in its sleep. Its body twitched, shivered. Its snout slowly rose from where it had rested between massive paws.
A rush of hot terror flooded Nelle’s limbs. She leapt back from the doorway, staggering several paces into the massive hall at her back.
Then, hardly knowing what she did, she slammed her hand against the wall beside the opening and gasped, “Close! Close, close!”
The magic in the stone whirled under her hand, but the opening remained. The wind returned, whisking between her skirts, and whistled off among the tree-pillars.
The skull-dog lifted its head, snorting and snuffling. A flash of red flickered in the depths of its gaping eye-sockets. It cocked its head and, had it possessed ears, they would certainly have pricked as it turned toward the door.
In another moment it would see her for sure.
“Close!” Nelle commanded, and pounded the wall with the flat of her hand.
The magic shivered as though startled. Then the door swung slowly, slowly inward. Nelle caught one last glimpse of the skull-dog just pushing up onto its haunches.
The door clicked blessedly shut. The stone wall before her was solid again.
“Oh!” Nelle turned and sagged, only just bracing her legs to keep from sliding down in a heap on the floor. Her mind whirled with panic. What in the spitting hells was she supposed to do next? The huge pillared hall stretched before her with the door to the tower at its far end. The tower where, presumably, Kyriakos still lay in drugged sleep. She couldn’t go back that way.
But if there was a hidden door in this wall, surely there were other doors as well?
She grimaced, glancing up at the expanse of wall at her back. That courtyard . . . she’d not seen much of it. Her vision had been all but overwhelmed by the sight of those awful dogs. She’d seen a gate on the far side . . . or not? If she closed her eyes and forced herself to remember, she was fairly sure she’d seen a huge arched opening leading out into the darkened landscape beyond. And was she wrong to think there’d been a glimpse of shoreline and sea?
Brandishing the poker, Nelle hastened back down the hall. She’d scarcely taken ten paces before a warning frisson ran up the back of her neck. Without pausing to question the sensation, she ducked for the nearest of the tree pillars and put her back against it.
Something was here. Here in this huge, supposedly empty space. What’s more, it had been here all along. She’d known somehow . . . or suspected, anyway. The cavernous emptiness had been a little too good to be true.
Heart ramming in her throat, Nelle held her breath and strained her ears, searching for the sound of a footstep or low breaths or . . . anything.
All was silent, still.
She had to look. If she stayed where she was, that something would creep up on her in the darkness and catch her where she stood. Kill her? Or drag her back to Kyriakos? She couldn’t say which she dreaded more.
Peeling away from the pillar, she cautiously peered around the stone-hard trunk. At first she saw only more of those sentinel trees extending beyond sight down that huge hall. She let her breath out through her teeth, very slowly so as not to make a sound. Then—
There. She saw it.
A shadow stepped from the deeper shadow cast by a pillar five rows down from her current position. It stood in the empty space between pillars, a towering, multi-jointed being with no discernible features.
Did it see her? Could it see her? It had no eyes as far as she could tell. What kind of senses did a being like that possess?
The being swayed on its bowed legs. The shadowy protrusion that must serve as its head seemed to turn this way and that. It gave off an air of uncertainty and even faint anxiety.
Moving as slowly as possible so as not to draw attention, Nelle retreated behind the pillar. She strained her ears again, listening for some indication that it had sensed her, that it was even now approaching.
Up.
The word popped unbidden into her head.
Up. Get up. Get higher.
That was snatcher’s sense talking. And she’d do well to listen.
Nelle looked up the trunk of the tree-pillar she leaned against and let her gaze travel from it to the window on the nearest wall. Could she somehow climb this pillar and make her way to that window? But there were no