Alfren knew he stood in the woods. Trees had surrounded him moments before. And yet… they’d melted away leaving him in night’s darkness leaning toward the music.

“They killed all the truths.” Antold’s words were flippantly stated as he scurried up the spiral staircase to the bookshelves lined the second floor of his sanctum.

Janessa knew better than to trust Finy’s declaration of “I won’t hate you!” But standing in the shade of the rubber castle as the swings creaked nearby, she wanted to. Too much of her short life had been spent alone, and the chance to share her wonder proved over tempting.

Kathe and Leane darted out of the mouth of the cave with their packs rattling from the pots and pans hastily tied to their packs. Kathe clutched an array of trinkets she hadn’t had time to stow. Stopping abruptly at the cliff’s edge. a few bits tumbled away.

Ratina’s dreams had ever been vivid, a fact her kin, especially her long-suffering mother, had lamented her entire life. Either they lost her too them (ah, the dreams which drifted pleasant), or they were woken by them (when they weren’t she screamed to wake the dead). Either way, Ratina never forgot a moment of them.

Master Woodruff paced past my desk without stopping, but his gait slowed noticeably. His wand tapped between my shoulders as I knew it would, and Woodruff continued his circuit.

The icy grip caressed my spine. Without thinking I spun my staff and brought the crook down on the ground behind me. A high pitch yelped sounded followed by the sounds of a creature scurrying away. I glanced back and caught a dash of red disappearing into the barn.

Ralphine thought she still sat slumped in the alley, but she could see none of it. Power warped her vision from reality as it seeped further into her.

The worlds lay before Merye in hasty lettering: jagged, broken, and drifting erratically. She wanted to look up to glower at her fellow apprentices. Had they known this bore magic when she’d been tasked to review it?

At the end of the most secluded of the castle’s passages, Ullyne stared at me in desperation as she motioned toward the open chamber door. Divica’s chamber, and even from the corridor I heard she was in hysterics. Again.