As we made our way toward the door, the dimensional magic of the huge hall made the distance seem surprisingly short. Astrid surprised me by reaching out impulsively, putting her arm through mine, and giving it a quick squeeze.

I turned to smile questioningly at her. She looked up into my eyes for a moment, then released my arm.

“I’m glad you’re here, Jeremy,” she said earnestly.

I nodded, understanding what she meant. We were doing a good thing here, and whatever came of it, it could only be good—for us, and for the world.

“Me too, Astrid, me too,” I replied.

As we approached the door, I felt a warm breath on my neck, and smelled the rich scent of a woman’s skin near me. The voice of Kyrine whispered confidentially into my ear.

“As am I,” she said.

Chapter 21

I stepped into the entrance hall, followed by Astrid. Behind me, I felt Kyrine’s presence, and I wondered in passing when she would consider it the appropriate time to show herself to the agents. She had said something about waiting until Belinda and Astrid were ‘worthy’. Surely, I thought, they must be worthy of seeing her now, since they had successfully brought me to the mansion and helped me to become Kyrine’s Keeper?

As Belinda turned, smiling, to greet us, I set that thought aside.

“Jeremy,” said Belinda, looking very pleased to see me. “I can hardly believe it! So, you did it? You passed the test?”

“Looks like it,” I grinned, and Belinda stepped up suddenly to give me a quick embrace. I figured this was pretty out of character for her, and I appreciated the gesture. I gave her a firm hug in return. Astrid, Belinda, and Selena must have been working on this job for a while. I guessed it must have meant a lot to them to have finally succeeded.

“And what about Kyrine?” asked Belinda. “Is she all right?”

There was the sound of a footstep behind me, and I saw both Astrid and Belinda’s faces transform in surprise and shock. They were looking over my shoulder at something in the doorway to the training hall.

I turned, to see the beautiful figure of the dungeon core in her humanoid form step into the entrance hall. She smiled around at the other two women, and then stepped up to stand beside me.

“A… Kyrine?” Belinda stammered. “Is it you? You… you have a body!?”

Kyrine laughed, sounding almost shy. “My own approximation of one, yes. This is what I looked like before I was reborn into the dungeon core. This is the physical form my dungeon avatar takes, when I wish to appear visible to mortals.”

Belinda was nodding thoughtfully, as though she was piecing half-formed ideas together and coming to some conclusion.