Mike stared at Nyx, trying hard not to chew at his lips while contempting what to do about the fae's sudden appearance. This castle technically belonged to him, and he wasn't entirely certain how best to proceed as far as Hospitality was concerned. The princess grinned at him, her eyes both cold and calcuting. Their meeting the previous day had not given him good vibes at all. He had sensed her disdain while he was helping Amymone fall asleep, and she had tried to ensorcell him with magic. If her spell hadn’t been part of her natural attributes, much like smell or skin color, he would have openly accused her of an attack.

  And now, he had to navigate even trickier terrain: niceties."Princess Nyx, I—"

  "Just call me Nyx," she said. "Unless you wish me to call you Caretaker Mike."

  "Okay, then. Nyx." He looked to Cecilia or Sulyvahn for help, but it was clear that he was the man in charge and whatever happened next was up to him. "Before we proceed any further, I must make you aware that I cannot guarantee your safety in this location. Though I own this property, it is mostly unknown to me and the denizens do not care for my presence."

  "Really?" Nyx grinned. "I find this unusual. Are the entities here not aware of your new position?"

  Mike shrugged. "I don't know. This castle is poputed with spirits and perhaps creatures unknown to me. I am on a personal mission and do not consider this pce my home, nor do I have any power over the property."

  "Hmm." Nyx circled him, staring at him like a predator. "I do recall you saying you had important business to tend to. So this is where you expect to find a cure for Tinker Radley?"

  Mike narrowed his eyes. There was no reason that Nyx should know anything about that. The smug look on her face wasn't endearing either. "It is," he admitted.

  "I bet you also fear a breach of hospitality."

  "I do." Mike crossed his arms. "I am uncertain how to proceed in regards to this current situation without committing a breach in etiquette."

  "I could tell you."

  "I’m sure you could," Mike admitted. "And what would the cost for such knowledge be?"

  "I'm sure we could settle on a price." She reached out as if to touch his shoulder, then pyfully withdrew her arm. "Or perhaps you could...what is the phrase? Wing it?"

  "I take no chances with regards to the fae," Mike replied. "In that case, I do have some rations I brought along for this mission. Do you wish to partake of them? I also have water."

  Nyx chuckled. "I am feeling a bit hungry."

  Mike pulled one of the special grano bars from his pack and handed it to her. "This is a special blend made by the mother of my child. It provides plenty of nutrients and energy for a full-grown human, and—"

  Nyx bit into the bar. "How quaint," she decred. "I can taste the magic that went into these. Were you aware that semen was used in the creation of this bar?"

  "Yes. I was just about to inform you that it was present." Mike felt a chill, but it was only psychological. "I would not give you something to eat that I wouldn't eat myself," he added.

  "How scandalous." Nyx shoved the rest of the bar in her mouth. He wasn’t sure if she actually chewed it up or swallowed the snack whole. "I do not currently thirst, so will not be imbibing your water. Unless it contains your blood, perhaps?"

  "It does not." Subterfuge. Whimsy. Both of these floated through Nyx's soul like a pair of conflicting rivers. "We have come to explore the castle. If you would like to join us, you may, but know that any treasure we find belongs to me and my own. You should also know that entering these premises with us is an acknowledgment that you agree that neither I nor my family shall be held responsible for any harm that may befall you. The Seelie court shall have no cim, either." Mike thought back over the words, wondering if they closely mimicked typical terms of service.

  "Do you really think your words will hold that sort of power over the Seelie?" she asked, leaning toward him. Though her face said she found it amusing, he saw a flicker of concern.

  "Yes," he replied. "Though the fae may trick or mislead, they do not lie."

  "Well spoken." Nyx took a step back. "I will accompany you and understand that my fate is mine alone."

  Mike let out a sigh and looked at the others. "Very well. Shall we?"

  Sofia threw Nyx a nasty look, then walked toward the front door of the castle. The wood was thick with rot and mold, splintering apart as she pushed it open. Mike saw the light of over a dozen spirits disappear back into the walls. He shook his head in frustration as the others came in behind him.

  "Last time I was here, the spirits waited until I was deep in the building before ambushing me," he said. "I would expect them to do the same thing here."

  "Perhaps," said Sulyvahn. "But ye've got a couple of helpers that don't fear the dead."

  "They should fear you," said Cecilia. "I only guide the willing. You're the one who drags them kicking and screaming."

  Sulyvahn chuckled. “I’m fer the ones that don’t want to cross over, that's fer sure and fer certain."

  "I also don't fear the human dead," added Nyx. “Nor the living.” Mike ignored her and turned to Cerberus and Sofia.

  "Watch my back," he said. "Cecilia, you can scout ahead. Suly, you're on evil spirit duty." The moment the words left his mouth, he felt his stomach freeze over. He moved to the side as a rge vase shot past him and shattered on the ground. "Perhaps we should have talked about this in the courtyard," he added.

  "Do you have a job for me, Caretaker?" Nyx grinned.

  "No," he replied. "Any help you offer must be given freely and of your own accord."

  "You are going to be so much fun,” she replied. Mike said nothing, but couldn't help noticing the guilty look on Suly's face. He wanted to ask the dulhan what he knew about the princess, but couldn't do so as long as she was around. At least with the fae, he could go into his house and avoid inviting them inside. Here? She could follow him day and night.

  The fae princess wandered through the door ahead of the group. Mike followed right behind her, half convinced she was going to bolt. The first room of the castle, the vestibule, held a chill that immediately seeped through Mike's shirt. He rubbed his arms just as Sofia handed him a jacket.

  "Naga armor not keeping you warm enough?" she asked.

  "Not really." Underneath his clothes, he was wearing special armor made from Ratu's st shedding. It would protect him from bdes and magic, but failed utterly against cold weather. "Thank you."

  Sofia nodded, then cast a look in Nyx's direction. "What are we going to do about her?"

  "Assume she has phenomenal hearing," he replied.

  "That's because I do," Nyx replied from the other side of the room.

  Sofia harrumphed and walked into the middle of the room. She looked around. There was a table and a few broken chairs, but the room was otherwise empty. When Mike looked up at the ceiling, he instead found a massive hole through which he could see that a few more stars had come out. In the middle of the ke, this would be the perfect pce to bring Callisto star gazing. Or maybe an interlude with Zel. When he found a way to calm or banish the spirits here, he pnned on bringing them. Hawaii was also good for stargazing, but Maui still had plenty of light pollution that diluted what they could see.

  "Not much fer interior decorating." Suly nudged a table with his foot. "I'm surprised there's any furniture here at all."

  "When Beth and I came here st time, we dragged that out from a different room and had lunch on it." It had been their st peaceful meal within the abbey. Mike moved to the table and pulled out his paper map. They also had digital copies on their phones, but he half expected the spirits to drain his devices of electricity. "So, we've got a lot of ground to cover."

  "Are we splitting up?" asked Sofia.

  "We're strongest together," said Mike. “So, no.”

  "That's no fun," said Nyx. "If we split up, we could search this whole pce far faster." The fae gave him a pyful smirk that briefly reminded him of Lily. He wished the succubus was here right now. She’d probably know how to handle their unwanted guest. Or get them killed. It would absolutely be one extreme or the other.

  "We're not here to have fun, Nyx. We're here for results." Mike looked past the fae at Cecilia. "Let's stick with one room roaming for now."

  "It just means I'm closer to you." Cecilia floated over and hugged his arm. "Just the way I like it."

  Cerberus sniffed the air and growled. "Bad. Smell. Spirits."

  "Yeah, they aren't friendly. Please don't torch them unless you have to.” Based on what he knew, these spirits were just ordinary people from when the Abbey was active, trapped for some unknown reason. He would feel terrible if they were harmed as a result. Hellfire was one of the few things that could permanently damage or even destroy a soul.

  "Cerberus. Obeys. Master." The st head that spoke smirked at him.

  "Your hellhound is a fascinating pet," said Nyx. “Some in the court have spoken at length about obtaining one.”

  "She's not a pet," said Mike. "Cerberus is a member of the family. Anyway, let’s continue further in. There are plenty of rooms to explore and we won’t get that done from here." What he didn't say out loud was that he wondered if the spirits were potentially guarding whatever he was looking for. If they followed the path of most resistance, it could take them directly to what he wanted. Speaking this out loud may cause the spirits to adjust their strategy. There was also the possibility that the spirits were just dicks. He didn’t have a pn for that potential outcome.

  The next room still had a ceiling and was far smaller. It was more of a small hallway than anything else, but did have the remains of some sort of cabinet. It actually rattled at them threateningly, but Suly gave it a kick.

  "Quiet in there," he said. "Or I'll take ye out and give you a thrashing."

  Sofia grabbed Mike by the back of the neck and forced him down just as the cabinet unched itself at both of them. It shattered against the far wall, showering them with splinters.

