Chapter 26
Mykal was on the last rung of the ladder. He stopped with his head pressed against stone. He closed his eyes. Someone was using magic. Lots of magic. It filled his head. A twisted black and gold stream wrapped around his mind. It moved like a snake, climbing up, and out, and going down, down, down. The stream never ended. It overlapped, and tangled.
When he opened his eyes, he could still see the color.
“Mykal?” Quill said.
“I’m okay. I’m going.” Mykal pushed up on the loose stone at the top of the ladder. Rock scraped against rock and Mykal cringed. He counted off several seconds in silence, and listened for signs their appearance might have been detected. When he was certain no one was alerted, he lifted the square slab up all the way and set it aside, hoisted himself up o
