Chapter 3

Aggie woke the next morning a bit groggy and overly tired. “Man, I really need to get more sleep. I have the craziest dreams when I don’t sleep enough.” Aggie rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up a bit more. Looking around the room, everything looked normal. She shook her head to dislodge the dream she had. “Elves and gateways? Magical powers and untold dangers? I’m not eating that late, ever again.” Chuckling under her breath at the insanity of it all she crawled out of bed. Aggie didn’t bother changing out of her pajamas. Not that she wasn’t clothed wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The only thing she was missing was her bra.

Standing outside the strange room of doorknobs, Aggie remembered her dream. The two men had towered over her and the memory of them left her breathless. She couldn’t understand what it was about them that had drawn her to them. Now she realized that she was dreaming and it made more sense. “All men in dreams are ten times hotter than real life. It made sense that I would be caught up in them given the fact that they aren’t real.”

Making her way to the kitchen, she needed to get a cup of coffee in her to wake up the rest of the way. Without it, she would be walking around in a daze all day. Hesitating in the doorway, reality hit her like a ton of bricks. Never again would her grandmother be there waiting for her in the kitchen. Coffee waiting and breakfast sizzling in the skillet. Inhaling deeply, she could almost smell the bacon that her grandmother always had frying to greet her and start her day. A single tear escaped before she broke from her thoughts.

Running her hand across the old Formica table that had been in the house her entire life. The spindly legs were gold and had hidden a few scuffs from Aggie’s teenage anger. She had a lot of memories at this old table. Her grandmother always insisted she be home for breakfast and dinner so they could eat together. Talking about her day as a teenager wasn’t her favorite pastime. Wishing she could go hang out with her boyfriend and friends was her only priority. That didn’t change her grandmother’s rules. “One day you can make your own rules, but until then you will live by mine.” Her grandmother preached this every single day of her life. Another tear trickled down her cheek and she swiped it away and walked over to the coffee pot. She needed to wake up and get her emotions in check.

The first thing on her agenda was to figure out what came next. She had received a packet from her grandmother’s attorney a week before but refused to open it, given the fact that she didn’t want to accept reality. Pouring some coffee into her favorite mug, she missed the lip slightly and some of the liquid hit the floor. Setting down her cup to grab a towel, Aggie turned to wipe up her mess. Confusion crossed her face, “Where did it go?” Looking everywhere and even got down on her knees, it was as if the mess had magically disappeared.

Laughing at herself she grabbed her coffee and made her way to the old kitchen table. Taking a sip, she gasps, nearly spilling her entire cup. On the table that mere moments ago was completely clear, now held an envelope perfectly centered on the table. It was a simple thing, but with no one else in the house it was a bit unnerving.

The envelope wasn’t exceptional, just white and basic. Looking very much like an invitation, she chalked it up to being lost in her emotions and not seeing it, because the alternative would have been to freak out and potentially drop her coffee to the floor. Setting into her chair, Aggie lowered her coffee to the table. Slowly reaching for the envelope she didn’t recall seeing it before now. “Maybe grandma left it here before she passed.” Rationalizing was all Aggie had left now. Picking it up she flipped it over and noticed a very faint golden line running around the perimeter almost undetectable. The sunlight pouring in from the window above the sink, caught the color on the envelope. Twisting it back and forth in her fingers, Aggie watched the line shimmer with amazement. When the light shadowed, the line disappeared completely. After playing with the elusive line, Aggie flipped it over one final time and slid her finger under the flap, breaking the seal.

Slowly, she pulled the cardstock like paper out. The paper had the same shimmer as the envelope as though it was part of a stationary set. “Who still uses stationary?” Aggie assumed it was as outdated as her grandmother’s taste in furniture.

Agatha Wasley your presence is requested at the meeting of the Brotherhood. Please be in the Gateway at eight o’clock tonight.

Aggie dropped the invitation, as if it were on fire. It might as well have been, given what she was feeling. “Real? It couldn’t have been real. Magic isn’t real.” Again, she found herself searching the room for evidence that someone was pranking her. Not that she had anyone in her personal life that would do that. Her grandmother never let her have friends over to the house.