  "Ah, okay, then." Sulyvahn, who stood next to where the cabinet had been, looked sheepish. "I guess I kin track 'em down for ye and make good on my word."

  "Don't bother," said Mike. "It’ll just waste our time. Besides, there's only so much furniture they can break." He noticed that Nyx had picked up a rge splinter and was inspecting it. With a frown, he turned his attention away from her and toward the others. “Is everyone else okay?”

  Cerberus joined Nyx, and were picking up pieces to sniff them. Cecilia nodded from her corner of the room.

  “Then let’s press forward.” Mike gestured for Cecilia to check out the next room and waited. She came back thirty seconds ter and gave him a thumbs up. He moved to the doorway and was about to pass through when he looked over and saw that Nyx had reassembled the shattered cabinet. There were faint cracks in the structure where it had been bound together by mana. “How…how did you do that?”

  Nyx grinned. “It was just a simple matter of reminding all the pieces how they used to get along.” She held out a hand for the remaining piece, which was still in Cerberus’ hands. The hellhound handed it over reluctantly and Nyx stuck it back into pce. “There. Now it’s complete.”

  Mike studied the cabinet for a moment, then nodded. What the hell else was there to say?

  The group walked through the next three rooms without incident. Cecilia scouted ahead and decred the way clear each time, and the others would enter afterward. Mike noticed that Nyx was hanging back, and didn't know if it was from a sense of self preservation or if the fae princess was pnning to sneak off. He had no way to ask anyone to keep an eye on her, either.

  After checking the map, Mike announced that they needed to get to the great hall. From there, they would have access to a bunch of rooms that they could check all at once, and maybe even set up some kind of informal camp. Taking the direct route, they discovered that part of the roof had colpsed, leaving behind a pile of rubble that blocked their path. It was now raining outside, causing pools of water to form on the stone floor. They would have to take a detour to get there.

  "Alright, everybody, hold up," Mike called out, pulling out the map to double check their route. Something felt off. They had stepped into a side hallway that may have been a servant's corridor. The narrow hallway was lined with shattered windows. In a couple of pces, people had left graffiti. Mike had no idea if Seamus still loved Morrigan, but the giant X through “Liam loves Quinn" implied that the retionship had fallen apart.

  "Why do humans do this?" Nyx traced the letters of Liam's decration with a finger. There was a small fsh of light, followed by a silvery, spectral figure of a young man angrily X'ing out the decration of love. "Of what use is leaving your mark on things that do not belong to you?"

  "Part of it is foolishness." Mike studied the spectral figure for a moment. To his soul sight, he could actually see a small remnant left behind. Could heartbreak shatter a soul and cause it to leave behind a piece? Or was this strictly a result of fae magic? "Another part is the realization that we're on a rock screaming through the void of space and nothing we do actually matters. So why shouldn't we write our names on stuff?"

  "Is that what you do, Mike? Do you cim things?" Nyx smirked in his direction.

  "Not in this manner." Mike put a hand on the wall. "In a way, this is both a decration of love and of existence. For all we know, this is all that will remain of these people in a hundred years."

  "Humans are notorious for their brevity and ck of accomplishments."

  "And what of you, Nyx?" Sofia was sitting on a windowsill. "Do you have any accomplishments?"

  "Plenty," Nyx grinned. "I once tied two nights together to make a day. I taught the moon how to dance in the sky. I was even there when Atntis fell, disappearing forevermore beneath the waves."

  "Anything we would have heard of?" asked Sofia.

  "Hard to say. What have you heard of?" Nyx sashayed down the hallway, and the shadows cast by the fshlight beams seemed to chase her feet as she walked.

  "Try me," said Sofia.

  "Perhaps I will." Nyx made it to the end of the hallway and pushed the door open. She turned around and backed through it. "But not today," she called.

  Sofia grimaced at Mike and he just shook his head. Cerberus had stuck their heads out one of the windows and was sniffing at the air. The hellhound growled at something in the darkness, but said nothing when they turned toward the conversation.

  "I've watched the rise and fall of empires and have personally blessed commoners who would become kings. I could list my accomplishments until the rising of the sun, but impressing a one-eyed half-giant would bring me no satisfaction." Nyx licked her lips as Sofia's cheeks burned. "Are not the books you keep little more than these decrations of love and existence? Semi-profound musings captured in ink and bark for others to see? You are naught but the keeper of vanities."

  Mike moved between Nyx and Sofia in time to grab her wrist before she could swing at the fae.

  "Let's move on," he said, stepping forward to wrap his hand around Sofia's waist. She threw Nyx a dirty look, but softened when Mike gave her a squeeze. "She's right about staying here. Unless someone wrote a recipe for restoring life on these walls, there is no use remaining."

  "I dinnae know about that." Suly looked out the window and grinned. "The view is quite beautiful. I can see why lovers enjoy it."

  "People. Fuck. Here." Cerberus sniffed at the air, then crouched down and pointed at something. Mike moved to see what it was and groaned.

  "Someone is leaving condoms in my magic castle." He summoned a lightning spider and used it to ferry the trash outside. The electrostatic manifestation managed to drag the desiccated thing up the wall and out the window.

  "And what use is that?" Nyx ughed. "All you've done is move it outside."

  "The spirits here are angry. Maybe they'll see this and know I mean them no harm."

  "Yet you could harm them if you chose."

  Mike stared hard at the fae. Nyx somehow seemed innocent and malevolent all at once. The fae pyed by rules of their own, regardless of whether you wanted to py along or not. Truth and tradition were their weapons, each one a sharp bde hidden in pin sight.

  He took a deep breath. It had been a long time since he felt like he had to guard his interactions with others. Even though Titania was an ally, he was eternally wary. "None among us would be safe from me," he said.

  Nyx's smile faltered as if she had been physically struck. "Truly?" she asked.

  Mike thought back to the entity he had torn apart. The only reason he didn't know his own limitations was his refusal to fully explore them. Pulling the entity apart had taken little effort and felt justified. It had never been truly alive. In hindsight, it bothered him a bit that he never thought twice about its destruction. The mere act of touching Ratu's soul had caused her harm. If he were to reach into Nyx, could he tug at the threads that held her together until she, too, fell apart?

  "Truly." His magic pulsed on its own, and the temperature in the room dropped. He cleared his throat, hoping that he wouldn’t shift back into his daddy voice. "Though I wish no harm upon those who currently travel with me."

  Nyx had no clever response to that. Instead, she just nodded and walked past the group as if they hadn't been talking. At the end of the hallway, she stepped through the door and vanished.

  "Now that was intense." Suly chuckled and looked at his sister. "Yer man reminded me of Her Majesty for a moment."

  Cecilia didn't reply. Instead, she winked at Mike, then faded from view.

  "It's going to be a long night," Mike muttered. He patted Sofia on the butt and moved to follow Nyx.

  "Really? An ass pat?" Sofia sighed with exasperation.

  Mike shrugged. "I was aiming for your back, but you're built like a goddess."

  Sofia chuckled, and shook her head. "You think you’re such a smooth talker."

  "Is it working?"

  She sighed. "Yes."

  ---

  Nyx walked right through the grand hall, ignoring the spirits watching her passage, then turned a corner and found herself in another hallway. The world tilted briefly, the result of a dimensional rift. This pce didn’t fit entirely in the mortal realm, and she had just discovered a room pced elsewhere.

  She knelt down by the wall and pced one hand on her chest. Her heart was racing like a hummingbird’s and making a staccato rhythm behind her sternum.

  The Caretaker had done this. When he had answered her question, the mortal had spoken with far more than just confidence. It had been Authority, the kind granted only to those who had collected sufficient divinity. Did this man have believers? Was he pnning to become a god?

  Nyx didn’t have any answers, but one thing was clear. Whatever power he possessed was enough to tear her apart, should he choose to do so. Would it be death by fire? Or perhaps he could stop her heart with a thought?

  The princess opened her mouth and cackled. How unexpectedly terrifying and thrilling, all at once! She skipped through the castle, feeling the spirits come to life as she traveled their halls. The transitions between realms were barely noticeable, even by her, as the architecture wrapped in on itself like a snail’s shell.

  On occasion, she could hear the Caretaker calling her name. She smirked in response, wondering if he was worried for or about her. The spirits, emboldened by her mad behavior, came out and attacked her. It was easy enough to dodge the furnishings thrown her way. The few times they manifested before her, she sent them packing with the sting of her magic.

  The more she traveled, the sooner she realized that the castle was twisting itself into a pretzel to keep her from finding something. But what could that be? Was it the mythical cure that Mike was seeking? Or something far more exciting?

  Nyx liked puzzles. Most fae did. It wasn’t just the joy of solving something difficult that made her giddy, but the idea that she could take the puzzle itself and expand on the original idea, perhaps even confounding the creator. She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. What sort of puzzle was this pce?

