Magic's Mark

Chapter 29

"It's down there. No one's down there at this time. So why don't you go down and check it out while I go collect the correspondence."

My eyes trailed down the staircase, it was far wider than the others and its steps shone in with marble, a stark contract to the grey, cold stone that could be spotted everywhere else.

"Sure you go play with you owls," I answered, not paying attention to anything else but the stairs in front of me. As my feet started moving me down the stairs, I could hear Taylor scoff and close the door behind me.

My fingers traced along the dark wood banister as my eyes tried to make out what was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. The arena...

My eyes took in the room in front of me. Room might not be the right word for the vast space in front of me. It reminded me slightly of a theatre, an old round Shakespearian one where multiple floors of seats wrapped around the stage. In the centre of the space in front of me I saw a giant glass sphere. A massive circle, which clearly must be the centre of whatever would go on in here. The wooden rows of seats wrapped themselves around the circle, more narrow at the top and bottom, and so close you could almost touch the glass at the middle of it. I headed towards the wooden structure, climbing the narrow staircase up to the centre level, moving through the rows of seats to the front row. My fingers reached out and touch the glass, if felt cool and thick under my fingers as I stared down to the bottom of the sphere. At ground level I could tell there was some kind of opening, a doorway into the giant glass globe.

"Do you like it?"

His voice made me jump, I spun around in anger, my eyes narrowing as I meet his cool, blue ones.

"What are you doing here?"

Lucas smirked back at me, "Keeping you entertained while Taylor runs his errand."

I furrowed my eyebrows, a cold lump forming in my stomach, "He told you to meet me here?"

"He told me you lashed out at Aaron. He agrees with me, you should let us handle it."

I was about to argue back, when he cut me off, continuing, "Taylor told me he went to see Mr. Liu yesterday. He still doesn't have any answers. So before you go all rage out and kill us both with that mark of yours. Just accept that you need me for the matches, that's the only way we're going to win this thing."

Coldness spread across my stomach, I know Taylor had been to Chinatown but I wasn't prepared for him to tell Lucas ahead of me.

"What if I just drain him of all his power?" I wasn't ready to fall in line and listen to Lucas warnings just yet.

Lucas sighed, as if I was a stupid child who should stop talking back, "He'll still be around and he has warriors. Do you really think it would be that easy?"

I turned away from him, staring down into the giant glass circle, my fingers playing against the glass.

"So these matches – you fight in here until someone gives up?' I nodded my head down to the bottom of the glass sphere.

Lucas walked up, standing next to me, looking down at the bottom of the glass globe.

"Yes, normally one of the fighting heirs will give up," he shrugged and added, "There have been a few older incidents when someone died."

The cold lump in my stomach rushed through my body, "Dies?"

A small smiles traced along his lips, "I thought you were used to the heirs' predisposition to trying to kill each other."

He shoot me a sideways glance, "The nice thing about the matches commencing is that there is a truce."

"Truce?" I choked out.