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  With that, she stood, brushing the dust from her legs.

  “We should go. We can’t waste any more time on sentiment—there will be a moment for that when we have freed everyone from the clutches of the Great Evil,” Helena said boldly, keeping the tremor from her voice.

  Alex nodded. “Ellabell and I will set off for Kingstone. Let’s just hope we can stop Aamir before he opens the portal. For once, we have to hope he’s not as efficient as usual.”

  With that, they set off toward the abandoned quarter of the villa. They were almost at the point of no return, and one thing was for certain: nothing was ever going to be the same again.

  Chapter 26

  Storm led the duo safely back to the turret of Kingstone Keep, though it became apparent that nothing had changed within the prison. The roar of incensed prisoners could be heard even before they set foot into the main body of the keep, and they had to be cautious as they crept through the hallways. The piles of sleeping bodies that Alex had passed on his way out of the keep had disappeared, but he was fairly certain it wasn’t because they had been returned to their cells. There were too many people running wild for that to be the case.

  Speeding up, they reached the hallway that led down to the open courtyard, dodging an artillery of magic that surged from the hands of Vincent and Agatha.

  “Hey! It’s us!” Alex shouted, ducking out of the way of a golden spear.

  “Alex? Ellabell?” Vincent shouted, peering through the glimmering mist of spent magic that had filled the corridor between them.

  “Yes, ceasefire!”

  “Goodness, I am sorry,” Vincent said. “We have simply been shooting at anything that moves. As you can see, things have continued to get out of hand.” He frowned, his black eyes showing his displeasure at the state of affairs.

  “It looks like it,” Ellabell remarked, as Agatha shot a bolt of magic over her shoulder, striking a one-eyed man square in the forehead and sending him scarpering away.

  Alex hurried toward Aamir, who was halfway through the portal build. It was impressive to behold, the shimmering strands crisscrossing, the oval of the portal taking shape. Alex almost felt bad that he had to stop the process, midway through.

  He tapped Aamir on the shoulder. “You can stop now,” he said.

  Aamir turned, his eyes wide with surprise. “You’re back?”

  “Don’t sound too enthusiastic.” Alex grinned.

  “No, not at all, I was just expecting you to be coming this way,” he said, nodding toward the half-finished portal.

  “There was a change of plans,” said Alex apologetically. “We should probably save whatever you haven’t used,” he added, looking down at the open bag of essence that lay on the floor.

  “Were you too late?” Aamir asked anxiously.

  Alex shook his head. “No, we got to her in time. I don’t think she’ll be bothering us again for a while,” he said solemnly, trying to push the image of Alypia’s blank, ghoulish face from his head. “We were hoping we could get back to you before you finished.”

  Aamir smiled. “I was a long way off, I think, though I haven’t done too badly. Are we leaving it closed?”

  “For now,” Alex said. “I don’t think we can fix this place. It’s probably best we leave it to somebody who can.”

  “Who did you have in mind?”

  “Julius,” Alex admitted. “If I can break a barrier module on the way out, it’ll hopefully bring him to fix this mess. If he doesn’t come, then this place will just go to the dogs.”

  “Lord of the Flies.” Aamir smiled.

  “Something like that.”

  “So we definitely don’t need this portal anymore?” Aamir asked.

  “Definitely not—we’re meeting the others at Spellshadow, but we’re going to go around the other way,” Alex explained.

  With a smile on his face, Aamir pressed his palms into the center of the woven structure, allowing his magic to flow through the strands. Had it been complete, Alex knew the energy would have melded together and imploded to reveal the landscape of Stillwater beyond. In its half-complete state, the energy didn’t meld as it should, but disintegrated instead, the strands falling to the stone floor like confetti. They broke apart as they hit the ground, spreading out in an almost liquid trickle before being absorbed into the earth.

  “Are we heading back to Falleaf?” Aamir asked.

  Alex nodded. “Yeah—we’d better take that bag with us. We’re going to need it.”

