Conjuring Cupcakes, page 9
I sighed and leaned back on the couch. Wonderful. I was now stuck with my mother, who I very much did not want to see, just so I could acquire the magic that I was already supposed to have. It made a little sense to me that my powers were dormant because my mother hadn’t been in my life for some time—another thing to be angry at her for.
“So what now? Wait, why do I even need magic? I’ve gotten this far without it, and I ended up fine at the end.”
Elena shook her head at me. “Sadly, that’s not the case this time. You’ll need all the help you can get right now, especially since you’re dealing with the Dark Stone.”
I sat up, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Detective Grey doing the same thing.
“What do you mean?” For some reason, my heartbeat had gotten faster. I wasn’t sure I liked where Elena was going with her words.
She sighed. “I don’t know if you’ve felt it, though I doubt that you have, but there is something extremely unsettling about that maze and the Dark Stone within it. It practically oozes darkness—the kind you don’t want to be in alone and without a source of light, not the comfortable darkness.”
I wasn’t convinced. “And why hasn’t anyone, even you, felt it before now? From what you’re saying, people should have been staying away from the house or the maze, rather. Even people who aren’t aware of the supernatural can feel these things sometimes.”
She nodded. “Yes, you’re quite right. However, the reason no one felt it all this time was because the maze was sealed shut. Now it’s been opened, and the evil presence in it has leaked its aura. It’s going to attract a lot of bad things, and you have to be prepared.”
I stared at her. “What, like the end of the world? A literal Armageddon?”
She nodded gravely, and the worst part was that I believed her.
“It could mean the end of just Picklesquare if we’re lucky. If we’re not so lucky, maybe the end of the country or the state. If we have really bad luck; however, it could mean the end of the world as we know it.”
There was a stunned silence as we tried to process her words.
“Of course,” she added after shocking us into silence, “I could just be overreacting, and making a mountain out of a molehill. Who knows?”
I looked at my mother and Detective Grey. Were things really that bad now that we’d opened the maze?
14
The Dark Stone
I looked at Detective Grey, who looked back at me. I turned back to Elena.
“What do you mean? What’s going to happen?” I needed more clarification before I worked myself into a panic over what might turn out to be nothing at all in the end.
My great-grandmother shook her head.
“There’s no way to explain it, or to give you all the details—I barely even have any, but I will tell you what I know. You’re looking for the Dark Stone, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “Someone was nice enough to offer me a way to bring Diana back to life if I brought them the Dark Stone.”
She shook her head wildly almost as the last word left my mouth. My mother did the same thing, adding, “And you thought that was safe to do?” to the clear disappointment on her face.
“I wouldn’t advise you to do that,” she said. “Who knows whether this is going to backfire on you or not, and if it does, you might not be so pleased with the outcome.”
I shrugged. “What else could I do? Whoever it was made the deal nearly impossible to refuse by making it possible for me to possibly see and speak to my dead friend again. Of course, I would choose Diana over the Dark Stone.”
“An admirable quality in a friend, but for the rest of us we have to worry about putting the Dark Stone in the wrong hands.”
My mother looked at me, worried. “Are you sure you won’t give up your search? We don’t know who this person is or what their plans are for the Dark Stone—”
“When I get to that bridge I’ll cross it,” I cut in, holding up one hand to stop the questions I knew would be coming. “I would like to know what they’re going to do, but right now all I need to do is get my hands on it. I'll think about whether this person is being genuine or not after I have something to bargain with.”
My mother obviously wasn't satisfied with that, but Elena held up a hand to stop her from saying what was on her mind.
“Leave it alone, Tiana. You can tell she already had her heart set on it, so there's no point wasting your breath. Now, what was I going to say before we took that little detour?”
Detective Grey piped up. “You were going to tell us about the ‘dark, evil presence’ you felt.”
She nodded at him. “Thank you, my dear. Well, I can't exactly explain it to you in detail. All I can say is that this presence is not concrete or something you can interact with to take it out of the equation. All you can do is be aware of it, and to be prepared for anything that could happen.”
I shared a glance with Detective Grey. We weren't new to situations like that. We'd just recently emerged from a maze that had thrown so many unexpected occurrences at us. We could handle it.
“It should not be much of a surprise to you that this presence I've felt is related to the Dark Stone. I could even go as far as saying that the Dark Stone is the reason for this presence, another reason for you to take every and any precautionary measures when you finally get a hold of it.”
I nodded. Parts of it made sense, like how the dark presence might be due to the Dark Stone existing. Other parts were not so clear, however. What did she mean by saying we had to be careful?
“Does the Dark Stone place a curse on whoever holds or uses it?”
She fixed her gaze on me. “Why do you ask?”
I shrugged. “I'm wondering why you say it's so dangerous.”
She sighed. “To make you understand fully, I must go back to the beginning of everything—when the Dark Stone was created.”
I sat up straighter and leaned forward, every other person in the room doing the same as my great-grandmother launched into her story.