  The fae princess stopped to study the long hallway that she was in. This one had wooden floors that had partially rotted to reveal the stone packed beneath them. The spirits were angry, but they now knew better than to mess with her. Most of their ire was focused on the Caretaker's group, anyway.

  Still, Nyx knew for a fact that the Caretaker was better prepared this time. The banshee and the dulhan alone were more than a match for the spirits. How were these mere ghosts supposed to present any real kind of challenge?

  The fae princess ughed, causing the spirits to move away from her in terror. It hardly seemed like a fair fight. What could she do to bance the odds, to make things more interesting?

  As she skipped from one room to another, she paused when a suit of armor twisted its head to watch her passage. The spirit inside fled at her approach, and she cautiously inspected the steel armor. The leather was worn and weak in pces and the armor had rusted in a couple of parts.

  Nyx ran her fingertips along the breastpte, her skin sizzling on contact. Though the armor was a dispy piece now, it had once seen battle. She could almost smell the blood that had been spshed across it centuries ago.

  "Hmm." She mulled over the armor for a minute, then ughed. The spirit who had possessed the armor had been able to move the helmet, but what of the whole body?

  Cackling, Nyx ran her fingers across the metal, leaving bloody streaks of her own. She whispered words of remembrance, and the armor suddenly remembered. It shuddered and raised its arms, then studied its empty hands.

  "That's right," she whispered. "The enemy walks among us once again. Go forth and protect your kingdom, brave knight."

  The living armor walked to the other side of the room where weapons had been bolted to the wall. It pulled down a mace and then wandered through an empty doorway.

  What else could Nyx animate? The armor was easy enough, she just had to remind it what it had been built for. But what of the tables, or chairs?

  What had started as a game for the Caretaker became a game for herself. Breathing life into the furniture of the castle wasn't an easy task, and she took pride in every creation she managed to bring to life. Chairs in the dining hall crept low to hide beneath the table. An old bed creaked and cracked as it moved into the corner of the room. A pair of decorative statues shaped like star-struck maidens went stomping off, their feet splintering the dusty wooden floor.

  She had far less success in the library when some of the books fell apart, the air now filled with the smell of mold.

  She heard yelling from below and grinned. It sounded like the others had finally come across some of her creations.

  Dancing in the middle of the library, she sent her magic into the shelves, bidding the intact books to live. As more shouts came from below, Nyx beckoned to the spirits watching her.

  "What are you waiting for?" she asked. "It's time to py!"

  The spirits studied her silently, then disappeared through the floor in the direction of Mike and the others. Nyx licked her lips in anticipation, then pressed her fingers against the stone floor. What else was this pce capable of?

  Deep beneath the stone, she discovered the undercurrent of the leyline that y beneath this entire pce. Giggling madly, she stroked the magic of the castle with her own, and commanded it to live.

  ---

  “Nyx?” Mike scowled as he gnced into the next room. It was yet another hallway, but this was a magical one that existed between the rooms that could be found on the survey. He pulled out a copy of the map and studied it for a second. “She’s not in here, either.”

  “Should we even be looking for her?” asked Sofia.

  “Yes.” Mike didn’t care that Nyx had wandered off, nor was he worried she would get hurt. He was far more concerned with the fact that a fae princess was now wandering around his haunted castle, most likely stirring up trouble. The fae saw the world and life in a completely different way than anyone else he knew, and he now wondered if she had managed to punch a hole in their prior agreement that she wouldn’t y cim to anything she found.

  Naturally, the fact that he couldn’t even convey these thoughts to Sofia also pissed him off. After studying the map for a moment, he just shook his head.

  “This room is in the wrong pce,” he said. “If we go to the other end of the hall, we should be near the dining room, which is fixed.”

  “Unless it isn’t,” said Sulyvahn. The dulhan was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “While we’re in there, we might be gettin’ a turn o’ our own, comin’ out in all sorts of pces.” The dulhan chuckled. “I’ve a sixth sense about these things. The spirits, they’re full o’ rage.”

  “They are quite angry.” Cecilia appeared, her form translucent. She studied the nearest wall with concern. “But they are also afraid.”

  “They shouldn’t be.” Mike moved to the closest wall and put his hand on it. He sent his magic outward to explore, but felt nothing. If any spirits lingered there, he didn’t see them. “I’m not here to hurt them.”

  “Huh.” Sulyvahn leaned away from the wall and cocked his head. “I’m not one to be payin’ much mind to their feelings, but even I kin sense it.”

  “Well, I can only put so much time into finding Nyx. Let’s focus on some other stuff.” Mike’s hand was still on the wall. He closed his eyes and sent his thoughts outward.

  “What are you doing?” asked Sofia.

  “Calling. The. Spiders,” replied Cerberus.

  Mike grinned at the hellhound’s response, but it soon faded. Puzzled, he stretched his magic, sending it further out. The others waited in silence as he did this for several minutes, then let go of the wall abruptly.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Cecilia.

  “There aren’t any.” Mike looked in the corners of the hallway. There was dust and grit, but nary a single cobweb. “Not a single spider in this pce.”

  “We are on an isnd,” said Suly.

  “We’re not that far out,” said Sofia. “There are over a thousand species of spiders in Irend, and some of them can pump out their webs to balloon across rge distances.”

  “They make a balloon from their bums?” Sulyvahn was incredulous. “Is that something Eulie or the wee Grace could do?”

  “Gods, I hope not.” Mike shivered. He really didn’t want his daughter somehow hot-air ballooning away from his property on a rge thread of spider silk. “Even if she could, I’m guessing she’s too heavy.”

  “Ye’ve got a ss here with three heads, friend.” Suly pointed at Cerberus. “We passed logic a long time back.”

  “Do you ever get tired of your brother being right?” Mike asked Cecilia.

  “It’s a recent development.” She stuck out her tongue at Sulyvahn. “If Grace floated away, Abel would catch her.”

  Mike rolled his eyes. “Yeah, the st thing I need is somebody snapping a pic of my gargoyle retrieving a spider child who got caught up in a tree.” Ever since the events in Maui, the internet was all fired up for cryptid-type sightings. Eulie had done what she could to mitigate the damage, but the whole affair was now just considered the mother of all government cover ups.

  Which was kind of funny, because it was. The US government had utilized every trick in the book to gaslight, obfuscate, and outright lie about what had happened. Huge amounts of money had exchanged hands and locals had been paid off to take down their posted videos. Mike was still fuzzy on the details, but supposedly his fight with the kraken had been interpreted as a viral marketing campaign for an unreleased Godzil movie. It was hard to keep up with everybody who had gotten involved.

  Of course, the Order also had a hand in keeping things quiet. They had sent him a registered letter about two weeks ter that said if he kept his mouth shut about what happened, there wouldn’t be any problems. It was clear that they weren’t entirely certain what to do with him, but they were definitely giving him all the space he desired. Naturally, Mike had ignored them. They hadn’t been worth his time.

  Back to the matter at hand, the castle was somehow completely devoid of arachnids. Had the spirits kept them out? It couldn’t be a maintenance thing. The keep was little more than ruins in a lot of pces.

  Maybe it had something to do with the multipnar nature of the pce. He would try again once they were back in a part of the castle that wasn’t folded in on itself.

  “Let’s keep moving.” Mike walked down the hallway with the others in tow. He pushed open the door at the end to reveal a room that looked like a study. A chair had been pced at a desk next to the window, and shelves lined the wall. On the opposite wall was a set of double doors. “So it looks like Suly was right again. This pce is shifting.”

  Sulyvahn cackled, making a point to maintain eye contact with Cecilia. In response, the banshee disappeared from sight. Mike felt her cold breath against his ear.

  “You shouldn’t give him such a big head,” she whispered. “He’s liable to drop it.”

  Sofia moved to the desk and crouched down. She pulled out some of the drawers, then ran her hands along the edges of the desk. “Nothing here,” she muttered. The desk took on a sickly aura and started to rise from the ground, but she hopped onto it, her weight driving it toward the ground.

  Mike chuckled at the spirit who fell out of the desk. It was an older man, his features pulled as he stumbled across the floor before vanishing.

  “Yeah, they could have pnned that better.” The group took a minute to search the room. This one wasn’t on the map. What determined which rooms had stayed exposed to the elements? If Mike were to fix the pce up and move in, would it expand like his own house had? He caught motion along the ceiling and spotted a couple of spirits staring at him from above.

  “Hey.” He waved at them. They looked like young women. From what he could see of their clothing, he assumed some type of vilger or servant. “I don’t suppose we could talk about this?”

  They vanished through the ceiling. Mike shook his head in frustration.

  “If ye want, I could maybe talk to ‘em.” Suly walked next to Mike. “Perhaps they could be made to see reason. I doubt there’s anything here that could hurt me.”

  For a moment, Mike was tempted. His distrust of Nyx had jaded him to any potential betrayal on Suly’s part, but he had no real reason to suspect that Sulyvahn was doing anything wrong.

