Page 77 of Serpent and Shadow

Before Malefic feels you here.

My exact location clicked.

Eye of Ra, how had I not recognized this place immediately?

I’d walked this same corridor more times than I could count, day and evening over those weeks of winter break I’d spent here with Varya Bones, particularly during the period while her son remained unconscious.

I was on the north side of the main castle structure.

This particular corridor connected the less formal sitting room to the main receiving hall, with a lot of doors in between, most of them locked. It was also the fastest route to the largest of the three libraries I’d visited inside the Bones Estate. I normally used it when I went between the kitchen and the library, or between the kitchen and––

My mind clicked on for real.

The crypt.

I wasn’t anywhere near the crypt this time.

What could that mean?

This corridor eventually led to one of the crypt’s entrances, but I wasn’t anywhere near that stone staircase now, nor the iron and wood door at the lower floor. I wasn’t near the foyer mirror, either. The crypt was two floors down, and the public-facing portion of that level was a good eight minute walk from where I now stood.

Why here? If Alaric was right, the phasing mechanism should have dropped me as close to Bones as I could safely get.

It hit me then, the reality of what happened earlier that day.

I hadn’t gotten out of here clean the first time.

I’d been seen.

That guard saw me through the crack between the wardrobe and the wall.

He would have reported to Malefic by now.

Could they have changed access to the lower floors so quickly? All of that happened only a few hours ago. Would Malefic really be so spooked by the idea of someone breaking in that he’d stop everything to lock down every floor below the ground floor?

It struck me as likely.

He wouldn’t want to risk anyone getting close to Bones. As far away and as trapped as I’d felt, I imagine it was still too close for Malefic.

The thought that this might actually be as close as I could get made me want to scream. Maybe I was standing two very deep floors directly over him, and this was the best the phasing part of my magic could do.

The thought made me want to scream again.

That’s when I heard the voices.

I turned sharply to my left.

The sound drifted lazily through the air from that same direction, down the longest segment of high, stone walls from where I stood.

“Has a date been set, then?” a voice murmured, echoing towards me on the stone. “Already? I thought there would be some discussion about…”

The last part faded.

I continued to stand there like a rabbit in headlights, unmoving for the barest breath.

Thank the gods, in that breath I still couldn’t see them. They hadn’t yet rounded enough of the gradual curve of stone to be visible to my eyes, or I to theirs.

The instant that realization hit, I moved.