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  A familiar buzz surrounded him, the same he’d heard beside the cherry trees, and Alex knew it was indeed a trap, just not one laid by any fairies. This was a trap laid by soldiers, and there was someone caught inside.

  “Who’s there?” he whispered.

  The lumbering figure froze, the shaded face turning in Alex’s direction.

  “Alex, is that you?” a familiar voice replied.

  “Professor?”

  “Indeed, it’s me!” Lintz cried. “Oh goodness, Alex, I am simply ecstatic to hear your voice! We didn’t know what had happened to you! Where did you go?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you everything once we’ve gotten you out of here.” Alex strained his eyes to see the faint glimmer of a barrier in front of him, keeping Lintz within. “How did you get caught, anyway?”

  “I missed the signs,” Lintz replied grimly. “It’s the toadstools—they’re clockwork inside, filled to the brim with barrier magic. One false step and here I am, stuck!”

  “No soldiers?”

  Lintz shook his head, coming closer to the edge of the trap, where Alex stood. “Not yet… though I don’t know for how much longer.”

  Alex analyzed the fairy ring, brainstorming how he was going to get the professor out of this mess. If the toadstools were forged from clockwork, as Lintz said, he knew they should be relatively easy to break.

  “I’m going to try and bust you out,” Alex said, glancing down at the toadstools once more.

  “Goodness, no, you mustn’t try something so risky just for little old me!” Lintz protested, but Alex was already kneeling in the grass beside the first one, trying to figure out the mechanisms he would have to break in order to bring the trap’s barrier down.

  Alex glanced up. “I can’t just leave you here, Professor. Those soldiers could be along at any moment, and if they find you, they’ll know there are intruders among them.”

  “Well… if you must try, be very careful. These traps are well made, and I wouldn’t want anything happening to you.”

  Alex held out his hands a short distance from the first toadstool and weaved his anti-magic toward the small piece of clockwork. It was dainty and convincing, the red cap with the white spots painted in a hyper-realistic fashion.

  Pulling back on his anti-magic, he felt some resistance as he tried to disrupt the source of the trap’s barrier, reversing the cogs in order to break them. However, he found he couldn’t grasp all the pieces at once; when he’d just about managed to stall one section, another would take over, defying his anti-magical instructions. Eventually, he realized that a delicate approach wasn’t going to work.

  Pressing his hands on the cap of the toadstool, he forced a wave of energy through the mechanism, flooding it with anti-magic until he heard the satisfying clunk of the whole system breaking down. There was a whiny whirring sound as the last few cogs tried their best to keep the flow going, before they too gave up. As soon as the high-pitched noise ceased, the shimmering veil fell, setting Lintz free.

  “You did it!” the professor bellowed as he stepped out of the circle, clapping Alex hard on the back.

  He smiled. “It was nothing a little anti-magic couldn’t fix.”

  “It’s so wonderful to see you, my dear boy,” Lintz said, a perplexed look on his brow. “We were so worried. One minute, the portal was there, and the next, it was gone. You have to believe I had nothing to do with it—I kept it open, and we were all waiting down by the forest’s edge for your return, but then there was a snap, and the next thing we know, the portal is gone, and you with it. A moment later, a troop of soldiers walked past, doing a search of the perimeter, so we had to escape into the forest itself. I’m so sorry, Alex.”

  Alex got to his feet. “It was Caius who closed the portal. It seems the warden’s hatred of mages ran a lot deeper than we thought. He saw me as some kind of savior to their kind. Needless to say, he didn’t want me running off here to get the book, because he doesn’t want anyone doing the spell that could save mage-kind from the Great Evil.” Alex sighed. “He tried to kill me.”

  “He what?” Lintz yelped, an expression of fury morphing his features.

  “Vincent helped hold Caius off… and I escaped before I could see what happened to him, though I know it wasn’t good,” said Alex, his eyes downcast.

  “If I know Vincent, he’ll have found a way to pull through,” Lintz said reassuringly. “Goodness, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you, Alex—I ought to have stayed and kept an eye out. Are you hurt? Is Caius dead?”

