Game of Stone

Game of Stone

## Blurb

**PLAY A DEADLY GAME**

Alastair Stone needs a break.

He’d gladly trade a big chunk of his newly-acquired fortune for a few uninterrupted weeks of rest, but that’s not going to happen. On top of dealing with his new magical status and a relationship heading in unexpected directions, he soon learns the bombshell revelations about his family aren’t even close to over yet.

As if all that weren’t enough, an ancient and malevolent set of magical game pieces has resurfaced, leaving a trail of murder and mayhem in its wake. Stone must join with some unlikely allies, including a mundane cop and an all-female vigilante gang, in a desperate race to gain the upper hand before thousands of people are dead.

In this game, losing is not an option.

## Plot

Frank and Ralph Gallegos open the latest storage unit they bought at auction. There’s not a lot inside, but a strange circle is drawn on the floor, surrounding an antique chest bound with a large padlock. Ralph goes back to their truck for a bolt cutter, only to return and find his brother’s desiccated corpse lying in the circle and the trunk open. Compelled, Ralph looks in the trunk, which contains only a small box full of black figurines, something like chess pieces. One is cracked and broken. In a daze, Ralph discards the broken piece, and pockets another that appeals to him. He closes and locks the chest and the unit, leaving his dead brother behind.

## Quotes and One-liners

Aubrey: "The only thing you have control over is what kind of person you allow yourself to be. I’ve known you for your entire life, and so far you’ve shown me no indication that you’re destined to follow in their footsteps. If you don’t want to be that kind of person—don’t allow yourself to become it.” Stone snorted. “As simple as that, is it?” “Yes, sir. As simple as that.”

Alastair Stone is exhausted from spending his days teaching at Stanford, and every other available minute settling things at Caventhorne, adjusting wards that are difficult for him now that he is a black mage. He and Verity are walking on eggshells around each other, as well, both because of their unplanned intimacy, and because Verity feels responsible for Alastair’s going black.

After an uncomfortable dinner at Verity’s, Stone is about to head back to Caventhorne when he receives a call from a SFPD Detective Timmons, asking if he can come up to take a look at a strange crime scene. He reluctantly agrees, though he’s strapped for time. At the storage facility in San Francisco, Stone studies the magic circle and the skeletonized body. Ignoring the heckling of the skeptic Det. Blum, who is also present, Stone says the circle is designed to be a protective barrier.

Inside the trunk is nothing but a single broken figurine, like a chess piece. Before Stone can make much of it, Timmons get a call about children saying their father had just murdered their family – they escaped. The father is the dead man’s brother, Ralph Gallegos and he’s fled. The rest of the unit’s contents indicate they belonged to a mage, but a fairly benign one. The CSIs arrive, so the group leaves the unit, but skeptical Blum calls Stone aside and tells him he knows who and what Alastair is.

At a coffee shop, Blum tells Stone he’s from a magical family on his mother’s side, and just plays skeptic to keep from being labeled weird. They discuss the case, and Stone asks if Blum can get him access to the game piece, Ralph’s crime scene or, when Ralph is caught, Ralph himself. Blum will do what he can, and try to get hold of an item of Ralph’s so perhaps Stone can find him.

The next day, Stone meets with Stefan Kolinsky, and admits to him that he was forced to ash another mage in self-defense, rendering himself black. Kolinsky gives him some advice, as well as the contact information for three people who routinely donate energy for a fee. More, he shows Stone his elaborate tattoos and explains that they’re magically created by a mage artist to store more power, more efficiently, and gives him the artist’s information, as well.

Blum tells Stone that Ralph has killed half his family, two children having escaped. He gives him a shirt of Ralph’s to track him and Stone does find him, but Ralph suicides during the ritual. He had one of the game pieces. The pieces are old, possibly thousands of years, and Stone is afraid more are out there.

