She squeezed me one last time. “And, Elowen? Good luck.”
I forced a smile, then gripped the portal key tighter. “Open key for thou I ask, I need a door for this new task.”
The realm swirled around me, and the ground dropped out from beneath me. But I kept my concentration steady, my mind clear.
The Isle of Song. Take me to the university on the Isle of Song.
The portal keydropped me off at the bottom of the university’s steps on the large island.
Moonlight illuminated the huge stone stairs, cut into natural rock, that climbed to the monstrous monolith in front of me. I’d never been here before and had only heard of this prestigious school, and for a moment, all I could do was stare. The building before me was more like a temple, and it washuge.
Tales wove through our land about the university’s imposing magic. Everything I’d ever heard about this place rang true. Heady power pulsed around the school, which was carved from the scarred rock on the side of the natural mountain that rose from this lone isle far out in the Adriastic Sea.
Waves crashed below on the distant shores beneath the mountain, so faint I could barely hear them. I searched my surroundings, gazing at the wild grasses swaying in the breeze behind me. But nobody was about. I wasn’t surprised. Other than this ginormous building holding the university and library, there was nothing else on this isle, and it was said the scholars and the handful of students here rarely left their chambers.
Pillars waited at the top of the stairs, and intricate mystical engravings decorated each one. It was rumored those engravings had come from the time of the gods and that this architectural marvel was just as old.
I had no idea who’d built this place, and no one else did either, but the magic here was thick and ancient, and it was said to have come from the stars. It caressed me on the wind, as though trying to seek the power inside me while humming through my veins.
Some said it was why the scholars here were so knowledgeable—that the land fed their minds, linking them to a time when our realm was first born and our magic was ignited by the galaxy. It was a time that no longer existed. An ancient time.
No wonder Jax knew so much about lorafins if he consulted the scholars here.
I dropped the rolled carpet at my feet. It was too heavy and cumbersome to carry with me, and I had no need for it at the moment, so I gripped my pack instead.
With deliberate footsteps, I began to climb the stairs, and with each press of my soles into the rock beneath my feet, an answering pulse—a beat of acknowledgment—vibrated through my limbs.
This land knew what I was, and perhaps I was crazy to think it, but it felt as though it welcomed me.
At the top of the stairs, torches lit rock doors that stood twenty feet high. But there were no guards. No sentries. Yet the doors opened automatically the moment I stepped toward them.
They swung inward, and a long stretch of an immense hallway appeared before me, reminding me of darkly buried tombs long forgotten. Pillars graced the halls on the inside as well, and like the outdoors, torches lit the way.
I stopped at the threshold, gazing at the cavern in front of me. Not a soul could be seen.
“Hello?” I called, my voice echoing down the vast chamber.
“Welcome, Lorafin.” The whispered words carried on the breeze, and I swung around, my heart hammering as I searched for who’d spoken.
No one was about.
“Don’t be afraid.” The whisper again came from nowhere and everywhere at once. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
I took a deep breath, reminding myself that this was the only way to save Jax and that the magic here was not to be feared. Respected, yes, but I’d never heard of this isle hurting anyone maliciously. Not yet, at least.
Tentatively, I stepped over the threshold, and a wall of magic instantly encased me. Thick, potent power swirled around me but released me just as fast on the other side.
I gasped, my eyes widening. The hall that I’d seen from the outside was no more. Instead, a large chambers stood before me, lined with books, tomes, and rolled scripts. I swung around. The twenty-foot-tall doors were gone. Only a simple arched doorway waited behind me.
Fear cascaded through me. I had no idea where I was or how to get out, and perhaps the whisperings I’d heard about this place were wrong after all.
“Do not be afraid,” a voice called. “’Tis the land’s magic. It knew what you wanted, and it transported you to where you seek within the school.”
I swung around, my breaths so short and quick that I had to consciously slow them. My eyes popped. A gargoyle waited before me, no more than four feet tall. He wore a long crimson robe, and his clawed feet poked out from beneath it.
“My name is Master Fistideeous, and I’m to be your teacher.”
I blinked. I’d heard that the universities and great libraries on the continents employed gargoyle scholars, but I’d never seen one. And I’d always thought at night they returned to stone, yet the gargoyle standing before me was very much alive.
