Her hand on the doorknob, Lea’s voice rose and fell in a low, rhythmic chant, sending a stream of magic into the lock. A beat later, it clicked open. We moved quickly inside, finding ourselves in an unlit back hallway that appeared to only service a water fountain and two restrooms.
We moved quickly down the short hall and jolted to a stop when we realized it fed directly into the lobby.
A voice echoed through the open space. Alice sounded as if she was about fifteen yards away, but it was hard to understand her because of the echoing effect.
We stood just inside the hall, pressed against the wall and listening carefully. When Alice stopped talking, no one responded for a long moment.
Then I heard a low, rumbly sound that might have been a voice.
Or it could have been my stomach complaining that it was empty.
Judging by the glare Lea was throwing me, I was pretty sure it was the latter.
I placed a hand over my stomach as if that would stop its grumbling, and eyed the immediate area beyond our hidey-hole.
The tree wasn’t too far away. Its dense trunk blocked our view of Alice, but I was judging from the sound of her voice that she wasn’t far from the front door.
I thought of the line of wooden gnome soldiers in that area and felt the blood rush out of my face. Alone against that army, Alice wouldn’t have a chance.
Unless Sebille decided to help her.
I thought about that for a minute and realized they could be working together. Maybe Sebille was backing Alice up on some kind of sting.
But then, why hadn’t they included me? Anger sifted through me and away. I’d certainly earned the right to be included. But the memory of the beat-down I’d gotten from the gnomes the last time made it hard for me to seek out that kind of “adventure” again.
Yet, there I stood.
“We need to get closer,” Lea whispered.
I nodded in agreement and we carefully moved out of the hallway, stepping quietly to a spot behind the green space. Using the wide umbrella of the massive tree as cover, we crouched in the shadow of its branches and watched in surprise as Alice, standing in the middle of the entrance lobby, suitcase still in hand, spoke to the wooden soldiers lined up along the wall.
They stood as they had before, eyes dull and lips curved in smiles that seemed even more malevolent than the last time. I suffered a full-body shiver that made my teeth clack together from the memory.
“…poisoned the magic with her mark,” Alice was saying. “I’ve been trying to fix it, but I need her to do it, and she’s resisting my influence.”
I frowned at the words coming out of the Keeper’s mouth. Who was the she Alice was talking about? I thought she’d been the one to mark the suitcase and stop it from working.
Alice seemed to be listening to something, although I couldn’t hear anyone else speaking.
“I know we had a deal…” she said, looking nervous.
My stomach twisted. My worst fears realized. Alice had been working with the gnomes. But then, if that was true, why had she hurt Gido?
“I’m doing everything I can. You need to give me more time…” she said, a pleading note in her voice.
I eyed the row of gnomes, wondering who Alice was speaking to. But I couldn’t discern any movement or indication that any of them were alive.
They all looked exactly the same.
All had rounded forms. All were carved with coats that were painted blue and trousers that were painted a golden brown. All had clunky black boots carved on their feet, and all wore conical hats that were a dull, weathered burgundy color.
Every face had beady black eyes, a bulbous nose, and a sharp chin.
Alice suddenly lifted her head and looked toward the tree.
We hunched lower as her shadowed face stared in our direction.
I was afraid to move. But I was aware of Lea chanting softly beside me. I would have loved to ask her what she was doing, but I didn’t dare make a sound.
“What is it?” a deep, gravelly voice asked.
The sound of it made me jump in surprise. But Lea looked pleased.
Alice turned her gaze back to the line of gnomes, lifting it above their heads. “I thought I heard something,” Alice said.
The shadow on the wall behind the gnomes shifted slightly.
I reached over and clamped my hand over Lea’s. She stopped chanting, her gaze sharpening on the lobby.
The gnomes began to move and my heart started to pound with dread.
Then something amazing…and horrifying…happened.
The wall shifted forward, peeling away from the shadows and forming into a gnome that looked a lot like the one in the office we’d searched the night before.
Only it was ten feet tall if it was an inch.
The enormous gnome had blended into the shadows, giving the impression of being part of the wall. How was that possible?
“Cloaking spell,” Lea whispered as if answering my unspoken question. “I’ve been sending an interference spell into it.”
The gnome was not only enormous compared to the wooden soldiers arrayed around his feet, but he was also not a minion. His tall form was leaner than the others, and it was covered in a dark suit with a white shirt and red power tie. The gnome’s head wore no conical hat, and his hair was pure white, thick and wavy around a face that was all craggy planes and chiseled lines. He had a long, carefully trimmed beard that fell to a point below the knot of his tie, shaggy brows, also pure white, and a thick mustache that fell over the corners of his mouth to mingle with the beard.
Most importantly, I’d seen him before. I knew who it was.
Lea turned to me. “We’re in trouble.”
Aaaannnnddd, my heart redoubled its efforts to claw its way out of my chest. In fact, it was beating so hard, I