“We don't know how long ago this was, but it was more than six or seven centuries ago. There was a quite charismatic and powerful man, who, while he had a good deal of prestige in the town where he lived, also held a position of power in the supernatural community as one of the top warlocks of his generation. He had a fiercely loyal group of followers who waited on him day and night and treated him like he could do no wrong. In return, he taught them more than they would ever learn by themselves, although he kept a few secrets close to his chest.
“You can see how this sort of thing could go wrong, as it soon became a cult. Not all of them were pleased at having to literally worship a fellow human being, and they broke off from the cult to become their own thing. Let's put them to the side for now. They'll come up much later. So this warlock and his followers left the town and made their base in the forest at the outskirts of the town. The people thought it was strange, but as long as the cultists kept to themselves no one bothered them.”
She paused. “That is, until people began to go missing after wandering too close to the forest or away from their companions. At first it wasn't even humans going missing, just livestock and the occasional pet that strayed too far. The townspeople blamed the predators in the forest. Then travelers to the village, merchants who used to pass through the village at certain times in the year or just relatives of the town's inhabitants, started to go missing also. They'd set off on a journey, but would never reach their destination. Inquiries made would always reveal that the travelers went missing halfway between the town five miles away and the town our story takes place in. Even the townspeople who left weren't spared, with a notable case of an entire family emigrating from the town ending up missing.
“So no one came in, and no one went out… except the cultists. People thought it was weird, but shrugged it off. Suspicions grew, though, and finally, after twenty children were snatched up, the townspeople finally pointed the finger at the cult.”
I wondered how all of this was related to the Dark Stone. I guess I am about to find out.
“So the mayor called a meeting and invited the leader of the cult. They met at the town square, with all the villagers in attendance and the cult leader flanked by some of his members. The people hurled insults at the cultists, and they were very close to grabbing them and beating them up.
“Then, the warlock got to his feet and began to chant. The people could not move their bodies, but they could move their mouths, and soon the air was filled with frightened screams and angry shouting. The warlock did not even bat an eye, but his followers got to their feet and scattered, each of them taking a cardinal direction and standing behind the people who had gathered.”
I wasn't sure I liked where this was going.
“Then he began to chant again, and as he chanted his followers stepped forward, bringing out sharp daggers they’d hidden in their strange clothes. The townspeople screamed and begged and threatened them, but they couldn't move to even resist as the cultists went around striking down the people with their daggers. By the end of it all, the ground in the town square was dyed red, and the warlock was still chanting.”
She paused, her expression grim. “When he finally ended his chant, the blood on the ground flowed into a large sphere at his feet, leaving the ground clean again, like there hadn't been blood on it just seconds ago. The sphere morphed into what we now call the Dark Stone.”
I sat back in my seat, my mind spinning. It was starting to make a lot of sense now.
“He took his prize and his followers and disappeared back into the forest, but unknown to him someone had witnessed the entire thing, a woman who was lying ill in bed and couldn't get to the village square on time for the meeting. Somehow this woman managed to escape the village and the so-called curse that plagued the route from the town, but no one believed her when she told her story. She was about to give up until one of the people who had left the cult heard it, and with the rest of his group, he followed the woman back to the town.
“I've already said so much that going into more detail would be a waste of time, but all you need to know is that the sacrifices and in turn, the Dark Stone, were crucial to the increasing power and ambition of the warlock. He wanted to be a true god, to rule the world, and creating an item as powerful as the Dark Stone that could do things like warp reality was just step one.”
“Wait, did you just say the Dark Stone can warp reality?” I echoed.
She nodded. “It can, and it can do even more than that. No one is sure, but the various realities within the maze might be due to the Dark Stone’s presence.”
She waited for a moment, but no one else had any questions, so she went on.
“This group, now known by the title of Order of Oscuros–you recognize the name, then?” She turned to me, raising an eyebrow at my now wide eyes.
“Yes, uh, we learned a little about it in the maze. They were the ones who made you a witch?”
She nodded. “Yes. And the name of the cult is the Order of the Sun. Both groups are still very much active, both with different goals and different means of achieving those goals. My parents were members, so that's how I know all that I know.”
“And what happened between the Order of the Sun and the other Order?” Detective Grey asked.
She smiled at him. “The Order of Oscuros won, of course. Things might have been very different for all of us if they hadn't. They managed to weaken the self-proclaimed Dark Lord enough to take the Dark Stone from him. Foolishly, he'd bound the object to his soul, so when they sealed it he slipped into a sleep none of his followers could wake him up from. Unfortunately, some of the Sun members escaped, but Oscuros rounded up everyone they could. Then they left the area and took the Dark Lord’s body and the Dark Stone to another place, where they created an underground labyrinth and sealed the Dark Stone and his body at the center of the maze.”
Something had been niggling at me. “Why didn't they just bury him somewhere else, instead of close to the Dark Stone? Isn't that dangerous?”