  Still, those thin golden chains wrapped around Suly’s soul portended otherwise. Mike took a moment to consider what he should do, but it all came down to Beth suggesting he keep Suly close by. If he couldn’t trust himself, he could trust her.

  For just a second, that moment they had shared occupied all of his thoughts. A goofy grin broke across his face.

  “Yer droolin’, friend.” Sulyvahn chuckled and struck a pose. “Are yer tastes startin’ to swing my direction?”

  Mike ughed. “Hardly. If they ever did, Lily would be the first to tell everyone. Her big rule has always been to leave no kink unturned.”

  “I don’ doubt that a bit, that she-devil is a handful. Feels too quiet without her.” Sulyvahn’s grin faded. “I didna much like the quiet, back when I was on me own. Most of the spirits I tracked did a runner on me. Nobody much likes to see my kind a comin’. Was always a bit jealous o’ me other half, gettin’ to sit with family and all.”

  “They weren’t my family,” whispered Cecilia from somewhere behind Mike. “They usually just ignored me.”

  “Aye. I didna know that part until recent.” Suly scratched the back of his head. “Now I get to be a part o’ a real family. Guess I’m sayin’ I just want to earn my keep.”

  “You can keep earning it by having my back.” Mike cpped Sulyvahn on the shoulder.

  “If you two are quite done being bros, we should move on.” Sofia stood from the desk and looked back just in case it might rise up behind her. She couldn’t see the spirits, so had no idea the furniture was safe now. “I can guarantee Nyx isn’t taking time to bond with others.”

  “I wouldn’a go that far.” Sulyvahn gave Mike a knowing look. “That ss is unpredictable. Ye should expect no less than the unexpected from her.”

  “The story of my life.” Mike pushed open the double doors and frowned. “Isn’t this the same hallway we were just in?”

  “Shouldn’t be.” Sofia crossed the room and pushed open the door they had entered through. When it revealed a small closet, the cyclops groaned.

  Mike sighed. “That’s so annoying,” he muttered as everyone gathered up to go back into the hall. Looking back once to make sure nobody got left behind, they stepped back into the hall and walked down to the other side. Once by the door, Mike paused.

  “Does anyone else hear music?” He put his ear to the door. Sure enough, he could hear what sounded like an organ.

  “Sounds. Far. Away,” said Cerberus. All of their ears twitched as they looked around the hall. “Coming. From. Everywhere.”

  “Is it?” Mike moved to another part of the hallway and pced his ear against the wall. “Shit, they’re right. It sounds like it’s coming through the door and the wall.”

  “This wall, too.” Sofia had pced her ear against the wall opposite them.

  “And from below.” Suly was kneeling and had taken off his head to press an ear to the floor. “Sounds like a right party, if yer likin’ that kind of music. Sounds like someone is pyin’ backup on the drums.”

  “Who the hell would be pying drums?” Mike asked. The question was answered when somebody pounded on the door they had just come through. When everyone looked at each other, he sighed. “I’m guessing that’s Nyx. Hold on, I’m—”

  Mike yanked the door open and his magic fred. He took a step backward as a knight stepped into the room and swung its mace across the space where his head had been. The weapon splintered the frame of the door.

  “That’s cute. The old animated armor gag.” Mike stuck his fist forward into the guts of the armor, his fingers curled like hooks. A different kind of chill went up his spine when he realized there was no spirit occupying the armor.

  “Git down!” Sulyvahn tackled the knight away from Mike as it tried to bring the mace down. The dulhan and the knight tumbled into the previous room, which was now a different hallway.

  “I’m on it!” Sofia drew her sword and charged into the room.

  “Wait!” Mike yelled just as the doors smmed shut. When he opened them again, it was to see a bedroom full of furniture. The dresser closest to the door turned on spindly legs and let out a growl.

  “Wrong door,” he whispered, then smmed it shut. The floor tilted beneath his feet, and Mike slid down the hall in a crouch. Cerberus had grabbed onto the nearest windowsill, panic painted across their features.

  “I’ve got you!” Mike wrapped an arm around the hellhound's waist and they tumbled together through the opposite door then slid across the polished floor of the dining room. Their entry door smmed shut, leaving them in silence. “Cecilia, are you still with us?”

  “Yes.” The banshee appeared. “My love, that was no spirit!”

  “Yeah, I—” Mike twisted Cerberus around and winced as a pte shattered on his back. He groaned in agony, but continued using his body to shelter the hellhound from harm as a rge cabinet spewed ptes and cups in his direction. Growling, he released his magic, allowing it to swat aside the projectiles as tendrils of lightning danced along his back.

  Cecilia flew toward the cabinet. She grabbed onto the top of the cabinet and gave it a good shake, causing it to wobble. With a yank, she pulled the thing over, and it crashed to the ground.

  “Good job.” Mike stood and rubbed at his lower back. “What the hell? Was that a ghost?”

  “It wasn’t.” Cecilia floated back. Behind her, the cabinet bounced around in an effort to right itself. “The spirits are holding back.”

  Mike helped Cerberus to their feet. “Are you hurt?”

  Cerberus shook their heads no, then leaned in and hugged him, their tail wagging. Each head took a turn kissing him on the cheek. Mike chuckled and patted each head.

  “Good girls,” he said. The hellhound smiled at him, then turned their heads toward the dining room table and growled.

  From beneath the long table, chairs crept out in a manner that reminded him of crabs. Mike’s breath froze in his chest. If he asked, Cerberus could transform and torch them with no effort. But that would mean burning furniture that might go sprinting through the rest of the castle and spreading fmes. As the chairs ccked toward him, their backs swaying in the air, he knew exactly what to do.

  “Run!” He grabbed Cerberus and Cecilia by the hand and bolted for the door. The chairs skittered behind them, and Mike didn’t have a chance to close the door. They ran through another study and managed to dodge away from the curtains, which reached out in an attempt to grab them.

  Spirits manifested in this room, all of them reaching for Mike. Cecilia screamed, which sent the ghosts sprinting away and caused Cerberus to howl. The chairs got stuck on each other in the doorway, then burst through and started climbing up the walls like spiders. Somewhere in the distance, the organ music sped up.

  The door on the other side of the study took them along a mezzanine. Down below, Sulyvahn was using his spine whip to keep back a statue while Sofia fought off the animated armor.

  “Up here!” said Mike. He wondered if they should jump down, then froze when the chandelier above Sofia and Suly twisted and tilted in pce as if to look in his direction. It lunged toward him, the chain supporting it creaking and showering the others below with dust.

  Cerberus barked at the chandelier, then paused to kick away a chair that had come too close. The group ran across the mezzanine and entered a spiral staircase that went up. Mike swore as the chairs filled the bottom of the stairwell, but he didn’t have a good way to fight furniture.

  They ran like this for what felt like an hour. All through the castle, that wretched music continued to py as they entered bedrooms, servants hallways, and even some type of wine celr. Most of the furnishings came to life and chased them, while others appeared to be busted. On at least two other occasions, Mike had spotted either Sofia or Suly, but circumstances prevented them from properly meeting up.

  At some point, Sofia had ditched the knight. Now it was chasing after Mike, its mace long gone. The rooms weren’t always properly oriented anymore, sometimes at an angle or even upside down. The spirits occasionally threw unanimated furniture at them, or shut the doors to allow the abbey to shuffle the rooms. The knight managed to get its hands on Mike a couple of times, but he was usually able to squirm free.

  Eventually, they found themselves in the library. The books were fluttering around like angry bats, which unched themselves at Mike. The room was big enough that Cerberus was able to transform. The hellhound snapped at the flying pests with one head while the other two grabbed the knight and ripped it apart.

  Gasping for air, Mike moved along the edges of the room, careful not to touch the shelves. He didn’t want to get pulled into the same secret passageway that had cimed Beth st time because it would mean leaving Cerberus alone.

  Cerberus howled with one head as the other two crushed and peeled the armor. Bits of it still vibrated in an attempt to generate any sort of movement, but they were now essentially harmless. A few more books flew around, but Cecilia was chasing them down and tossing them to Cerberus to eat.

  “We should stay here,” said Mike, looking up at Cerberus. “If the others are still on the move, eventually we can meet back up.” He moved next to the hellhound and patted her fnks. “Good girl,” he added.

  The hellhound rumbled at his approval, then stomped on what may have been the knight’s breastpte. A rough tongue licked his face, and Mike had to step away as the other heads came for him.

  Hopefully, the others would be here soon.

  ---

  Sofia dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding the four-poster bed frame that had hurled itself in her direction. The wood creaked when she grabbed one of the posts, then snapped it in half. The bed spun in pce and swatted at her with the intact posts, but her sword sliced through them with little effort.

