JAMES POTTER AND THE VAULT OF DESTINIES

horseshoe, his face draining of colour. He's figured it all out, James thought. Just like that. He is one smart fellow…

       'I didn't expect we'd be doing this in front of the entire school,' Ralph muttered, accepting the horseshoe as Petra handed it to him.

       'It doesn't matter,' Petra said, smiling wanly. She turned to Lucy and Izzy. 'You both stay here. There's no need for you to come.'

       Izzy made no effort to let go of Petra's hand and James understood that Petra's suggestion was merely perfunctory. There was no way Izzy would consent to staying behind.

       'I want to come,' Lucy said, looking from Petra to James. 'I want to see. I don't know anything about what's going to happen, but I'm in on it now, no matter what.'

       James expected Petra to forbid Lucy, but the older girl merely nodded. She looked back at Ralph, who still held the faintly glowing horseshoe.

       'Let's do it,' Zane announced stoically. 'Let's get it over with.'

       Together, the three boys and three girls turned and walked up Victory Hill, approaching the corner of Apollo Mansion. The remainder of Team Bigfoot gathered silently around them, but at a careful distance. All of them could see the horseshoe shape engraved in the building's cornerstone, divided by the crack between the main house and the permanent foundation.

       'What's this all about, James?' Jazmine asked quietly. James glanced back at her.

       'It's… a long story,' he answered after a moment. 'But it's not a bad story. Petra is my friend. I have to try to help her.'

'You'll tell us all about it when you get back, right?' Wentworth suggested, frowning slightly.

       'Definitely,' Ralph nodded, producing his large wand. Its lime-green tip glowed dimly in the moonlight.

       'You want us to come too?' Gobbins asked. 'Because we could, you know.' The rest of the team, even the reserve players, murmured agreement.

       'No,' James replied, smiling, 'but thanks.'

       'Whew,' Norrick breathed. 'Good luck, then. Wherever you're going, and whatever you're gonna do when you get there, good luck.'

       Mukthatch let out an encouraging woof.

       Ralph turned around and held the horseshoe up, measuring it against the shape carved into the conjoined cornerstone.

       'Petra,' James asked quietly, turning to look at her, 'what happened back there, in the Medical College? What happened to Keynes?'

       Petra met his gaze thoughtfully. 'He's still alive,' she answered simply. James sensed her thoughts and sensed that this was the truth. It wasn't all of the truth, he knew, but for now, it was enough.

       He moved a step closer to her so that no one else would hear. 'Is it true, Petra?' he whispered. 'Are you a… a sorceress?'

       Her eyes hadn't left his. 'Yes,' she mouthed, and shrugged faintly. Tears stood in her eyes, shining dully. She tried to smile, but it faltered.

       James nodded. For now, there was nothing more to say.

       With a soft grating sound, Ralph pushed the unicorn horseshoe into the shape engraved in the cornerstone. There was no shocking noise or burst of magical light, and yet the crowd responded. A sigh of awe washed over the quadrangle. James looked up, as did the rest. A faint rose-coloured light glowed from every window of Apollo Mansion. It shifted softly, seeming to hint at every colour of the rainbow and even some colours that James had never imagined.

       'I guess we go inside,' Lucy suggested, her voice an octave higher than usual. 'Is that it?'

       James nodded. He reached out, took Lucy's hand in his right and Petra's in his left. Slowly, the group began to walk toward the main entrance of Apollo Mansion.

       'Boys!' a voice called suddenly. James paused again with one foot on the first step. He looked back and saw Chancellor Franklyn peering up at him, his face lit with the soft, rosy light.

       'If you see Ignatius Magnussen,' Franklyn said earnestly, 'tell him… tell him to stay away. Tell him not to come back. Will you do that?'

       With those words, James thought he finally understood Franklyn's reasons for wanting to keep the Nexus Curtain closed for good. Magnussen, despite being Franklyn's friend, had been a monster. If he had escaped through the Nexus Curtain, then perhaps—hopefully—it had been a one-way trip. Perhaps the only way the murderer could ever return would be if the Curtain was opened again from this side. Franklyn had made it his life's mission to assure that that never happened.

       'He won't be coming back, Chancellor,' Ralph answered stolidly, raising his voice just enough to be heard. 'Trust us.'

       Franklyn studied Ralph's face for a moment and then nodded slowly.

       A moment later, Zane reached for the door handle atop the short stoop of Apollo Mansion. He gripped it, thumbed the latch, and pushed it open. The mysterious pulsing light covered every surface inside, shifting hypnotically.

       'All of us together,' Petra said, squeezing James' hand. 'Everyone hold onto someone else. I think the moment we cross over the threshold, we'll go through. I think the whole house is the portal. Ready?'

       James gulped. Ralph shuddered. Zane said, 'You all go on ahead. I'm just gonna pop back to Hermes House for my camera. 'Kay?'

       Ralph grabbed the blonde boy's hand and Zane gripped it, tittering nervously.

       As one, the six stepped through the doorway into the faint rosy light, and vanished.

       James' first step into the World Between the Worlds nearly tumbled him headlong over a rocky black cliff. Petra and Lucy were still holding his hands on either side and they pulled him back even as his foot dipped into empty space. He gasped as he drew his foot back and wobbled on the ledge. The six travelers peered carefully down into the misty distance.

       They seemed to be standing on the lip of a shallow cave worn into a cliff of sharp black stone. A hundred feet below, monstrous waves slammed against the face of the cliff, sending up explosions of white water as if in slow motion. Beyond this, steely grey ocean stretched off toward the horizon, heaving beneath a low, white sky.

       James shuddered. 'I nearly fell into that,' he commented, wide-eyed.

       'This isn't the most convenient place to put a portal,' Zane nodded. 'Even if you survived the drop, who knows what kind of monsters swim around in an ocean like that?'

       'None at all,' Petra answered, her voice calm but emphatic. 'There's nothing alive in that water. Nothing at all. You can sort of feel it, can't you?

       Lucy frowned. It was almost a grimace of disgust. 'Yes,' she answered. 'It's like this isn't really a place at all. It's more like a kind of window dressing, something just to take up the space. There's no… no taste to it. No life or colour at all. It's like chewing on cardboard.'

       'Or like taking a peek behind the curtain of reality,' Ralph agreed, his face tense. 'Like it's here just because something has to be, but it's not meant to be seen by anyone.'

       'I think it makes sense,' Izzy said, still holding Petra's hand.

       Petra agreed. 'It's not really a world after all,' she mused. 'It's just the World