Where's the magic, Amaya?
Back.
Which I couldn't see. I walked on carefully, gaze constantly moving and my sword held at the ready. Nothing else jumped out at us. Eventually, we neared the rear wall. It looked solid and I had no sense of magic of any kind.
Is, Amaya said. Left.
I raised a hand and skimmed it along the wall. After several seconds, energy skittered across my fingertips. Its feel was dark, and oddly dirty. I resisted the urge to jerk my hand away from its touch and kept on walking, trying to discover the full extent. The patch of magic was about six feet high and four feet wide. If it wasn't a door, I'd eat my hat. If I'd been wearing a hat, that is.
The last time we'd discovered a concealed door had been in the pit Jak and I had fallen into when we'd first raided this warehouse. Maybe this entrance led into the same tunnels as that one had, or maybe it led to somewhere else entirely. The only way I was going to find the answer was to discover another way to open it.
Can't press through, Amaya said. Magic not same.
Meaning that, unlike the hidden doorway in the pit, this wall was actually solid rather than merely looking it.
I tried anyway, but succeeded in doing little more than breaking my nails. I swore softly, and turned around. "Rozelle, are you able to come down here?"
"Sure. Just give me a moment."
I raised Amaya, letting her flames chase back the shadows again and, after a few seconds, Rozelle appeared.
She stopped beside me and frowned. "Another nasty piece of work," she muttered after a moment. "I'm afraid this one is coded. Unless you have the proper key, it'll kill you."
"No way you can get past it?"
"Not without a lot of time and effort." Her gaze skimmed the wall. "And I couldn't create a doorway myself without knowing what was on the other side."
"That I can't say, because I don't know." I paused. "The shifter who was outside – he was coming here. Is it possible he could have a key of some kind?"