  Aamir rolled his eyes. “More portal-building?”

  “You got it,” Alex chuckled, scooping up the sack of essence.

  Joining with Ellabell, Vincent, and Agatha, Alex quickly brought the two Kingstone denizens up to date with what was going on, and what the plan of action was where they were concerned. It was clear they needed to get out of Kingstone, if they were to survive, and Alex was more than happy to provide the escape route. Once the pair of them were fully briefed, the group began to make their way through the keep, toward the spot where Lintz had constructed the portal to Falleaf. Alex remembered what the professor had said about it being easier to open up an already existing gateway, and he was determined to get the others back to Falleaf as quickly as possible.

  “Where are we off to? Are we having an adventure, cherubs?” Agatha asked, her eyes glancing around as if in a daze.

  “We’re going somewhere safe,” Ellabell said, her tone soothing.

  The aging hippie clapped her hands together in delight. “Well, how very exciting! Did you hear that, Vincent? We’re going on an adventure!”

  “Indeed we are, dear heart.” The necromancer smiled.

  “I’m not even sure I remember what the outside world looks like, cherubs. If I see a tree, I am fairly sure I shall explode with joy!” Agatha said enthusiastically, while firing shots at anyone who tried to catch them off guard. She seemed to have a sixth sense about it, able to fire off a bolt of defensive magic before anyone else was even aware that there was an enemy in their midst.

  They moved in formation, the five of them walking along in a pentagonal shape, ensuring all bases were covered and nobody could sneak up on them or catch them unawares. At every turn and every opened door, Alex braced himself for the impact of wild-eyed prisoners. Down one narrow corridor, a swarm of individuals, their teeth sharpened to jagged points, rushed at the quintet. Alex and his friends pooled their resources, binding their energies together into one fearsome blockade of energy. The core was silver and black, surrounded by the golden swell of the others’ magic, and it exploded with an ear-splitting blast as it hit the charging assailants, sending them sprawling back. To Alex’s relief, they stayed down, utterly disoriented. All they were missing were little birds spinning around their heads.

  Heading down another hallway, which appeared silent and safe, a shrieking woman shrouded in a black cloak jumped down from the rafters, knocking Aamir flat on his back. She pummeled his chest, howling close to his face, her eyes spooked.

  “You traitor! You betrayed me, you coward!” she screamed, clawing at Aamir’s neck. The older boy fought to defend himself against her, but her strength was borderline supernatural.

  The others jumped into action, trying to haul the screaming woman off their friend. Alex reached forwards and touched the side of her head, feeding his anti-magic into her skull, but the images that came back to him were too upsetting and too alarming to stay there for long. He saw the betrayal of which she spoke. A lover had persuaded her to perform a heist, and she had done as he had asked, only for him to run away when the authorities came, leaving her to shoulder the full weight of the law. Her grief was overwhelming, and Alex could feel it melting through into his own veins as he struggled to find a happy image to distract her with.

  Vincent stepped in just as Alex was losing his grip on her mind. It was impossible to sift through the tangle of misery, and try as he might, Alex couldn’t find anything happy within the woman’s head. It was all tainted with heartbreak. With
a flicker of white light, the necromancer twisted his energy into the screaming woman’s mind, replacing the tendrils of Alex’s. With a final howl, she fell limp in Agatha and Ellabell’s arms.

  With no time to waste, they dragged her off Aamir and placed her gently down in one of the nearby cells. It would be a long while before she awoke, and Alex just hoped that Vincent had given the poor girl something good to dream about.

  That was the thing that constantly surprised him about the keep and its inhabitants. Around every corner, he found himself faced with another dark recess of the human condition, and the struggles people had experienced. It showed him how people continued to endure, even in the hardest circumstances imaginable, when everything else had been taken away. The world either broke a person or made them unbreakable. Alex wondered which side of that he’d be standing on, when all of this came to an end.

