Oliver scrutinized the large magic circle he had previously summoned into the throne room. Spreading his arms wide, he enlarged it even more to accommodate the four of us inside. He pointed at the runes a few times, and they flared happily in response. Oliver, however, seemed less than pleased with the effect.

  “Sage, I’ll need you to plant my scythe in the exact center,” he called to Relias. “Blade facing up.”

  With a tired glower, Relias gestured at the dark weapon still locked onto the ground in a golden glow. It rose into the air, bobbing in protest to the summons. Its journey across the throne room was excruciatingly slow, yet we all watched in consternation as if we were being forced.

  Righting the scythe was almost impossible for His Holiness, and it jerked this way and that several times, purposefully missing the indent that had marked its destination. Time marched on, and even though I knew it had attacked Nora the moment she had touched it, all I could do was resist the urge to grab it out of sheer frustration.

  It might just be even more stubborn than its Master!

  “Take back your focus for now, demon,” Relias eventually relented in a strained huff, pulling back the glow that held it aloft. The scythe bounced on the stones for a moment, then rocked back and forth mockingly. “And know I will not hesitate to strip it away the moment you plot to betray us.”

  “I do not doubt you would try,” Oliver murmured as he picked up his scythe.

  To be fair, Relias’s threat was more muted than the others had been, though I wasn’t sure if it was because of embarrassment or simple exhaustion.

  A silver shimmer ran across the scythe’s length for a moment before it quivered again, its blade fading as a flickering green orb replaced it. Oliver himself also sparkled, his horns and tail ebbing away. He tossed his head a few times before running his fingers through his hair, only to turn his narrowed eyes on me.

  “Why are you staring?”

  With a guilty flinch, I blurted, “You’re not… going to go out looking like that, are you?”

  Why hadn’t I realized it when I was younger? Or anyone else in the party? Sure, they were all beautiful beings in their own right, but as for him…

  Oliver drew himself up. “My disguise has been carefully cultivated in response to my exhaustive study of countless mortals—”

  “It’s too perfect!” I shouted in exasperation.

  Oliver blinked several times, taken aback. “What?”

  “There is no way your current form would fool anyone. No blemishes, no imperfections! And don’t get me started on that face! It’s just… well, you know.”

  I’m sure he chose it simply to fluster me, eyelashes and all.

  A weird, instantly irritating half-grin tugged at his lips. “No, I do not know, but now I’m very curious as to—”

  “She means you don’t blend in,” Nora interjected, folding her arms. “At least add a bit of dust or wear something. Look at the rest of us!”

  “You should assume a different visage entirely, demon!” Relias snarled. “The Captain was surely saying your face would be immediately recognizable!”

  Oliver looked between the three of us, an exaggerated air of innocence overtaking his expression. “Ah, I see. You’d prefer I dim my inner radiance for the sake of subterfuge.” He tapped his finger on his chin. “But to speak of such things, do consider how the Chosen One would be hailed for liberating her falsely accused companion and proving that Dark Mages have a rightful place in the world. Especially if you intend to erect a few of them as obstacles between us and my older siblings? That is merely a recommendation, of course…” He smiled a little too smugly for my taste. “For the Captain to decide upon.”

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  “What? Oh… Uh, yes, right. That makes sense…” I turned away with a vague sense of embarrassment. “Forget I said anything.”

  “Your Majesty,” Amos called from afar. “Your sundries.”

  I glanced back over my shoulder to see him apparate and hand off a stuffed traveler’s sack for Oliver. Once again, the two exchanged a few words in the language of demons, with Amos shaking his head over and over. Oliver shrugged at one point, and Amos’s tone turned somewhat hostile. Surprisingly, Oliver hung his head and muttered something that may have been the beginning of an apology. Amos replied, then let out a sharp hiss, and they both glanced at me as they shared a laugh.

  “Farewell, Your Majesty,” Amos said, bowing. “And to you all as well.” He dissipated with a soft buzz, his monocle the last bit of him to fade.

