Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,105

of golden yellow—the color of friendship and triumph. Beside me, pixies crowded Nathan’s shoulders and head, enjoying a free ride. The rest flew above us as an aerial entourage, no longer worried about hiding in the shadows. Boudicca had spotted Charlotte long before we did, and I wondered if they had a way of sensing the hunters.

“Are we going to the new wing?” I asked Boudicca.

She nodded solemnly and swirled her hands over each other, as if trying to explain the unknown power that awaited us there. Her pulsating spots changed to a dark, foreboding purple. Knowing my color palettes had been a Godsend for breaking through language barriers with these pixies. They wore their hearts on their sleeves, literally.

Sprinting onward, we pounded the polished concrete until we came to the stunning, half-formed entrance to the new wing. The darkness dulled the colors of the stained glass, giving the wing a gloomy feel, as though it didn’t want us to enter. Nothing penetrated the dense black beyond the archway. No workman’s lights, no fireballs, just endless shadow.

“In here?” Nathan asked his freeloaders.

The pixies jittered, trying to tuck under the lapels of his jacket, and hide behind his ears and his neck. A few slipped into his pockets, and one managed to fold itself under his leonine locks, trembling against his scalp.

I shuddered, strengthened only by Boudicca’s steadfast face. “I think we can take that as a yes.”

With a deep breath, I put my best foot forward and stepped into the breach. It might’ve sounded dramatic, but it felt even more dramatic. The moment I entered the half-constructed foyer, the shadows seemed to close in and darken further, reminding me of that endless, tarry black substance I’d been trapped in at the start of my nightmare. Had that been an omen of this? I couldn’t see Nathan or Boudicca anymore, which supported the impression that I was entirely alone in a world of impermeable black.

“Nathan?” I whispered.

“I’m here,” he replied from nearby, though the reverb made it sound like his voice was coming from everywhere at once. “I can’t see a thing,” he whispered.

“Me neither.” I reached out, swishing my arms in front of me and hitting only air. “Can you find my voice?”

“I’m not sure.” His tone was concerned, but not afraid, and that was comforting.

“Do you have a lighter, or some kind of light spell we could use?” I all but begged. A moment longer in this darkness and I’d lose my mind. My breaths had already become ragged, and if I couldn’t fight it, the cold sweats would follow. And then, the inevitable.

Just then, I felt tiny hands on my face and heard a soft hush from Boudicca. She smoothed her palm across my cheek, small as a dime, and whispered in her pixie dialect. The words made no sense, but the sentiment did. Boudicca—the pixie I’d put in a glass orb—had sensed my terror and was trying to comfort me. Through the dark, I saw her pulsating spots glowing white.

“Thank you,” I murmured, feeling my breaths slow with every stroke of her small hand.

She giggled and chattered something that sounded like: “No problem.”

“Persie,” Nathan hissed. “Do you see that?”

“What?” I whipped my head around, my eyes focusing on lights heading in our direction. I nearly shrieked, thinking they were hunters’ flashlights. But then I noticed the colors, burning bright at the center, encircled by a gaseous halo. Purples, pinks, greens, blues, yellows, all bobbing toward us. They’d come from somewhere within the unfinished sphere of the new Repository, though I had no idea which way I was even facing.

I smiled as they illuminated the dark of the foyer, chasing the shadows back into the corners where they could lurk all they liked without bothering us. They were beautiful, like magical, dancing wisps. Just looking at them made my insides warm and happy.

“The orbs came back,” I thought aloud, ignoring a frantic chirp from Boudicca. Her tiny hands tried to grab my face, but I was too fascinated by the lights to turn away. “Do you remember them, Nathan?”

He stood beside me, looking up. “I do. They were in here last time, weren’t they? I… didn’t realize how astonishing they were. I expect you have to see them in the dark to fully appreciate their beauty.”

“Didn’t you say they might be spirits of dead hunters?” I whispered, not wanting to disturb the wisps as they spiraled around each other and danced off in different directions, putting on a