Chandra knew immediately that the magic thread she felt running through the stone did not belong to anyone in the house.

It was difficult to describe exactly how she knew. If she had “seen” the magic, it might have been a different color. If she had “heard” it, it would be a different pitch. But magic senses are an odd kind of new sensation, and she didn’t have quite the words to describe it.

But she did know that the user was hiding. For lack of a better word, the magic smelled like a spy.

So she rose and immediately knocked on the door, a bit harder than she intended. Outside, Kan seemed honestly surprised that she had dared do anything but sit quietly, and he unlocked and cracked open the door to make sure she was not in trouble.

“Fetch the mistress. Someone has snuck into the house.” It wasn’t until the words were out of her mouth that she realized how odd it was that she, trapped deep in the middle of the house, would need to tell the lady anything. But her instincts said that this was a very subtle thing, very easily missed.

“The lady…” Kan squinted into the darkness, trying to look at Chandra’s eyes. Chandra, suddenly full of doubt, forced her eyes to meet his. “Ah… I will see that she is notified. You will stay here.”

“Yes, I know.” Chandra retreated back a step and sat back down in her place, so that Kan would see she was doing what she was told.

And Kan locked the door and hurried off.

Chandra did not know what to say or think. She tried to recall what she had felt, but there was almost no information. So she tried listening to her muddy, buried instincts.

And what they told her was terrifying.

She couldn’t stop thinking that it was the master’s wizard. Once the thought appeared in her mind, she could not forget it. But when she challenged the thought, memories that had been concealed slipped to the surface. Thoughts of being moved through narrow places. Thoughts of one specific place where no doors entered and no hallways led. Thoughts of a place where she could scream at the top of her lungs and not be heard.

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Thoughts of the few people who knew where that room was.

Chandra had first discovered… or rediscovered her immunity to sleep spells when being moved out of that room. She knew that hidden ways led from the Master’s room to the secret place. She knew that the Wizard had met them there. She had forgotten, but she knew. And if the lady was trying to find the wizard, that might be where she needed to look. And if she was looking for the intruder, he might also be there.

Four pairs of footsteps in the hall alerted her, and she stood, this time, but meekly. Jani was the first through the door, the key in her own hands this time. She was worried, but her eyes were completely earnest. For that, Chandra felt an immense relief.

“Tell me what you know, child.” Her voice was hard, and it was a command, but it did not feel at all bad.

Chandra spoke quickly, her thoughts not quite organized. “I felt the presence of a caster--one who was sending his mind through the house. The feel of the caster was similar to that of the--the--of master’s… wizard.” It took a fair amount of force to get the word out, and she felt a restriction bend. “I may know… there is a place…”

“Where?”

“Take me to his room. The master’s… sleeping place.” Having said it, Chandra almost felt dizzy, like there was no blood left in her head, although the feeling started to pass almost as soon as she noticed it.

So Janinda and her guards led, with Kan following behind, and Chandra tried, at least for the moment, to fit the layout of the building into her head. She didn’t really care where the master’s room was, but the narrow places…

She recognized the door to Roan’s sitting room, and then his quarters, and no sooner was she through the door than she paced over to a corner by the bed. She didn’t quite know the mechanism, but she put her hand on the stone blocks, knowing that they opened. And then, with a little push, she managed to slide a section of wall away, as though it were no more than a thin plate a few feet high.

Behind it was a man, who was as surprised to see Chandra as he was Janinda.

But not so surprised that he couldn’t reach out towards Chandra’s head and touch her, lightly. After all, this close, he could feel what was wrong with her bindings, and it didn’t take much to set them right.

The last thing that Chandra saw was his arm go up in flames as her lady sprang into action.