Elena shook her head. “He didn't die, remember? He's been in a deep sleep ever since, and the only thing that can bring him back to consciousness again is the Dark Stone. I don't know exactly how it could wake him up, which is why you should be extremely careful in dealing with the Dark Stone when you eventually find it. It would be a disaster of colossal proportions if he woke up, and even worse, if you were unable to protect yourself, seeing as your powers are still dormant.”
After she stopped speaking, the room was quiet. What could we say? I'd been aware that the maze had an element of danger to it, but now I was learning that the object of my search was the key to releasing a powerful centuries-old evil man.
I shook the fear off. I just have to be careful, won't I? I can't give up, not now that we were nearly at the end. Nothing is going to make me change my mind.
15
Girl with the Tattoo
“What are you going to do now?” Tiana asked, looking between Detective Grey and me.
He glanced at me, and I gave him a determined look.
“What else? We have to go back in the maze. I'm pretty sure we've already found the Dark Stone, and Rachel and Diana are still down there, waiting for us. I don't know what we'll do about the person who called me and promised to revive Diana in exchange for the Stone, but like I said before, I'll think about it when it happens.”
Tiana frowned at me, but she didn't say anything. I knew what she was thinking – that I was gambling on a chance that someone I couldn't even vouch for would not end up being a member of the Order of the Sun trying to revive their slumbering master, and that they could even revive Diana in the first place.
She would be surprised if she knew I was thinking the same thing. At this point it was clear to me that I couldn't give up the Dark Stone to just anyone, moreover, I couldn't trust the mysterious person who'd reached out to me. Mysteriously, they'd known that I was looking for the Dark Stone, which was impossible unless they were close to me or they'd overheard Detective Grey and me talking about it, but I couldn't think of anyone who fit both criteria.
I was also starting to doubt that whoever it was could actually bring Diana back to life, like they'd promised. Even worse was the disquieting thought that a success might not make me happy. What if it ended up like a monkey's paw situation? There were many ways to revive Diana, and many ways the promise could be twisted.
I couldn't just give up though, not after I'd gotten so far. I pushed the thoughts away and squared my shoulders.
“It's been very nice to meet you, Elena,” I said, not glancing at my mother, “but we have to go back now. Rachel and Diana are waiting for us.”
She nodded. “Good luck with your endeavors. I hope that things work out for all of you–”
“I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just remembered something very important,” Tiana said, speaking quickly in excitement. She looked at me. “I think you'll want to hear this, Charlotte.”
I raised an eyebrow. What did she have to say that was so important? I nodded at her anyway, signaling her to continue.
“It's about the Xenovex,” she said, and I was instantly hooked.
“What about it?”
“Well, it's locked up in my lab, right? Right outside the lab are my offices. I see regular humans in the outer one and supernatural ones in the inner one. Well, I was on the last of my patients for the day, which was a young woman about Charlotte's age or a bit younger with a really strange tattoo on her wrist. Something about that tattoo just pulled at something in my mind, like I'd seen it before but I couldn't remember what it meant. Then I got a call and had to step out for a bit. Mind you, I attended to her in the outer office, and left the office completely for a bit. The lab was locked though, so I wasn't worried about anyone getting in.”
She stopped to catch her breath, and then went on. “The issue was, when I got back, the person I was treating was nowhere to be found. I asked the receptionist if she'd left while I was gone, but she said she hadn't stepped out of the room at all. It was possible that she'd been too engrossed in her work to see the girl with the tattoo walk past, so I went out of the office to the front desk of the building that houses my office. They hadn't seen her either. Just as I walked back into my office, thinking she'd already left, who do I see leaving my inner offices but this young woman?”
Detective Grey and I exchanged looks.
“She said she'd been looking for the bathroom, but I doubt she was being completely honest. The toilets are clearly marked and are off a small corridor to the right of the entrance. Nothing was missing when I checked my office, though, but the door of the inner office was unlocked, and I am one hundred percent sure I'd locked it. I didn't even connect it to discovering the Xenovex missing three days later, but knowing what I know now I wonder if she took it…”
Something occurred to me and I gasped. “Wait, what did the tattoo look like?”
She frowned and squinted. “I can't remember–it wasn't a really large tattoo, just on the inside of the wrist, and it was red.”
I lifted my eyebrows. My heart rate had increased, and as I jumped out of my seat and ran to the large table behind the couch I could hear people getting to their feet.
“Charlotte? What's going on? What are you looking for?” Detective Grey asked as he rushed to stand behind me. I grabbed a small notepad off the table and nearly upturned the entire contents of the table in my search for a pen I could use. I couldn't explain it to him just yet, but if it was what I was thinking–
I let out a victorious yell as I finally found a pencil somewhere in the numerous objects I'd decorated the table with. Quickly, I tore out a sheet of paper from the notepad, placed it on top of the pad and began to draw. I drew two arcs intersecting in the middle, like someone had taken a Venn diagram of two interlocking circles and cut out the bottom half, leaving only the top half. The arcs were surrounded by lines going out from them like sun rays, and the final stroke was a horizontal line under the whole thing.
