“I’m not even sure I could spell it.”
To my surprise, Nick graced me with a tiny smile, one that actually looked genuine and not unhinged. Then he walked into the opening. There was no flash of light or surge of magic. One minute he was there, the next he wasn’t. Somehow, that was so much scarier than if there’d been a big light show, or maybe some smoke. Daisy went next. It was the same way with her, like she just blinked out of existence.
Jenna and I stood there, staring at the passageway. “We could go back,” I suggested weakly. “Tell them their magical road thingie didn’t work for us.”
But Jenna shook her head. “It can’t be that bad,” she muttered.
“We could try to go together,” I said. “I think we’d both fit, and that way, if we end up transported to another dimension or morphed into a wall, at least we’d have company.”
Jenna laughed. “All right, then. Let’s do this.”
Hand in hand, we walked toward the opening.
chapter 13
The second we stepped into the alcove, I felt Jenna’s hand slip from mine. Then everything went dark, and I cried out as a vicious pounding started in my temple. It felt like a migraine, only about a hundred times more intense. Dimly, some part of my brain registered that I should stop being surprised when magic stuff sucked way harder than I thought it was going to. God knows I ought to be used to it by now.
But I wasn’t prepared for the awful twisting in my skull, or the overwhelming darkness. There wasn’t even the sensation of flying, another thing I’d kind of expected from magical travel. Instead, everything was very still as the blackness pressed down on me.
And then I was standing outside. Well, kneeling outside, actually, taking big gasping breaths while someone patted my back.
It was Daisy. “The first time is always the worst,” she said soothingly.
“Yeah, Daisy puked all over my shoes after her first ‘road trip.’” Nick laughed, earning him a swat from Daisy.
“That’s because you took me too far, you tosser!Spain. Idiotic. Anything more than a hundred miles is insane for a first trip.”
Jenna staggered to my side. She looked paler than normal, which was saying something. “I had no idea maaaaaagic would be that intense,” she tried to joke, but her voice was high and slightly breathless.
I tried to ask her if she was okay, but talking was still beyond me, so I tried to smile. That hurt too, so in the end, I just slumped against the nearest wall until the pain eased a little.
As the headache subsided, I took in my surroundings. We were in an alley, surrounded by several nondescript brick buildings. Overhead, low-hanging clouds reflected the orange glow of streetlights. There was also a strange smell in the air, a mix of exhaust fumes, old stone, and, I thought, water somewhere nearby.
When I felt like I could speak again, I asked Daisy, “So what exactly was that? A portal or something?”
She fished in her purse and pulled out another cigarette. “Basically. But portals can only go from one specific place to another specific place. An Itineris can go…well, anywhere. You just create the entrance and then tell it where you want to go. That’s why Nick went first, so he could tell it we were going to Shelley’s.”
“If it only goes one way, how are we getting back?” I asked.
“There’s another road opening about a block from here,” Daisy said, pointing to her left.
“So, wait, we could go in that opening and tell itanywhere we wanted to go?” Jenna asked.
“Anywhere,” Nick answered with a shrug. “But like Daisy said, the farther you go, the harder it is. So while I could get in there and say I wanted to go to, like, Madagascar, the trip would probably kill me.”
Next to me, Jenna shuddered. “I can’t imagine being in that thing for any longer than we were.”
“Itineris travel can be especially tough on vamps,” Nick replied.
Then maybe you should have told her that before you dragged us on this little outing, jackass, I thought irritably.
Suddenly I wished Cal were here, and not just because he could have cured my headache in about two seconds.
“They can only be created by very powerful witches,” Daisy continued while I tried to keep my skull from exploding. She flicked open her lighter, her face briefly illuminated in the glow. “Or demons, obviously.”
“So who made the one at Thorne?” Jenna asked.
Nick answered her. “We don’t know.” He grinned. “But since it’s so kickass, I’m gonna say it was a demon.”
I wondered if Alice had made it, but before I could ask any more questions, Daisy broke in. “Okay, as fascinating as this conversation is, we only have a few hours, and I’d like to spend them in Shelley’s, not in an alley. Can we go inside now, please?” I did my best not to gape at her, but seriously. What had happened to the introverted, delicate girl from this morning?
We trailed out of the alley and around to the front of the building. From the outside it looked like a regular, if kind of seedy, nightclub. There was a small awning over the entrance that read shelley’s in white cursive, and people had scratched their initials and insults on the black door.
I looked around for a scary monster bouncer, but there was no one. There wasn’t even one of those cool panels that slides open so you can whisper a password. Then I realized the door was wavering slightly.
Daisy saw me studying it, and smiled. “It’s glamoured,” she said. “Only Prodigium can find it. To humans, it just looks like a particularly drunk and fragrant homeless guy leaning against the wall.”
Well, that was lovely. But she was right. If I squinted just right, I could make out a ghostly figure slumping where the door was.
Then Daisy stepped in front of me, and the door was just a door again. Daisy knocked and it swung open almost immediately. I was assaulted by the smell of smoke and a nearly deafening wave of techno. The light pouring from the entrance was blue and pulsed slightly.
I’d only gone to a club once, back in ninth grade. That had been when Mom and I were living in Chicago, and I’d had a brief flirtation with rebelliousness. I’d gone to some gross black hole of a room with a girl named Cindy Lewis, who’d worn way too much eyeliner and smoked clove cigarettes. My main memories of that night included music that was so loud I was sure I’d done some permanent damage to my eardrums, and some guy who smelled like a brewery grabbing my leg and attempting to slobber all over my face. So yeah, clubs were not exactly my favorite places.
But then, Shelley’s was nothing like that smoky pit in Chicago.
Okay, so there was smoke. And really, really loud music. But other than that, the two places could not have been more different. For one thing, the interior of Shelley’s was huge, much bigger than it had appeared from the outside. There were two levels, the bottom one made up almost entirely of a glossy black dance floor. It was crowded with bodies, and the magic coming off of them was so strong that my skin crawled. I saw lots of Prodigium our age, but there were just as many older people here too. In fact, there was an ancient bearded guy in the corner who looked like he’d probably palled around with Mary Shelley. I saw a werewolf dancing with what I assumed was a witch, his claws making small tears at the waist of her dress. Above the crowd, several faeries floated in the air, their wings beating in time with music, their shiny, pale hair reflecting the colored lights.
In the very middle of the dance floor, a guy wearing a purple velvet smoking jacket was dancing, surrounded by several witches. He looked familiar, and when he turned around, I realized it was Lord Byron.
Yeah,the Lord Byron. He’d been our English teacher at Hecate before all the attacks started. Since he was a vampire, people had been suspicious of him. Even after he was cleared, he still hadn’t wanted to come back to Hex Hall. Not like I could blame him.
I thought about going over to say hi, but then he spotted us. I’m not sure, but I think he flipped us off before limping away.
Neither Jenna nor I had been exactly stellar students.
Nick jerked his head toward the back. “Let’s go grab a seat.”
We moved away from the dance floor, to where it was dimmer and less crowded. The music also seemed a
