Page 60 of Mardi Gras Murders & Midnight Masquerades
The lid of the box flew open with a rush of foul air that made us all step back. Inside, the ornate mask seemed to writhe. Its features contorted as if alive and was aware of our intentions.
"Quick, Dre!" Dani called as she held the box. I reached out to help steady it when it trembled in her grasp.
Dre moved with practiced precision. She held the vessel of potion firmly in both hands. "Six as one," she intoned and then poured the swirling violet liquid directly onto the mask.
The reaction was immediate. The mask convulsed and emitted a high-pitched keening that made Payne cover his ears in shock. The potion seeped into every crevice of the artifact. It covered it completely before seeming to be absorbed into its very substance.
"It's working," Phi whispered as the mask shuddered one final time, then went still.
The corrupt artifact had transformed before our eyes. Its malevolent energy vanished. It was replaced by our combined power. Where before it had exuded a sickly green aura, now it glowed with a steady violet light—the color of our binding magic.
"It's done," I said, cautiously closing the box. "The first stage is complete."
"Now we need to find his body and then him. We should get some rest," I told them as we rose. "Tomorrow, we end this."
CHAPTER 17
Danielle
My heart was hammering in my chest as Noah and I climbed into his truck. Eleanor's words had been pinging around my mind ever since we’d left her beneath the opera house. It was a damn good thing I had my sisters to keep me on track because preparing that mask for its new purpose could have gone very differently. We’d pulled it off though. Delacroix's tool would become his prison. The violet glow of our binding magic pulsed steadily from the containment box that was sitting safely in the kitchen at the plantation.
"You look worried," Noah said, his eyes briefly leaving the road to study my face. "More than usual, I mean."
I managed a tired smile. "I’m just hoping Payne's information is solid. We need to find Delcroix’s body and that locket Eleanor mentioned."
"It will be," he said with that quiet confidence I'd come to rely on. "Payne might be new to our world, but he's a hell of a detective."
Payne's discovery had been invaluable. Lia had suspicionsabout the location, but his blueprints provided proof. It had also given us a hidden entrance to a subterranean level beneath Delacroix's old bank building. It was now a trendy boutique hotel in the French Quarter. The perfect hiding place for a banker's most precious possessions, including his body. Or a locket containing the fragment of his original soul.
My phone buzzed with a message from Dre. “We're in position. South entrance covered.”
I quickly typed a response.“Approaching from the north with Noah. Five minutes out.”
"You all really work well as a team," Noah commented, glancing at my phone.
"We owe that to our mama. She made us the women we are today," I replied.
We parked two blocks from the hotel and approached on foot. The Quarter was just waking up. Street cleaners were washing away the previous night's revelry while delivery trucks restocked bars and restaurants. It was the perfect cover for our group to slip into one of the city's most exclusive hotels.
As we approached the entrance, we spotted Lia, Dre, Phi, Kota, and Dea waiting for us in a quiet corner of the lobby. They'd already been inside, scoping out the place. Lucas stood nearby, looking more like hotel security than a tourist.
"Ready?" Noah murmured as we entered through the revolving door.
I nodded, squeezing his hand. "Let's find this vault." We separated after entering. I joined my sisters while he and Lucas approached the desk.
"Ready to go invisible?" I whispered to my sisters.
Dre gestured to a secluded alcove. We slipped behind the large potted plant in front of it. We wouldn't beseen by hotel staff or security cameras there. “Circle up,” Dre instructed quietly. We joined hands and huddled close together. “Obscurum videre,” we whispered in unison, keeping our voices barely audible.
A tingling sensation washed over me as the invisibility spell took effect. It wasn't true invisibility—more like a perception filter that would make people's eyes slide right past us unless they were specifically looking for something magical. "Perfect," Lia murmured. "Now we just have to stay close and quiet."
Meanwhile, Noah and Lucas approached the front desk with professional confidence. "Good morning," Lucas said, presenting some official-looking paperwork. "Lucas Wright and Noah Taylor. Building inspectors with Crescent City Contractors. We need to check the business center as part of the quarterly safety compliance review."
The concierge typed something into her computer and nodded. "Ah, yes. Not a problem. The business center is currently unoccupied. I can show you the way."
"Appreciate it," Noah replied with an easy smile.
We silently followed Noah, Lucas, and the concierge down a marble-floored hallway.The business center was empty at this early hour. Its polished mahogany desk and leather chairs were a testament to the building's wealthy past. The concierge left Noah and Lucas with a practiced smile and closed the door behind her.
