Page 21 of Office of the Lost

Lightning flared and static crackled behind the half-open portal.Tendrils of dark smoke pushed their way out and quested around the space near The Door.

“Crispin, what have you done?”His mother was suddenly, startlingly awake, her presence a shock at his back.

His face covered with cold sweat, he looked over his shoulder and wished he hadn’t.Cerillia Ailedrin Moss’caladin’s eyes had gone wide and her mouth was open, moving wordlessly.He’d never seen the Mother of Fae frightened.

A growling roar drew his attention back to The Door.Something huge was on the other side.He could feel it—enormous, twisted, broken—the antithesis of Order.It pushed forward, eager to reach him, to consume him.Although he was terrified, he was perversely tempted to allow himself to be drawn in.

And then Aspin was there, his golden sword unsheathed, looking every inch the conquering hero.He was bright where Crispin was dim, sharp where his little brother was dull, dressed in golden chain mail and shining with his own light, his blond locks swinging in the air as he fought the shadows.He swung at the tendrils of smoke, and they parted like water, oozing something black and foul onto the layers of decomposing leaves, sizzling and giving off a putrid smell, like death and decay.

The thing that had been pushing its way through The Door retracted, and the tentacles of icy cold that had squeezed Crispin’s heart released him as well.

Aspin lifted a mighty leather boot and kicked The Door shut with a resoundingthunk.

The clearing fell silent, save for Aspin’s heavy breathing.

A shadow fell across Crispin as something blocked out Greebals’ brightest golden moon.

Crispin looked up into his mother’s face.

She was calm, her face as placid as the lake on the edge of her Estate where a young man and his wizard friend had once found a fabled sword.As calm as death.

Crispin shuddered and closed his eyes, expecting to be spelled out of existence.

Instead, a cool hand cupped his cheek.He dared to open his eyes and, staring into hers, saw great pools of anger and—surprisingly—concern.

“Don’t ever disobey me again.”

All of this flashed through Crispin’s head in an instant as they ran into the tepid waters of the Pond of Disappointment.He skidded to a halt in the silty sand at the bottom of the pond and turned to face the oncoming cloud.“I know what it is.”

“Dude.Gonna need more.”Leopold blinked.“If this is the Zima again?—”

“It wasneverthe Zima.”Crispin sighed.Why couldn’t they have sent him to collect a crown, or a key, or… even a possum?Possums pretended to be dead when threatened, right?That would be better than the man’s constant questions and inane observations.“Here, follow my motions.”He took Leo’s left hand in his right and turned to face the advancing fog.

It crept across the stubbornly colorless water toward them, as if it were as unsure about the place as he was.

Crispin raised his free hand and drew a square.Blue fire flared in the air where his finger had been, leaving a perfect form.“Hurry, do another.”

“That’s chill.Definitely not the Zima.”Leopold poked at the glowing figure hanging in midair.

Thea chose that moment to break into song again, belting out something about a lake and fire and the sky.

“Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water.’Sweet playlist, but she already did that one,” Leopold said.

Crispin eyed the advancing smoke cloud.It had shifted shape and now resembled a nasty mouth full of trailing teeth.He remembered that deep rumble.“So sorry to rush you.But if you don’t mind?We seem to be running out of time.”

Leo blinked again, and something seemed to snap into place in his head.“Oh crap, sorry.”He blushed, probably the most color the area around Disappointment Pond had seen in ages.“Sorry.I get distracted easily.My friend Pete says?—”

“Squares.”Crispin was busy drawing more, each one intersecting another, building a burning wall between the creature and the two of them.

“Sorry.”Leo joined him, still holding his hand.

Where the human’s hand passed, perfect circles remained, glowing with the bright blue light.

“Oops, you said squares.”

“Circles work too.The important thing here isOrder.” If he was right, they could still save themselves.

“Like, from Amazon?”

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