The room was empty.

Torches burned in the wall sconces around the perimeter, but there was no one in sight. Kai sheathed his sword, shoulders slumping. He’d allowed himself to get his hopes up and only found disappointment.

They were too late again.

“Seems you didn’t have to worry, after all,” he said to Kestrel as she sheathed her own sword and took the fire globe back from Seraiah.

“Did they use the portal?” Seraiah asked, turning away from them to look around the room. She wasn’t quite fast enough to keep him from seeing the sheen of tears in her eyes.

“It’s a distinct possibility,” he said. “Either that, or they used the same entrance we did.”

“We would have noticed,” Kestrel said. “My money is on the portal. Although, I don’t sense it.”

When Kai tried to feel for it, he couldn’t find anything either.

Seraiah moved to the center of the room and turned in a circle. “I may not know what a portal looks like,” she said, “but all I see is an empty room.”

“That’s because you wouldn’t be able to see it,” Kestrel informed her. “Someone who works with magic would be able to detect it, but even we can’t see it.”

“You’re saying I could walk right into it and not even know it?”

“It’s possible,” Kai said, watching as Kestrel circled the perimeter of the room, “but that’s why we control them. They also tend to be in unpopulated locations in your world to cut down on the chance of a human stumbling into it by mistake.”

He joined Kestrel in her search, dragging his fingers along the wall in the opposite direction.

“And what are you doing now?” Seraiah asked. He could feel her tracking him as he passed in front of her.

“Looking for this,” Kestrel answered. She gave a tug on the wall, and it swung open, revealing another dark tunnel.

The door she’d opened looked exactly like the wall on either side of it and was at least a foot thick. Nothing else could be on the other side but the portal.

“How did you know to look for it?” Seraiah asked, reaching out to touch the door as Kai came up behind her.

“She’s good at her job,” he said. “Or at least certain aspects of it,” he amended.

Kestrel made a face at him. “I’ve heard a thing or two about this place,” she told Seraiah. “As Kai said, it’s my job to know about it in the event it was ever needed again. The portal was likely hidden like this in case there was an escape.”

Seraiah straightened up from her inspection of the door latch mechanism. “You brought prisoners here from your world, and you didn’t want them to find their way back, but it was fine if they ended up escaping into our world?” She directed this accusation at him.

“It was a different time. Things have changed. As you can see, we don’t use it for that purpose anymore,” Kai said.

The look she gave him clearly said she didn’t like his answer. She turned to Kestrel. “So this is the portal then? We walk in, and we will be in another world?”

“No, no.” Kestrel shook her head with a small smile of amusement. “This is only the tunnel that should lead us to the portal.” Kestrel held out the orb of light to him. “Your turn to lead the way through the dark tunnel.”

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He grumbled, but took the light from her and stepped inside. He heard the two women step in behind him. This tunnel was similar to the one they had taken to get down to the prison, but unlike the first one, there were no stairs. It was completely flat, gently sloping upwards. The sound of their footsteps echoed in the small place. If anyone waited at the other end, they would know they were coming well before they appeared.

More worrying, though, he still couldn’t sense the portal. Even if it was still sealed, he should be able to feel something.

Then, after a few more moments of walking, he felt it. He stopped abruptly, and Seraiah collided with his back.

“A little warning would have been nice,” she grumbled.

He didn’t point out she should have been watching where she was going because he was too focused on the strange feeling. It was the portal, but not. There was something wrong with it.

“Wait here,” he ordered.

He continued on his own, taking the light with him. Kestrel could always make another one if they needed it.

He let his free hand fall to the hilt of his sword, but he didn’t draw it. The blade would only be helpful against a physical enemy. It would do nothing against magic.

The tunnel dead ended at what looked like a blank wall. Kai touched his fingers to the stone. His hand should have passed right through, but instead it met a solid surface.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on feeling with his magic. The portal was here, but there was something blocking it. He poked and prodded at it, but it was no good. This was a different kind of magic, and he wouldn’t be able to break it.

The mages had almost certainly taken Sterling through here and then locked the door behind them.

Kai slammed his fist into the wall. It did nothing but make his knuckles smart.

“Is it the portal?” Kestrel called to him as he made his way back.

He didn’t answer until he reached them.

“It was.” He offered the light to Seraiah, but she didn’t take it.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Kestrel demanded at the same time Seraiah said, “What did you do to your hand?”

“They sealed it,” he said, ignoring Seraiah’s question.

Kestrel scoffed. “So unseal it.”

“I can’t. They used a different type of magic. Perhaps if I had full use of my power, things would be different, but as they stand, I can do nothing,” he said. It stung more to say the words than the scrapes on his knuckles did. “We’ll have to return—”

“What was that?” Kestrel asked, cutting him off. She had stiffened beside Seraiah, her hand reaching for her sword.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Seraiah said.

“Neither did I.”

Kestrel held a finger to her lips to signal them to stop talking and turned her face back in the direction they had come from.

That’s when he heard it, too.

“Someone is here,” Kestrel whispered.

Kai reached for his own sword, but Kestrel waved a hand at him without turning around.

He let his hand fall back to his side, his thoughts racing through all of their options. It was likely the mages from Baromund who had tracked them here. If their number was small, they might be able to fight. Otherwise, the best option they had was to hide.

“Did you leave the door to this tunnel open?” Kai murmured.

Kestrel turned then, and it was easy to see the look of horror dawning on her face, even in the dim light. Then she took off back down the tunnel, the dark swallowing her up.

“Go.” Kai pushed Seraiah after Kestrel. He shoved the ball of light back into her hands, so she could see as she ran.

It may have been safer to leave her to wait for them, but he didn’t trust the magic on the portal. Better he knew where she was than give the mages easy access to grab her.

Kestrel reached the door well before they did and had pulled it shut again, trapping them inside the tunnel.

“Is it the mages?” Seraiah whispered. She may have put on a brave face earlier when she was warned about them, but now he could hear the fear in her voice.

Kestrel lifted her hands, indicating she didn’t know.

“If it is,” Kai said, “we better hope they don’t know the location of this tunnel.” He wanted to reassure Seraiah and tell her everything would be all right, but he didn’t like to lie. Besides, perhaps the fear would keep her safe.

Kestrel shushed them and pressed her ear against the door. For a few tense moments, they waited. “It sounds like humans,” Kestrel finally whispered.

“Humans as in mages?” Kai asked.

“No. Regular humans. They’re discussing how to split up the money they earned from selling a girl.”

“Sterling’s kidnappers!”

Kai cringed as Seraiah’s voice bounced off the tunnel walls. “How many?” he demanded.

Kestrel listened for another moment. “It seems like only two.”

That matched with what Seraiah had been able to tell them about her vision. Two regular humans who had caused his sister pain.

Kai shoved past Seraiah and Kestrel and was out the door, drawing his sword before either of them could stop him.