Cup (eBook)

PART 1

TWO OF WANDS “DOORWAY”

“There are things known and there are things unknown,
and in between are the doors of perception.”

—Aldous Huxley

GREENLAND, THE NORTHERN TIP CAPE MORRIS JESUP

A whistling wind races over the white landscape. The snow pushed forward by the wind forms a thin layer racing over the ice sheet, which covers some of the oldest rocks on the face of the earth. This far North, temperatures are already way below freezing in late September, and there’s only a limited amount of daylight. The fall equinox has passed, and soon enough, this place will enter the four months of darkness. It’s hard to imagine that anything can live here.

An arctic stoat sticks his head out of a little hole. With his white coat, he blends in with his surroundings. He quickly scans the surface and takes stock of potential food and predators. After a second glance, he jumps out and turns some somersaults, his black-tipped tail whipping back and forth. His tiny frame is agile, as his weight is slightly over a pound. Salik is overjoyed to be back in Greenland. He had missed it a lot, the ability to shapeshift into his other self as often as he wants to. To go hunting, running, the feel of the snow and ice between his paws. This is his home; it’s where he belongs. His family had settled here several generations ago, witches from America who had fled with a powerful elemental object ‘The Cup of Plenty’ in the hope of keeping it safe. They eventually found their way to this remote island, Greenland, which, in those days was very hard to reach. Eager to fit in and make a life for themselves, they immediately began trading with the local people. In time, his great-great-great-grandmother fell in love and married an Inuit shaman. It’s always surprising what can happen if you mix magical talents. Their family developed shapeshifting. Many generations later, it had become as natural to them as walking—the ability to change at will, as often as they wanted. As always, being different makes you stand out, and so, to keep the Cup and themselves safe, they moved further and further up North until they reached the most Northern tip of Greenland, where people rarely venture.

Salik is sent out to sniff the air; the family has been buzzing with unrest. Something is going on with the other elements, putting his mother Snowflake, and Granny Laakki on high alert.

He doesn’t see any reason to worry. This place is far away from everything! Extremely hard to get to, let alone find, and the Cup is in the safest place imaginable. Their magical safety net is strong with a mix of witch wards and modern technology. Nothing gets past that! They should relax.

Salik is in the middle of another somersault when a loud crack draws his attention. He lands on all fours and tries to determine where the noise came from. Quickly, he puts his ear to the ground—the ice beneath it is rumbling. Something is making its way straight toward him. The air is charged with electricity, and his fur stands straight up. Shit!

Another loud crackling noise, closer this time. Is the ice breaking? That’s not possible; they’re not on an ice shelf. Something hits their magical barrier right then, and the perimeter lights up with a flash. Discharging some of that built-up energy into the air.

For a split second, Salik can’t think. He’s in full panic mode; all he wants to do is run. Then his years of magical training burst through his mind-numbing fear. It takes only a second to transform into his human self, and now he is standing upright, fully naked, with his dark hair flapping wildly behind him. He thrusts his hands forward and pulls up an additional shield while simultaneously sending out a probe to the danger ahead. He needs to know what he’s dealing with. The cold doesn’t seem to bother him, and he runs toward the edge of their parameter. Something is chipping away at their shield. It won’t be long before it creates a magical hole to come through. He can’t let it reach their home. With one hand touching the ice and the other reaching for the sky, he starts an incantation in the hope of capturing the spell sent here. The wind begins to form a feeding funnel while the cold adds power from the ice cap below. Just as the spell finds a way in, he drops his shield. The spell is attracted to the magic in front of it.

“SALIK, NO!” he vaguely hears when the spell hits him with such force that he gets thrown tens of feet back, the spell and his protection shattering in a million pieces of ice glass, which pummels his face and body. His hair turns from solid black to pure white from the sheer force.

His mother, Snowflake, reaches him first, followed by the rest of the family. They are alarmed by the parameter wards. Salik is lying unconscious on his back, blood dripping into the snow from many tiny wounds, the red in stark contrast with the white. The ice is cracked in the form of a lightning bolt as far as they can see. However, Salik did manage to negate the spell.