*****

After fretting the day away, it was just before eight and Aggie stood outside the room of knobs. A part of her believed nothing was going to happen and it was all still a dream and the invitation was a fluke. The other part of her knew she was about to experience something she couldn’t fathom. Opening the door, the room was empty. Entering anyway, Aggie made her way to the center of the room. Taking a moment to examine the doorknob that Liel left from the night before, in what she thought was a dream.

It was delicate and golden with a strong vine that ran over it as though it were veined. Reaching out her hand, she touched it lightly with just the tips of her fingers. Quickly she snatched her hand back, as energy ran through her hand causing it to feel a bit numb. Looking down at her hand, the feeling lingered, so she rubbed her hand on her pant leg.

Taking in a few other knobs surrounding this one, they all had minor details she hadn’t taken in before. One had what looked to be daggers etched into the metal that seemed to be cast in bronze. The one below that looked like molten lava, “Mental note, don’t touch that one, ever.” Aggie was always one to talk to herself since she was usually alone when in the house unless she was sitting in the kitchen with her grandmother.

Before she could take in another intricate piece of metal hanging on the wall, the room began to hum. Quickly she made her way back to the center of the room, running smack into a table and a full set of nine chairs. Rubbing the spot on her hip that took the greatest impact, “Where did this come from?” Aggie wondered. Not for long though because the room wasn’t finished. Glowing light poured from several points of contact around the room. Looking around Aggie realized that multiple doorways were breaking through the wall over several doorknobs. Before she could make it around to all the glowing lights, eight men filed into the space. All of them towering over her and dressed in a variety of attire. One was dressed in a full suit and looked like he was attending a business meeting, another wore slacks and a dark shirt without a tie. Then she glanced at the faces of the next two that appeared to have come from the same doorway. They were a mirror image of each other, but their faces were where the similarities stopped. One with dark hair and one with light, a smile and a scowl, they seemed to be more opposites of each other than typical twins. Dressed in jeans and t-shirts, these two were the most casual of anyone.

The next man her eyes landed on, she couldn’t tell you what he was wearing because the moment she looked at his face, the rest of the room disappeared. His smile was breathtaking and he was the most perfect specimen of a man she had ever encountered. The way his blonde hair looked as though it flowed and moved in non-existent wind. It laid with a fullness as his curls were a bit unruly and resting long across his broad shoulders. She could imagine hanging onto them in the throes of passion. His eyes were almost silver as the firelight reflected off of them and they captivated her entirely. As quickly as she was enraptured, it all cleared away as she noticed Mathius had walked up and smacked this gorgeous man on the back of the head. “That is enough Ky. Let her at least meet everyone before you start working your wiles on her.”

Not sure what had just happened, Aggie moved on to the last unknown man in the room. He was tall and willowy but looked as though he could scale any height with his bare hands. He wore a green button-up shirt paired with a light, airy pair of pants, they reminded Aggie of beachwear. Liel was the last man of the group and they all were now encircling her and gathered to the table.

“Good evening, Agatha.” Liel was the first to speak and he insisted on using her full name.

“I believe I asked you to call me, Aggie. Care to introduce me to your friends?”

“Of course, it would be my pleasure.” Liel turned toward Mathius first. “You know Mathius from last night.” Continuing on he came to the twins, “I’d like you to meet Mitchell and Ren. Then we have Xavier,” Liel indicated the man dressed all in black without a tie. “Next is Gryson.” This was the man dressed to the nines. Next was the man who wore the green shirt, “This is Eldon and last but not least is, Kyrel.” Liel finished with a flourish of his hand at each of them. Kyrel was the man who had entranced her from the beginning. So, she didn’t let her gaze linger on him very long, for fear of being unable to tear it away. “Just for formalities, I would like to introduce you all to Agatha. She is Blythe’s granddaughter and newest Gatekeeper.”

Most of their heads bobbed in acknowledgement, Aggie noticed that not all of the new faces bothered. She didn’t know if she should take offense or ignore their potentially rude behavior. “I don’t even know where to start. I’m sure we will have time to get to know each other better later, for now let’s just get to the problem at hand.” Taking charge had never been a problem for Aggie and now was no different. In a room full of drop dead sexy men, it could be easy to get distracted by the way their shirts stretched over their bulk and left little to the imagination. Each of them was built in a way that gave her a better understanding of why they were chosen to be a part of the Brotherhood to begin with.

