67. The Flute

[ELARA]

It’s in the middle of the night and most of the palace is asleep.

Magnus leads me through the quiet corridors, guarded by sleepy humans. I follow him, half dazed from my disturbing sleep and half concerned about what I’m about to see. When I asked him to explain himself, he just turned away, lowering his eyes in defeat.

Of course, she is dead, I think to myself as our footsteps echo through the high walls. It can’t be worse than that.

Magnus walks to a part of the palace that I’ve never seen before. This part is different. Abandoned. No guards stand here. And then I find myself watching over his shoulder to an area of a wall that… shimmers.

It ripples as if a stone has been cast across the surface of a lake. With a gasp, I watch Magnus pass through the wall and disappear. One careful, but fearful step puts me across too. And then it all dawns on me in horror.

The dungeons.

The place where Alec had been held behind silver bars in a cell. Where I’d heard screams of prisone