  Alex shook his head. “I can’t be one hundred percent sure on the Caius front, but I’m in one piece, more or less. What about the others? Where are Ellabell and Aamir?”

  “Ah, fear not! The pair of them are safely within the walls of the pagoda,” Lintz explained. “I caused something of a diversion—I have been known to be quite diverting.” He chuckled. “I set off some of these here traps, which have monsters within them, to distract the soldiers while the other two climbed up the side of the pagoda and disappeared through a sixth-floor window. I planned to retreat until things had calmed down, but got myself caught in the process.”

  “Do you think we’ve been detected?” Alex asked, worried.

  Lintz shook his head. “I’m offended, Alex Webber! I’m a professional at stealth.”

  Alex stifled a laugh, knowing the professor was anything but stealthy, with his large, rotund build and booming voice.

  Lintz flashed him a look. “The soldiers suspected nothing. As they were walking away, I heard one of them say something about the traps here getting more temperamental, given their age. It would appear nobody can be bothered to repair them. Such a shame. These pieces are exquisitely crafted.”

  It reminded Alex of Caius’s sentiments, where the keep was concerned. As long as the inmates were scared enough, it didn’t matter if the tools and resources were faulty. It was the fear that kept everyone in line, and Alex wondered if that was the main method of control here, too, only delivered at the hands of soldiers instead of the haven’s ruler.

  “So how are we going to get into the pagoda?” Alex asked.

  “I’ve had a good few hours to think about this, sitting on my tree trunk,” Lintz replied, pointing back toward the stub of a tree where he had apparently been whiling away his entrapment. “I think I know another way in that thankfully won’t involve any lofty climbing! These creaky old legs weren’t built for such active pursuits… not anymore.” He smiled wistfully, his moustache turning upward.

  “What is it?” asked Alex.

  “I’ll show you. Hopefully, if we’re very smart—which I know we are—we’ll evade any sort of detection. Those soldiers won’t even know we’ve been there—we’ll pass right under their noses!” Lintz cried, triumphant.

  Alex let the professor’s enthusiasm feed his own as he followed Lintz back through the forest toward the perilously beautiful scenery of Falleaf House, avoiding the buzz and thrum of traps as they walked. There were toadstools and leaves, now instantly recognizable as dangers, and small forest creatures that hid deadly secrets within their clockwork innards.

  Before long, they arrived at the edge of the forest, where the trees opened out into the vast clearing that held the pagoda at its center. They paused, Alex’s eyes scanning the area for soldiers. There were no fewer than six groups of six, strolling around the grounds, laughing and joking with one another, barely keeping an eye on what was going on around them. If they had bothered to look, Alex knew they would have been able to make out the shapes of two intruders lurking at the tree-line. As it was, he and Lintz were able to sneak along the outskirts, keeping to the shadows.

  Finally, they emerged at a narrow passageway between the pagoda and the woods, and ran across the grass, keeping low to the ground, until they reached the back of the intricately carved building. There were dragon’s heads and pillars shaped like monkeys, with open-winged birds screeching silently atop twisting posts sculpted to look like snak
es.

  Just ahead, Alex could see a doorway in the back of the building, a hidden entrance of sorts, the way down to it overgrown with winding vines and tumbling weeds. If he hadn’t been looking closely, he knew he would have missed it entirely.

  “Is this it?” he whispered, pushing back the fronds and spiny branches that were clawing at his face and arms.

  Lintz nodded. “I think it leads to the cellar.”

  Reaching the door, Alex could see that there was a lock on it. It was only to be expected, with so many guards around, but it seemed like it hadn’t been used for a long time. The metal had fused together, so even a key would have been useless. However, Alex had something better than a key at his disposal. Confidently, he grasped the lock in his hands and fed his anti-magic through the keyhole, forcing the mechanism within to crack and give way, breaking apart the fused metal, until the whole thing fell off into his hand.

