I wish I had taken those spectacles off Aster before charging off. At least then, I’d be able to see the magic in this place. Maybe if I can find the source, I can work out how to cut it off before I lose all sense of reality.
I close my eyes, girding myself as I force my mind to empty. It’s a trickier endeavour than most people who know me would think. To my family, I’m an empty-headed fool, always there with a ready smile and a joke. And sure, the thoughts zinging from one side of my brain to the other, like they’re hopped up on something seriously potent, aren’t exactly deep and meaningful. But that doesn’t make it any easier to push them all to one side.
I have to try, though, or I might end up stuck here forever. Who knows where the other two will have got to while I’m trapped here.
Torin’s going to tear my skin from my body if Reva gets hurt while I’m stuck here. I swore to him I would keep her safe, and I’m doing a really terrible job of that right now.
Right. Time to focus.
Be gone, thoughts of never getting out of here.
And you, twinge in my gut that is probably hunger since I didn’t eat breakfast.
Get lost, list of breakfast ideas for when I get back to the ship.
I wonder if the sorceress has bothered to feed Kit breakfast. Maybe we should have brought some food with us.
Right.Kit. That’s who I’m here for.
Rescue mission. Rescue. Mission.
Focus, Jack.Stop fucking about now.You need to focus.
But man, now that I’m thinking about it, I really am pretty hungry.
My pin-sized brain just about clings to the thread of concentration I need to get the job done. I take a breath, filling my lungs as deep as I can, and then I let my magic trickle over my feathers until I transform back, landing on two legs.
Keeping my eyes tightly shut, I then draw on my minuscule vault of magic stored deep down in my gut and draw it out. It’s hesitant at first, a little shy and uncertain about what I want it for. But I continue to coax it out, turning on the charm until I have a tiny ball of light in my hand.
For some people, magic only works when they say the right words at the exact right time, or a bundle of herbs and ingredients all stirred together.
But for me and my itsy-bitsy bit of power, the most important ingredients of all are intention, hope, and a whole lot of luck.
I squeeze my eyes shut again and push all my intention into breaking whatever glamour is going on around me and bringing light into the darkness. There’s an audiblepopand light floods in throughmy scrunched eyelids. A wave of relief goes through me as I risk a peek around me.
It worked.
No more endless dark tunnel. No more being stuck with my own thoughts for company.
I’m still alone, but at least I can move forward now. There’s a door right in front of me, and as I push my way through, I find myself inside a luxurious bathroom. Patterned mosaic tiles cover every inch of the space, and in the very centre is a circular bath that must be twice as wide as I am tall.
Torin never talked much about his time here, but I can’t imagine it was filled with bubble baths and spa days. So, this place must have been meant for the people on the other side. After a long day of torturing and experimenting, they must have come back here to relax and let all their worries float away.
As I approach the bathtub, I find it’s filled with a weird black goop, thick like tar and stinking of blood and magic. I step closer, and a bubble rises and pops on the surface, releasing a haunting scream that echoes off the walls.
My arse just about falls out as I stumble backward into the hard wall.
Another bubble bursts, and there’s a pained yelp from the bathtub. I’m hit with a waft of the same scent from Kit’s bedroom.
Sorcery.
Pop.
A man’s voice cries out, and my gut twists.
Another pop, this time it’s a woman screaming.
I feel like I stumbled into hell without realising it. The air feels like it’s getting thicker, and there’s an oily film hovering just above the bath.
