Page 59 of Shadow's End

He’s a lovely ghost. He was just angry at being locked out.She waved a hand.I promised we’d break the salt lines so he can move around freely.

Nice idea. I followed Monty up the steps and, after Jaz had taken the required photos, we warily stepped through the door. The TV room door was closed—our ghost obviously wanted privacy to watch his show—but the door to our left was open.The room was empty aside from the framework of a dismantled bed leaning against the outer wall.

Eli and Monty had stopped at the next door along, which was open. The scent drifting past spoke of musty darkness, dank earth, and blood. I had my shields locked down tight, but could still feel the distant caress of agony.

“The cellar is practically writhing with protection spells,” Monty said, his expression grim. “It’s going to take us fucking ages to break them.”

I stopped and peered past his arm. Steep wooden steps led into a deeper darkness lit by a thick, twisting mess of spell threads that glowed either a deep purple or ghastly green, two colors synonymous with darker spells.

“Those spells aren’t covering the stairs,” I noted. “I’ll climb down?—”

“I’m thinking that’s probably a bad idea,” Ashworth said from behind me. “Just because we can’t see any triggers on the stairs doesn’t mean they’re not there.”

“But if I’m touching the earth, it will warn me about them.”

Eli glanced at me, eyebrows raised. “Is this a recent development? Because it’s not something that’s happened before, is it?”

I hesitated. “I’ve certainly used the earth to find someone before. I just didn’t really understand the reason for the connection.”

“What you’re about to do sounds more a direct interaction, though.”

“Because the Fenna want Roger and the stain of his blood gone from the earth, so they’ve decided to help me.”

“The book hasn’t mentioned that as a possibility. Not so far, anyway.”

“It didn’t mention the wellspring’s source being the cumulus of past Fenna souls either, so maybe whoever wrote the book didn’t know about it.”

“Possible.” He studied the darkness for a second. “It still might be best to test the waters first, so to speak, and send something else down those stairs.”

“That won’t help if the triggers are set to react to flesh,” Monty said. “Besides, if there’s something lurking we can’t see, it’ll just give them warning we’re on our way.”

“Laddie, if there’s something lurking, then its already aware we’re here,” Ashworth said. “We haven’t exactly been quiet.”

“Besides,” I said, taking off my pack and handing it to Monty. “If we start worrying about everything we can’t see, we’ll get nowhere fast.”

“And the ‘fools rush in’ mode of operation returns with a bang,” Belle said dryly.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t alter the fact I’m the best choice to do this. I have both my inner wild magic and the wilder stuff looking out for me. Everyone else here does not.”

“I’m not arguing. I’m just pointing out a fact.”

“And the fact is, she’s going anyway,” Monty added.

I grinned and stepped down. The wood bowed under my weight. I froze, but there was no indication it was about to give way. I took another step, then placed one hand on the stone and earth wall and created a repel spell around the other, just in case.

The whisperers stirred and then fell silent. Other than expressing a desire that I hurry up, they obviously had nothing else to say. I continued on warily, moving past the stone wall and into the actual ground, but the whisperers remained silent, and the only magic that burned my senses was the tumultuous swirl of threads that lay to the right of the bottom step.

I paused on the final step and scanned the earth. I couldn’t see anything that suggested there was any sort of trap—magicalor otherwise—and the air was still and dank. The thick weave of magic to my right flickered briefly as I stepped down, but otherwise, didn’t react. This close, it was possible to see past the ribbons of darkness, though the figure lying a few feet beyond the barrier was little more than a ghostly shadow. A shadow missing the bottom part of his right leg.

Unless Marie had decided to amputate someone else’s leg for the sheer hell of it—and right now, I wouldn’t put anything past her—it had to be Roger.

He wasn’t moving. Wasn’t breathing. Not that I could see, anyway. But then, as Belle had noted, he was a thrall and probably didn’t really need to.

I glanced up and gave the all clear. Monty immediately clattered down, followed by Ashworth.

“There’s definitely a number of trigger points built into those protective layers,” he said after a moment. “And given their weight, I suspect we wouldn’t be dealing with a lesser demon.”

“No surprise, given Roger isn’t just bait but a means of weakening Maelle,” Monty said. He squatted down and motioned toward the ground. “The spells don’t cover the earth. Maybe we—or rather, Lizzie—can use that to our advantage.”

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