Taken

It was cold, and the roof was made of bones. The carpet was soft under my bare feet but the ceiling above was ragged and gleamed pale in the shadows. The corridors were hushed, and the halls were silent as a tomb.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Anne said from next to me.

I looked at Anne. Her face was pale and her eyes haunted. “What are you afraid of?”

Anne shook her head. “He knows you’ve come.”

A sound made me turn. A brown-skinned girl was standing there; she looked familiar, and wore a look of terrible grief. Slowly she turned and began walking away. “Wait!” I shouted. “Don’t!”

She vanished into the darkness. I ran after her and found myself alone. A door stood before me; it looked smaller and older than the others. I pulled it open.

My feet came down with a squish in mud. Inside I saw tall hedges, only a few feet away, with gaps between them that led into darkness. There should have been a night sky above but there wasn’t. I could feel the walls around me. Ahead, the entrances stood alone and empty.

Looking into the darkness, I felt a wave of terror. There was something inside, something horrible, and if I went inside I would meet it face to face. I backed away, but the door and walls were the same. Everything was hidden. I was already inside and something was watching.

I spun, fighting back panic, trying to see where to go. The wall shook with a banging noise. “Alex!” it shouted at me. “Alex!”

“Leave me alone!” I shouted back.

“Alex! Alex!”

*  *  *

I came awake with a gasp. My precognition was screaming at me—danger danger danger!—and I rolled out of bed while still half asleep, grabbing for a weapon. I came down onto the floor on one knee, bleary-eyed, knife in my hand, looking left to right.

The knocking on my door came again. “Alex?”

I should know who it was, but my sleep-fogged mind couldn’t process it. I looked around the room. The flash of danger on my precognition had gone. The room was safe. I looked at the alarms I’d set before going to bed: the chair under the door handle with glasses balanced on it and the ward stone that would have triggered if something hostile had appeared in the room. Nothing had changed. I was alone.

Knock-knock-knock went the door. “Alex? Are you there?”

“Coming,” I said vaguely, looking around. Something had woken . . . no, it had set off my . . . what had it been? The dream was fading and I couldn’t remember. I shook my head and reached for my clothes.

I opened the door to see Anne standing in the hallway, dressed in a long-sleeved blouse and a purple skirt. Her hair was styled neatly around her shoulders, and she looked as though she’d gotten up early—or at least a lot earlier than me. “Hey,” I said. I looked from left to right. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Ah . . .” Anne said. “Luna’s practising with Gabriel in one of the azimuth rooms, Variam’s getting ready for his first match, and everyone else is in the hall waiting for the first round to start.”

“You’re on your own?” I glanced up and down the hall again. Somehow that bothered me.

“There’s something wrong,” Anne said. As I looked at her I realised that she looked worried. “Yasmin’s gone missing.”

“Yasmin?” I frowned. “Who—?”

Suddenly I remembered. The girl from yesterday, Natasha’s friend, who’d been trying to bully Variam and Anne. An image flashed through my head of her face turning away, mud, and tall hedges. I put a hand to my head, feeling a sudden chill. “Alex?” Anne asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m fine.” Suddenly the walls of the mansion felt oppressive. We were alone and I couldn’t sense anyone in the present or the future but I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. “Walk with me. We’re going outside.”

*  *  *

As soon as I was out in the sunlight I felt better. It had turned into a clear, crisp winter’s morning, a low sun shining from a cold sky. The gardens of Fountain Reach were all around us, well kept and beautiful. Away from the wards my divination magic was back to full strength and the creeping unease had gone. A few other people were out and about, elderly gardeners tending the plants and apprentices walking in the sun.

“She was supposed to have been back last night,” Anne said. We were walking along one of the gravel paths, curving slowly around towards the back of the house. “Natasha woke up this morning and found she never got in.”

“She was outside the mansion when she vanished?”

“I think the last anyone saw her was at the station.”

“And no one’s been able to get in touch with her since?”

“I don’t think so.”

It sounded familiar—too familiar. I knew the Keepers would be searching but my gut told me they’d have no more luck than with the previous ones. “The tournament’s still going ahead?”

“I don’t actually think most of the apprentices know that she’s missing.”

I gave Anne a look. “So how come you do?”

“Um . . .” Anne said. “I guess people just mentioned it?”