Page 141 of Twist of Fate

Tyson and Asterius would approach from the sky.

The others would take the stairs.

Connal drew his sword. “Open the door.”

Luke pointed beside the lock. “The frame is weakest there.”

Connal drove the edge of his sword into the narrow seam. Keir braced one hand against the door while Zer caught the opposite side of the frame.

“Again,” Luke said.

Connal forced the blade deeper. Metal shrieked, the frame bowing until the lock tore free with a sharp crack. Keir caught the door before it slammed inward.

A concrete stairwell waited beyond it, lit by pulsing red emergency lights. Footsteps rang from somewhere above them, moving away.

Avaneel darted through the opening and rose above the first landing. She hovered there, head tilted as she listened. “They are still going up.”

“How many?” Zer asked.

“More than a few.” Avaneel glanced toward the stairs curling overhead. “The echoes are all tangled.”

Connal entered first. Luke moved beside him, with Keir and Zer guarding their backs. The stairs climbed only two levels, but Luke’s breathing grew tighter with each one. Connal adjusted his pace without comment. Luke noticed anyway.

“I’m fine.”

“I can see that.”

“Then stop slowing down for me.”

Connal faced forward. “No.”

Luke muttered something under his breath, but he kept climbing.

They reached the final landing. The roof-access door stood partly open, its locking mechanism shattered and a dark streak of blood crossing the threshold. Through the gap came the scents of burned metal and unfamiliar magic.

Connal’s wrist began to burn.

He stopped.

Keir hissed behind him. Zer went silent.

Luke turned. “What is it?”

Connal pulled back his sleeve. The sigil encircling his wrist glowed beneath his skin, faint but unmistakable.

“The Queen’s magic,” he said. “Something on the roof carries its touch.”

Luke’s attention fixed on the glowing mark. “The staff?”

“Perhaps.” Connal flexed his hand against the burning beneath his skin. The sigil had been created to guide them toward the stolen staff, but it offered no direction now. Only recognition. “Whatever is on the roof carries enough of the Queen’s magic to awaken the mark.”

“Meaning we still won’t know what caused it until we get up there.”

“Yes.”

Keir pushed back his sleeve. His sigil glowed with the same faint light. Zer’s did as well. Connal looked toward the partially open door. Whatever waited beyond it carried enough of the Queen’s magic to awaken every mark she had placed upon them.

He eased the door open another few inches.