46
LINCOLN
“The contestants will step onto the grounds before the stage… or be moved there.”
This is it. My heart beats so hard, I feel my pulse in my throat. TH and I walk down the short set of stairs that lead from the stage to the ground below.
The world takes on a dreamlike sheen. TH stands in the same spot he used with Raedwulf all those years ago. I find myself taking my grandfather’s place as well.
Images flicker in my mind. It’s the Beryl Xyston, showing me the exact moves to cast another imprisonment spell on TH. Power lies inside this weapon—it’s not the ghosts themselves, but a willing gift of their life force. Added up over the centuries, the Beryl Xyston carries enough magic to lock up TH for a millennium.
That’s the theory, anyway.
In my mind, I picture a future where
