I tried to remember what I’d been thinking about right before I saw the vortex open. I’d been thinking about Alaric, hadn’t I? And Dark Cathedral? I’d been worried about Alaric, where hemight be, what might be happening to him. Why would any of that send me to a very dark-feeling ritual in an Ancient Egypt?
Bones connected Dark Cathedral to Ancient Egypt in some way.
Hadn’t he said they traced their own roots back to that historical period?
“Do you want to walk around a little?” Graham offered. “There’s a castle up the hill. It’s different from the real Malcroix Mansion, of course, and there’s supposed to be a lot to look at inside. I ran into some of my Skyhunt buddies just now, and they said there’s even a dragon on the roof you can ride. Forsooth has all kinds of surprises in here… all over the grounds, too.”
I nodded, laying a hand on my belly as a faint wave of dizziness hit me.
It struck me that I hadn’t eaten anything, and I was on my second drink.
Walking would probably do me good.
“Is there food anywhere?” I asked him.
Graham’s smile widened. “Loads.” He offered his arm. “We can find you some nosh first, if you like? Then explore after?”
I slid my hand and arm through his, strangely grateful for the added balance. I probably shouldn’t have, but I dusted off the last of that too-sweet drink he’d given me, and carried the empty goblet in my hand.
“I can get rid of that for you,” he offered.
I shook my head. “No, it’s fine.”
I could feel he wanted it back, that it bothered him I hadn’t let him take it, but I stubbornly wanted to keep it.
I forgot about the goblet a few minutes later, when it slipped through my fingers onto the grass. I stared around as we walked up the hill and through a tall hedge-maze filled with faeries and animals made of light. A full-sized minotaur walked past us between the dense, leafy walls, snorting but not threatening usdirectly, and I saw what might have been a harpy, a woman with giant bird wings a beautiful face, with dragon-like claws instead of feet.
She stared at us as we walked past her, but didn’t speak.
The castle wasn’t in the same place as Malcroix, and didn’t look at all the same. It was tall and emerald green, with round turrets on four sides, and we had to walk across a bridge and then a drawbridge because it sat at the center of a crystal-blue lake. I heard roars and screams and laughter by the time we got to the drawbridge. Light flared overhead as fire filled the sky, and I figured it must be the dragon Graham’s mates told him about.
I hadn’t seen any food yet.
I had started to feel really unwell.
My vision dipped as I gripped Graham’s arm to stay upright.
“I might need to go back,” I said, and was surprised to hear my voice slur. “How do I get back to the main party? The non-chimaera part?”
“Not yet, Shadow,” Graham said soothingly. “We’ll head back soon, I promise. I just want to see the dragon first––”
“You said something about food?” I felt truly sick now, maybe too sick to eat, but my mind worked well enough to know I should probably eat something anyway, even if it was just a piece of bread. My head throbbed, and my eyesight blurred in the lights bobbing around us outside the castle walls.
“I need to go back,” I slurred. It hit me that Graham had an arm around me now, and I writhed away from the muscular hand on my hip. I was suddenly uncomfortable at how close I was to him. I stumbled slightly, and he gripped me tighter.
“Whoa there, Shadow,” he chuckled. “Take it easy. You don’t want to fall in the lake.”
We passed over the last part of the drawbridge, and through the tall castle doors.
Other second-years ran and walked past us, some of them shrieking and laughing, making my head hurt more. They passed us going in both directions, just like they had out in the gardens and by the lake. I saw some of them notice and stare at the two of us, but no one I knew, and I was still annoyed at how tightly Graham was holding me.
“I’d really rather go back,” I repeated stubbornly, fighting my uncooperative tongue. “Maybe we could come back after I’ve got something to eat.”
“There’s food inside,” he said, not loosening his hold.
I didn’t believe him.
Why didn’t I believe him?
