Other students started to get up from their chairs and depart, along with some of the faculty. But Madame Isolde remained in her chair, her diamond-like eyes remaining on Coppelius. It was only when she looked away, to Headmaster Galliard when he spoke to her, that Sorrel felt as if she could move again.


    As she and the rest of the crew of the East Sun got up, she felt someone brush past her.


    "Sorry," mumbled Pirlipat before he disappeared into the exodus of students.


    There was a weight in Sorrel''s pocket, and she spared another glance at Madame Isolde—but the beautiful Annwynese magician was already surrounded again, being shepherded away by the academics.


    Perfect.


    Sorrel turned her back to that and removed from her pocket a scrap of clean white paper, the faint scent of lilacs emanating from it.


    Rose Garden, 20 minutes. Bring everyone.


    Sorrel looked up to see Coppelius was watching her.


    "We''ve got one more stop before we can go check on the trams," she announced quietly.


    Coppelius nodded, but his expression remained troubled.


    Before Sorrel could inquire further, however, a hand was clapped on her shoulder and she jumped.


    "Well, what did you think of the old professor''s star project?" Katherine asked. "He absolutely loves his automatons, they''re so beautiful, aren''t they?"


    "They are." Sorrel bit her lip and dropped her voice. "Katherine, where would the rose garden be?"


    "Oh, those would be up with the box gardens between the two main towers of the school." Katherine''s bubbly smile faltered. "Did something happen?"


    "No, why?" Sorrel quickly folded the paper and put on the kind of smile she''d practiced for the patrons of the bed and breakfast.


    Something gleamed in Katherine''s eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and so Sorrel wasn''t so sure as to what she had really seen.


    "Well, I can take you there, if you want."


    "Oh, no, I wouldn''t want to trouble you any further." Sorrel shook her head. "You''ve done enough, and I''m sure you have studying and stuff to do, and we''ll have to leave to catch our train in another hour or so—"


    "Right." Katherine pressed her lips together into a thin line, then smiled bemusedly. "Well, it''s been good to see you. I hope it won''t be nearly so long, Sorrel."


    With that, Katherine turned away, leaving Sorrel with a sense of unease.


    Still, she had her location. And she figured she''d rather not leave Pirlipat waiting too long.


    <hr>


    For how the shapes of the buildings were different, the night sky wasn''t so different across worlds, Sorrel decided as she entered the rose garden. As Katherine had explained, it was a box uniting two towers of the Royal Institute, with an open air to the sky. Various heaters and lights were scattered around the garden''s marble-like pathways, with bushes of frost-hardy roses that remained their bright scarlet against the falling snow.


    Sorrel closed her eyes for a moment, to feel the biting wind on her face, the snowflakes dissolving in her hair and jacket, to hear the sounds of a sleepless city.


    This was the closest thing to home as what existed now.


    "Didn''t take you too long to show up."


    Sorrel opened her eyes to see Pirlipat step out from behind a rose bush, Layla lingering behind him. Both were wearing heavier cloaks and scarves, and Layla was carrying a worn-looking briefcase with a pale blue ribbon tied around the handle.


    "We figured it was urgent." Coppelius stepped forward, taking the lead. "I''m guessing the arrival of the Annwynese court mage has changed your mind?"


    Pirlipat glanced over his shoulder, before returning ice-cold eyes to Coppelius. "We would not have survived undetected in the same worlds for so long if we hadn''t known when the right time to leave was."


    "Besides, I told him that I wanted to help you." Layla stepped forward, her starry eyes wide and earnest. "We''re family, after all. Even if we don''t know many of the details. . . It''s why Pirli and I have stuck together for so long."


    Coppelius nodded. "Then we''re happy to have you on our side."


    Sorrel glanced around the party—Akira was grinning, and Delphine merely had her arms folded over her chest, her nose upturned in her usual haughty expression. But it was her sister''s movement that had drawn her attention, as Gwynn had whirled around, the crystals on her bracelet glowing.


    "What''s wrong?" Sorrel called out.


    Gwynn paused. "I don''t know—I have a bad feeling about this."


