“Then why did the magic bring us here?” I asked.
The four elves circled the egg.
“When will it hatch?” the queen asked.
“Not long,” the man in black answered. “Another week at most.”
“Good, that gives us enough time to locate the staff.”
The woman with the dark hair spoke up. “My hunters will infiltrate Danegeld and remove the staff within a fortnight. We shall have it in time.”
“What of the sword?” the red-haired elf asked.
“We don’t need it,” Queen Euralysia answered.
“But how will we control Theht’s powers without it?”
“I have my ways, Echorion. You’ve no need to question me.”
“If I fear for the life of my wife, then I feel I should question you.”
His wife? Yes, this must have been the queen’s new husband. I’d heard she’d married but didn’t know anything about him. I scrutinized the man. He seemed frail and sickly, and it made sense why she’d married him. She needed someone she could manipulate. If she’d married a man of power, she’d have a harder time controlling him.
Now that I thought about it, I remembered where I’d seen the man. He’d been a guard in the queen’s palace when I’d gone there to seek the Wults’ help finding my godson, although he’d changed since then and looked more frail. I was surprised I remembered him. But why did she marry a guard? Perhaps to bridge the gap between the more common folk and nobility?
But those were questions for later. Right now, I had bigger problems to handle than elven courtship.
“Are you sure the staff is in the Wult keep?” the queen asked the woman.
“Yes, I’m positive. My source will not fail me. I have faith he will help us retrieve the staff in time for the ceremony.”
Source? Who was the woman referring to?
The magic grew stronger as it pressed against my skull, squeezing tighter and tighter until I was forced to shut my eyes. Gasping for air, I stumbled back.
“Dr. Kennedy,” Zack said, “are you all right?”
Buzzing filled my ears. The magic wormed its way into my brain, searching, trying to identify me. Had the elves known I was coming? Where did the magic come from?
As if from a great distance, I heard Zack’s screams. My eyes opened, and the face of the man with black robes filled my vision.
“You,” he said, “should not be here.”
I turned to where I’d last seen Zack to discover two elven guards on either side of him, dragging him away.
“Zack,” I called as the man grabbed my arm, “take your hand off the screen!”
The air grew thick with magic as it surrounded me and sucked me into its portal. Relief washed over me as the pressure in my head disappeared.
Zack and I appeared back on the beach, both of us gasping for air. The mirror lay in my lap, and as the magical fog disappeared, I focused on the screen. A crack split the mirror in half.
Chapter 24
I reached for my broken mirror and brushed my fingers over the glass. The magic faded, leaving me with two ordinary shards of broken glass. My heart fell. The mirror had been one of the only possessions I cared about. Now it was gone, and I wasn’t sure how I could replace it.
“What was that?” Zack breathed beside me. “Those people—were they going to kill us?”
“If they’d gotten the chance, yes, I believe they would have. I’ve seen what the queen is capable of.”
I shuddered as I recalled the day I’d witnessed the queen exterminate the entire race of goblins. The elven queen scared me more than anyone I’d ever known. I’d known some pretty dangerous people, but no one wielded the kind of power she possessed.
Overhead, the sky grew dim as evening approached, and I knew I was running out of time. I had to get back to Faythander, tell Kull and the others what I had seen in the mirror, and then somehow figure out where that place was located. But how could I get back now that my mirror was broken?
I rubbed my head, the dizziness making the world spin around me. The concussion, coupled with the loss in magic, made it hard to think straight.
As I brushed my fingers over the glass, I forced my brain to cooperate. Getting back to Faythander shouldn’t be too hard. Really any sort of reflective surface would do, although I could never be sure if the glass were tainted or not. As it was, I had no choice.
Crafting a new mirror box would take time I didn’t have right now. But I could still use the mirror—I would just have to fuel it with my own magic.
“What are you doing?” Zack asked.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go back. Thank you for all your help.”
His forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What do you mean? You can’t leave without me. You have to take me with you.”
“If I did that, you would lose all your memories again.”
“But, no! I won’t let you leave without me. You need to go to the hospital first, and I need to help you.”
“I wish it were that simple.”
“But I haven’t even paid you.” He reached for his wallet.
“Zack, don’t worry about paying me. Where I’m going, your money is useless, and I’m not even sure I’ll make it out alive, so there’s no point in giving it to me.”
“But why do you have to go?”
“Because that egg stands between the life and death of my stepfather. I have to get it back. No matter what the price, I can’t let him die.”
Zack only watched as I moved my hand over the glass. My magic flowed weakly to the surface, sluggish and slow, making me even dizzier as it rose to my fingertips. I directed the magic into the glass and focused on opening a portal.
In my mind, I conjured an image of the Wult keep. If the elves were intent