  He seized the handle and heaved himself against the door, willing it to open. It groaned in displeasure, having remained shut for such a long time, but with a splinter of wood, it lurched forward, sending Alex stumbling in after it. Hoping the sound wouldn’t bring any unwanted visitors, Alex stepped into the unknown of the cellar beyond and closed the door firmly behind him. It was dark and musty, but Alex could make out a light in the distance, leading up to the brighter floors of the pagoda.

  Lintz followed him in, and Alex pushed the door closed behind them. They hurried toward the light, Alex’s footfalls making splashes as he crept toward it, the ground underfoot clearly drenched. He wasn’t sure he’d want the lights on in here, even if he had the option; he just hoped it was water and nothing more sinister.

  Like the blood of innocents, he thought wryly, knowing it was what the royals loved best.

  A slippery, narrow set of stone steps led up to the crack of light peeping through another old-looking door, but this one was thankfully unlocked, and the hinges creaked only slightly as Alex pushed it open. It led to an empty corridor, the windows looking out at the serene image of a water garden, with lilies swaying in the breeze.

  He could hear the domestic sounds of a kitchen somewhere nearby—clinking cutlery and the sizzle of something delicious cooking on a stove. He could smell it, too, the spicy scent making his mouth water. It seemed they had emerged in the servants’ quarters, with no obvious signs of any soldiers in the vicinity. Through the window, he could see guards outside, wandering about, but there didn’t seem to be any on this floor. It didn’t mean they wouldn’t be waiting around the next corner, however, and Alex didn’t want to take any chances.

  “How are we going to get up to the sixth floor without being spotted?” Alex asked, turning to Lintz.

  The professor frowned. “That, my dear boy, is a very good question.”

  Chapter 5

  They hurried along the corridor to the kitchens, the steam meeting Alex’s cold face as they snuck in through a half-open doorway. Ahead of them lay a storage annex of sorts, with several scarlet uniforms hung up on a rack, crisp white shirts folded beside them. Alex hadn’t yet seen anyone wearing this kind of uniform, but he guessed they were for the serving staff. With so many military mouths to feed, he knew there had to be workers somewhere. The Falleaf students, he assumed, were housed in the treehouse buildings that branched off from the pagoda, kept separate from the goings on within the central structure. He pondered whether they were privy to the same delicious smells that wafted toward his nostrils—knowing the usual way in which these places were run, with the exception of Stillwater, he doubted it. They were more likely to be eating the same grim fare he’d eaten at Spellshadow and Kingstone, with the good stuff reserved only for those deemed worthy.

  “We could put these on and pretend we’re staff?” Alex suggested.

  Lintz grinned. “You took the words right out of my mouth!”

  With that, Alex plucked a fresh uniform from the rack and shoved it over his clothes. It was made from a sleek red material, buttoning right up to the throat, and though it was clearly intended to be worn by the lower echelons of society, it looked expensive. To Alex’s surprise, the clothes fit him remarkably well, making him look decidedly professional. Lintz, however, was having far less luck. There didn’t seem to be a uniform big enough for him, which meant he had to squeeze into a smaller size that looked like it was about to cut off his circulation. Red-cheeked and sweating, the professor forced the buttons closed, though as soon as he had them in place, they were straining to burst apart. Walking like a robot seemed to be the only way to stop the fastenings from springing free, and as hard as Alex tried to keep a straight face, the sight was just too funny.

  “Enough of that,” Lintz sulked. “It’ll do for now.”

  “Sorry, Professor—I think it looks good on you.” The last word came out as a laugh.

  “Very funny, Webber, very funny,” muttered Lintz. “Let’s just go, shall we, before this whole thing explodes off me?”

  Alex nodded, hoping the sight of the professor wouldn’t draw too much unwanted attention, as they slunk back out into the corridor and made their way toward the end of it. Alex peered around the corner, checking for danger, but the coast was clear.

