Beryl and I released our hold on Kostya. “I want to cover up that window before we go,” he said, pointing to the broken pane.
“Cover your face,” I said. “We have no idea if those are the bird droppings that made Serena sick.”
Kostya busied himself with moving the ladder used to access the higher shelves. Beryl and I closed the lids on the oak boxes and tied them securely with lengths of grosgrain ribbon from one of the large spools I nabbed from the hat-making supplies. “I can’t believe Mom never brought us up here. Why do you think she kept her work hidden?”
Beryl shook her head. “I have no idea. Dad totally owes us an explanation, because we can’t ask Mom and we can’t ask Serena. And I swear if we find out if something has happened to Dad, I’ll kill him.”
“Me too. I guess we’re back to the anger stage of grieving.”
“You said it. And I think this stage is going to last a lot longer this time around.”
I found a satchel large enough to accommodate the boxes and the other things we wanted to take to the hotel. Kostya managed to close off the entire narrow window with a length of sturdy canvas. He returned the ladder and brushed his hands on his jeans.
“Should we turn off the light and close the door?” I asked as we readied to leave. There was no handle to grab, only the metal plate with the hole for the emerald ring. “And we should probably leave a note.”
“Before we close up, let’s go look for—”
Kostya was interrupted by a long, loud scream echoing up from the bottom of the stairwell. The sound bounced off the landings as it was repeated in quick succession. Beryl shoved the heavy satchel at Kostya, grabbed the railings, and slid down the first flight of stairs.
Demon Boy sent me ahead with a quick, “Go! I’ll prop the door and be right behind you.” I followed Beryl’s lead, stumbled at the first corner, and made it to the first-floor landing without another mishap. A door I hadn’t seen before was open, the steps below it spilling into a pool of inky blackness.
Beryl pressed her hands to either side of the narrow doorway. “Alderose?” she asked, her voice rising to a squeak. “Alabastair?”
“We’re here, we’re here.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, we’re okay.”
Beryl sagged against the wall. “Then why the fuck did you have to scream like that, Alderose Brodeur? You gave us all heart attacks and Clemmie almost broke her leg.”
Light flared at the bottom of a narrow stairwell lined with blocks of rough-hewn granite. Alabastair’s bald head shone like a moonstone. He glanced up at us, then motioned for Alderose to precede him.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said, breathing hard. “Alabastair was finally able to activate the portal and it sucked us in then spit us back out and I was just surprised is all.” She paused to lean against the wall before making it up the last few steps. “Did you make any progress?”
“We did. After Rémy iced us over. And we decided we’re going to the hotel to sleep and start fresh in the morning.”
“What do you mean, Rémy iced you over?”
The thought of recounting what the mage had done triggered a round of trembling in my legs. I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. “Right after you left, Rémy froze the door to the workroom shut, then sprayed this instant-ice stuff on Kostya, which made Kostya unable to move, and then he grabbed me by the throat”—I brought both hands to my neck—“like this and told me that we had forty-eight hours to find his beloved and that if we didn’t someone would die.”
Alabastair’s face drained of color, except for two bright splotches of pink at his cheeks. “I am furious with myself for leaving you vulnerable,” he said, planting his palm against the granite wall. “Your aunt—”
“It’s okay, Alabastair. And just so you know, we don’t do guilt in this family.”
“We’re also really tired,” Beryl reminded me. “Kostya, Clementine, and I are heading to the hotel.”
“I want to come with you.” Alderose paused on the step below the landing. “Did you lock up the workroom?”
“No,” Kostya said. “I left the door propped open.”
Rosey grabbed my wrist and dragged me back up the stairs. My thigh muscles complained loudly. Below, Beryl and Kostya launched into giving Alabastair a more detailed recounting of what happened with the mage. Their voices disappeared when my sister and I rounded the second corner and debated the third set of steps.
“Where’d the portal take you?” I asked. Between the champagne, the emotional roller coaster, and Rémy’s threat, my legs were on the verge of giving out. I paused, waiting for my sister’s response and for the shaking to stop.
“That’s the thing, Clemmie. Alabastair doesn’t know, and he’s a frikkin’ Portal Keeper.”
We resumed our climb. At the top, Alderose moved the heavy antique iron Kostya had set near the door. She nestled the ring into the keyhole. “Just testing,” she said. The door opened and we sighed in unison. “Okay, now to not lose the ring.”
“But what was it like, the place you landed in?” I asked. I had a slim hope there was a connection between the mystery destination and the problem in front of us.
I could feel Alderose studying me in the unlit stairwell. When she didn’t say anything, I turned to lead the way down and urged her to hold on to me and the railing. “I don’t know,” she said finally. A distant worry put a wobble in her voice. “But it was underground, and we both smelled water nearby. Freshwater, like a pond.”
“Why the screaming?”
“You know me and tight spaces. The whole experience was creepy, and the return trip happened so fast I was caught off guard.”
Alabastair was still looking pensive and guilty when