“Thank you for being considerate of our time and the reason we are all here. I know everyone will want to have a chance to speak with you and we can save that for the end.” Liel seemed to be the spokesperson of the group. Then Mathius took over and explained to the new portion of the group what he had told Liel and Aggie the previous night.

*****

“So, we have roughly two weeks to get to the bottom of this?” Kyrel with his silken voice, spoke up first. He was holding his chin in his hand as he took in all the information, his finger pressed against his mouth in deep concentration.

“Yes, that is how it appears.” Liel confirmed to the group, answering Kyrel’s question.

“Have you found any witnesses or evidence that we can trail?” One of the twins spoke up, but Aggie couldn’t tell them apart, yet.

“Which one are you again?” Aggie decided to ask rather than wait until after they finished their meeting. If she could get it straight now then it would make the conversation easier to follow.

“Mitchell,” the dark-haired twin answered gruffly without another word. His twin, Ren, smirked at her and winked flirtatiously. Aggie just smiled in return, he was obviously going to be trouble - of the sexy variety.

“There have been no witnesses and minimal evidence, but perhaps you could sniff something out on site, as the prince’s room has been kept in isolation since the incident occurred.” Mathius was nothing but a man of power and when in the moment never to falter. He had information and that was all he was going to give. Very little emotion sounded in his voice as he spoke and Aggie wondered if that was his personality for when he had a job to do or if he was emotionally detaching himself from this case.

“You do realize we’re good for more than just sniffing out your evidence, right?” Mitchell scoffed at Mathius’s choice of words leaving Aggie to theorize their meaning. In true Aggie form, she just asked.

“I suppose that there is a personal jab he has touched on there. So, I’m just going to ask, at the risk of sounding rude, what are you?”

Mitchell sneered at her question and didn’t answer. Ren on the other hand had no qualms about being the source of information. “While there are proper ways to ask, we can let you off, just this once, while you are still feeling out the ins and outs of all of this. Mitchell and I are the head of the shifters. He is the Alpha, while I am his Beta. I have nearly the same level of authority as he does, so we share the Guardian responsibilities.”

“Shifters? Like you are werewolves or something?” Aggie asked with a little hesitation. If these guys were werewolves, that meant the men in this room were far more dangerous than she let herself consider.

“We are not werewolves.” Mitchell growled his words, slamming his hands firmly on the table as he rose from his seat. His reaction confirmed his possible heritage. “Shifters are a controlled species that aren’t at the mercy of the cycle of the moon. Humans have ruined our honorable reputation.” Clearly, she had stepped on his toes, unintentionally.

“I’m sorry, I meant no offense. I’m less than twenty-four hours into learning about your worlds and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all.” Aggie hoped she could smooth things over with them all and not cause any more problems.

“Pay no attention to him, he’s just grumpy by nature. You’re welcome to ask any questions of us that you would like. If he is too grumpy to answer, just come find me and I’ll help you.” Ren was obviously the nicer of the twins and at least she could tell them apart. Ren’s lighter hair fell in front of his face and he flipped it back, giving Aggie the impression that he would make a very dreamy surfer guy.

“Can we continue now?” Mathius cleared his throat to redirect the attention back to him and the reason they were all there. Aggie nodded and the guys continued.

“I think we need to get onsite and start investigating so we can try and dig up some leads. This close to the festival and there is a good chance they will strike again.” Eldon spoke up for the first time that night. His voice sounded like a melody and Aggie knew right then that he would be one who could talk her out of or into anything.

“Do you have the rooms ready for us? I think it would be best to go ahead and leave, tonight.” Gryson’s voice was smooth and commanding. Aggie assumed he was used to being in charge and wonder what the actual dynamic of their little group was and who was considered the leader. Since they all were leaders in their own right, it was difficult to decide.

“The Brotherhood rooms were made ready when I came last night, so whenever you’re all ready we can start.” Mathius was quick to answer as though he expected the question.

The excitement Aggie felt overshadowed the remaining emotions storming through her. “We all get to go?”

With an eyeroll, Mathius nodded. “If you must tag along, a room will be prepared for you as well.”