Ivin beneath the castle. They were already drawing a crowd.
Tourists oooohing and ahhhhhing over the gowns the women wore, a
few whispering about show times, and worst of all, phones capturing
images.