Alastair gets a shock when he finds out that Adelaide Bonham has passed away, and left hefty endowments for Stanford, including a professorship for the Occult Studies department, which will go to him. It includes funding for research and travel. He can’t bask long, though, because his first attempt to draw power from a donor goes badly, with him taking too much and leaving the woman weak. She tells him she’ll be fine with rest, but he’s ashamed.

Stone contacts and meets with Scuro to set up a magical tattoo so he can go longer without needing power. He also meets with Kolinsky for help researching the figurines, and agrees to a pub crawl with some of his colleagues to blow off some steam. There, he agrees to sit in on a practice with the Cardinal Sin band, which needs a guitarist, against his better judgment.

Meanwhile, Stone alerts Blum to an odd theft case he spotted in the paper. Blum comes back with confirmation that the man had one of the figures and, more importantly, bought it from someone on the wharf who had more of them in a box. Enlisting Verity’s help, he finds the stoner who’d had the pieces, but he’s sold them all and only has the box, which Stone buys from him. He magically tests the box, but can find out nothing about it. Later, he has his practice with the Cardinal Sin and it goes well, with Stone enjoying the creative respite from everything.

Kolinsky reports back to Stone that the pieces are, indeed, from a game played thousands of years ago, by dragons – a euphemism for mages. When a black piece activates, a corresponding white piece also activates to oppose it. It’s then up to the white holder to stop the crime of the black holder, the crimes escalating from theft to, possibly, mass murder. Stone shows Kolinsky the box, and he is mesmerized by it. Stone tells him to find the white set, and he can have it.

Stone tells Verity he’s going for a tattoo, and she asks to come along. He also mentions the Cardinal Sin, and she can’t help but tease him about rock bands and tattoos – what’s next? The tattoo, being magical, is excruciatingly painful, leaving Stone weak and holding on to consciousness. Verity steps up and heals it, prompting Scuro to offer her a job, which she refuses but says she’ll keep in mind.

The next day, Stone finds out that, in addition to the endowment, Adelaide Bonham has left him a property. It turns out to be a large home and property nearby, but tucked away in the woods, as well as a trust for repairs and taxes. He’s floored, not realizing Adelaide even recalled him, though he can’t imagine he’d keep the place, having three homes already. However, when he and Verity look it over, he realizes it’s much better for his library and a permanent circle than his rental. Finding out it’s on a ley line – and - haunted seals the deal.

Kolinsky locates the white game set, in the collection of a powerful mage names Thalassa Nera, and proposes Stone break in and steal it, with help he’ll provide. Alastair initially balks. It’s crazy, and he’s no sneak-thief. But if he can’t counter the black pieces with the white, people will die. Blum’s call that an arson has occurred involving another black piece convinces Stone to do it.

The target turns out to be a penthouse on the 75th floor of a Manhattan high-rise. Kolinsky’s ‘help’ turns out to be Zack Beeler, the pothead slacker who can breach wards without triggering them, and whom Stone thought Stefan had killed. Kolinsky not only kept him alive, but improved his education, magical strength, and lifestyle, and uses him periodically for delicate jobs.

The pair manage to access Nera’s apartment through various magical, mundane and technological means, dodging several traps. Stone liberates the white game set, while Zack nabs a scroll Kolinsky specified he wanted. But, on the way out, two enormous statues come to life, grab the pair, and chuck them off the balcony. Stone has to think fast and work hard to grab Zack and levitate them both to a lower balcony, via which they escape.

Stone continues researching his family’s past, enlisting Eddie and Aubrey to help locate information. He also has his first gig with the Cardinal Sin, after which Verity is quite turned on, and… But while they agree they love each other, neither is inclined to settle down and be exclusive.

Eddie calls Stone and tells him he has information on the Stone family, and it’s not good. A journal belonging to a James Brathwaite hints at black rituals the Stones and others were involved in. Stone’s upset, to the point his control slips and he nearly draws power unasked from a cabby. Horrified at himself, he’s nevertheless short with Aubrey when the old caretaker asks him to confide his troubles.

