The farther we go, the more the roses hug the pathway. Stray branches reach out, and hungry thorns bite at my skin. I’m pretty sure they draw blood more than once. I’m wondering if Roman’s going to have to hack through the branches with his knife when the wall of fog in front of us rolls away, revealing a huge mansion of gray stone that peeks through the moss covering most of it. Dark turrets rise up, and the fog hugs them like it’s trying to keep them from climbing into the sky. An array of crimson flowers grows haphazardly around the base of the walls and reaches over the sides of the wide stone steps leading to a massive front door. I can’t decide if it looks like a castle for monsters or princes.

Xander opens the door and waves a hand at me, and I step into a grand entryway with wood floors so dark they border on black.

Willow steps in beside me. “Yikes,” she mutters.

She’s not wrong. There’s no warm welcome rug here. No pictures hang from the dark burgundy walls. No tables filled with warm flowers, nothing to give a hint of welcome. Ahead of us, a grand staircase winds upward before splitting in two different directions. Iron spikes studded with red gems that match the ones in the magicians’ cuffs decorate the railing. Balconies wrap above us, framing the entire entryway like watching the arrival of guests is some type of sport. Nobody is up there, though. This feels like stepping into a haunted house that’s been vacant for years. The hollow silence in the room almost suffocates, like I could die right here and the room would just absorb me.

Or the magic. The magic here is thick and probing. Before, I could feel it in my blood and sense it in others, but now it rolls over my skin and tugs at my flesh. My tongue is heavy from it.

I swallow. “I wouldn’t want to fall from the balcony.”

Willow jumps as my voice breaks the silence. She shakes her head, unwilling to break it with me. Her eyes are rounder than usual. She looks like she’s going to faint.

“This is actually kind of what I expected.” I try to laugh. The walls swallow the sound and spit it back out at me in a cackling echo.

Willow winces.

Xander steps into place beside me, followed by the others.

“What took you so long?” I ask.

“This is the worst decor yet.” Reina squeezes in between Xander and me and crinkles her nose. “You would think it would try a little harder to impress the new guests.”