Chapter Songs: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Mr. Pinstripe Suit and Dark Waltz - Hayley Westenra

Chapter 40: Magic

Mokuba and Joan entered into another dance: a quickstep that took all of Joan's concentration to follow. She reveled in the challenge, relieved that nobody commented the few times she faltered. Mokuba passed her back to Seto, who passed her back to Marc.

Another waltz set in, and Joan made her rounds again but suddenly found herself in the arms of an eccentric-looking man with a plume of white hair extending from the bridge of his nose to high above his forehead. The rest of his hair was long and dark, falling below his waist. Amethyst crystals that matched his eyes sparkled on either side of his forehead, and he wore an unusual white and blue outfit. His high cheekbones granted his face a somewhat ghoulish appearance. "My dear, has anyone ever told you that you have an aura of pure light?"

Joan had heard this statement several times before, but usually it came from an elderly hippie woman. "Yes. Most recently at a book festival in LA."

"Well, it's true. You simply must join my society."

"Excuse me. You are?"

"How rude of me not to introduce myself. I am Master Sartorius of the Society of Light."

Joan took note of the strange man's green and yellow jade earrings tipped with curved, pointed ivory. A few gold beads gleamed between the stone ones, and Joan remembered Seto's warnings about obnoxious magical artifacts. "I'm sorry. My schedule is entirely booked for the foreseeable future." Joan made a gentle attempt to pull away from him.

Sartorius' grip on her waist tightened. "Ah, but come with me and I will make you a queen to bring about a bold new destiny for mankind!" His amethyst eyes glowed with an eerie fire.

"No thanks. I'm already making a difference in the world, and I'm not into cults." Joan tried a little harder to escape his grasp without causing a scene.

"But you have so much potential. I see it in your aura. You must harness it, or you will be doing the world a disservice."

"Dude. You've made your proposition. I've rejected it. Get away from me."

Joan jerked away from Sartorius, but he pulled her back forcefully. He let out a howl as her hand pushed against his shoulder and her ring delivered a burn felt only to him. Sartorius drew back and collapsed to his knees.

Marc, Mokuba, Seto, Roland, and Tamara reached Joan's side in an instant.

"What," Sartorius panted, "what magic is this?"

Seto glowered. "Accusing my whore of witchcraft? How fifteenth century of you."

Sartorius displayed his burned shoulder. "Explain this!"

"That's easy. You did it to yourself with a hidden device that self-destructed."

Joan appreciated Seto's show of faith in her, but deep down she knew Sartorius wasn't lying. As Seto and Sartorius continued to exchange sharp words, Mokuba led Joan away from the limelight and into a quiet corner. Marc followed, and Tamara stood watch while they put their heads together.

"This is going to sound weird," Mokuba began, "but I felt something right before he screamed."

"Me too," Marc said. "It was like some sort of electric pulse running through my brain. What happened there?"

Joan explained Sartorius' creepy advances and how her ring had been in contact with the burned flesh.

Mokuba took Joan's hand and concentrated on the ring. The ruby lit up. "Damn."

"What?" Joan asked.

Mokuba passed Joan's hand to his art director. "Marc, look at this. Really look."

Marc saw the ruby's glow extinguish and focused until the peridot lit up. "Uh oh."

"What?" Joan asked again.

"Seto hates magic, and this . . . this is obviously some sort of magic," Mokuba replied.

Joan's eyes widened. "Do you think Seto felt it too?"

"If he did, he'll never own up to it," Mokuba said. "He'll probably say something like—"

"I have a headache." Seto's face appeared over Marc's shoulder, and Marc dropped Joan's hand with a start. "I think my neural interface just malfunctioned."

"Oh." Joan couldn't think of anything else to say and neither could the others.

"I need to run some diagnostics on it, but before I do . . ." Seto took Joan in his arms, and Joan slung hers behind his neck. Marc and Mokuba watched the opal illuminate as they kissed. "We'll fuck as soon as I have this cleared up," Seto said as they parted. He left with Roland in tow.

"That only leaves Michael," Mokuba said as soon as Seto was out of earshot. "We need to find out if he's connected to this too."

Joan looked up and spotted Tamara keeping watch a few paces away. "Hey Tam, could you do me a little favor and bring me my phone?" Joan had left her purse in the limo, confident that Roland would have it safely delivered to Seto's room.

"Only if Marc sticks with you while I'm gone. Things are getting weird around here."

"Of course," Marc replied.

Tamara took off while Marc and Mokuba closed ranks around Joan. "Seto is going to freak out when he learns about this, and I don't know how long we can keep it under wraps," Mokuba said.

Marc placed a reassuring hand on Mokuba's shoulder. "Calm down. If this is anything like the magic of legends, Joan should be able to control it. Either that, or it won't activate without clear and present danger."

"Yeah, but we clearly have some control over it too," Mokuba said. "What if Seto inadvertently activates it or even just sees the ring glowing?"

Laura nuzzled her way between Joan and Marc. She wore a backless red evening gown that showcased her elegant body. "Hey, can I have my husband back yet?"

"Not quite." Mokuba explained the predicament to Laura, and they bounced around some potential solutions until a lady in a black dress drew their attention to the front of the room. Joan discerned that the lady was giving some sort of speech about how certain video games improve the lives of physically and mentally disabled children, but she barely listened as her thoughts raced.

Tamara returned with Joan's phone. Joan unlocked it to find a message from Michael: My head did something freaky. I'm fine now, but Linda insists on taking me to the hospital. Joan wondered then if Mokuba, Marc, and Seto were all underplaying exactly how intense the sensations they'd felt had been out of some need to uphold a macho façade.

Joan explained what she could through text and watched the sapphire on her ring light up as Michael responded. The other stones also glowed intermittently. Seto would surely notice at some point, and it wasn't as if she could simply take the ring off without a damn good excuse.

The speech drew to a close, and the festivities resumed. Joan, Mokuba, Marc, and Laura re-formed their huddle. "We'll need to keep Seto's eyes off that ring tonight," Mokuba said, "and the best way to do that is to keep him distracted while he's fucking Joan. Who's in?"

"Oh no no no," Laura said, "I don't want to be there when he blows a gasket, especially if he's going to be naked. You do what you want, but I'm out."

"Marc?" Mokuba asked, "Didn't you already have a threesome with Seto and Joan anyway?"

"I only agreed to that because I knew Seto wasn't going to stick around after the Summit. I see you every day, though. This could turn awkward."

"You work with Laura," Mokuba pointed out.

"She's not my boss." A cold silence settled over them for a minute before Marc revised his statement. "If you were any other boss, I'd say no, but you and Seto have already proved fifty times over that this works for you, so this could actually be fun." A playful gleam entered Marc's walnut eyes.

Joan caught herself grinning despite the gravity of the situation.