Chapter 42
Bastian looked at the lawman from Alterealm, Prince Michael. Each time he saw him, he wanted to ask bout the scar on his face. He was an Alterealm royal, his body was filled with that magical blood that healed—so why did he have a scar? Blinking, he turned back to the boxes the prince motioned to. “All of this you found at sites your family closed down? From the Mage?”
Michael nodded. “Our researchers have gone through it all, the boxes with the red labels contain items they weren’t able to classify.”
Bastian quirked an eyebrow and looked back at them. “So, you thought I would have answers?”
“Crissy suggested we have you take a look.”
“Really?” Bastian looked again, there had to be fifteen or more boxes of the mage’s junk sitting there. “Did she say why I should look?”
Michael crossed his arms and stood there staring at the boxes. “Only that you would find answers to your questions.”
Bastian smirked. “How intriguing.” He started for the closest box, then glanced over his shoulder,.“I don’t suppose she had any tips about the gods having fun at our expense?”
The large man blinked as if he’d just woken up from a daydream. “Uh, I have no idea. It’s Crissy though, so anything is possible.”
Bastian pulled the box out enough to see in it. It was filled with trinkets that didn’t look familiar at all.
“Why do you ask? Have you found out something?”
Pushing the box back in, he reached for the next one. “Just something Princess Aireese said.” The box contained what looked like odd cutlery left over from a rummage sale.
“Oh?” The prince came over and pulled one of the boxes down and held it where Bastian could glance into it. That one looked like scraps from a seamstress.
“Nova is currently at a house that has been spelled by the fae, a very long time ago.” He shook his head and reached for another box. “It’s the house of the first keeper of the soul intended for me, but the most intriguing thing about this house is a spirit lives there that is much like your librarian I’m told—who is not one but many?” He pushed the box in and glanced to see he had the man’s full attention now. He selected the next box. “Aireese said only the gods could be behind something like that.”
The prince held out another box. “Crissy is the one that figured out our librarian wasn’t a man, so she might know something. Where is this house?”
Bastian scoffed, “I have no clue.” Something caught his attention in the box he held, it was filled with pieces of gadgets and electronics. Shifting some of it out of the way, he lifted a piece that looked familiar. It was old, but he recognized the outer casing of one of the first models of his wand. He sent the prince a questioning look.
“As far as our scientists can figure, these are items they tore apart trying to reverse engineer.”
Bastian shifted the case to his other hand and reached in his pocket to pull out his own wand.
Michael’s brows shot up. “What is it?”
“Our wand for transporting souls.” Tucking it back in the pocket, Bastian turned the older one around in his hand. He knew it was hollow inside because it was far too light. “Your elder.” He looked at him. “The science one…”
“Elder Arian”
“Yes, her. Can she look through this and try to find the pieces?”
Michael nodded. “I can ask.”
“If she can find all the bits, we might be able to track it to the one assigned it.
“They’re traceable?”
Bastian nodded and set it back n the box. “It’s old, but we have records for all of them.” Spurred on by that discovery, he turned back and pulled out the next box.
“I don’t understand as much about your people as I probably should, but why would they need that?”
The box was broken pieces of pottery from the looks of it. “I don’t know.” He shoved it back in and pulled out the next. It rattled. He glanced at the prince. “Without the base they couldn’t get any souls out of the wand.”
“Is that something they could replicate?”
Bastian shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I’ll ask my father about its history.” He looked down, expecting dishes. Instead, his eyes widened as he stared down at half a box of olive-colored vials.
“Oh, those were found at a lot of the locations. We’ve had witches, mages and scientists test them for residues, but they couldn’t determine what they were for.”
“They were filled with elixir.” Bastian pulled the box out and set it on the floor. Squatting down, he put his hand in and moved them around. There were hundreds of them.
“Elixir?”
Looking up at the prince, he nodded. “The elixir of souls that ensures our longevity to perform our purpose in life.”
“Arwan drank all of those?” He leaned down and picked up on and studied it. “Would he need one daily or…”
“That depends.” Bastian stood up and picked up the box, then carried it over to set it beside the other one. “One vial would suffice for a month or more. Even longer, I suppose, if he was drawing life force from other sources.”
Michael scowled. “Like the land?”
“Yes.”
