The Rose Witch - Chandelle LaVaun Page 0,67

Italy more than once. But during the Renaissance it was in Rome. The colosseum was used but obviously not created then.”

I wonder…I took his hand and dragged him down the street with me towards the colosseum. Bright white lights lined every archway and formed a ring around the top, the glow coming off of it seemed like one giant blob. We were on some kind of side street that seemed to be closed to the public because not a single car had turned this way. The Vegas-Colosseum was straight ahead with the rest of Caesars Palace on our left and a glittering sign that read The MIRAGE on our right. A driveway stuck out from the colosseum and connected to the road we were sprinting down.

“Can you sense if anyone is out here?” I shouted over my shoulder as I ran for the driveway.

“No one close enough to be a concern to us,” he said back calmly, like he wasn’t exerting in the slightest bit.

The second my feet hit the driveway, red light flashed up ahead…filling one of the entire archways. I squinted to try and make out the image but it was just a blob of red lines. “You see that, right?”

“I do.” He wrapped his arm around my hips and lifted me in the air — and then we were suddenly right in front of it. He sat me on my feet. “You’re brilliant, you know that?”

“Thanks.” My cheeks warmed and butterflies danced in my stomach. Focus, Chloe. I turned my attention back to the wall in front of me. The lines were intense and overwhelming to look at, especially up close, so I took a step back. And then I spotted something familiar at the top near the point of the arch. I gasped and pointed. “Look! A rose!”

“Rose number three. Excellent.” Malachi cocked his head to the side. Then he backed up to stand beside me. “But where does it want us to go?”

It looked like a sketch but drawn in red. The image was simple, no intricate details or designs or artistic flair. Almost like it was simply an outline. I squinted again so the glow wouldn’t hurt so much to look at. It looked like a road leading out from the archway with a wall on either side. The road made a sharp left turn right before a strange shaped building. It was rounded, like maybe the building itself was circular in shape—

“The colosseum,” Malachi breathed at the exact time I thought of it. “This is the real colosseum. That’s why it sent us to Vegas, to throw anyone off if they tried to follow the clues.”

I nodded and wrung my hands together. “Okay, okay. The real one is in Rome. We just need to get to Rome. Can you travel us that far with that smoke travel thing you do?”

“Myself? Yes. I have never tried to bring a mortal that far with me. I would not like you to be the guinea pig.”

“I get that. Absolutely. It’s fine. There’s got to be an airport around here.” I frowned. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Dad wouldn’t have known planes would be a thing. So why show us this red painting of the rose and the colosseum—”

“Chloe.” He gripped my shoulder and ducked down to meet my eyes. “It’s a painting.”

“Yeah, I know. In the archway, I see it — bloody hell. It’s a painting!” My pulse quickened. I leapt over to the wall and stopped…then slowly slid my hand out in front of me. Cold air washed over my skin as it passed through the archway. I grinned. “Malachi. Look. He wants us to go through — which means he knew I would be the one going.”

He stepped up beside me and took my hand. “And he’d be proud of you.”

I smiled up at him. “On three?”

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…JUMP!” I shouted and leapt through the archway like I was going to platform nine and three quarters.

Cold air slammed into my face. I squeezed Malachi’s hand so tight I felt his knuckles crack. Bright light pierced through my closed eyes — and then everything went still.

I opened my eyes and my breath left me in a rush.

We stood in the middle of a two-lane road that was sitting at a standstill. Scooters zipped up the street, weaving unconventional paths around the cars stuck in traffic. Pedestrians walked the pavements with old-fashioned cameras hanging from their necks that had big zoom lenses. It reminded me of my