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drite licks chocolate frosting off his lips and sits on the table, his tail curled around his waist. “Fizzle invisible when stealing apples, which allowed hear. People talk about mist making head funny, but not scared. This happen many times in past. It always go away, so we need wait it out.”
    “More or less,” Delvin mentions, rubbing his scruffy chin. “Can I have the Compass Key, Timoran? I want to test a theory.”
    “Of course, but it is only reacting to Nyx since we are going to her temple,” the bare-chested barbarian says, removing the relic from its chain around his neck. “Do you believe someone has tampered with it to send us into this trap?”
    “No, but I think we’re looking for something else,” the warrior states as he focuses on the Compass Key. The six gemstone orbs are cold to the touch while the central pearl is strangely warm. “I noticed when it sent us here that the diamond was reacting along with Nyx’s ruby. So I’m going to concentrate on it and see what it does. Get ready to save me from my own curiosity.”
    The Compass Key hums and the diamond spins in the silver setting, grinding against the hardened metal. A flickering illusion of the misty forest appears above the table and everyone briefly sees a ghostly form standing in the middle. Delvin drops the Compass Key when a blood-curdling screech builds in intensity, the noise stopping before it can be heard downstairs. He shoves it back to Timoran, who moves away and struggles to catch his breath. The artifact falls to the floor where it continues humming to itself for a few more seconds.
    “What just happened?” Luke asks, bravely picking up the relic. He focuses on the diamond, but stops when a sudden wave of despair washes over him. “That was scary and . . . I don’t know how to explain it. Almost like someone was calling out to me.”
    “It’s the sixth champion,” Delvin says as he chews on another bite of cake. He covers his mouth to yawn and looks at his stunned friends, realizing that the thought never occurred to them. “There’s something about the sixth champion that makes it different than us. I don’t know what that is, but there are plenty of facts to prove something is off. This is a person who stepped onto the path before the rest of us, but we’ve never met him or her. It’s bizarre and a little unsettling.”
    “Maybe this person has simply been in a different location,” Sari suggests, sipping at her ale and eyeing the Compass Key. “It could even be possible that the Baron captured this champion and is experimenting on her like Stephen did to me. I still believe it’s that woman Luke and I saw in our visions.”
    “You’re probably right, Sari, since she didn’t start appearing until we retrieved the Compass Key. I’m sure she’s using it as a conduit to interact with us,” the brown-haired warrior explains as he gets to his feet. He lets out a long breath and thinks hard about what he is about to say. “I found some other information. The bartender confirmed that the strange mist has appeared many times over the centuries. Each time it went away, a group of adventurers had gone into the forest in search of a goblin guide. Apparently, the goblins are immune to the influence of the mist and they can lead people down a safe path. The mist doesn’t affect anyone who remains on the road, so we can get through in relative safety.”
    “So we need to get a goblin,” Luke says with a shrug. He takes his first bite of the cake and pats Sari on the shoulder before swallowing. “That should be easy. We’ve handled them before and know how to behave around them.”
    “I think you are missing the real point,” Timoran interjects. His hands shake as he takes the Compass Key and puts it back on its chain. “Other groups of champions have gone into the forest to handle this. They either died there or freed the sixth champion to end the curse. Either way, this person keeps ending up back here, so