Free Supernatural Games by Casey Knight

similar signatures. All the symbols had one thing in common. They were all derived from fae magic. However, it didn’t appear they were written by the same person, which may or may not mean anything. Still, a magic wielder usually has a unique signature and a symbol to identify the spell. Since all the spells were for teleportation, they all had those specific symbols. I would need to try again to find the identity of the user.
    I teleported home to my office and contacted Jason. He answered my summons almost immediately, and I told him what we had found. I showed him the runes and asked him if he recognized the user.
    “I don’t know who the user is, but I can tell you one thing, it’s ancient. If I had to guess, I would say its fae, and its user wields or bends the forces of nature. I’ll show it around the council and see if we can identify it for you.”
    “Thanks, and in the meantime, we will try to find out what we can from Queen Aerlene. Corbin should be back by now. I’ll keep you updated.”
    “Lauren, we need to make a decision soon on whether to shut the games down or proceed.”
    I sat and thought about what we knew and was sure of one thing. The universes were already compromised, so how could we keep the competitors safe. Each team was comprised of four people. Respectively, the teams supplied one person for each universe and none could proceed until their team member returned or was replaced. Within the first three universes there were four stages the player had to find and get their baton logged in and verified. They were given a symbol for their team that would be recorded electronically at each stage. The final universe also had four stages, which got exponentially harder. While the competitors were looking for each consecutive stage, the design team was manipulating the environment. Now we had an outsider using familiars to either eliminate or derail an opposing team. The Hunger Games had nothing on this scenario.
    I checked my watch and realized the others would be wondering where I was. I transported myself back to the Four-Courts. When I reached the conference room, everyone was present.
    “We were just going to go looking for you,” Traygen offered.
    “I am sorry. I was talking to Jason and got lost in my thoughts. Did you find out anything useful from Queen Aerlene?”
    “Unofficially, the Seelie and the Unseelie are squaring off over a territorial dispute. Mab wants more of the Seelie lands, and Queen Aerlene thinks she may cause problems with the games in an attempt to discredit her.”
    “It would have been nice to have known this beforehand. Did she say anything about the Fomorian warriors?”
    “No, and she seemed startled to hear about them. Still, she didn’t deny their existence. Then she abruptly dismissed me. I left, but I didn’t leave her realm right away. I changed into a bat and went back to see if she would send for anyone. I didn’t have long to wait. She sent for her wizards. I took it as my cue to leave before they discovered me.”
    “Corbin, well done. I need to check on something, and then we need to have a conference with everyone including Jason, present. We can convene back here in an hour.”
    It was time for a meeting with Queen Aerlene under the guise of head of security for the games. I sent a messenger and waited for her reply. I thought back over what I had seen when I was trying to decipher the runes. Before I had much time to contemplate things, I got a reply from the queen. She had agreed to meet with me. I wasted no time and teleported to the palace. Her wizard met me and escorted me to the queen’s chambers.
    “Queen Aerlene, thank you for meeting with me on such short notice,” I said as I bowed before her.
    “Lauren, how can I help you? Is there a problem with the games security?”
    I told her what we had discovered in the four universes and about the two portals that were not part of the design team’s plans. She didn’t interrupt me as I