Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,100

wasn’t damaged in the same way that Helen had been. Why was his Avatar missing an eye? Had that eye been deliberately moved?

The wall had existed for longer than Candallar had. Kaylin was almost certain of it. And she wondered, as they strode closer and closer to Killian’s doors, if one of the Barrani who had stood at the very back of that carved crowd of people was Larrantin.

There were other Barrani in that background.

Some of the people in the foreground had been caught and trapped recently. Nightshade might now exist as part of that wall. Nightshade, however, couldn’t leave the building, couldn’t leave the classes.

The men and women who had gathered to attack Kaylin and her party, which contained one very obvious Dragon, could and had. Ugh. She resented the lack of perfect memory a great deal right now.

Kaylin slowed as she approached the front doors and the brick that had served as a doorbell. She reached out to grab Bellusdeo’s shoulder, because playing point was clearly a job for the most important Dragon in existence, not a lowly Hawk. Bellusdeo, to her credit, stopped instantly.

“I think we should try a different entrance.”

“Why?”

“Because Candallar was trying it. There’s probably some advantage to not banging the front doors. If Killian is truly a building, or still a building, he’ll be aware of us—but we want to sneak past his invisible watchdogs.”

* * *

There was no way to sneak into the building that anyone present could easily see. This made sense, in a way: there was no way to sneak into Helen, either. But Helen hadn’t been created to host an array of students; only guests. Kaylin, whose detective work had actually taken her inside the dorms of various schools, wondered if the Academia would house Dragons the way Helen did, or Barrani, or Aerians. She doubted it, but couldn’t be certain.

“There is a way to sneak in,” she finally said. “But you’re not going to like it.”

* * *

They found the building fairly quickly; the houses that surrounded it—according to Bellusdeo—had changed. To Kaylin, they were empty two-story buildings. The Arkon took note of them, but was not of a mind to fully examine the subtle differences Bellusdeo’s perfect memory divulged. The windowless, doorless building was unchanged.

The giant eyeball was still part of the wall hidden from street view.

This time, when they approached it, they approached as a group; Kaylin had an absurd desire for the type of rope used to keep foundlings together when they walked in the crowded streets. The eyelid flicked open at the sound of their steps and began its slow-moving sweep of the backyard.

This time, when it saw Kaylin, it seemed to widen, but without the rest of the face behind it, she couldn’t tell if this was a sign of surprise.

Regardless, this odd form of portal took them into the room with the giant wall and no other distinguishing features. The Arkon was annoyed; he had been in the process of observing the eye itself, and the displacement had interrupted him.

On the other hand, they were all caught in that gaze, and they were all dumped in the same room. Kaylin considered this a win.

You weren’t certain?

No. It’s a broken, sentient building part.

The Arkon’s irritation dissipated as he stared at the almost featureless wall. One element of that wall—the child that Hope had breathed on—could still be seen by everyone present. Kaylin’s suspicion that the people contained in this wall were also contained within Killian made Hope’s breath far more dangerous in retrospect.

Kaylin could see the rest of the crowd because she had Hope’s wing plastered to her face. She turned to Hope and said, “Can you show the Arkon?”

Hope squawked.

“You should have done this last time,” Bellusdeo said, frowning.

“Sorry—I wasn’t thinking. I forget sometimes that the wing is portable.” This was true. At times like this, Hope felt like a part of her, a part of her natural vision. Given that her eyes didn’t usually smack the rest of her face, this was surprising.

But Hope withdrew his translucent wing, removing the sight of the gathered, sculpted crowd, and pushed off her shoulder, squawking quietly. Probably at the Arkon. The Arkon waited until Hope had arranged himself on his robed shoulder, and Kaylin tried not to resent the fact that the familiar didn’t slap the Dragon’s face.

It was the Dragon’s face that she now studied. His eyes had widened, and he’d dropped the inner membrane so nothing about its color was muted. But the