deal of magic concentrated somewhere nearby. But only those who are bonded to the lock can see the runes. They’d be the only ones who could open it.”
Dmitri smirks. “We’ll see about that.”
With that, he starts to look more… insubstantial. Like he’s no longer made of solid matter but of light. He’s vibrating slightly, making him appear almost blurry. He looks the way someone might in a dream, their edges softened by my subconscious.
Then he walks forward—and passes right through the wall.
Holy shit.
“He’s phasing,” Asher explains quietly.
“I can see that,” I say, my voice a little faint.
I’ve actually never seen him do that before. He’s duplicated himself in our Combat class a few times, which is trippy as hell. But I think he still struggles with control a bit, like I do—so when given the choice, he prefers to fight with fists instead of magic.
For a moment, there’s just silence, and I start to worry. What if whoever it is who’s doing all this was waiting on the other side? What if they’ve hurt Dmitri? What if he phased back in at the wrong moment and now he’s trapped inside the wall, or half in, half out?
Then a loud scraping noise sets my teeth on edge. It’s joined by a deep rumbling sound, and then—the wall starts to move.
A section of the wall swings outward, revealing a dark set of stairs leading downward. Dmitri’s standing on the third step, fully corporeal again, smirking with a smug I told you so look on his face.
“These types of things always open way too easily from the inside.” He scoffs. “People think so hard about how to keep intruders out, they don’t worry enough about keeping things in.”
I have to admit, that is pretty clever.
“All right,” Cam says, rolling his shoulders like he’s itching for a fight. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
My palms instantly start sweating. Not that I’d ever admit it out loud, but those stairs downward into darkness look… pretty intimidating.
I take a deep breath and force myself to stay calm. Whatever’s waiting down there, it’s just some asshole who thinks they can own the world. I dealt with privileged shit like that at the bar all the time, and you bet I kicked every one of their asses out when they got too gropey or inappropriate. It’s the same thing here.
“What are we waiting for?” I ask. “A dramatic musical cue?”
Cam laughs, Asher grins at me, and even Roman snorts in amusement. Dmitri’s trying hard to look annoyed, but he’s not quite managing it. I wink at him, glad beyond words that these four are with me, and step through the open door.
Onward and downward.
Chapter 26
I’ll be honest, after all this build up and a whole semester of attacks, subterfuge, and even murder, I expected something a little… well… a little more elaborate. Like something out of National Treasure, with the dusty staircase and the questionable elevator shaft and the torches on the walls. A real Indiana Jones type deal.
Nope.
That is not what we find.
Instead, we creep cautiously down a long flight of spiral stone stairs. The walls on both sides are covered in runes, and when we hit the bottom, the space opens up into a large storage room.
And it looks like something you’d find at your local public storage company.
I look around as we enter, a little confused. “Jesus,” I murmur. “They didn’t spend their budget on the ambience, that’s for sure.”
Behind me, I can hear Cam trying not to choke as he struggles to hold in his laughter.
Roman comes up to stand on one side of me, Dmitri on the other.
“Would you prefer some mood lighting?” Dmitri asks quietly.
“Or maybe an ominous warning that he who disturbs the slumber of the objects shall awake the guardian?” Roman intones in a low, dramatic voice.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You two are ganging up on me, and I’m not sure I like it.”
The two men shoot each other sly, conspiratorial smiles over my head.
Oh, yeah, I definitely don’t like this. They should not be getting along so damn well.
The area is massive, making me think of the roots of a tree and how they supposedly mirror the branches above. The school on top of us is huge, but so is this underground space. Bare gray walls are covered in more runes—all protection spells, I’m sure—and dotted around the space sit various crates, each of which, I assume, contains a powerful magical item. Despite the aura of