Time slipped away, and still they didn’t find the back wall. Mistaya began to grow impatient—and more than a little uneasy.
Finally, Thom brought them to a halt once more. “We need to start back,” he whispered in her ear. His face was so close she could feel the heat of his body. “The glow sticks are half gone.”
“Why is it taking so long?” she hissed.
“I don’t know. It didn’t take this long before. It took much less time. Something is wrong.”
“I think it’s magic that’s making us think the room is much larger and the way much longer!” She hesitated. “I know a little about how it works.”
To his credit, he didn’t ask for an explanation. “You want to go on?”
“For a little longer. I think we can find our way back.”
They pushed on, their sense of urgency growing exponentially. Mistaya wasn’t certain how much longer they could search, but she didn’t want to give up until she absolutely had to. Thom, she sensed, wouldn’t quit before she did, no matter what. His pride wouldn’t let him. He was the older and stronger of the two; he would tough it out for as long as she did.
Then, all of a sudden, she heard the voice.
Help me! Help me!
From the way Thom drew up short, his body going rigid, she knew that he had heard it, too.
“Just ahead!” she whispered encouragingly, even though she wasn’t at all sure that this was so.
But then she felt the pressure from whatever it was that had gripped Thom two weeks earlier, a sucking at the air about her that gripped her and held her fast, pulling her forward. She saw Thom lurch and stumble, his arms flailing. They collapsed in a tangle of limbs, grasping first at each other and then at the shelving units, trying unsuccessfully to get hold of something as they skidded along the floor and down the aisle. Whatever was pulling them forward was more powerful than she had expected, an irresistible force she could not fight against. She tried to get into a kneeling position, yet the force not only pulled her relentlessly ahead but held her down. The glow stick flew from her hand and was lost. She almost lost her grip on Thom, but just barely managed to hang on to one of his strong legs.
Ahead, a huge blackness hove into view, a tunnel of such impenetrable darkness that it looked as if it would swallow them whole. In that moment, she thought they were lost. So much so that she began to summon her magic in a last-ditch attempt to save them.
But Thom, resourceful as always, finally managed to grab hold of a leg of one of the shelving units and pull them both over to huddle against the heavy structure, anchoring them in place against the sucking force. She heard a sound like breathing, deep and powerful, and the force increased. But Thom held them fast, refusing to give in to it. She pressed herself against him, tucking her head against his leg, her face flattened to the worn wooden floor of the room.
Which was when she felt the sudden flush of warmth against her face. She jerked away in surprise, but then pressed down again with her cheek to make sure. The floor was pulsing softly, a sensation that was unmistakable. There was a life force embedded in the wooden boards. She felt the beating of its heart, and the entire experience was suddenly so familiar that she could hardly believe it. She knew what this was! She had known since she was a child!
It was Sterling Silver, the castle that cared for and nurtured the Kings and Queens of Landover and their families. It sheltered and protected them against the elements and enemies alike. It warmed them when they were cold and cooled them when they were hot. It provided them with food and clothing. It could determine their physical needs and to a very large extent satisfy them.
It was her home!
But how could that be? Sterling Silver was a sentient being formed of magic-infused materials, and it was the only one of its kind. Was it really the castle’s life force she was feeling? If so, how had it found its way here when it was rooted in the bedrock of the island on which it had been built?
The glow stick that Thom held went out, and they were left in blackness. The sucking force continued to pull at them for a long time after that, but finally it eased into a soft breathing and then ceased altogether. Mistaya and Thom lay together, listening to the silence, waiting for something more. Mistaya kept her face pressed to the floor, but the warmth she had felt earlier was fading away.
Don’t go, she thought. Don’t leave me.
But there was nothing she could do to make it stay, and seconds later it was gone.
She sat up again cautiously, placing her back against the shelving unit that had served as an anchor, the darkness deep and unbroken all around. The warmth she had felt in the floor and the pulsing of the life that had created it had both disappeared.
Mistaya could not understand. What had just happened?
“I think we should quit for tonight,” Thom said softly, a disembodied voice in the black.
“I suppose so,” she agreed. She was silent a moment, and then she said, “Thom, did you feel anything in the floor?”
She could hear him sitting up next to her. “Like what?”
“A pulsing, a warmth?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I was busy trying to hold on to the shelving so we wouldn’t be sucked down into that tunnel. Did you feel all that? The pulsing and the warmth?”
She wasn’t sure what to say now. “I might have been mistaken,” she answered. “I was pretty scared.”
He laughed quietly. “So was I. It wasn’t any easier this time, even knowing what to expect. But I won’t give up if you won’t.”
She reached out and squeezed his arm. “You know I won’t give up. Thanks for sticking with me.”
They rose and began groping their way back down the aisle, using the edges of the shelves to guide them, careful to keep together in the deep gloom. They didn’t speak of what had happened, knowing it was better to wait until later. Mistaya wondered how much time had passed. If magic had obscured distance and light, it could have obscured time, as well. It could have obscured everything they had experienced. Nothing might have been what they thought it was.
Yet she couldn’t dismiss the strong feeling of recognition that had flooded through her. She wasn’t mistaken about that, but she didn’t know what it meant. Was she sensing the presence of her home? Had Sterling Silver reached out to her somehow? Was it a warning that something was wrong at home? Or perhaps it wasn’t the castle at all. Perhaps it was Libiris she was feeling. But if so, why did it feel like it was alive?
Those questions, in turn, made her wonder anew about the voice. Exactly who was it that was calling?
They had almost reached the front of the Stacks and Mistaya was thinking of how good it was going to feel to sleep when a hunched figure appeared abruptly in their path, and a familiar wizened face lifted into the pale wash of the moonlight.
“Out for a little nighttime walk, are we?” asked Rufus Pinch with a visible sneer.
“We were just …,” Mistaya began.
“Just looking for …,” Thom picked up.
Pinch held up both hands. “Doing what you were expressly forbidden to do. That’s what you were doing! Well, now you’re going to have to pay the price for your disobedience, aren’t you? His Eminence will know how to deal with you!”