Stone begins avoiding Verity, mostly because she’s far too attuned to him and might intuit his upset. He throws himself into rehabbing the new-old house in Encantada. He’s working there when Jason arrives. They work together for a while, but Jason finally admits that Verity has told him about Stone going black to save her life. An argument ensues, with Jason insisting that Stone rely on him for power, and Stone angry that his black mage status is becoming known. They come to blows but, ultimately – angrily – Stone draws power from Jason. He could have hurt or killed him, he was that angry, but Jason is fine, and feels much better that he can help Stone in return for saving his siter. Stone is not as happy because, while he got plenty of power, there was no rush to it. Plus, he’d been angry enough to draw power without worrying whether Jason was okay, compounding his guilt.

A white game piece activates, prompting Stone to leave a meeting at the university to get it from his safe. This one seems to indicate rape, and Stone enlists a cabby to ferry him around until he can pinpoint the black piece – in a crappy San Francisco neighborhood. Once there and tracking on foot, he runs afoul of a group of female vigilantes also tracking the rapist – they mistake Stone for their quarry. A battle ensues, but Stone eventually pushes them all off with magic, though he’s taken a beating. They sort out that they’re both looking for the same man, and one of the women – Hezzie, a witch – heals Stone. They follow unseen while he tracks the man to an abandoned tenement.

The man is about to rape a woman in front of her children when Stone finds him and pulls him off her. The women – the Harpies – converge on the rapist and deliver a beatdown, and Stone retrieves the black game piece, then calls Leo Blum in to arrest the man while the Harpies make themselves scarce. Before the police arrive, Stone replenishes his power by drawing from the rapist. When Blum appears, he’s not happy that Stone is keeping secrets, nor that the Harpies (well known to the police) were involved.

Verity and Stone chat later about her disclosing Alastair’s secret to Jason, but while he’s still miffed, he agrees having Jason as a power source is the logical solution to his problem. He then returns to Surrey to search the house for any hidden cache of information on his ancestors. Aubrey advises against it, saying no good can be gained from unearthing a painful past. A comment of his, though, triggers an idea, and Stone is convinced something is hidden in the family crypt. Aubrey helps him remove the seal from his grandfather’s crypt, and they find a box. Before he can investigate, though Kyla of the Harpies calls. A relative of one of their members has a black game piece, and she’s disappeared.

Stone enlists Verity’s help, and they go to Kyla’s to meet with the Harpies. The missing woman, Lara’s cousin Iris, is a former military sniper with grudges against the military and the government. Stone is hoping that he can find and stop her before the black piece activates. While most of the Harpies and Verity go to search, Stone does a tracking ritual. He briefly locates Iris, but the ritual ends when the white piece Stone has begins to glow – Iris’ piece has activated.

Using the white piece now, Stone and Greta take his car to track her, while Greta gives him more information on Iris and her possible motivations. In contact with Verity and her carload of Harpies, Stone asks Verity to check for events being held near the piers. She reports that a general and the mayor will be at a rally about to start at a plaza off the Embarcadero. As Stone and Greta get close, the piece seems to indicate that Iris has gone upward. They guess at her using a highrise roof to set up her shot. A car accident ahead stops them, so Stone continues on foot. He zeros in on the hotel, and calls Leo Blum. He tells the lieutenant that a piece has activated and there is a shooter in the crowd; he must get the general and mayor away from the area.

Stone levitates to the hotel roof and finds Iris. He tells her that her targets have been removed from the area; there is no one to shoot. She takes a shot at him, not believing him, then Verity and Lara arrive. Lara tries to go to Iris, but her cousin shoots her, too. Iris tries to jump off the building, but Stone grabs her with telekinesis, while Verity goes to Lara. She heals the woman, but can’t replace the lost blood, so she’ll need time to recover. Alastair keeps an eye on Iris and calls Blum to tell him the threat is gone. At Lara’s they put the woman to bed to rest, and explain to Iris what happened to her. Verity and Kyla seem to have an instant connection, so Stone goes home alone.

