The Secret Passageway
Chapter Sixteen
THE SECRET PASSAGEWAY
Alison
R inka rushed over to Idris, who could barely stand. “Gods, what happened to you?” she asked him as she helped him hobble to his desk in the next room.
“Curses,” said Idris. “Two, at least. Are you okay?”
“Me? I’m fine. Heard a strange whisper and hightailed it out of there.”
“Whispers?” asked Alison. They had followed the whispers to the secret door. To Idris. And they hadn’t had a moment to spare—any longer, and he would have been done for.
“A woman’s voice asking me to come closer. I’ve seen the picture shows. I figured if something was begging me to come closer, I ought to do the reverse.”
“Clever,” said Idris, coughing.
“We heard whispers too,” said Alison. “But they weren’t in Loegrian or any language I recognized. They were coming from books in the library. Spellbooks. They led us to the passage.”
“Hmm,” Idris groaned. “Perhaps—some—protective magic—of the college.”
“Don’t try to speak,” said Keir. “Let me have a look.”
“Gods, Idris, your neck,” said Rinka. “It’s red. You were choked?”
“Alison, can you hold the candle up so I can examine him?” asked Keir.
“I’m fine,” said Idris. “Just trying to catch my breath.” His voice was clearing some with each word, thank the Gods. “Did you find Ceri?”
Alison told him of the path they had found in the library, and Willow told them Ceri’s trail had led there as well.
“Let’s go,” said Idris, stumbling to his feet.
“Perhaps you ought to wait here,” said Keir. “I see no immediate signs of damage, but some of them can take hours to appear.”
Idris gave him a look that told him there was zero chance of that happening with Ceri still out there.
“Let’s take the shortcut at least,” said Alison. “The passage in your closet should take us right back there.”
Truthfully, Alison would have liked to have sat down herself. She and Keir had used an extraordinary amount of magic to free Idris, and she could see that Keir was feeling it as well.
Rinka, on the other hand, looked great. “Maybe there’s something to this conduit thing,” she said cheerily. “You lot burn yourselves out, and I reap all the rewards.”
“Where did you get that axe?” asked Idris.
“In the hallway. ‘In case of emergency,’ it said. It seemed like an emergency.”
Alison and Keir led them into the secret passageway. It sloped gently down, the walls stone on one side, wood on the other.
“These walls are false,” said Keir, tapping on the internal wooden walls. “Built during one of the conversions. Weldan House has some passages like this for the servants.”
“I always dreamed about using a secret passage,” said Rinka. “I had hoped it would be under better circumstances though. Listening to the ladies gossip at lunch. Sneaking away in the night to meet a secret caller.”
“You hardly have to sneak,” said Idris, “but if you wanted to give that a go once this is all over…”
“I liked him better when the ghost had him,” said Willow.
“It wasn’t a ghost,” said Idris. “It’s some aspect of whoever originated these curses though.”
“Take it easy,” said Rinka, helping him as he stumbled. “I don’t want to have to drag you out of here.”
“But I’d like that,” said Idris.
At least they were going downhill.
Finally, they made it back into the library. The hidden door was still open, and the mess of books looked undisturbed.
“What happened in here?” asked Rinka. “That Ms. Redclaw is going to be furious.”
“It was defending itself,” said Idris.
“Oh, the library,” said Alison as she realized what Idris meant. “All these books—it was defending itself from something.”
“I smell Leo here,” said Willow. “Ceri too. Both of them recently.”
“Don’t tell me they went outside,” said Idris.
Lightning flashed through the windows. The door where the path in the books had led definitely went outside.
“It’s dangerous out there,” said Keir. “The lightning alone—”
“I’ll go,” said Idris. “Dragon blood. It’s strong.”
“Not a chance,” said Rinka. “What will you do if they’re in trouble when you find them? All of you are dead on your feet. I’ll go.”
“No,” said Idris. “Keir, stop her…”
It turned out they didn’t need to argue. Just then, the door burst open.
Ceri stepped through, soaked to the bone.
“He’s gone,” she said. “Leo is gone.”