Page 162 of Serpent and Shadow

All it would take is one witch or wizard noticing the path I carved through the tall grass.

I decided to wait.

I used the minute to think about what to do next.

Did it make sense to go back to Valarian? It was a lot louder now, and the sky kept lighting up with magical charges. My friends were hopefully long gone by now, either making their way to one of the exits on foot, or beating their own wings as fast as they could towards one of the four gates. The more I thought about it, the more likely this felt.

I was already too late.

The thought made my chest clench.

Maybe if I’d gone straight there, flying from my tower window straight to Valarian, I could have left with them before Dark Cathedral overran the mansion.

Everything in me told me that window had already closed.

I’d likely only be endangering them more if I tracked them down now, even if I managed to find them, and there was no guarantee I would. Dark Cathedral would have magical feelers out, looking for me specifically, along with Forsooth and Alaric and whoever else. Miranda and Draken hopefully wouldn’t be high on that list; they’d have a better chance without me.

Luc might be in more immediate danger, if only because of his research. Nyx could be targeted for helping Luc, but they’d still likely be better off without me.

I wished I could ask Bones.

Bones wasn’t anywhere I could feel, though.

Thinking about Bones brought that pain back to my head, making my chest tighten until I struggled to breathe. Everything about our situation made me feel like a rat in an increasingly small maze. The idea of running away, of finding myself in smaller and smaller dead ends, made me want to scream. I couldn’t help my friends. I couldn’t count on Forsooth, or the Golden Sun. I couldn’t count on the Praecuri, or even my cousin.

I couldn’t help Bones.

I couldn’t kill his father.

I could try to phase, but where would I even go?

As soon as the question hit my mind, an idea sparked, one that sounded positively insane on the surface, but made a perverse kind of sense, given everything going on here.

I could go to the Black Tower.

It had to be unusually empty right now.

Maybe I couldn’t save Bones, or stop his father, but I could find Archie and Varya, and maybe get them out. Bones might even help me, if I could figure out how to get him out of the collar, or at least how to deactivate it temporarily.

Saving Varya and my brother wouldn’t solve the problem of Bones and the magic that kept him tied to Dark Cathedral. It wouldn’t stop Malefic from trying to destroy the human race, or take over the Magical one. It wouldn’t keep Dark Cathedral from performing the ritual that would reunite the two worlds, and probably destroy both of them.

But it would be something.

It would be one small thing I could do. It would also be maybe one less thing Malefic could use against Bones. Of course, Malefic would probably punish Bones for what I’d done, especially if Bones helped me get them out of the castle.

I fought back and forth in my head, trying to decide.

Somewhere in that, the minute passed.

I activated the talisman the instant I felt it fully recharge, and mouthed the spell to drop the ordinary invisibility shield.

My physical vision swam back into focus.

I looked around where I crouched, fighting to adjust to the dark.

I saw no one in my area of the school grounds.

Behind me, Malcroix Mansion swam into brighter, more chaotic view as my eyes cleared. The second floor was on fire, in what looked like the area of Frumpy’s. Windows had blown out in the heat, and curtains waved outside in the wind, consumed by flames. I swallowed when I saw that Forsooth’s tower was also on fire, only the flames there were green and blue, twisting with magic through a window that billowed with black smoke.