  Aamir got up, brushing himself off. “I know I have a certain magnetism, but that was too close for comfort,” he murmured, though there was a tremor of fear in his voice.

  Alex and the others moved onward, their eyes and ears more alert than before. It seemed like a never-ending barrage of attackers and retaliation, Alex’s palms growing strangely itchy from persistent use. Each time his anti-magic rippled from his hands, it felt like pins and needles, and yet he forced himself to continue.

  Finally, they reached the doorway that led to the spot where Lintz had built the portal to Falleaf. Quickly, they darted inside and closed the door behind them. The whole room held bad memories for Alex, and they came rushing back into his mind. Gulping, he pushed down a rising nausea as his eyes rested on the place where Caius had lain with specters circling around him. Vincent flashed Alex a look of understanding.

  “Where did you put Caius?” Alex asked.

  “He is in what was formerly my cell,” Vincent replied. “The door is locked, on the off chance he rises from his ailment.”

  “Then we should get on with this,” said Alex, opening the bag of essence. Everyone took a bottle, and they began to weave and shape the gateway that would lead them through to Falleaf House, and the veritable sanctuary that lay there. Anywhere was better than here.

  They made swift work of building the new portal, made easier by the fact they were opening up an existing connection once more, but Alex’s head kept snapping over his shoulder at the smallest sound coming from the corridor beyond the door. He kept expecting someone to burst in, wielding a blade or something worse.

  Alex and the others stepped backwards as the portal expanded outwards with a burst of light, revealing the familiar scene of the bronzed forest canopy, the leaves falling softly to the ground. Agatha shrieked in delight as she saw it.

  “Is this where we’re going?” she asked.

  Alex nodded. “This is where you’ll be safe.”

  “Can you believe this, Vincent? We are leaving, at long last!” she cried, tears shining in her eyes.

  Alex smiled, not quite realizing until that moment what freedom might mean to Agatha and Vincent. The necromancer wasn’t nearly as open with his emotions, but Alex could tell there was a sense of happiness brimming beneath the serene surface of Vincent’s face.

  “Indeed we are, dear heart. Did you ever think you’d see the day?” Vincent asked, his voice calm.

  “I thought I’d die in this hellhole,” Agatha cackled. “Even now, I’ve managed to defy them all!”

  “You should hurry through,” Alex insisted. “Ellabell and I will follow, just make your way to that willow tree there. Aamir, you know the way, right?” he said, pointing to the draped fronds of the willow where Storm had camouflaged herself. Aamir nodded.

  “Why, where are you going?” Vincent wondered.

  Alex smiled. “You’ll see.”

  He waited until Agatha, Aamir, and Vincent were safely through the glowing gateway before pressing his palms into the center, drawing the fabric of the threads apart. They crumbled, floating to the stone floor. It was too bitter a memory for Alex, as he envisioned the way Caius must have done exactly what he had just done, blocking his exit.

  It’s in the past. Caius paid for his betrayal, Alex thought to himself grimly, wishing it hadn’t had to be that way. He had longed for the old warden to be as true as he’d seemed, and perhaps he might have been, had he not been so twisted up by grief and loss.

  Ellabell took Alex’s hand, bringing him back to reality.

  “Let’s go,” she said encouragingly. They crept back out into the hallway, careful to avoid the sound of footsteps coming in their direction.

  It seemed the prisoners were elsewhere for the time being, though it didn’t prevent Alex from peering around every single corner, convinced something was going to jump out at him. They were almost at the stairs leading to the turret where Storm was waiting when Alex paused beside one of the golden cylinders that controlled the flow of the barrier shrouding Kingstone. The metal casing had been bashed in, to the point where it was dangling from its screws, but whoever had inflicted the damage had been held back by the defensive magic within. Alex wasn’t deterred by such things.

  “As soon as I do this, we’re going to have to run, okay?” he warned.

  Ellabell nodded. “I’m ready.”