    "Well, we should get going." Coppelius placed a hand on Gwynn''s shoulder as he approached her. "We''ve got a train to catch, and I don''t think it''s good for any of us to be in Thule right now."


    Gwynn nodded, but Sorrel could see it in her eyes, her sister''s mind was still far away. "Let''s go, then."


    <hr>


    Sorrel really should have known better by now. All faint traces of life that there had been before were now completely gone as the party traversed the corridors of the Royal Institute. Even the lights were dimmed, casting half the lonely halls in complete shadow. Only their footsteps disturbed the silence.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    That was, right until they''d entered the grand foyer, right before the front doors of the Institute.


    That was when Sorrel heard the sound of footsteps, as crisp as ice breaking. It echoed off of the tiled floor, off of the stained glass windows and the chandelier that had gone mysteriously dark, with only the glass-painted moonlight to show that descending the grand staircase was none other than Lady Isolde.


    "I thought you might attempt to make a run for it." She smiled, a fierce, sinister expression, but lovely all the same. Like a white rose with ice-encrusted thorns, Sorrel supposed. Like the black hole before it devoured all.


    "You can''t do this here, they''re guests of the Institute, and we''re their students!"


    Sorrel was surprised by the ferocity and conviction in Pirlipat''s voice as he threw himself forward, between Coppelius and Lady Isolde.


    Lady Isolde narrowed her eyes, and her lips closed—but they still remained curled in her smile. "I''m afraid you haven''t heard, have you, Mr. Elara?"


    She took one step forward, raising her wrist so the moonlight caught the diamond teardrops on her bracelet. It could be mistaken for a model''s pose in the holo-zines. But Sorrel was certain that everyone there could recognize it as a threat.


    She also noticed how Pirlipat inhaled sharply, his eyebrows knitted together as he took a more protective stance, a more aggressive one at her speaking his last name.


    "You''ve been looking into the student records, haven''t you?"


    Lady Isolde laughed. "I didn''t have to do much. Nearly everyone on staff talks about the mysterious and talented young Mr. Elara, and his charming, imaginative sister with the Camrar hair and horns. And of course, you haven''t exactly been covering your tracks well."


    She paused, tilting her head. "There are quite a few pictures across the decades of the Institute''s operations that reveal two faces that recur frequently. And of course, there have been many that go by the name Elara. . ."


    She trailed off, then straightened her head. "But that''s getting beside the point. Her Majesty''s no longer playing by the old rules, Mr. Elara. She''s decided that she''s spent enough time in the shadows, and she will get what she wants. Rules, or not, I''m afraid."


    She took another step forward, and a silver light appeared in the palm of her hand. It was growing, like the beginnings of a storm-cloud.


    "Now, of course, the question is what you''ll all do." She paused, and when no one moved, she clicked her tongue. "Very well, then."


    With that, she threw the light in her hand in an arc, scattering it as silvery-blue dust that expanded into a blizzard. Sorrel reached into her pocket to pull her blade, and lunged forward to a swing, where she remembered Lady Isolde had been standing. Only, the crystal sword sliced through snow and the cold wind, and she stumbled forward.


    Lady Isolde laughed—but from where, Sorrel wasn''t sure.


    She could not see Gwynn, or any of her other companions in the room. Just the flash of green of one of Akira''s spells, or the glimmer of sunlight from Delphine, or the deep sky blue of Coppelius''s magic—none of them landing a hit. For Lady Isolde just kept laughing.


    Such an infuriatingly polished sound.


    Sorrel lifted her blade and picked herself back up off the floor—just in time to hear the sound of ice cracking above her.


    She raised the sword, just in time to use the flat side to block ice spikes as they fell from the ceiling. They shattered harmlessly to her sides, but the air was pierced with a scream. A girl''s scream.


    "Gwynn? Gwynn!" Sorrel screamed as she looked around.


    "LAYLA!" Pirlipat''s bellow made the silvery-blue snowdust go still.


    It dissolved just in time for Sorrel to watch as Pirlipat dived to where Layla lay, impaled by an ice spike, others embedded in the floors all around the foyer.