  “What did he say to you just now?” I asked Oliver. “What was so funny?”

  He shrugged evasively. “It wouldn’t exactly translate.”

  Like hell it wouldn’t!

  Nora clapped her hands crisply several times. “Let’s go already. Everyone in the circle!”

  Relias was the first to join her, standing by her left. I took my place on his other side to separate him from Oliver, though Nora looked none too pleased since that meant she wouldn’t be spared the same fate. Oliver came closer, but instead of crossing the circle’s threshold, he began to draw a few extra lines out like spokes from its perimeter before adding runes to them.

  “Um… What about your giant spider guardian?” I asked in a small voice. “Will it be okay?”

  “I have no such abominations,” he declared with a shudder.

  “You don’t like them either?” I asked, wondering why I had constructed such a thing so vividly in my nightmare back in Amantia.

  “My progenitor was overly fond of torturing me with them.”

  “Sorry…”

  “Why? You had nothing to do with it.”

  “I know, but…”

  “Keep all of yourself inside the circle,” he warned without looking up. “That includes your cape and hair.”

  I shuffled a few steps forward and fell silent, realizing I was probably distracting him. He finished, stood up, and then entered the magic circle with us. The ring around us flared purple, the flames leaking out into the spokes as the floor rumbled underneath us. His scythe-turned-staff lifted into the air and hovered as it slowly rotated, casting a greenish light over us.

  “Everyone hold hands and do not, under any circumstances, let go,” Oliver commanded, taking both of Nora’s and mine at the same time. Relias gritted his teeth but said nothing, his grip firm in mine. Just as Nora completed the circuit with Relias, the floor outside tilted sharply. Whole tiles began buckling as the loud, continuous rumble of tumbling rock echoed upwards from the castle’s depths.

  “No distractions!” Oliver cracked in warning. “Now, Nora!”

  Nora’s violet barrier wrapped us and the magic circle at our feet in a giant purple bubble. Stone shrieked as they fell from above, first bouncing harmlessly. As the loud onslaught continued, however, they began to pile up around and then over us, obfuscating everything beyond the circle. With one final wail, something incredibly heavy fell from above, its reverberations shaking us for what seemed like forever.

  And then there was nothing but oppressively heavy silence.

  In that strange circle of garish green and purple, we waited. Nora kept her eyes closed the entire time, her focus unbroken. Relias also dared not look around, but his lips twitched in what I could only imagine was a silent but continuous prayer. I watched Oliver, whose unseen gaze was fixated on the runes inside the circle.

  How long will they wait to lower the barrier around the castle?

  What if it takes days?

  This bubble isn’t that big…

  How much oxygen is left in here?

  What time is it?

  I haven’t eaten in… how long?

  It’s just like a prison here. Except it’s collapsed!

  As my anxiety threatened to overwhelm me, Oliver tugged at my hand. I turned, and he was breathing slowly, inhaling for several seconds, holding it just as long, and then letting it out just as slowly, before pausing to begin the cycle anew. He tugged again, the action quite insistent.

  Right. Box breathing!

  I synchronized my breathing with his, pushing all other thoughts aside. Staying on task wasn’t as easy as I had hoped; once I got the pattern down, my brain decided to revert to thoughts I didn’t want to focus on. Oliver must have recognized this, as he varied the time between steps slightly, forcing me to follow suit. On my other side, Relias also joined, his grip loosening slightly. Nora never seemed to notice our shared activity, and at one point, I stared hard to make sure she was, in fact, breathing.

  She’s amazing on so many levels, and she doesn’t even know it. What I wouldn’t give to be able to concentrate like—

  One of the runes in the circle flared from purple to green. Then another, and another, in a clockwise rotation until the entire array was primed. Olliver’s fanged, eager grin told me everything I needed to know. As the world faded away with a loud, triumphant buzz, I had never been so happy to feel so nauseated by the sensation of being once again ripped through the kaleidoscope of space.

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