I clarified, staring at the open maw in front of us. “But where does it lead?”
Honor crept closer, peering down its length. “There are torches….”
Her voice was flat, almost as if she was in a trance. As she approached the entrance, Fisher scooped her up in his arms, waylaying her. “Not so fast, little one.” He carried her over to the triplets’ safe embrace. “I think I should be the one to go in first. Just in case.”
He stepped forward, his hands balling into fists. His breath sounded ragged, and for a moment, I thought I could see puffs of it in the air, as if the tunnel was much colder than the shrine. He glanced back at us. “Do I just think about a place as I go through?”
Though Camille nodded, she looked horror-struck, sickened at what her desire had brought about. “I suppose?”
With one last look at us, Fisher entered the tunnel, ducking beneath the low ceiling.
“Oh!” we heard him gasp, his voice thick with astonishment.
Then he was gone.
Verity looked down the passage, as close as she could without actually going in. “He’s not there!”
We all stepped forward then to look for ourselves, but she was right. The tunnel appeared to stretch for miles through the cliffs. Torches hung from the sides, their flames flickering and lush, but there was no trace of Fisher.
“What have we done?” Lenore murmured, clutching her hand to her chest. Her face grew white, her eyes too wide. She stumbled back to one of the shrine’s benches. “Where is he?”
“He’ll be back soon, I’m sure,” Camille said.
“You don’t know that! What if he never comes back?” Verity sobbed. She pressed herself into my skirts, trembling. “What if we killed him?”
I reached out into the tunnel as far as my shaking fingers would go. A cry of alarm choked my throat as my hand disappeared before me. There was my arm, my elbow, but at my wrist, I ceased to be. I waggled my fingers, certain I was moving them, but saw nothing.
Seeing my missing hand, Honor let out a shriek and ran into Ligeia’s arms. I jerked my arm back, suddenly terrified something on the other side might pull me in. For a horrible moment, my flexed fingers looked as if they were a stranger’s.
“Are you all right, Annaleigh?” Ligeia twisted Honor around to show her my hand was still attached.
“I think so?” It was in one piece but felt strange, full of pins and needles.
“Where’s Fisher? Why isn’t he back?” Rosalie asked, pacing in front of the entrance as the minutes ticked by. “Someone should go in after him.” She glanced around the room, her eyes landing on each of us. “Shouldn’t we?”
An uncomfortable moment of silence passed. I stroked Verity’s curls, ashamed I wasn’t brave enough to volunteer.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” Rosalie said with a snarl and was through the opening before any of us could stop her.
Just like Fisher, she was there one moment and gone the next.
“Rosalie!” Ligeia screamed as she threw herself down the tunnel.
She disappeared in the wink of an eye, and Lenore howled. Camille caught her before she too could fling herself into the great unknown. Her cries of despair echoed through the shrine.
“It’s cold, it’s so cold,” Lenore moaned, her teeth chattering.
The triplets often claimed to be able to feel exactly what the others did, no matter how far apart they were. Most of the family scoffed it off as a childish game, but I remembered once, while I was teaching her scales in the Blue Room, Ligeia grabbed her hand, clutching a finger in surprise. Rosalie had gone fishing with Papa and overzealously gutted her first catch, slicing her pinkie.
Camille placed her wrist on Lenore’s forehead. “She feels fine.”
“Where are they?” Lenore continued to wail. “They need to come back right away. Something is wrong. I can feel it! Something is horribly—”
“What’s going on?” Rosalie cut in, skipping suddenly into existence, a wild grin plastered across her face. “You’re acting as though you’ve never seen a magic door before!”
Then Ligeia appeared, with Fisher on her heels. Both looked dazed and happy.
“Where have you been?” Lenore demanded, leaping up to pull her sisters into a panicked embrace. “I couldn’t feel you. It was so cold, like ice!”
“It was cold at first,” Ligeia acknowledged. “But it was also…so wondrous.”
“Where did you go?” Camille asked, edging toward the entrance. She looked as though she wanted to see for herself.
“We’ll show you. Tonight!” Rosalie said,