the keep. Searle was right behind them, cackling with glee at the trouble he’d caused them.

Fortunately, Searle’s dorm room was located in the wing opposite Ian’s, near a second set of stairs just off the large parlor and above the kitchen. Once they went through the main entrance, Searle turned left and Ian and Theo went straight ahead and upstairs. Ian glared over the railing at Searle’s departing form, but he felt thankful that at least he didn’t have to sleep in the same room as the nasty git.

“He’ll get his,” Theo whispered, and Ian could only hope so.

The pair crested the landing and walked only partway down the hall, to the first door on the right, which was where Ian’s bed was. He paused as he was about to enter and said to Theo, “You best clean and get some iodine on that hand. It’s a nasty cut.”

Theo nodded. “That’s where I was headed,” she said reassuringly.

“And, Theo,” he said, thinking she might at least be able to warn someone about the creature that had nearly killed them, “after you tend to your hand, I think you should go to Madam Dimbleby and tell her about the beast. But don’t let on that we saw it in the tunnel. Just tell her we were out near the cliffs and some wild, wolflike thing chased after us and maybe word should be sent for someone with a rifle to do something about it.”

Theo nodded. “Of course,” she said, and Ian knew she was relieved that he’d decided to let her tell someone. “I won’t see you for supper, but perhaps I can sneak a snack up to you later?” she offered.

“That’d be smashing. Thanks, Theo,” he said, and he was glad to have her on his side.

Theo smiled, gave him a gentle pat on the back, then continued down the hallway to the water closet to tend to her hand. Meanwhile, Ian turned into his room and shut the door behind him with a weary sigh. He hated missing supper, and he vowed to get even with Searle someday soon.

He pushed away from the door and trudged down the long row of beds, his stomach growling angrily now that it knew it would go without a good meal until morning. He shared the long room with six other boys ranging in age from four to thirteen, Ian’s age. Many of them he’d known since they’d first arrived at the keep, which for a few, like Ian, was shortly after birth.

Over the years, a scant portion of the boys he’d shared this room with had been adopted. Of the very few would-be parents who came to Delphi Keep, most were looking for babies no older than a few months. So boys who arrived at the keep as mere babes had a small window of opportunity, and once they passed the age of two, their chances of finding homes with adoptive parents were slim to none.

Ian had long ago accepted this reality, and when he thought about his future, it didn’t include a mother and a father. Instead, he dreamed of setting out at sixteen, when most orphans were required to leave the keep, and immediately heading off in search of hidden treasure. He was about three years older than Theo, so his aim was to secure enough money by the time he was nineteen and she was sixteen to supply her with a home of their very own and the opportunity for a higher education.

Beyond that he didn’t overly consider. His one goal was to take care of his adopted sister for as long as she needed him. This was of course fueled by the seldom-discussed fact that many of the young men and women who left the keep fell into poverty and often languished out in the world. It was a difficult thing to survive in a land where you had no family, no access to higher education, and no one to support you while you attempted to learn a trade. And Ian knew that the young ladies who left the keep were even more challenged than their male counterparts, because being orphans of possibly questionable lineage made it difficult to find men willing to marry them and offer a bit of security.

Ian’s sense of urgency about this was why he was so intent on honing his exploration skills while he was still young and why he read any book he could lay his hands on about treasure hunting, exploration,