Blowing out a breath, Michael put the vial back in the box. “So with this many he could…”
“Live an exasperatingly long time.” Bastian looked at the other marked boxes on the shelf. Now he was going to have to go through them all.
“Oh good, you’re still here.” Troy and Crissy stood in the doorway. The king glanced at the boxes they’d set aside.
“And learning all sorts of nasty things,” Bastian informed him as he looked at Crissy. He had questions for the little seer, so many questions.
She smiled at him. “You found answers.” It wasn’t in the form of a question.
“I did.” He smirked and glanced at the remaining boxes. “Do I need to look through the rest, or is that it?” He pointed to the box of electronics and vials.
She frowned. “I don’t know. Should I know that?”
“You seem to know everything, even if you don’t realize you know it.”
“There’s always pieces, so many pieces,” she mumbled.
The box was filled with what looked like parts of weapons. A knife handle, a part of a blade. He wondered if their investigators tore things apart or if they were found this way. Nothing seemed familiar. He shoved the box back in and glanced at her. “Know anything about the gods and spirits of many?”
“Like the man who is not one but all?” She looked excited.
He nodded, hoping her excitement meant she had answers.
She scowled and then her eyes brightened again. “You should talk to Ava.”
Bastian couldn’t hide his surprise. “The Gemini woman? The one that would rather crush my skull in than talk to me?”
Crissy nodded. “Yes. She has wings, so she might have your answers.”
Bastian cocked his head to the side. “Wings like fairy wings?”
Troy and Michael both watched her now.
Crissy looked at the floor for a moment and then shook her head. “No. Not fairy wings.”
“Like a bird?” Michael asked.
Troy looked at his brother with surprise.
“What?” Michael snorted. “Nothing is out of the question now.”
Crissy giggled. “She’s not a bird.” Sobering, she turned back to Bastian. “You should talk to Ava.”
Bastian blew out a breath. “We’ll go pay her a visit after I go through these.” He motioned to the boxes, then decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask her about the house. “Where Nova is now, the house with the spirit.”
Crissy nodded.
“She’s safe there?”
Her expression blanked as she went somewhere else for a moment. She nodded. “There was no bad when I saw it.”
Bastian didn’t know what that meant, but hoped she was right.
Michael picked up the box with the parts in it. “We need to get this to Elder Arian”
Troy gave him a questioning look.
“They were trying to replicate a soul wand?” He sent Bastian a look.
“A wand, to remove and transport souls.” Bastian turned back to look in the box.
“Fuck.” Troy hissed out a breath. “Next time we’re content with peaceful decades, remind me to hunt down missing bodies.”
Michael snorted, “Because knowing to look for an ancient mage would have been our first priority before we were born.”
Bastian grinned as he pilfered through the box of actual junk. He loved the sarcastic personalities of the Alterealm royal family. Too bad he’d been saddled with boring, logical uptight ones.
“Get that to Elder Arian. Now.”
Michael nodded. “On it.”
Bastian paused before pulling out the next box. “You were looking for me?”
Troy massaged his temple with two fingers. “Yeah, Kara and I have been through the heads of all of your lawless.” Bastian saw the answer on his face before he said it. “None of them know anyone at the top.”
Bastian blew out a breath. “You think they’re all errand boys.”
Troy nodded. “It looks that way.” He braced his legs apart and crossed his arms over his chest. They all did that, he thought, these giant Alterealm men. If he did that, he would surely look like a poser and not intimidating like them.
“What about your chef father?”
Bastian shook his head. “His mind is blocking his memories.”
Troy frowned. “The girls are heading over to talk to the mother in a few hours, maybe that will help him.”
Bastian nodded. “Your brother,” he said, motioning to the door so the king would know he meant Michael, “is arranging a safe house for them over here.”
Troy nodded. “That would be best, then no one in your realm will know about them.”
Turning to look in the next box, Bastian went over the list in his head. The list of what they knew so far. It was a long list of possible answers, and very few of them were checked off at this point. For every lead, they found only gave more questions. They were not even remotely normal questions. Gods, spirits, magic, mages—his internal list was a mess. At this point, he’d be better off putting them all in a hat and randomly selecting the next dead end to go track down.
It annoyed him and pissed him off. Without answers and resolution, he could never be with Nova.