  “A little help, ss?” On the other side of the room, the moldy mattress that had been on the bed had folded shut over Suly and was attempting to chew him up unsuccessfully. It was just a mattress, after all. The dulhan’s head had come loose, bck smoke leaking across the floor.

  The cyclops leapt into the air and brought her knee down on the frame of the bed. Pain rocked up her legs as the wood shattered. The bed crumpled and spun in pce, the legs no longer able to move it properly. Grunting, Sofia grabbed the bottom of the broken bed and flipped it over.

  “This pce is a madhouse,” she muttered.

  The mattress puffed spore clouds into the air when she sliced it open. In the process of chewing on Suly, the remaining fabric tore and the mattress fell apart, releasing the dulhan’s body.

  “Much obliged,” said Suly as his body knelt to grab his head. Within moments, the dulhan had pulled himself back together. He retrieved his whip from where he had dropped it when the bed had ambushed him.

  Sofia frowned at the door they had come through. This was the first room they had entered that had only one opening, which meant they’d have to go back through. However, they had run here to escape a chandelier that had broken free of its chains and was now scurrying through the house like a demented spider.

  “I don’t suppose you have any other tricks?” Sofia folded the bde up and pulled off her backpack. She knelt down to inspect the straps, then opened it up to pull out a canteen.

  “I don’ know that I’d call what I do a trick.” Sulyvahn grinned and cracked his whip at the wall. “Mayhaps I could do a jig for ye, but it’s takin’ enough o’ me attention to keep the spirits at bay.”

  “So you say.” While she believed that Suly was telling the truth about ghosts that she couldn’t see, her anger was getting the better of her. Getting separated from Mike had pissed her off, and she didn’t like the idea of him running around without her. Also, the organ music was grinding on her nerves. She drank heavily from the canteen, then put it back. Was Mike thirsty, too? Hopefully he’d done more running than fighting. The man had stamina for days.

  “Now, now, don’t be that way.” Suly flung his whip out, the tip curling around something. An apparition appeared, shrieking madly as Sulyvahn gave the specter a yank. It looked like a renaissance-era peasant. “Now ye know that I’m not makin’ up tales.”

  “Let him go,” Sofia muttered with a shake of her head. “You’ve made your point.”

  “I have.” The dulhan smirked and flicked his whip. The ghost vanished once it was no longer wrapped up. “I could summon my horse, but I dinnae think this is the pce fer a ride. It couldn’t carry you, besides.”

  Sofia snorted. She doubted there were any horses on Earth capable of supporting her weight comfortably. “I’d hit my head on the frame of the door,” she added.

  “Aye.” Suly looked at the door. “I think we’ve lost the knight, but that statue was still hot on our trail.”

  “Abel should have come.” Sofia slid her arms through the straps of the bag and tightened them. “This would have been easy for her.”

  “She would’ve fallen through the floor, love.” Suly stomped the boards, which creaked. “We’d be diggin’ ‘er up from the celr, we would.”

  The cyclops stared at the door for several long seconds and let out a sigh. If the chandelier was out there, it would try to barge in and get stuck in the door. Looking over at the mattress halves flopping around, she debated picking one up and using it as a shield.

  “You ready?” she asked.

  “Yes’m.” Sulyvahn gave her a mock salute. “I’ve yer back.”

  Sofia shoved the door open, half expecting a vision of getting trampled by the chandelier, her flesh torn asunder by twisted steel and broken gss. However, nothing happened, and she found herself looking at a hallway with several doors. At the other end was a stairwell.

  “Looks clear,” she said, then ducked to step through. Suly slid through right behind her, and the door smmed itself shut behind them. The dulhan paused, then put a hand on Sofia’s wrist.

  “It occurs to me that we ain’t runnin’ right now.” Sulyvahn scratched his chin. “If these doors be changin’ every time we close ‘em, maybe we don’t have to be runnin’ as much.”

  “Hmm?” Sofia looked back at the door. “Are you suggesting we just open this again and see if it takes us somewhere better?”

  Suly nodded. “Yep. Then we step on through and repeat ad-nauseam.”

  “Ad-nauseam?” Sofia snorted. “That’s a strange phrase for a fae.”

  “Aye.” The dulhan’s eyes sparkled. “I’ve a girl back home who loves the big phrases. Ye pick those things up o’er time.”

  “I can’t imagine Beth liking big things,” Sofia muttered sarcastically.

  “That girl loves a big stretch, true.” Suly put his hands on the door. “Dare we chance it?”

  Sofia sighed. “Sure.”

  Sulyvahn opened the door. The bedroom was gone and they were back in the kitchen. However, the room was now tilted sideways.

  “Dare we take a chance, or should we part ways with this room?”

  “Close it,” said Sofia. Sulyvahn obliged, yanking the door shut. The cyclops turned toward the rest of the hall. “We should open the other doors first and then make our decision.”

  “A woman o’ action, I like it.” Sulyvahn snapped his wrist, and the whip coiled itself up. He hung it around a loop on his outfit and walked ahead of her, stopping every few steps to tilt his head. “That music be comin’ from everywhere.”

  “If we find who’s pying it, I intend to beat their ass.”

  The dulhan turned toward Sofia and frowned. “If it be Nyx, I wouldn’a even threaten it. She be a high noble in the court, any threat o’ violence against her could be seen as one against all o’ them.”

  Sofia snorted. “What? No individual accountability for your people?”

  Suly shook his head. “We may be one people, but the rules differ just like they do fer humans. Those at the tops have their own rules to follow, and us at the bottom don’t pretend to understand them.”

  “What else can you tell me about her?” Now that they weren’t busy fighting furniture, maybe she could dig for information.

  “Only true things, no opinions.” The dulhan stopped at the first door. “Nyx is a member o’ the court. Calling her a princess is reasonable, depending on the culture.”

  “Why did they send her?”

  Sulyvahn shrugged. “I’m not privy to the Court’s decisions.”

  “I meant why her, specifically? Why not somebody else?”

  “Ah, I see, I see.” Suly gave the door in front of him a shove. It opened to reveal the courtyard of the castle, as seen from a side door. Spirit lights fluttered about, briefly transforming into spirits. The dulhan shut the door and shook his head.

  “There be dozens o’ them out there,” he muttered. “I cannae protect you from that many.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Right.” Sulyvahn stepped away from the door and walked to the next one. “I suppose Nyx was chosen on account o’ her pledges. Ye see, the Court be all about politics, to each other and their families. Nyx is a member o’ a group of fae who once devoted themselves to interfering in the mortal realm.”

  “Interfering?”

  Sulyvahn nodded. “Yep. Look at me and my other half. We have jobs in the mortal realm, to make sure the dead pass on. The fae used to be part o’ the bance, think of us like a mystical ecosystem. While we lived in harmony with the humans, there were times the fae saw fit to interfere, fer better or fer worse. Nyx was part o’ a family sworn to look out fer the mortals, though I suspect they have lost their way a bit.”

  “Look out how?”

  Sulyvahn shrugged. “That bit is lost on me. She and her sisters worked with some o’ the gods to ensure the humans stayed on track. They were trying to avoid a repeat of…” The dulhan made a face. “I’m figurin’ out how to say it without drawin’ attention.”

  “What happened with the older gods?” Sofia was referring directly to the idea that the gods had grown so powerful that they had attracted the attention of the Others.

  “Right.” Sulyvahn smiled in relief. “At the time, there were new gods rising in popurity and more than a few mythical beings striving to ascend. By keeping the humans on the right path, everybody hoped to avoid a repeat. Nyx was part o’ that group of people. I assume the Seelie thought she would be the best fit as their ambassador, seein’ as how she used to like the mortals. From her perspective, it’s been thousands o’ years since she’s interacted with them, so maybe it wasn’t the best choice.”

  “Interesting.” They had arrived at the next door. Sofia did the honors this time to reveal a privy.

  “Ah. Shit luck.” Sulyvahn grinned at his own joke.

  “You won’t die if stabbed, right?” Sofia jabbed her sword at him.

  “It’ll hurt mah feelings.” Sulyvahn winked. “Yer sword may be magic, but not o’ the type to hurt my kind.”

  “Damn.” Sofia closed the door. “One more to go.”

  “Right.” Sulyvahn walked ahead of her again.

  “So why did Nyx stop interacting with people?” asked Sofia. “There’s really nothing keeping her from coming to the mortal realm.”

  “The Queen could.” Sulyvahn sighed. “E’er since Merlin dropped the veil o’er magic, it be a tough world for our kind here. I’m also supposin’ that the Queen saw fit to bme Nyx’s lot for the whole affair.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “Because Nyx and her sisters were—” Sulyvahn was interrupted by the sound of stone on wood. The pair looked over to the stairs to see a figure come up the stairs. “Ah. The statue found us.”

  “It’s not the same one.” Sofia readied her sword. “This one’s face is intact.” The other statue had been a woman in a flowing gown with a stoic face. She had managed to scar the face with her bde, but this statue’s visage was unblemished.