  Moving as fast as they could, given Lintz’s unfortunate state, they reached a staircase at the end of another hallway. Two monkey heads stared from the banister posts, their mouths open in a snarl Alex found slightly disturbing. The stairs proved particularly difficult, with the professor unable to bend his legs properly, but, somehow, they managed the ascent without anything tearing too badly. There was one particularly worrying ripping sound about halfway up, but nothing appeared to have torn off, and they arrived at the top of the first floor. Here, the military presence was much more noticeable. Soldiers wandered the corridors with absent expressions, pausing to pick at the stunning paintings that adorned the walls, running their hands casually over the countless statues that lined the hallways, clearly not appreciative of the beauty that lay before them.

  Alex knew getting to the upper floors was going to be a test of his acting ability. He grasped Lintz by the arm and led him through the corridor, right into the path of a group of soldiers. There was no avoiding them, if they wanted to go up the stairs, but the guards barely seemed to notice they were there. A few cast them cursory glances, but the rest simply ignored the duo as they made their way through the floors of the pagoda, keeping their heads down.

  That was, until they came to the fourth floor.

  “You there!” a voice called.

  Alex cringed, turning slowly to meet the caller. “Sir?” he said, seeing a great hulking beast of a man, dressed in the now-familiar gold-and-white uniform of a soldier, storming toward him. Alex had a feeling that this was it—they had been caught out in their lie.

  “Just what do you think you’re doing?” the man asked.

  Alex gulped. “I’m not sure what you mean, sir?”

  The man glowered, reaching a meaty fist toward Alex’s throat. Alex braced for the feel of the huge man’s fat fingers closing around his windpipe, crushing it with ease, but the sensation never came. Instead, he felt those fingers fumbling at his top button.

  “Don’t ever let me catch you walking these halls with your top button undone!” the man barked. “It’s slovenly, and it brings disgrace on this house. You are in a position of great privilege—act like it, or I’ll personally see to it that you end up on latrine duty for the rest of your sorry days. Is that clear?”

  Alex nodded rapidly. “Clear as crystal, sir. I’m sorry for my appearance, sir. It won’t happen again, sir.”

  “It had better not,” the man growled, before turning and walking away.

  Alex let out a sigh of relief as the huge soldier disappeared around a corner. He couldn’t help feeling a little unfairly criticized. Lintz was clearly in a worse state of slovenliness than he was, yet the soldier hadn’t said a word to the professor.

  “I imagine he dislikes the young,” Lintz murmured, flashing a knowin
g grin in Alex’s direction.

  Lintz’s explanation made sense, but it did nothing to ease Alex’s feeling that a grave injustice had been done to him. He’d thought he looked pretty smart, but apparently not smart enough for everyone’s liking.

  With Lintz chuckling to himself, they made their way to the staircase that would lead them to the next floor of the pagoda, moving slowly past the groups of soldiers that filled the hallways, careful to be polite and to seem as lowly as possible. At the fifth floor, the soldierly presence stopped abruptly. It seemed a little strange, but perhaps it meant they were getting closer to Hadrian’s domain. Even as a less-than-beloved royal, Alex assumed that Hadrian would still enjoy certain freedoms, such as privacy.

  Maybe the top two floors belong only to him? Alex thought, looking around. This floor was certainly more lavish than the ones beneath it, with gold leaf embossed into the floral wallpaper, and bigger pieces of artwork hanging from the walls. The statues also seemed to be made of far more valuable materials—monkeys carved from solid gold, a strange turtle-like creature cut from what looked like pure diamond that glittered in the glow of the torchlight, and coiling dragons with bejeweled scales. It made Alex curious as to whether there was another reason for the heightened military presence at Falleaf House. Perhaps they were also there to protect these priceless artifacts from thieves. If this place was some sort of gallery, or vault, or treasure trove for ancient magical trophies, he could certainly see why they’d need so many guards on duty.

  The doorways that led off from the main hallways intrigued him, but he didn’t want to pause and see what was inside—not until he could be sure that the other two were safe and sound with Hadrian, somewhere above him.