“I don’t like that answer, Barlen. It is truly one of my least favorite phrases in magical situations.”
“It’s the truth.”
“So, what makes you think that if you have to come in through the window, we should go out through the corridor?”
He let out a sigh. “Do you think you could balance on the ledge? You’re…You don’t…”
My brow lifted. “I don’t what?”
“You don’t strike me as a mountain climber.”
“Ouch.”
“It is what it is.” His little shoulders nearly went up to his ears.
“Are you by any chance related to Twobble?” I teased.
Barlen eased the door open carefully, and the compound felt eerily quiet at this hour. Too quiet. The kind of silence that made every tiny movement feel amplified.
We slipped into the corridor, while shadows pooled heavily beneath archways farther down the hall. Barlen moved quickly but carefully, guiding me through turns and narrow staircases that felt intentionally confusing.
But the shadows never followed.
“This place is like a maze,” I whispered.
“It changes.”
I nearly walked directly into him. “Excuse me?”
“The compound rearranges portions of itself at night.”
“Oh, sure. Of course it does.” I nodded. “Just a regular night in the magical world.”
He glanced back at me. “You’re taking this remarkably well.”
“I’ve learned I rarely have a choice in life.”
A faint smile touched his mouth again before disappearing.
We descended another staircase, this one narrower and colder than the others.
“You know,” I whispered as we reached the bottom, “maybe this place isn’t so bad.”
“You say strange things when nervous.”
“I say strange things constantly. Nervousness just increases the frequency.”
Barlen shook his head slightly and pushed open a rusted iron door.
Cold air slammed into us instantly.
I stopped short as Shadowick spread beyond the compound walls like a dying dream.
The village looked even more unsettling at night.
Fog curled through the narrow streets as silence pressed over the village. It felt wrong in a way I couldn’t fully explain.
Barlen stepped beside me. “Keep your hood up.”