  “Aye. Let’s be hopin’ they were just two o’ a kind and not part of a rger set.” Behind them, the doorway at the end of the wall burst open. A cluster of chairs got tangled on each other trying to go through at the same time. Sulyvahn pulled his whip free and sighed. “The respite was nice, I guess.”

  The statue clomped forward, surprisingly fast for a figure made of marble. Sofia charged at it, enduring three different visions of her own death before sidestepping the assault and using her foot to trip the thing. It went down hard, smashing into the ground in time for Sulyvahn to vault over it.

  “Methinks we should take our chances on the stairs,” he called. Sofia followed after him, grunting in pain. When she had tripped the statue, she bruised her ankle. The injury was minor enough to not activate a warning, but the pain now had her full attention. The stairwell descended and terminated in another door, which Sulyvahn had already opened.

  “It’s just another bedroom,” he said as Sofia caught up. From up above, she heard the sound of stone on stone. Looking back, she saw that the statue was now tumbling down the stairs.

  “What in the actual hell?” she shouted, pushing past Sulyvahn. The dulhan smmed the door behind them, and an intense vision flooded Sofia’s mind. She grabbed the dulhan by one of his straps and yanked him out of the way as the statue crashed through the door. It hit the ground hard enough that one of its arms snapped off.

  The statue got to its feet, then turned toward Sofia. Its face had thin cracks running through it that met up where its arm had broken off. Up on the stairs, the chairs were now tumbling down in an attempt to keep up.

  “Ye’ve got the stone one,” said Suly. “I’ll focus on the chairs.”

  Sofia moved carefully, pain shooting up her leg. The statue lunged for her, but she was able to step aside and avoid it. The chairs were in the bedroom now, though one of them had broken apart at the bottom of the stairs. Suly cracked his whip at them, then managed to wrap it around the leg of one of the chairs.

  “Incoming,” he cried. Sofia moved out of the way, allowing Suly to yank the whip and send the chair crashing into the statue. The chair broke apart on impact, but the statue was unharmed.

  “There aren’t any more doors,” said Sofia, looking around. With the only exit packed full of furniture, they had no way to escape except through a nearby window.

  “Then we make our own exit.” Sulyvahn danced around, bobbing and weaving between the chairs. “Lead the statue to the window and get out of the way.”

  Sofia snorted. If the furniture was even remotely alive, it would understand exactly what the dulhan was pnning. However, the furniture seemed to have only a singur purpose, and that was to attack whoever was closest. There were two chairs left, and both were occupied with Suly as he danced away from them.

  It took a few tries to get the positioning right, but only because Sofia’s leg hurt. Eventually she got the statue marching toward her with the window at her back. When it threw a punch at her chest, she stepped sideways just as another chair crashed into the back of its head. It splintered apart instead of pushing the statue forward.

  “Oh, c’mon!” Sulyvahn tried to grab the other chair, but the vertebrae on his whip bit the wood so hard that he yanked a chunk of it off.

  Growling, Sofia dodged behind the statue and shoved it forward. It tipped into the gss, sending broken shards everywhere. The statue fought to get up, but Sofia used the hilt of her sword like a hammer, striking the shoulder on the other arm. Tiny chips came off, but she failed to crack it.

  The statue was strong, but Sofia managed to fight it long enough that its arm actually went outside. Kneeling down, she put her hands on the statue’s butt and pushed the whole thing forward. With a yell, she managed to heave it halfway out the window before it got stuck. The statue started kicking its legs, and she was forced to step back or get knocked out.

  Suly ran over with the remaining chair and smashed it on the statue to keep it from rising. Both of them grabbed a leg and lifted. Gradually, the statue tipped forward and fell through the window. There was a loud crack from below, and several ghost lights flickered up into the sky. When Sofia looked outside, she saw the shattered statue in the courtyard.

  “That…was a wee bit harder than expected.” Suly grinned and gave Sofia a thumbs up. His smile vanished and he let out a yell as he fell into a crouch. The broken stone arm of the statue had gripped him by the shin and was squeezing.

  “She’s got a grip on ‘er!” He lifted his leg and smashed it on the ground over and over until one of the fingers broke off, freeing him from its grip. Wincing, he rubbed at where the statue had squeezed him.

  “I thought you couldn’t be hurt,” she said.

  “I dnna think so, either,” he muttered. “Sticks and stones won’t break my bones, but magic? That can hurt me.”

  “Cute.” Sofia looked out the window. “So where do we go? Upstairs or out the window?”

  “No thoughts on me revetion that a stone arm is somehow magical?”

  The cyclops shook her head. “I can only assume that the magic in question only permeates the structure. That, or it has an etymology that can hurt your kind. I doubt it’s demonic in nature, which means the primary culprit is fae. If I had to guess, our missing princess is the one who did this, and no, I don’t know why she would do that, so why bother discussing it?”

  “Jinkies.” Sulyvahn scratched his head. “That was a keen deduction.”

  “I’ve read a lot of books, or perhaps I should say musings in ink on bark.” She gestured out the window. “So either go out or stay in?”

  The stillness of the night was pierced by a loud howl from Cerberus. It seeped through the building, briefly drowning the sound of the organ music. Suly gnced out the window and shook his head.

  “If you do be right about our stray Seelie, then I doubt she took the time to animate anything outside the building. If Cerberus howls again, we can track her.”

  “At st. A pn.” Sofia put her bde away and leaned out the window. “The stonework is in bad shape, but I think we can make it to those creneltions up there. Do you see?”

  Suly waited for Sofia to come back inside before leaning out the window and looking. “Aye,” he said, then came back inside. “That looks like an impossible climb.”

  “Just do what I do,” Sofia said. Moving to the window, she was careful to avoid the shards of broken gss. It was hard enough maneuvering through the window with the pack, but she barely noticed its weight once outside. Shifting her feet onto the nearest ledge, she

  {slid her foot onto a piece of stone that immediately broke free. Gasping, Sofia grabbed for the window, the remaining gss slicing through her fingers as she fell. Trying not to scream, she smmed into the ground and felt a powerful wrenching sensation through her neck and back.

  “Sofia!” screamed Sulyvahn, leaning out the window.

  The cyclops stared upward in horror, suddenly aware that every breath was painful, blood bubbling up from her lips with each one.}

  Back in the present, Sofia cleared her throat and moved her foot just a bit farther. Looking back at Sulyvahn, she pointed at the stone that would have done her in.

  “That one’s loose,” she said. “Don’t step on it.” Still determined, she resumed her climb upward, dying nearly a dozen deaths before reaching the top.

  ---

  Mike was drifting on the edge of consciousness when he heard an odd scratching sound somewhere outside the room. He was leaning against Cerberus’ side, using the hellhound as a pillow to take a break or maybe even a nap. Up above, Cecilia manifested, her eyes toward a window on the second floor of the library.

  “What is it?” he asked, jumping to his feet. Cerberus growled and stood, their tail casually smashing a bookshelf. The hellhound had been howling every twenty minutes or so in the hopes of luring the others, which meant he hadn’t been out for too long.

  “I’m not sure yet,” said Cecilia. “Whatever it is…” Her eyes widened. “It’s Suly and Sofia!”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “I can see their souls through the exterior walls. They’re coming across there.” Cecilia pointed toward the ceiling, her finger trailing down until it was near a window. Moments ter, a rock wrapped in a bony whip crashed through.

  “Mike?” called Sofia from outside.

  “We’re in here!” He patted Cerberus on the leg. “Good girls,” he said. The hellhound wagged their tail and sat patiently while Mike climbed a spiral staircase to the upper floor of the library. Once at the shattered window, he saw Sofia’s legs standing just outside. The cyclops slid carefully through the opening, twisting sideways to allow the backpack to fit.

  Before Sofia could say anything, Mike hugged her.

  “You’re really just squeezing my ass at this point,” she muttered.

  “Should have taken off the backpack, first,” he replied, then stepped back. “Are you two okay?”

  “As okay as ever,” said Suly from the window. The dulhan’s boots crunched against the broken gss. “And kin I say that it was a journey to be gettin’ here.”

  “The rooms can’t trade pces on the outside,” said Sofia. “We heard Cerberus and headed this way.”

  “I hadn’t even considered that,” Mike replied. “We really just hoped you’d be in a nearby room or something.”

  “Well, the gang’s all back together now.” Sofia nodded at Cecilia, then looked down at the main floor where Cerberus sat. “I don’t see Nyx anywhere.”

  Mike shrugged. “I’m sure she’s around here—” Down on the main floor, the secret bookshelves twisted sideways, revealing the same passageway that Beth had gotten stuck in st time. The sound of the organ was louder than ever now. “Somewhere,” he added with an eye roll. The dramatic reveal had been a little much on her part.

