Page 25 of The Fifth Heir

The black stone filling the arch began to dissolve.

It did not swing inward or slide aside. The surface broke into small particles that lifted into the air and disappeared before touching the floor.

Cold, stale air moved through the opening.

Beyond it waited a corridor.

Wall lamps ignited along both sides, illuminating a floor untouched by footprints. Dust covered the dark wood panels and lay thick across several narrow tables, but the passage itself showed no sign of collapse or decay.

The headmaster stepped beneath the arch.

The torcs dimmed immediately.

He stopped and looked back at us. “It will not admit me.”

Leander approached. The light in his torc strengthened as he crossed the threshold. No ward resisted him.

Torren followed, then Rafe.

Sebastian waited beside the entrance.

“For what?” Malcolm asked.

He looked at me.

All four men were inside the passage. The lamps had brightened, but the runes over the arch continued pulsing.

“They aren’t enough,” Sebastian said.

Malcolm’s mouth flattened. “You cannot know that.”

Sebastian extended one hand toward the corridor.

Nothing changed.

Then he gestured for me to enter.

My feet remained planted in the rotunda.

“I don’t have a torc.”

“Neither does the headmaster.”

“The corridor rejected him.”

“Exactly.”

That was not reassuring.

Rafe leaned back through the opening. “If it tries to throw you out, Torren can catch you.”

Torren gave him a look.

“Or I can,” Rafe added.

“That made it less reassuring,” I said.

His grin returned.