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There was only one way to get her out of this.

When I got to my room, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the familiar number.

“Damn it, Bardot, answer the goddamn phone!”

I cursed quietly when, as always, the voicemail kicked in.

Wherever he was, he didn't want anyone to reach him. Maybe he had even destroyed his cell phone and started a new life.

I wished him well, even though I was still angry that he could just walk away like that.

But if he wasn't going to answer the phone, I had to find another way.

I would get Emely out of this.

Chapter 24

Bayla

Flame

Angus MacRae

Full of excitement and curiosity, I approached the bookcase that had just slid aside and stared into the passageway, its walls adorned with stone reliefs of snakes and lilies, leading deeper toward a spiral staircase.

One of the old books slowly floated out of the bookcase, then another, and finally several at once.

I stepped back again.

The books slammed to the floor.

“Um...” Miles picked up the books with a questioning look. “Is that supposed to happen?”

“We find a secret passage in the director's office lit by magical candles, and you're seriously wondering if flying books are normal?”

Larissa took the tomes from his hands with an amused snort and pushed them back onto the shelf.

When her gaze met mine, she paused for a second and stared at me, just like before. Then she quickly turned away.

What was wrong with her?

I didn't have time to focus on her, so I turned my attention to the passageway.

Julie held me by the arm, her fingers icy cold. “Wait.”

Her eyes glowed gray-blue, almost white, and she raised her hand toward the passageway.

“Hmm... strange. Normally, secret doors are protected by defense mechanisms. At least in Moenia. But here...” She lowered her hand, and the glow disappeared from her eyes. “Nothing.”

“Because my uncle is no wizard, and now come on. I want to know what he’s hiding here.”

Emely strode past us, into the short passageway, and eventually up the stairs, and I didn’t need to be asked twice to follow her, even though I took cautious steps.

The others joined us, and with every step I took, one of the candles next to us lit up and revealed further bas-reliefs.

Had the candles not noticed Emely, or had she simply run up too quickly?

Carved out of the wall next to me was another stone snake winding its way along the massive column of the spiral staircase, as well as intertwining flower vines, leading us up to another floor.