Even though it had been dimmed, it was still here.
The old man had followed us but remained several paces back near the lane’s entrance.
Barlen whispered, “We should not be here.”
I looked up at the windows, the barred doors, the root-and-shadow symbol, and the old stone, and the pull in my body deepened until it felt less like pain and more like a key turning beneath my skin.
And that was when I realized what I was looking at.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I stepped toward a stone wall and noticed a small plaque. Bending slightly, I used my palm to wipe away the soot and grime that had covered the letters, but after several failed attempts, I realized it wasn’t coming off.
“That’s not dirt,” Barlen whispered.
I straightened and turned to him. “What is it?”
“Shadow mud. It covers anything that isn’t meant to be seen and only something as bright as day can remove it.”
I didn’t like that answer and took a step back, staring at the small sign that no longer directed anything.
“You’re quite persistent,” the old man said. “Quite different than your mother.”
I spun around to look him in his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“She never followed the shadows.” He smiled and rocked back on his heels.
I knew in my heart what was bright as day to me, but I didn’t know if that counted in the land of shadows.
Turning back, I stepped forward and kneeled in front of the plaque. I pressed my hands to the cold stone, closed my eyes, reached out to everything I loved back home, and clung to thehope that a new day, a better day, would rise again. I felt my fingers warm, and my birthmark nearly fluttered as I blinked open to see the shadow mud turn to ash and fall away. I gasped as the words settled in.
Shadowick Academy.
I nearly stumbled backward and into Barlen, but he caught me instead. The old man’s pale eyes glimmered in the fog, and for once, Barlen had nothing to say, which only made everything more solemn.
Shadowick Academy.
The words sat there in blackened silver as if they’d been waiting for me to learn about them.
I’d heard whispers once or twice, implications that Shadowick had one too.
But why hadn’t Gideon said more, and what exactly did this Academy teach?
The questions rushed through me so quickly, I could hardly grab one before the next came. All I wanted were answers, and that longing was a dangerous thing in Shadowick. I knew it. I could feel it. Curiosity here had the same sharp edges as hunger.
Still, I took another step toward the enormous doors.
Barlen grabbed the edge of my cloak. “No.”
I looked down at him, and his little paw trembled against my cloak.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to do.” I eyed him.
“I do.” His voice dropped into a whisper. “You’re going to go inside.”
The old man shifted behind us, his cane tapping once against the stone. “If it opens.”
Barlen threw him a look of pure betrayal. “You are not helping.”
