Chapter One
The carriage rolled down the dirt path, stopping by the Count’s marble gates.
Jack left his seat next to mine and jumped down to push the heavy gates open. I took a moment to examine him, unobserved. Broad shoulders, blue eyes, and tousled black hair. A stranger who had shown up moments ago and was taking me from Windermere, the only home I’d ever known. My eyes moved to the two sea serpents that stood sentinel on either side of the gate. Their writhing bodies and claws stretched out, ready to maul anyone who passed beneath them and dared to enter the Count’s land.
Instead of fear, a lump formed in my throat. The first time I’d seen these serpents, I’d been with York. Now I was going into the castle without him. I felt more alone than ever.
Jack and I had left Windermere without seeing a soul. I’d whispered goodbye to the empty town, wondering if this was really the last time I would see it. Next to me was my bag, containing my father’s final journal, the wooden cube, and my mother’s owl: the objects that had started me down this road; the clues that had opened my eyes to the strange things happening just outside of my small town.
I shivered and pulled my jacket around me. At my feet was my late father’s leather satchel, packed by Mrs. Taylor—the woman who had taken me in when I’d had no one, and who I would never see again. When I’d seen it inside the carriage, I’d known it was the only goodbye I’d get. No one was coming to save me.
Everyone in Windermere would be told I had a new life across the sea and that I was happy to go. They would never know I was just down the road inside the Count’s castle.
I took a deep breath, reminding myself that not everything was lost. Somehow, York had won the Count’s Woodworking Tournament. My best friend had succeeded in getting away from his angry father and would open his own Carving shop. York’s future was secure in Windermere. I was the one with no reason left to stay.
I had ruined my chance at my trade, lost my childhood home, and been disqualified from the Count’s Woodworking Tournament.
Again, I puzzled over why they wanted me at the castle. Was it really to be a scientist’s assistant, as Jack had told me? No one at the castle knew about the items in my bag, or that I had a burgeoning ability to perceive light differently than the average person—I didn’t think.
But I did know that my father’s clues had led me to this gate, and I had to uncover why.
I had to know why I saw light around certain people from the castle, what that light meant, and how York had transformed his wood to gold in the Tournament.
And I needed to pass between these sea serpents to get my answers.
The carriage shook as Jack climbed back in and whistled at the horses to continue. I held my breath, and we crossed the threshold into the Count’s land.
The property was nothing like I’d imagined. Inside the gates, nothing stirred. The woods felt hollow, not bursting with life like the forests around Windermere. It was eerily still. I looked around, seeing nothing but thin trees and silver dew drops clinging to blades of grass. Mist seeped through the trees like cold fingers. I shivered again.
We followed the path as it wound through the forest. The only sound was the wheels rolling over packed dirt. Jack hadn’t spoken much during our journey here, but the silence was not uncomfortable. I guessed he was giving me space to be upset, or to prepare myself for what was ahead of me.
But I didn’t know how to prepare for any of this. All my life I had been told to stay away from the Count’s castle, that the Count was a recluse and had no interest in our town beyond the Carving trade. But now I knew that wasn’t true. Things were happening out here.
Somewhere high above, a raven shrieked. I jumped, the hair on my neck rising.
“Alright?” Jack asked. I could feel that he wanted to laugh, but didn’t.
“It’s colder here,” I remarked, ignoring the part of me that wanted to tell him to turn back. The part that was sure I’d made a big mistake coming here. But I had no choice. I had nowhere else to go. Mr. Mallon, the Count’s Regent, would never let me set foot in town again.
“I should warn you, the castle is always cold,” Jack remarked.
My stomach sank as glimpses of stone grew more frequent through the trees. As we followed the path out of the tree line, the castle loomed in front of us.
It was enormous. Formidable. I felt like an ant, squinting up to the highest points that stretched into the grey sky. It was an ancient fortress made of stone towers, aged balconies, and countless windows. I wondered which window was the Count’s.
Chills rolled through me as we passed through the vast, unkept lawn. The path split around a large stone fountain that reminded me of the fountain in Windermere’s town square, except this one was dried up and cracked. Two stone knights on horses guarded the entrance by the door, but it looked as though their arms sagged under the weight of their swords.
Just as I wondered if the castle was actually abandoned and everyone I’d seen going into it that fated day with York had all been in my head, a person stepped out of the tall wooden door.
It was a girl dressed in dark clothes similar to Jack’s. Her black hair was woven tightly into a braid that laid over one shoulder. She watched us approach, but her thin lips never lifted in greeting. The solemn expression on her small, round face did not waver. She almost looked like a child. However, when we stopped before the door and her grey eyes found mine, I took that thought back immediately. I looked away from the emptiness I saw on her face; it was too unsettling.
Jack turned to me, his warm blue eyes a welcome relief from this girl’s cold grey ones. “I’m afraid this is where we part. You need to get settled, and I need to take the horses to the stable.”
The mention of the stables was like a knife to my heart. I already missed my own horse, Loon, and wished she was with us right now. But Jack had promised he would see about bringing her.
Even though I’d just met him, I felt reluctant to leave his side. “You’re not coming inside too?” I asked.
His lips lifted. “Not just yet.”
