Which doesn’t feel like holding me. My knee hits the wood, hard, and I slip toward the water. Roman grabs the back of my shirt and stops me from taking a bath.

“Thanks,” I grumble, pulling myself to my feet as he slides around me.

“Follow me,” he says, hopping from board to board with the perfect balance of a squirrel leaping from tree branches. He’s a lot more graceful than he looks with his tall, thin frame.

I clunk behind him. A lot clumsier than I look.

After a few close calls on my part, he jumps off, splashing into shallow water and wading onto shore. A lighter fog rolls across the small island, accenting soft grass and clusters of purple flowers. I drift toward a tangle of wild roses growing at the center. Their intoxicating smell glides along with the breeze, filling my head with summer gardens and fog-soaked gullies.

I take another step toward the roses as Roman grips my wrist. I try to jerk away from him, but his fingers tighten.

“You still don’t see it.”

I barely hear him. The roses beckon, bright and red, singing to my blood like a long-lost sister.

“See what?”

He sighs. “The magic’s hiding it from you.” His lips are on my ear before I can react. “Open your eyes. You broke the entire barrier spell around the mansion. You can break this too.”

His voice shivers down my spine. His fingers on my wrist heat as his magic pulses, shattering the peaceful air around me.

I shut my eyes against the feeling and shudder. My own magic explodes out of me and then stills.

When I open them again, I wish I hadn’t.

The smell hits me first. The fog and flowers were only one small thread in the blanket of stench covering this place. The tang of blood and rot is strong enough to taste. My stomach lurches as I take in where it comes from.

People lie tangled in the roses and vines growing out of the hard rocks.

I know immediately where I am. The garden. The one my mom thought Lucius wanted her in.

I take a stuttering step toward them, hitting my toe on jagged stones—the soft, rolling landscape of flowers from moments before is gone.

They seem asleep at first, wrapped in vines like cursed people in a fairy tale just waiting for a knight to save them. I surge forward like I’m the hero in their story. Roman follows, his long strides taking him easily over the rocks I scramble on.