  “If we stab her, what’s the worst that could happen?” asked Sofia.

  “The Seelie court could come and demand retribution,” said Cecilia.

  “It would be particurly nasty, too. Maybe they’d eat the skin of everyone you know while keeping them alive,” added Sulyvahn. “As well as yer own.”

  “Skin eating? Are you fucking serious?” Mike frowned at Suly. “I thought she was from the Seelie court. Aren’t they supposed to be the good guys?”

  “There is no good or bad with the fae, a mhuirnín.” Cecilia floated near Mike and took his hand in her own. “The ws are too strict for such narrow definitions.”

  “The Unseelie would do the same,” added Sulyvahn. “Mayhaps they’d force you to eat the skin of yer loved ones, just to make sure their point gets across.”

  “You two seem so level-headed compared to half the stories I hear,” said Mike.

  “They’re the ones chosen to walk the mortal realm for a reason,” said Sofia. “Far more sensible than their kin.”

  Sulyvahn nodded. “This be true. Now if ye could trick Nyx into trying to harm ye first, then you might be allowed a poke or two.”

  “Okay, enough talk about stabbing Nyx.” Mike led the others to the stairs. “Is anyone hungry? Thirsty?”

  When everyone shook their heads, Mike had Sofia turn around just long enough to grab a snack for himself. He inhaled the grano bar and then turned to look at the secret bookshelf. The music that had been pying now seemed to be stuck in an endless loop. After a quick swig of water, he looked at the others. “Shall we?”

  “Stay close,” said Sofia, taking the lead. “Hold doors open. Don’t get separated.”

  “Agreed,” said Mike. He waited for Cerberus to transform and held their hand as they all moved into the secret passageway together. Cecilia moved ahead, the light from her flickering form partially illuminating the long, stony tunnels that somehow ran beneath the castle. Sconces in the wall ignited with spectral light, causing shadows that reached for the group but bent away at the st second.

  The hallway was cold enough that clouds of vapor billowed away from those who needed to breathe. Cerberus huddled against Mike for warmth, letting out tiny whimpers in triplicate. Sulyvahn brought up the rear, his head twisted around backward to keep a better eye on where they’d been.

  The organ music became progressively louder. Mike almost couldn’t hear Cerberus growling, but went still once he did. Spectral figures manifested along the walls, all of them holding out their arms and wailing as if to prevent them from going any further. Cecilia started singing, causing the spirits to flee in terror.

  The passage widened, forming into an underground chamber with no visible ceiling. In the back of the room was a massive organ, built into the wall and illuminated by candles. A dark robed figure sitting on a rock pyed the instrument with slender fingers, but Mike ignored them for now. Doing a quick scan of the room, he was now certain that this pce was some type of secret temple or church.

  Once the others were fully inside, the figure pyed a dramatic reveal and then spun in pce to pull their hood back.

  “Hello, Nyx.”

  The fae princess cackled, cpping her hands together like an excited child. “Wasn’t that just so much fun?” she asked. “I wondered how long it would take you all to find this pce!”

  “You were being pretty loud about it,” said Mike.

  Nyx grinned. “Indeed. I felt like this pace cked the proper ambience. Why, this poor thing was in no condition to py a single note when I got here.” When the fae princess stood, Mike realized that the organ looked new and recently polished. “All it took was a little reminder of the way it used to be.”

  “We would have been here sooner if not for all the things you animated.” Sofia’s voice was little more than a grumble, and Mike noticed her hand was hovering near the hilt of her sword.

  “Oh, it wouldn’t have been fun for anyone if we had just come right down here!” Nyx giggled, then took a step sideways. It was like she stepped into a shadow, re-emerging next to Mike. “Why, I found this pce right away!”

  Mike licked his lips, avoiding the urge to be either polite or sarcastic and thank the fae on accident. “We could have been here over an hour ago,” he said.

  “Well, that’s the funny thing about you mortals. You like to convince yourselves how differently things would have gone with knowledge from the future.” Nyx ughed, her voice echoing up into the darkness above. “So now that you’re here, what comes next? Surely you’ll think of something.”

  Mike pursed his lips. “You brought things to life that could have hurt my family.”

  “But did they?” Nyx took another step and teleported to Sofia. “As far as I can tell, no serious harm has been done to anyone in this room.”

  “I’m about to—” Sofia cut herself off and turned away.

  “You’re. About. To. What?” asked Nyx in a mocking tone. She danced around the cyclops. “What, were you pnning to hurt me? To slice me open with that magic sword of yours? Maybe I’d let you do it, just to see what color my own blood is.”

  “That’s enough,” said Mike.

  “Can this woman not fight her own battles, Caretaker?” The fae princess licked her lips. “Or is it a ck of trust? The Head Librarian is no idiot, she knows full well the consequences of her actions.” Nyx looked at Mike and ughed.

  During this moment, Sofia’s eye flickered, changing colors several times before stopping. A look of shock crossed her face, and she took a step back from the princess.

  “So what is it, Sofia? What are you about to do?” Nyx turned her attention back to the cyclops and fluttered her eyeshes.

  “I’m not sure, anymore.” Sofia looked at Mike with fear in her eye. “Hopefully figure out this pce’s secrets and be done with it.”

  “Boooorrinngggg.” Nyx shook her head in disappointment.

  Satisfied that Sofia wasn’t about to get her skin eaten, Mike looked around the room. There was the opening they had come through and no other exit. Yet the air in here didn’t feel stagnant. That usually meant it had a way to flow. Kneeling down, he summoned his magic and dropped a handful of electrical spiders onto the floor.

  “How fascinating.” Nyx crouched down to examine them. The spiders spread out to climb the walls and squeeze into cracks. Mike closed his eyes in concentration, trying to feel where each one might end up. Several started their journey up the dark shaft above, and it was rather unnerving just how far they’d already climbed.

  One of the spiders stopped moving. Mike opened his eyes to see that Nyx had plucked it free of the wall and tossed it into her mouth like a snack.

  “Don’t do that,” he said.

  “Why not?” she asked. “It’s not like I hurt you.”

  Fucking fae, Mike thought, then closed his eyes once more. After a few minutes, the spiders up the shaft simply winked out of existence, either having reached the ceiling or running out of magic. A couple had wriggled into cracks in the wall, but were making no headway.

  One, however, had squeezed in behind the organ and was now wandering down a long hallway. Mike opened his eyes and pointed to the organ.

  “I need someone to move that,” he said.

  Sofia and Sulyvahn obliged, but it took the additional efforts of a transformed Cerberus to pull the musical instrument away from the wall. When they were all done, Mike just shook his head.

  “How the hell was anybody supposed to open that passageway?” he mused out loud.

  “By pying a secret sequence of notes,” said Nyx. When Mike looked at her, she ughed.

  “You knew?”

  “Of course I did. I’ve been in this room forever.” She cackled and walked toward the doorway. “If you had asked me about it, I could have provided the answer for a price.”

  Mike looked over at Sofia, his fists clenched. “How bad was it?” he asked, tilting his head toward Nyx.

  The cyclops shivered, and shook her head. That was all the answer Mike needed. The group proceeded to walk down the corridor, making it almost thirty feet before the spirits attacked.

  Hands, well over a hundred of them, grabbed for Mike and attempted to carry him back to the temple room. Cecilia and Mike sang together, driving the weaker ones away, while Sulyvahn cracked his whips at the more determined spirits. At one point, the hallway was packed so densely with the dead that Mike couldn’t see anybody else. On the very edge of his hearing, he heard Nyx ughing.

  Sofia grabbed Mike’s hand and pulled him forward. After several very long minutes, the spirits fled, many of them nursing whip-shaped wounds on their spectral bodies as they went.

  “We must be close,” said Mike. “The spirits really don’t want me to see what’s at the end of this hallway.” As if to emphasize his point, dozens of ghosts appeared, then rushed through him. He felt their fingers touching his face as they whispered in his ears.

  Get out!

  Go back!

  Run!

  “ENOUGH!” he cried, and the hallway trembled. Dust came loose, showering the group as the ghosts burst into phantasmagorical lights that flickered like dying fmes and then vanished into the floor.

  “Even I saw that.” Sofia turned to look at Mike, her head tilted just a bit to avoid the ceiling. “Are you okay back there?”

  “For now,” Mike grumbled, rubbing at his face. Where the spirits had touched him, his skin felt raw and irritated, as if he had a sunburn. If there really was a demon at the other side of this tunnel, he was going to let Cerberus py with the damned thing before burning it into nothing.

  At the end of the hall was a solid wooden door. Mike would never know if it was locked or not, because Sofia kicked it so hard that it broke free of the hinges. The group moved carefully into the unlit room. Mike pulled out his fshlight and turned it on. The room was circur and empty, save for an object on the far side covered with a bnket.