LONDON

A loud laugh escapes Lucy Lockwood, a prim-looking elderly woman in her seventies, while she admires the result of her spell. Finally, a breakthrough! Too much had gone wrong lately in her pursuit of the elemental power objects.

There are four magical objects in the world that rule the elements. Several centuries ago, four sisters had separated the Cup of Plenty, which governs the power of Water. The Wand of Wisdom—Fire, the Dagger of Consciousness—Air, and the Pentacle of Growth—Earth. The temptation and combination of powers had grown too strong for the group of witches guarding it. Running out of options, the sisters pledged to keep it safe and hidden, and each of them went their own way. While their families grew, they passed on the duty to their eldest daughters. Lucy’s family guarded the Wand of Wisdom, representing the power of Fire. When her mother decided that the responsibility of the Wand should go to Tara, Lucy’s twin, Lucy tried to grab the power for herself. She was young and foolish and got banned from the Madigan family.

It had taken her till recently to locate one of the other families and to steal the Dagger of Consciousness, the power of Air. But her do-gooder sister and her brood got involved! Lucy can still sense the loss of the Dagger. The crater of absent power it left behind when Maeve, one of Tara’s granddaughters, managed to sever her link to the Dagger and attune herself to it.

Even her son Set abandoned her and threw her out of his home; she traveled to London. It has always been one of her favorite places. With the witch history here, it’s undoubtedly the place to find some answers.

Luckily, one of her friends is out of town and has offered her the use of his home. A dark witch with a sound library and an inspirational workspace down in the basement. A witch circle is embedded in the century-old stone floor; candles illuminate the dungeon, and Lucy’s eyes are still adjusting after the flash of light from negating the spell. She created a spell that targeted the elemental power of Water in the hope it will point her in the direction of the Cup, and it had hit home. Not necessarily THE place where the Cup is but an area with an exceptional amount of Water energy. A perfect starting point. Slowly, a form etched into the floor comes into focus. A lightning bolt points roughly to the northern part of what looks to be an island. She can’t wait to discover which island it is as it doesn’t look familiar to her.

Stiffly, she gets up and walks the circle backward to release the protection before she can grab her phone and take a picture of the form on the floor. No doubt Mara has no trouble finding out where this is. She’s so savvy on a computer. Lucy stops; how could she have forgotten! Mara and Cal, her grandchildren, are still in Fairy. Most likely captives of Mab, the Queen of Fairy. In all these years, she had been a master at compartmentalizing. That she abandoned her grandchildren to save herself is something she had resolutely stuffed away. Not that she cared much about her grandson Cal, but Mara was a talented young witch and had been great company the last couple of years. Not willing to admit that she missed her and might even feel bad about it, she moves on to the problem at hand. Hmmm, should she ask Set? That idea is dismissed as quickly as it came up. With a big sigh and a flick of the wrist, she extinguishes the flames as she exits the room. She must figure this out herself; it can’t be that hard! The island looks pretty big.

NEW ORLEANS

Tara Madigan, the family’s matriarch, a much relaxer-looking version of Lucy but unmistakably her twin, sits behind her desk in her bedroom, staring into the garden. Her happy place. After Seamus disappeared again out of his magical portrait, she couldn’t bear to face it all the time and decided to rearrange her room. The picture gave her much comfort since his passing. Defying the Fates, refusing to pass through to the afterlife, he had inhabited one of his magical paintings and kept her company. Not able to talk, but at least they could see each other; to see his smile every day, his compassionate eyes…. Seamus had disappeared for a long time when Cal, Lucy’s grandson, used Seamus’ card from the Magical Tarot Deck. The young man must have used it again since the portrait remains empty. When these magical cards are used, you get pulled from your current life, which for Seamus is his painting.

Currently, the garden manages to distract her from the loss of the power of the Wand. Just a little bit, though. It never occurred to her that...