Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,22
the old Repository will go floor to ceiling, with circular platforms that run up and down each pole, accessed by these walkways.”
Suddenly, the glowing lights reappeared on my right and fluttered across the tarp overhead. I pulled on Genie’s arm and jabbed a finger upward. Her gaze flitted toward them, her face scrunching in confusion. Charlotte and Nathan appeared to notice them at the same moment, the latter’s eyes widening in surprise as the lights whooshed about the black sphere.
“What are they?” I piped up. “We saw them a few minutes ago, in the hallway.”
Nathan squinted at the pastel trails, watching the orbs twist around each other before they plummeted down into the lower hemisphere and their glow sputtered out into gaping nothingness.
“I have no idea,” he said, after a moment or two. “I’ve never seen them before.”
“So, they’re not security hexes?” Genie called out.
“Not that I know of.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “They could be remnants of a hunter’s magic, maybe. Sometimes, when a magical is powerful enough, they leave shards of their Chaos behind when they die.”
Charlotte cut in, clearly unimpressed by the light show. “If that were the case, I’d have seen them before. I’ve been here all my life. They’re probably just aids for the workers, to help them see.”
“Then why did they just take a nosedive into this… sphere thing?” I pointed out. Hexes could sometimes have a mind of their own, but these orbs didn’t feel like manufactured puffs of light to help with construction.
Charlotte shrugged. “They could be additions to the décor—magical fairy lights. It wouldn’t be the first time some continental hunter decided to spruce the Institute up a bit. We once had a visiting hunter from Paris who decided to try something out for size and wound up turning the whole East Wing pink. And when I say pink, I mean pink. So bright, I don’t think my eyes ever fully recovered.” A hint of a smile turned up the corner of her lips. It was the first sign of personality I’d seen since I first heard her name. “Or it could be students messing about. A prank that’ll burn itself out.”
“Yes, perhaps a joke of some kind.” Nathan took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with the edge of his polo shirt before putting them back on. “Let’s just hope they don’t let off an eggy stench or start exploding. We had to close the East Wing once, after a student decided to unleash a cloud of gas that made people talk in high-pitched squeaks for an hour. Seeing Ingram try to keep his class together during that debacle… I’ll never forget it.” He chuckled to himself, and Genie joined in. Man, did he seem pleased about that.
“It’s always the East Wing,” Charlotte muttered before weaving through the group to lead the way back. “Anyway, we need to get moving.”
Genie grinned at her. “Where to next?”
Next to her, Charlotte paused. “Wherever you like. Once I take you back to the entrance hall, the orientation is over.” Her ghost of a smile had gone. “But you should keep up this time. Don’t want to be getting lost.”
It was hard to tell if she was concerned or sarcastic. I just hoped she thought we’d been sidetracked back there, by looking at the glowing lights and not by something else—AKA, my mental state. I hadn’t Purged, after all, so it really didn’t need to be talked about. Just some first-day jitters, leading to an all-out panic attack. Nothing too serious… Well, not as serious as a hydra or something worse, like a bahamut or a dragon, loose in the corridors. Who knew what I was capable of Purging?
“No problem.” Genie sounded a touch hurt by the cool response. As the old adage went, never meet your heroes. I guessed Charlotte wasn’t quite what Genie had hoped for. For my part, I wasn’t overly impressed by her general attitude. She might’ve been a talented hunter, but she behaved so coldly to people. I thought it was odd, too, that she hadn’t seemed particularly warm toward her mom and aunt when they were on stage together.
Charlotte turned her attention to me. “I hope there wasn’t an issue?”
“Not at all,” I replied, a beat too quickly.
“Good. I don’t like cleaning up messes.” Charlotte strode on, her frostiness leaving me a little stunned. If she had any idea how painful and taxing multiple Purges could be—on top of not knowing when they’d strike—I’ll bet she