JAMES POTTER AND THE VAULT OF DESTINIES

       The ghost of Fredericka Staples nodded. When I died, there was a huge white light. I knew I was supposed to go to it, but I didn't want to. I wasn't ready to leave yet. I was engaged to be married, you see. My life had barely just begun and I didn't really know then that I had died. Not really. The light drew me to it, but I resisted it. And then, as I pushed back from the white light… something else began to pull at me. It was like the opposite of the white light… it was… a black hole, sort of. It was strong and I couldn't control it. It pulled me in, and then… suddenly… I was here. At first, I thought this was the afterlife, but not for very long. It wasn't either heaven or hell. It was just… here. And there were people here, sometimes.

       James blinked. 'You've seen people here?'

       Fredericka looked at him and then gestured toward the ancient airship. More of the ships came once, a long time ago, she said in her thin, far-off voice. They looked just like that one, only bigger. They saw me and spoke to me. They'd traced the journey of the ones who came in that ship and asked me about them. I told them I was sorry, that I didn't know anything about their missing friends. Then they used their tools to learn the truth—that evil magical people had captured the man and the unicorn and killed them—and then they discovered that the same had happened to me. They learned more, though. They learned that not all of the people from our world are like the ones who committed those acts. There are good ones among us, always fighting the bad, but the balance of power is forever changing. They determined that our world was too dangerous for them to explore, and built the black castle as a warning. It's been there ever since, empty and silent. Until very recently.

       'You saw someone else,' Petra said. It wasn't a question, but Fredericka nodded anyway, turning her attention to her.

       I saw, but I didn't approach. I hid. I knew it was safer that way. Being a ghost has its benefits. Hardly anything can scare you anymore. But some things are worse than death. I hid and I watched.

       Petra seemed to understand this. 'They went to the castle, didn't they?'

       Fredericka nodded, unwilling or unable to say any more.

       'That's where we're going,' James said, and swallowed past a lump of fear in his throat. 'We should keep moving, before it gets dark.'

       It never gets dark here, Fredericka instructed blandly. Nothing ever changes here at all. Not even time.

       'Come with us, Miss Staples,' Lucy suggested. 'Maybe we can help you get back to our own world.'

       Fredericka considered this with obvious longing and then shook her head. I can't go into the castle, she said. I was afraid to go inside even before… she… arrived. Now I can't even bear to think of it.

       Petra said, 'Do you know where the staircase is, Fredericka? The one that leads down to the cave portal?' When the ghost nodded, Petra smiled. 'I think you'll be able to get back yourself if you really want to. As long as we are here, the portal is open and it'll take you back to our time and place. Perhaps you can get through and stay there if you try very hard.'

       Fredericka looked heartbreakingly hopeful. Do you really think so?

       'I don't know,' Petra answered, but James thought she did. 'Either way, it's worth a try. Good luck, Fredericka.'

       'Good luck,' James added, and the others joined in.

       Thank you, Fredericka said faintly. I think I'm ready to go on now. Into the light, if I can, and whatever is beyond it. Maybe I'll see you all again on the other side.

       'Later rather than sooner,' Ralph said quickly, and the ghost smiled her understanding. A moment later, she turned and seemed to fade from view as she drifted across the plateau.

       The gathering watched the ghost of Fredericka Staples vanish and then stood in the constantly shushing grass for a long moment, silent and thoughtful. Finally, still wordlessly, James turned back toward the castle. It stood tall and ominous on the near horizon, casting virtually no shadow in the diffuse light of the World Between the Worlds. The others turned around as well and looked up at the stark shape, weighing their own secret thoughts and fears.

       Slowly but surely, the six travelers resumed their journey.

24. THROUGH THE CURTAINS

       As they neared the castle, the silence seemed to develop its own strange inertia. At first, James merely felt that there was nothing to say. And then, as the minutes passed, he began to feel as if spoken words would somehow spoil the moment—not because the moment was beautiful, of course, for it certainly was not, but because there was a brittleness in the air, a tension that spun out like spider's silk, that James was loath to break. As the gathering finally approached the cliff's edge upon which the black castle stood, James finally realized the truth of why everyone had grown so quiet: they were all afraid that there really was someone inside the castle, someone powerful and terrifying, who might hear even the softest whisper and come out to greet them.

       When they stood before the massive open gates of the castle, however, speech became necessary.

       James rasped, 'Do we just go in? Should we… knock, like?'

       'We just go in,' Petra replied, her own voice hushed. 'But keep a sharp eye out.'

       'Someone's watching,' Lucy nearly moaned, peering up at the overhanging balconies.

       Petra nodded. 'I know. They're waiting for us.'

       James stepped alongside her as they moved into the shadow of the entryway. 'Do you know who it is?'

       Petra shook her head and pressed her lips together.

       The inside of the castle was almost entirely empty. One enormous room yawned before the travelers, leaping up into shadowy vaults and stretching off toward pillared archways on the far side. The group's footsteps echoed loudly in the darkness, making stealth impossible. The stone floor was covered with decades of blown grit and drifts of dead grass. As the troop crept into the center of the space, moving in a nervous huddle, James caught a hint of movement on the far wall. He peered into the darkness, squinting without his glasses, and made out a large framed shape. It was much larger than a man and filled with shifting shadows: a gently billowing curtain.

       'I have a bad feeling about this,' Zane muttered, looking in the same direction as James.

       Ralph nodded. 'There are more of them. All around the room. I see at least a dozen.'