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in the corner.
    Four shades began to reform in the shadows behind the door. Arthur darted in behind her and took three shots. The second one struck and shattered the stone. All the shades in the room vanished.
    Morgan dropped her shield with a relieved sigh. She held out her hand and Vassalus moved up beside her, so she could scratch behind his ears.
    “You saved my life.”
    “Hey!” Lexi said. “I helped just as much.”
    Morgan rolled her eyes, and Lexi started to say something, but Arthur interrupted her. “Good work, everyone .”
    The Paladin’s Office had wood floors so dark with age they were almost black, and the walls were covered in gold-on-gold wallpaper. A giant desk made of an exotic, deep-green wood dominated one end of the room. The wall behind it was hidden behind thick, velvet curtains. A second, tiny desk — maybe for a secretary — sat under a row of portraits that lined the right side of the room. It held an old-fashioned manual typewriter and a rotary phone, both the same burgundy red as the curtains. A velvet-covered loveseat and several sets of bookcases stuffed with leather-bound books stood on the opposite side. There were wall sconces and lamps everywhere, but they couldn’t seem to outshine the aura of age and history. World-changing decisions had been made in this room.
    “Well, this place wasn’t made new for me,” he said. There was a door to Arthur’s right that was labeled PALADIN’S CHAMBERS. “I can get straight to my room from here. That’s convenient.”
    “I think Maid needs to get in here,” Morgan commented. “This place smells musty.”
    Lexi trailed a paw along a lower shelf on the bookcase, and then peered at it. “No dust.”
    “It’s just a very old room,” Arthur said.
    “Looks quite modern and fashionable to me,” Lexi said. She often flashed little bits of Arthur’s Grandma Paladin, whom he must have met when he was a baby. She must’ve made quite an impression for her to hang around in his subconscious so long.
    “Check this out, Arthur,” Morgan said. “Pictures of you.”
    She was examining a shelf lined with framed photos of him and his parents. They all looked so happy; he could hardly bear to look.
    Vassalus nosed between the curtains and then uttered a surprised, “Yelp!” It was maybe the most doglike thing he’d ever done.
    “Vassalus, you okay?” Morgan asked.
    “Fine … all … fine, miss …”
    Morgan frowned and hurried over anyway. She grabbed higher up on the curtain Vassalus was tugging open with his teeth — and gasped. Arthur tore himself away from the family photos and rushed around the desk. He skidded to an abrupt stop as Morgan and Vassalus wrestled the heavy curtains apart.
    “Whoa!” Lexi said with wide eyes.
    That was an understatement.
    The entire back wall was a giant window that looked out into deep space. Bright swirls and streaks of color — purples and blues shot through with shades of green, reds bleeding into yellow and white — zoomed past. It was like they were moving through a nebula. And behind it, in the far distance, they could see stars speeding by like meteors. They had to be moving fast .
    “Is that the Song Between the Verses?” Morgan muttered. “It’s — it’s amazing.”
    “Yeah.” Arthur breathed. He tried to find a word to describe it, but the only thing that popped into his head was “awesome,” which entirely failed to do this view justice. “How fast do you think we’re going?”
    “Definitely faster than light, which isn't possible.” The window was so overwhelming that Morgan didn't even seem irritated at the Manse’s newest way of ignoring the laws of physics.
    “I looks kind of like we’re flying through a nebula,” Arthur said. “But they aren't that big, are they? At this speed we’d have already come out the other side, don’t you think?”
    “I think … maybe … maybe it's another dimension of space time?” Morgan said. “Like hyperspace. That would