the round ball of light passed below the level of the trees.
“Quick,” he said. “Can you sketch the bottle we’re looking for?”
I grabbed an empty piece of parchment at random from the various stacks lying around and drew a rough outline of the bottle as best I could remember it. Gabe gripped it in his hand as he rushed around the room, examining everything he passed.
Clearly he had abandoned any idea of stealth. Anything that caught his attention he snatched up, discarding it when it didn’t match my sketch.
I watched him for only a moment before hurrying into action myself. Following his lead, I thrust aside piles of papers and clothes heedlessly, searching for anything that might be lurking underneath. The room darkened, and a tightness gripped my limbs, stress making my hands fumble when they had been steady before. I could already feel the first pinpricks of pain, although some light still lingered in the sky. Apparently my mind was producing it in anticipation.
“Addie! Over here!” Gabe called dangerously loudly, and I flew to his side.
He held out a small bottle, rounded, with a long neck, just as I had described. It was a third full of what looked like clear water, a cork stoppering it. Behind Gabe, a small display cabinet rested beside the window.
I nodded, suddenly nervous. It looked like the bottle I remembered, but it had been two years, and I hadn’t taken particular note of it at the time.
I clasped it in my hands, feeling the familiar shape. Then, with a sudden movement, I lifted it over my head and threw it hard at the stone floor. It landed with a splintering crash, the water splattering out in all directions.
Almost simultaneously, the darkness descended, even the lake outside the window ceasing to reflect any lingering rays of light. Gabe and I stood facing each other in the gloom.
“Well?” he asked, his voice full of trepidation. “Did it work?”
I took in a slow, deep breath and then another.
“I feel fine—no pain at all.”
Even the anticipatory pinpricks were gone. I was free.
Gabe swept me into his arms, spinning me around blindly before dropping me back onto my feet where I staggered and nearly tripped over some discarded object on the ground.
“That’s excellent news,” he said. “Now we just need to check if there’s anything else of interest here. And then we should probably find that tunnel before Leander returns and decides to kill us both on the spot.”
Part III
The Promise
Chapter 20
The meager moonlight that filtered in wasn’t sufficient for any sort of search. Gabe went looking through the mess for an unbroken lantern while I examined the display cabinet where he had found the bottle.
It looked to be in slightly better condition than most of the other furniture in the room, and I could see why it had drawn Gabe’s attention. Unfortunately it was now empty. If Leander had any more enchanted objects, he didn’t store them inside it. My eyes were drawn irresistibly toward the smoke door.
“Adelaide,” Gabe called softly, and I turned toward him.
He had located a lantern at what appeared to be the main desk, although both its surface and the chair beside it were littered with a variety of objects, rendering them unfit for regular use. The lantern’s glow lit up the room, but Gabe hadn’t moved, instead bending over something at the desk. I hurried over to join him.
A small desk drawer had been pulled most of the way out, hanging haphazardly. Whatever it had divulged now held Gabe’s full attention as he bent over it on the desk. Apparently in his search for a tinderbox to light the candle, Gabe had discovered something of greater interest.
I peered over his shoulder at a small, leather-bound book, its blank pages full of scribbled notes. It looked like a journal, although small sketches and diagrams broke up the words.
“Is that Leander’s journal?” I asked. “Does it say anything about my enchantments?”
“I’ve only read a couple of pages, but—” Gabe broke off, his eyes fixing on the locked door.
I froze as well, straining to hear. Were those footsteps? Gabe moved fast, scooping the book off the desk and thrusting it inside his jacket. With one hand, he lifted the lantern, while the other swept around my shoulders herding me back, away from the door.
For a moment I thought he was trying to push me toward the ominous smoke, and my body instinctively resisted. But instead of approaching the door, Gabe swept aside a long tapestry