“He tricked us,” I said.
“Meant to keep us busy.” She spun in a circle. “It was an impressive enchantment. Where’s the exit?”
I strode to a wall, pressing my hand against the stone and trying to feel for any sort of magical signature.
There was nothing.
The stone was dead and cold beneath my palm. I walked around the room, searching for anything that might show us where the door had been hidden.
“Is there even a seer here?” Carrow asked. “Or is she long gone?”
“There should be. The seer is bound to this place, to the magic here. But I don’t think Silviu is going to return and take us to a meeting.”
“No, I don’t think so. Is he angry at you for leaving? Is that why he’s locked us up?”
“No doubt he is, but I think he’s imprisoned us because he wants you to find his mate.”
“Bastard. As if I’d help him now.” She shook her head. “No way I’m leading that unsuspecting woman to him if he does stuff like this.”
“I think that’s wise.” I finished my circuit of the room and turned to her. “There’s no door that I can find. There must be one, but it’s concealed.”
She frowned. “Eve’s magic should have revealed it.”
“It may be hidden by another mechanism. Or it possibly disappeared entirely and was replaced with a wall.”
Her face paled. “Or Silviu bricked us in while we were busy kissing.”
“We’ll find a way out.”
She spun around, searching. “Cordelia? Can you come here?”
A moment later, the raccoon appeared in the middle of the room, looking slightly annoyed. I was watching my stories.
I raised my eyebrows at Carrow in query.
“She’s become enamored by American soap operas,” Carrow said, then looked at the raccoon. “I think you can see this is an emergency.”
Cordelia spun around and looked at the room. Well, you’ve gotten yourself into a pickle.
“Yes. Can you go into the rest of the castle and sneak around? See if you can find the entrance, then return and tell us what wall it’s located on?”
Cordelia nodded. Just give me a moment.
She disappeared. While we waited, Carrow dug around in her bag, pulling out two more glass orbs. “Looks like we’ve got two bombs. I don’t know how powerful they are, but I don’t think they’d destroy the entire room.”
I walked to her and held out a hand. She passed me one of the small glass orbs. Magic vibrated against my palm, prickling and sharp. “They’re powerful, but I agree. I don’t think they’ll collapse the roof on us.”
“We just need to know which wall to throw them at.”
Cordelia returned a moment later, then tilted her head, appearing to try to get her bearings. Turning, she scurried to a wall and laid a small paw on it. This one. The door is here. I can see it from the outside but not from the inside. It’s not normal—more like an outline in the stone. No wood or anything.
“No lock?” I asked.
No.
“Weird.” Carrow shrugged. “Shall we try it?”
I looked at the wall, then at Cordelia. “Could you tell how thick it is?”
No. But thick, I think.
I frowned, thinking. “If the bombs are too strong, the explosion will fill this room and kill us. But if they aren’t strong enough to destroy the barrier from the inside, we’ll have used them up pointlessly.”
“What do you suggest?”
I looked at Cordelia. “How far can you throw a ball?”
Cordelia scoffed. Really far.
“Is the hallway long enough that you can stand far away from the door?”
Much longer than this room.
“Okay, good,” I said. “Can you return to the hallway and throw this bomb at the door from the outside?”
Cordelia looked between Carrow and me, her gaze on the two bombs we held. If one is good, two is better.
“Like kebabs?” Carrow asked.
Just like kebabs.
“Okay, then,” I said. “Take both. But stay far enough away to avoid the blast. And if they don’t fully destroy the door, hopefully it will encourage the guards to check on us.”
I can do that. Cordelia held out her little paws for the bombs, and Carrow handed them to her.
She crouched down and met the racoon’s eyes. “Be careful, all right?”
Cordelia nodded. Sure thing.
A moment later, Cordelia disappeared.
“Come on.” I gripped Carrow’s hand and pulled her toward the far wall, away from the door. I moved to shield her, and she shoved at me.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said.
I looked down at her and just frowned. That hardly deserved a response.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want to protect you.”
She scowled up at me. “Well, I want to protect you, too.”
The corner of my mouth tugged up in a smile. “Too bad. I’m bigger.”
I stood between her and the door. She tried to move aside, but a deafening explosion rocked the room.
My head rang as I glanced toward the wall where the door was meant to be. It looked normal, the stone totally undamaged.
“Damn it.” My voice sounded odd inside my head.
Carrow pulled me back against the wall just as the second explosion hit. It came more loudly than the first, or so I thought. My ears were still ringing, but the blast had made my ribs vibrate.
Dust billowed toward us, and I blinked, squinting. It faded to reveal a hole in the wall right where a door might be, roughly a few meters square.
Cordelia hurtled through the opening, her eyes bright. Guards incoming!
I darted across the room, my hearing gradually returning. As I neared the hole in the wall, I caught sight of a large man stopping right in front of it. I reached through and grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him through the hole.
He shouted and thrashed, and I pulled him all the way into the room, then lifted him up and snapped his neck. Bones popped, and he went limp. I threw him aside.
A second guard climbed through the hole, his hand glowing with green magic. He threw it toward me, and I dodged, barely managing to spin out of the way. It crashed into the wall, sending a painful shockwave of dark magic blasting into me.
I yanked him to me. His palm was beginning to glow again, a second blast powering up. I didn’t give him a chance. Instead, I snapped his neck like I had the other and tossed him aside.
Carrow watched me with wide eyes. “That was…”
“A bit much?” Generally, I tried not to kill my opponents. Here, however, there wasn’t time to fool around with grappling. We needed answers, and if Silviu found us, we’d have no chance. The guards had made their choice when they’d agreed to work for him. It was Carrow’s life or theirs, and the decision was easy for me. I looked out the hole in the wall, searching the hallway beyond. It was empty. I gestured for Carrow to follow. “Come on.”
I climbed out of the room and reached back for Carrow. She scrambled out behind me, and Cordelia waved from within the room. Call me if you need me. I have a date with Luke and Laura. They’re getting hitched.
She disappeared.
I turned, then headed down the hall, Carrow at my side. We hurried through the dark halls, down staircases and past empty rooms.