  “That’s fucking strange,” said Sofia. She grabbed the bnket and pulled it away, revealing an ornate mirror. The frame was gilded and inid with precious gems, but Mike wasn’t interested in that. Removing the bnket caused his ears to pop on a magical level. At first gnce, the mirror’s surface seemed to be bck.

  “Oh, wow.” Nyx moved up to the mirror and crouched down. “I’ve never seen something like this before!”

  “It’s a mirror,” said Sofia.

  Nyx craned her head so far back that it looked like her spine had disconnected. “Not a proper mirror,” she replied. “This one has no reflection.”

  Mike moved next to the fae and studied the gss. The beam from his fshlight traveled through the gss to illuminate the reflected room inside the mirror. Puzzled, he leaned forward and held his hand up behind the mirror just to be sure it wasn’t a doorway disguised as a mirror.

  “I hate it,” muttered Sofia. “It’s clear that it takes us somepce else.”

  “But where?” wondered Mike. Would this lead him to a cure for Tink? Or was it just another dead end.

  “Hmm.” Nyx had moved behind the mirror and was tapping on the back with her fingertips. “I see.” She moved to the front of the mirror and started walking around the room as if looking for something.

  “What’s she up to?” Mike looked to Cecilia and Suly for answers, but both of them shrugged. Her behavior was a mystery.

  “Sofia? Any thoughts?” He turned to the Head Librarian. “Maybe you’ve read something about a magic mirror hidden beneath a haunted castle?”

  “I have,” she said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Many times. It’s a popur trope that nearly always ends in disaster.”

  “Sounds typical.” Mike turned to ask Nyx what she thought, then ducked out of the way as she hurled a loose brick she had pulled from the wall at the mirror. It shattered on the edge of the frame, part of it scattering across the floor on this side and the rest spraying out on the inside.

  “A Divine object. Unbreakable.” Nyx grinned. “You should never go inside a mirror unless someone you trust stays outside to ensure it remains unbroken.”

  Mike wanted to yell at the fae for being careless, but she had a point. If the mirror was breakable, the spirits of the castle may just pop down and shatter it once he’s on the inside. “If it’s a Divine object, who do you think built it?”

  Nyx studied the mirror, then frowned. “No idea,” she muttered, walking behind it for a closer look. “It feels vaguely of the fae, but it was not crafted by our kind. The longer I look at it, the more I feel…” The fae princess stopped walking and stared into the mirror. “I feel nothing,” she muttered.

  “That’s more than a little ominous.” Mike shook his head in frustration. “So what’s the pn? Should we check it out?”

  “If you’re worried about the potential dangers, I should remind you that you have a fae princess in your presence.” Nyx barked a ugh, then turned to face him. “The fae are not to be trifled with.”

  “Yet the fae are not beholden to me.” Mike crossed his arms. “Any help you would give must be freely given, and I can’t rely on that. I have far too much to lose to put myself in such a situation.”

  “Oh, poor Caretaker. He doesn’t trust me.” The fae princess pouted and moved toward him. She turned around and pressed her back against his body, reaching up to caress his face with cwed fingertips. “Do you really think I would ask anything of you?”

  “If the circumstances were right, yes, I do.” He felt Nyx’s aura wash over him, her scent clinging to him like a second skin. “The fae py their games because they love the thrill of it almost as much as they love getting prizes.”

  “So you do understand me!” Nyx spun in pce and slid her arms around Mike’s waist, causing Cerberus to growl. “I’m not sure what to make of you, Caretaker. In some instances, you are like the fury of a thunderstorm concentrated on one point. In others, you take flight like a startled bird. What kind of man are you?”

  “A family man, for starters.” He gently pushed the princess away. “There are those who rely on me. I can’t just throw myself into danger without thinking of them.”

  “Then send in your retinue.” Nyx jerked her thumb at Cerberus and Sofia. “One of them doesn’t even live in your house, Caretaker. The other is just one of many. Both are repceable and would not be missed.”

  “The only repceable one here is you, Nyx.” Mike fixed her with a stern gre. “The Seelie could always send along someone else to spy on me.”

  “Oh? You think I’m a spy now?” Nyx fluttered her shes, which seemed even longer than the st time he had noticed them.

  “Isn’t that one of your functions?”

  “Is it?”

  Mike tensed his jaw as magic crawled across his body, eager to obey his whims. Nyx’s smile faltered and she took a step away. After several deep breaths, Mike was able to get the magic to settle back down. It had been a long day and Nyx was absolutely pushing his buttons on purpose. The st thing he needed was for her to know that she had gotten on his nerves.

  Turning his attention back to the mirror, he shook his head and stepped toward it. He had walked headfirst into a mysterious Labyrinth, traveled through the fae realm and the Underworld, and had climbed a volcano while being chased by angry spirits. A mysterious mirror meant nothing to him.

  “Let’s go,” he muttered, moving through the looking gss. The reflective surface felt like hot smoke against his skin, and then he was on the other side. Turning around, he watched as the others came through. Nyx, as smug as ever, sauntered by.

  “I love it when you take charge,” she said. “That’s why—” Her eyes suddenly went wide and she stared up at the ceiling. “It can’t be…” she whispered.

  “What can’t—Nyx!” Mike called after the princess as she sprinted down the hallway.

  “We’d better keep up,” said Sofia, who broke into a jog. “We don’t need to fight our way through another castle!”

  Realizing that the cyclops was right, Mike ran after her. The familiar cool touch of Cecilia’s fingers on his colrbone gave him comfort as they moved down the dark hallway.

  There was no church at the other end of this hallway, but there was a spiral staircase behind an open door. Mike ran up it, easily passing Sofia who didn’t have the stamina he did. She nodded at him, too tired to speak.

  “Cerberus, stay with Sofia,” he called, knowing the hellhound would look out for her. The stairs continued up for several stories, and his legs burned with the exertion. He was far enough back that he could barely hear Nyx’s footsteps, and he almost asked Cecilia to fly up through the floor to intercept her. A cursory gnce down the stairwell revealed that everyone else was at least a few floors down.

  The stairs terminated in a stony basin beneath a dark, starless sky. Mike swept the beam of his fshlight around, trying to figure out where Nyx had gone. After a few passes of the beam, he realized that he wasn’t standing in a pit, but the foundation of a building that was long gone.

  “That way,” whispered Cecilia in his ear, and she pointed over his shoulder to the lip of the foundation. Mike found a crumbling staircase that took him up to ground level. They were on an isnd roughly the same size that Machnaimh Abbey was, but the foundation he had emerged from was much smaller. Nyx stood on the edge of the isnd, her gaze on something he couldn’t see.

  “What’s she doing?” he asked.

  “I’ve no idea,” Cecilia replied.

  “Help the others up here,” he said. “I’ll try to figure out what’s going on.” He watched Cecilia drift back down into the crumbled foundation, then walked across the grass to where Nyx stood. When he shined his fshlight on the princess, she didn’t even react. “Care to expin what that was about?” he asked.

  Nyx turned to him with a shocked expression. “You took it from us, didn’t you?”

  “Took what? I’ve never been here before, remember?” He shined the light across the pitch-bck waters. “I don’t even know where here is.”

  The fae studied him for several long seconds, then pointed out into the ke. “Do you not see it?” she asked.

  “I don’t see anything. You probably see better in the dark than I do.”

  Nyx turned her attention back toward the water. “Then all will be revealed to you when the sun rises.” She said nothing more, her cloak billowing behind her even though there was no breeze.

  Puzzled, Mike could do nothing else but wait. The others came shortly after, but said nothing. It was almost like they could feel the anticipation in the air.

  When the sun rose, it didn’t do so in the sky. Instead, the dark waters of the ke were illuminated from below, revealing a blue sky dotted with clouds. He was looking at the sky’s reflection, which was now the only source of light. Across the ke, he spotted a dark shape, now ominously lit from below.

  It was an isnd that was at least several miles wide and covered in trees. A gentle slope that rose up in the middle, the apex decorated with the spookiest castle Mike had ever seen.

  “Where the hell are we?” asked Mike in a whisper. He had been trapped in a mirror world before, but this was somepce entirely different.

  “I don’t know,” Sofia replied, then took his hand in her own.

  “I’ll be fucked,” muttered Sulyvahn. “Am I seein’ what I think I’m seein’?”

  “You are correct, servant of death.” Nyx spun in pce to face the group. “What has long been lost has now been found. Whatever business I had with your family must be put on hold, for I shall now contact my sisters and bring them here.”

  “I still don’t get it.” Mike turned his attention to Nyx. “What is that pce?”

  It was Sulyvahn who answered. “Ye find yourselves lookin’ on what was stolen from the fae and lost fer centuries. A mythical pce where kings are both made and id to rest.”

  “Holy shit,” muttered Sofia, her face lighting up in recognition.

  “Aye.” Sulyvahn nodded and swept his hand out toward the water. “For we be lookin’ on the shores of Avalon itself.”