  Yanking the rest of the casing off, Alex forged a small blade of anti-magic, and cut the band at the top of the clockwork within, severing the shield. A snapping creature, shaped like a savage hound, pounced from the glittering energy, but Alex and Ellabell were ready for it. While Ellabell distracted it by running around the space, Alex fed his anti-magic toward it in shimmering silver-and-black ribbons, constricting the translucent body. The hound yelped as the energy began to disintegrate its form, until there was nothing left of the shimmering creature.

  With the defenses down, Alex turned to the actual clockwork, resting his hands on the mechanisms as he forced a volatile pulse of his energy through the cogs and connectors. There was a loud crack as it broke. Still, Alex knew they were going to need something else to stop the small section of barrier from functioning. Thinking fast, he picked up the dented metal casing and shoved it with all his might into the clockwork, blocking the system. It wasn’t quite as elegant as Lintz’s beautiful crab-shaped jammers, but Alex hoped it would do the job and bring the king down upon the prison to restore peace.

  Not wanting to wait around to see if it had worked, Alex and Ellabell left Kingstone Keep to wrack and ruin, hurrying up the steps of the turret and hopping onto Storm’s back. As she flew, Alex made the mistake of looking back, just in time to see a swarm of criminals appear at the lip of one of the other turrets. They were lifting a figure above their heads, and Alex squinted to see who it was.

  With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Alex realized Vincent must not have locked the door as well as he’d thought. The limp figure being lifted above the heads of the prisoners was Caius, weakened by the specters and unable to fight back. Alex wished he could turn Storm around, to save the warden from the revenge of the inmates, but it was already too late. With an unceremonious shove, the prisoners threw Caius from the turret.

  His limp body plummeted to the ground like a sack of potatoes, hitting the water with an almighty smack that ricocheted toward Alex’s ears, even at such a distance. A split second later, an enormous mouth surged upward, enveloping Caius, dragging him below the surface. The moat monster never resurfaced, and nor did the warden. It didn’t seem like a fitting end for a man who had been, for the most part, a good soul.

  You weren’t a bad guy, Alex thought solemnly. You were consumed by grief. Rest in peace now, Caius—may you be reunited with your true love.

  For the second time that day, Alex had a feeling he would never return to this place, though he was certain the memories would always haunt him.

  Chapter 27

  Meeting up with Agatha, Aamir, and Vincent on the way, Alex led the newly rostered quintet through the forest, toward the pagoda. It was second nature now to listen for the buzz and thrum of the traps that wo
uld seek to ensnare them, but Agatha was something of a liability in this new, fresh setting. She kept wandering off, bending to pick up a seemingly innocuous flower or mushroom, only to be stopped just in time by Alex.

  “You mustn’t go near anything,” he warned. “There are traps all over this place.”

  Agatha frowned. “I am sorry, my cherub, you must pardon my enthusiasm. It has been so long since I’ve felt fresh air on my face, and seen the beauty of a tree, or a flower. I shall attempt to restrain myself, using only my eyes to drink it all in,” she promised.

  Despite her assurances, Alex and the others had to stop her on several more occasions on their way to the pagoda. She was childlike in her inability to pass something pretty without reaching out to touch it, or squatting down nearby to get a closer look. There was endearing quality to it that prevented Alex from losing his patience. Trying to put himself in her shoes, he wondered how he’d feel if he hadn’t seen nature in decades—he imagined it would be more magical than anything he had encountered so far. Real magic would pale in comparison.

  He tried to picture himself returning to Middledale after all of this. What had once seemed ordinary and everyday would undoubtedly feel rare and special, but it worried him too—what if he didn’t fit in anymore? Would he still belong among ordinary humans, or would he be irrevocably altered by the challenges he’d endured?

  Alex shook off his fears, knowing he first had to get out of the magical realm before he could even begin to think about his re-entry into normality. They arrived at the edge of the forest, the pagoda rising up regally from the center of the clearing ahead. Agatha’s eyes went wide with amazement, and even Vincent seemed impressed.