Back to waiting for the final game piece to activate, Stone travels back to Surrey to open the box from the crypt. The details of his ancestors’ black rituals are all there, as well as the nefarious business practices they and their associates, members of a mysterious group called Ordo Pupuratus, made their fortunes on. More, the one accomplishment Alastair was most proud of – the construction of the portals – was an accident that the black mages initially used to dispose of bodies before they learned it could be used for travel. Stone is disgusted and ashamed. Aubrey assures him he’s nothing like them, nor was his father.

Stone learns that Verity is assisting the Harpies with some of their vigilante activities, and is not at all happy. He tells her she will not be doing that while still his apprentice. However, she’s ready to conclude her apprenticeship, in his opinion, and it’s up to her to decide.

A couple of weeks later, Stone and Verity are lingering in bed when Jason arrives at the apartment. Verity nearly convinces him to leave and she’ll call later, when Jason spots Alastair’s pub tee on the floor. Jason gets livid, especially when Stone comes out of the bedroom. But Verity orders Jason to leave until he’s calmed down. That night, Jason arrives at Stone’s townhouse and they talk it out. Jason realizes he needs to apologize to Verity, when she calls Stone to tell him he’d left the last game piece at her place and it has activated, but she was out and doesn’t know how long ago.

Despite the tension between the three, they all head off to follow the white piece’s directions, and Stone calls Blum. They seem to be headed back to San Francisco, and the Embarcadero. When they reach the area, the piece continues to point out, into the Bay. Blum says that’s bad; it’s the Fourth of July, and any number of cruise boats are out holding dinner cruises that end with the fireworks over the Bay Bridge.

Blum meets them at a pier and tells them he knows which ship will be the target, the Beau Monde is not responding to communications. A boat and helicopter have been sent to warn the boat, but they can’t find it. Stone realizes it’s either invisible or hidden in illusion. The commandeer a boat and head out, only the white piece showing them the way until they finally pierce the illusion hiding the Beau Monde. As soon as they arrive the calm Bay begins to erupt in choppy waves. Stone and Verity secure the boat and levitate the four of them up to one of the Beau Monde’s decks.

They split into pairs, with Stone and Blum heading into the dining room while Jason and Verity go up and forward to find an officer. While searching kitchen, Blum and Stone hear screaming from the dining room. The waves have gotten bigger, and large watery tentacles are reaching over the deck to grab people and fling them into the Bay.

Stone starts grabbing people with magic and putting them back on the boat, but he’s grabbed himself, and flung overboard, hitting his head on the rail. The water revives him immediately, but it takes a lot of time and effort to find the surface, then levitate himself back to the boat. He nearly doesn’t make it, his strength going, but Blum reaches out and pulls him to safety. He’s freezing and exhausted, but still determined, and tells Blum they need to get belowdecks, the only place he can think of where the black piece’s pawn might be.

They find their quarry in the engine room, wiring explosive charges to the engines. The man tells Stone he can’t interfere; he has a remote detonator and will blow the explosives if Stone tries to remove them. When Blum tries to shoot the guy, Stone uses the distraction to grab one of the bombs and wrap it in a shield before the man detonates it. When he can think past the feedback, he sees the man make the final connection on the second device. Drained and out of magic, Stone lunges for him, and begins draining him of energy. Only Blum punching him in the face keeps him from killing the man.

Stone leaves Blum to play the hero of the hour and sneaks off to find Jason and Verity. Jason excitedly tells Stone that Verity was amazing, shielding people, plucking them away from the waves and tentacles… Blum later tells Stone that, miraculously, no one was killed.

Stone graduates Verity from her apprenticeship, considering her actions on the Beau Monde as good as any final project he could have devised. Later, in the middle of the night, Stone is musing over his trouble with black magic power addiction and not having made progress with Harrison’s magic. He has a sudden epiphany and leaves Verity to sleep while he gets up to plan out next steps.