“I sent her to a building, one that once housed half a million scrolls, which later were said to have fed the fires at the public baths; a thousand years of knowledge destroyed to keep bathwater warm. And one wonders why humans—”

“The Great Library of Alexandria.”

His laugh boomed through the room like a furnace blast. “You are quick. And that’s where you’ll find your Nix, in the ghost-world Great Library, searching madly for my amulet among those half-million scrolls.”

“And the amulet?” I said.

“Oh, that’s closer. Much closer. There’s a tunnel under Glamis, connecting it to Castle Huntly. It’s—”

“A legend,” Trsiel said. “The tunnel doesn’t exist.”

“Nor does this room, my dear mongrel angel. Your sorcerer has bound me to tell the truth. If I say the amulet is in that tunnel—”

“Then it is,” I finished. “But if it leads to another castle, I’m guessing there’s a fair bit of tunnel to travel.”

“Fifteen miles.”

“Uh-huh. Care to be more specific, then?”

“Not really.”

“You gave your word,” Kristof said.

Dantalian’s sigh fluttered around us. “That I did, and I will keep it. But she asked whether I cared to be—”

“Be more specific,” I said. “Please.”

“It’s in a room, inside a drawer. I cannot be more specific than that. There are many rooms down there. When I hid it, I had no time for drawing maps. Search and you’ll find it.”

A soft laugh fluttered from behind us. A feminine laugh.

“Thank you, Dantalian,” a lilting voice said. “I intend to.”

I wheeled to see the Nix, her face pushed through the wall across the room, where she’d been listening on the other side. Dantalian roared. Trsiel’s hands shot up, the sword invocation flying from his lips. The Nix pulled back to the other side. Kristof and I both raced into the hall, Trsiel at our heels, but the Nix was gone.

“Downstairs,” I said to Trsiel. “To the tunnel. Kris…”

Our eyes met.

“Go,” he said. “And be careful.”

“Wait someplace safe.”

“I will.”

Trsiel and I hurried down the stone steps to the basement, and came out in…

“A cafeteria?” I said. “This is the castle catacombs?”

“You’d prefer a dungeon maybe? A few skeletons chained to the wall?”

“Well, yeah. What’s a castle without a dungeon?”

As we talked, we walked in opposite directions, each scanning a side of the cafeteria. There was no sign of the Nix.

“Washrooms, kitchen, cloakroom,” I said, reading the signs. “‘This way to the tunnel’ would be too much to ask for, wouldn’t it?”