I stood, not wanting to seem afraid to go inside without him. Jack held my arm steady as I climbed down from the carriage. As soon as my feet touched the ground, uncertainty overwhelmed me. I looked up at him, panicking. Jack handed down my bags and smiled as if he sensed how I felt.
“Chin up, Ivy. I’ll see you around.”
The carriage moved forward, drowning out my attempt at a parting reply. As it pulled away, the strange, silent girl and I stared at each other. I shifted uneasily, wishing I could look anywhere but her.
“Name?” The flatness of her tone matched her blank expression.
“Ivy Rune.”
I searched her face for any indication that she recognized my name, or my father’s, but her face remained stoic.
I swallowed. “I’ve come to work for Dr. Ply.”
The girl nodded and turned back to the ancient wooden door. Only now I could see it was carved with strange symbols and patterns.
“Follow me.” She disappeared inside without waiting for a response.
I grabbed my bags and hurried after her into the dark, narrow passage. We continued silently until the hallway opened into a stone courtyard with more dead grass. Every muscle in my body was tense and wary. I tried to brush the unease away, but it clung to me. I wanted to turn around.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Anna.”
“And what do you do here, Anna?”
She didn’t respond.
We walked deeper and deeper into the castle, my apprehension and confusion growing with each step. The castle was bigger than it looked, but it felt like a ruin. The air was stiff and heavy. Even though we were the only ones walking through the hallways, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we weren’t alone.
In an unbelievable turn of events, I’d just learned my father had walked under these stone archways himself. Why had he worked here? What had his role been?
What was mine?
It had to be different from whatever his had been, that much I was sure of, because my father had been allowed to live in town, and I was not. I felt another wave of longing for Windermere and York.
As we entered a second silent courtyard, I finally saw another person, but my skin prickled at the wrongness of her.
A woman stood looking out of an arched window at a view hidden by fog.
There was an elegance to her, like she had once been magnificent, but had fallen into ruin like the stone around her. A crumbled velvet shawl hung from her thin shoulders, and the hem of her faded black dress was covered with dust.
She slowly turned in place to watch us pass. Her eyes and lips were lined with years and her hair was high on her head, encased in a black net.
My heart thudded as we passed by, but she did not smile or acknowledge us at all. I avoided her eyes, but not before I noticed one was blue. The other, violet.
I let out a breath when we turned the corner. I didn’t have the courage to turn around and see if she was still watching. I wasn’t even sure if she was real or a ghost, because Anna didn’t slow or acknowledge the woman.
I couldn’t stand the silence pressing in on me any longer.
“How long have you lived here, Anna?”
Anna stopped and turned to face me. “That’s personal.”
I stepped back, surprised. “It is? It’s a common question to ask someone you’ve just met.”
Her grey eyes studied me. Then she shrugged. “I’m not accustomed to conversation anymore. I’ve been here longer than I can remember not being here.”
“What do you do?”
Anna sighed. “I was in training, but that ended. Now I’m on task.”
“What does ‘on task’ mean?”
Anna turned on her heel. “Come. Dr. Ply doesn’t appreciate being kept waiting.”
My stomach dipped. Dr. Ply, the man my father had secretly worked for, and who I would now work for. We continued on and finally arrived at two doors covered in the same strange carvings and symbols as the front door.
“This wing is called the Center. The first floor is offices, where you will work. The second is living quarters, where you will stay. You are not allowed anywhere else in the castle without permission or an escort.”
“Is the castle always this empty?” Where were the people I’d seen with York that day we’d trespassed into the Count’s woods? Where were the ones we saw arriving on that damaged ship on the beach—the short man who’d pulled the wreck to shore with impossible strength; the massive man built thick as a tree trunk? Where were Cora and Carl? Anyone would be a welcome addition to Anna’s indifference.
She didn’t respond.
I tried again. “That woman we passed . . . does she work here too?”
“Stop with all the questions!” Anna snapped, revealing her frustration before she concealed it. “They will not make you a single friend here.”
I bit down a response and followed her quietly, feeling the somberness in the air press into me again. After another flight of stairs, Anna stopped at a door and opened it, gesturing me inside.
“This is your room.”
I walked inside, and my stomach dropped.
There were two rows of ten beds, each with a small dresser beside them. The only light came from two small windows on the far back wall, but their thick glass was covered with dust. The old wooden floors and bare walls made the room feel abandoned and cold. A crumbling fireplace sat in the center of the room, but there was no fire. A stack of chopped logs was piled beside it.
“Who else stays in here?” I asked, taking in the long room.
“Just you. Take your pick of the beds,” Anna said as if that somehow made this situation better.
I walked to the bed closest to the fireplace and sat down, cringing at the thin and lumpy mattress. The blanket and pillow were even thinner. I stood back up on instinct as if I could leave, but I couldn’t. I was really going to have to stay here. Sleep here. I didn’t know if I could. First, Anna; then the ghost woman; and now this dead, cold room.
I couldn’t live like this.
Panic built, making my shoulders tense. I took a deep breath. I couldn’t lose it in front of this strange, emotionless girl.
“Before you meet Dr. Ply, he would like you to familiarize yourself with some of his research.” Anna pointed to a large stack of papers sitting on a dresser.
The pile was nearly the size of my hand. “You want me to read all of that?”
“Dr. Ply thought an hour would suffice.”
Without another word, she left the room, leaving me all alone.
