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comfortable she was here––too comfortable. With everything that had gone on, everything it took to get here, she was too at ease. Was that the trap? For her to feel as though she were meant to stay? She shook her head. She needed to focus.
    They passed an armory, full of swords and pikes. Though Shayne slowed as he looked in, he didn’t stop. There was a beautiful room with frescoes of outdoor scenes that surrounded several reclining couches. They were covered in luxurious throws and plush pillows. It’d be the perfect place to take a nap. There was a room with a desk that had a dozen small drawers. Someone had started writing on a curling piece of birch bark on the blotter. They had propped their quill pen on it carelessly. The ink still looked wet. Gillian suppressed a chill.
    They wound their way further and further into the labyrinthine building. But just as Gillian was going to suggest they look elsewhere for the portal, they rounded one final corner. At the end of the short, broad corridor there was sunlight. The last slanting rays of the late afternoon cast a soft orange glow, lighting the hugest piece of carved marble Gillian had ever seen.
    “This is it,” Shayne said, sounding as sure as she felt.
    It was breathtaking, a solid stone cylinder that soared toward the sky, which they could see. The center of the palace, all five layers, was completely open. For a few moments, all they could do was gape. The different stories of the palace had openings that looked down on the portal. But as they slowly circled it, gazing up, Gillian’s sense of wonder gave way to one of frustration. They circled around it for what seemed like a mile, passing more corridors.
    “What kind of portal doesn’t have a door?” Shayne said.
    But as they finally returned to the spot where they’d started, it was clear that it was solid. There was, indeed, no door.
    “How did the people of Tenebris even open this damned thing?” he said.
    “Earth-attuned Wiccans perhaps?” Gillian said. “That’s what I would use. One or two stationed at this wall, or dispatched when they were needed.”
    “There wasn’t anything like this to prevent us from getting into Tenebris.”
    She ran her glove over the smooth surface. “Perhaps they didn’t want everyone to be able to leave,” she said softly, thinking of the slave market.
    Shayne pounded it with his fist. “It’s in there,” he muttered. “I know it is. Maybe we missed something, some sort of switch or hidden symbol.”
    So they went around again. But as the light faded from the sky in the opening above them, it was clear they hadn’t missed anything. They returned again to where they’d started.
    “There’s got to be a way to open it,” Gillian muttered.
    “There is,” Shayne said, sounding so sure that she looked at him. “But we won’t be finding it today.” He checked the sky. “It’ll be dark soon.”
    Without him saying it, she understood. How the city would change overnight, they couldn’t predict. But they probably didn’t want to be next to the portal. Gillian glanced back down the short corridor. The stables were a long way away. The most sensible and comfortable thing to do would have been to sleep in one of the palace’s bedrooms, but just the thought made Gillian shiver.
    “I have an idea,” Shayne said.
    As they backtracked to some of the rooms they’d passed, he gathered pillows and throws from the reclining couches they’d seen. Then he led her to what looked like a small library and closed the door. Every shelf on every wall overflowed with scrolls. Magnifying glasses of different sizes lay on top of some. Two wood tables with two chairs each occupied the center. Shayne moved them apart. Under the glow of a single fireball, he made up a bed on the floor. She took the remaining bread and plums from her tunic pockets and passed them to Shayne, before gratefully collapsing on the bedding. He sat cross-legged in front of her.
    “You should