    Lady Isolde emerged from the last clouds of silver dust, recalling them to her hand with a flick of her wrist. She moved with a slow confidence, the assurance of a predator that had all in her grasp—only to pause and to falter.


    "No," she gasped. "That cannot be—I sense their magic. How—"


    Lady Isolde turned just in time to see Katherine burst out of a door with a large aged tome in her hands, Nikolai close behind.


    "You," Lady Isolde seethed, narrowing her icy gray eyes. "I should have known! I can see her in you."


    Katherine seemed unperturbed by this. "I''d''ve thought a mage of your caliber would be able to recognize a witch."


    Sorrel''s head was spinning. What was happening? One of her closest childhood friends, claiming to be a witch? That couldn''t be, she''d known Katherine, surely she would have known if she had been caught up in all of this.


    But there was no time to ponder what was unfolding right before Sorrel''s very eyes.


    "They''re mine," Lady Isolde snarled, as she raised her hands.


    "Not if I''m the one telling the story."


    Lady Isolde was the first to throw her spell, but Katherine blocked it effortlessly, dissolving it in a shimmer of iridescence like a bubble on water. She returned her own, a deep burgundy, as Nikolai darted down the staircase.


    Lady Isolde did not notice—her eyes were locked on Katherine.


    That was when Sorrel realized what she could do.


    Without a second thought, she launched herself at Lady Isolde and tossed the crystal sword to the side. Coppelius swooped in time to catch it before it could hit the floor and shatter.


    Lady Isolde screamed—she clearly had not expected that reaction. The force of hitting the marble floor ricocheted through her bones. But she couldn''t let the pain stop her—she was clawing and kicking in a blinding blur of adrenaline and desperation.


    Her fingers managed to close around Lady Isolde''s wrist as the Annwynese mage frenzied. Struggling and writhing underneath her small body, she tried to push Sorrel off of her.


    Sorrel gritted her teeth and jabbed her knee into Lady Isolde''s abdomen. As Lady Isolde cried out, Sorrel pulled with all her strength.


    There was a click and the sound of diamonds clinking together as Sorrel was thrown off of Lady Isolde.


    The noblewoman scrambled to her feet, her beautiful features twisted into an expression of pure fury.


    Sorrel could only look up, head pounding, vision blurring as Lady Isolde reached for her—only to crumple to the ground, and then go flying into a wall in a flash of blood-red light.


    The next thing she knew, Coppelius stood over her, holding the crystal sword, while Gwynn knelt beside her.


    "Come on, we need to get moving." With the patter of footsteps, Katherine and Nikolai had made it to the ground floor of the foyer.


    Coppelius turned while Gwynn helped Sorrel to her feet. She found herself leaning against her sister more than she would have liked.


    "We''re not going anywhere with you, not until you explain a few things." He wasn''t unkind in the unvoiced demands, but it was still surprisingly foreboding, to come from him.


    Katherine shook her head and closed her tome. A broach at her neck began to glow as she moved her arm in an arc, in a scattering of sparks shaped like fallen leaves. A portal appeared, a circular mirror perhaps, except that it reflected a perfectly-maintained garden in the height of summer.


    "We won''t have long before she wakes up and comes looking for us, and then we''ll be running out of time." Katherine turned to Pirlipat and Layla. With a snap of her fingers, the icicles disappeared—not that this did much for the blood on the floor, on Layla''s clothes. "I have some friends who can help—she also won''t last much longer."


    She looked back to Sorrel and Gwynn, eyes pleading. "I promise, I''ll explain everything, and I''ll help. I just need you to come with me."


    "We trust you." Sorrel''s voice was stronger than she thought.


    "You won''t regret this." Katherine clasped her hands. "Now hurry."


    Coppelius and Gwynn helped Sorrel through the portal, and Nikolai aided Pirlipat in carrying Layla''s body, with Delphine, Akira, and Katherine bringing up the rear.


    In an instant, the foyer of the Royal Institute was gone.


    And in the next, they were in that garden—standing before a tea party of beautiful women in elaborate pointed hats.