Gesturing toward the stairwell, Evin smiled. Bet’s magical light obediently floated up to rest in front of her chest and light their path. As soon as Bet passed in front of him, Evin dropped the fake smile, his eyes not leaving the back of her head as he took his first step down the crude stone stairs leading down into the gnolls’ lair.

Chapter Twelve

The farther down they went the colder it became, and the heavier the darkness seemed even with Bet’s magic light. Evin’s arms shivered and prickled with goose bumps. Calcified stalactites hung from the edge of the sloping, stone ceiling. Evin felt quite certain that at any moment one might snap off and impale them.

“So, Bet,” Jorick whispered as they continued their seemingly endless descent. “What other magic can you do?”

“I thought you didn’t trust magic,” Bet whispered back.

“Well … what you did with the ormyrr was sort of impressive.” Evin saw Jorick’s shoulders rise and fall. “I was just wondering: can you make all the gnolls explode or something? That would make this much easier.”

Bet let out a small laugh. “I’m afraid not. I’m still learning magic. There are limits to what I can do.”

“What’s that?” Evin asked. “You admit you’re not all-powerful?”

“Hey,” Jorick whispered, craning his head back to look at Evin. “It’s not like we’re—”

“Watch out!” Bet cried.

The crash happened so fast that Evin wasn’t sure what happened. All he heard was a grinding of stone against stone, then a flash of white robes as Bet leaped forward and barreled into Jorick. An instant later, the roof crumbled right in front of Evin, so close he felt the craggy stone brush against his nose. Sharp stalactites clanged against the stairs. Dust rose in little clouds.

Bet’s light snuffed out. Evin scrabbled backward up the stairs, coughing. It took a moment for realization to set in: Jorick had sprung a trap. He and Bet could be crushed beneath stone, impaled by stalactites. “Jorick!” Evin called. “Jorick!”

“Evin!” Jorick called back.

“Shh!” Bet hissed from the darkness. “We’re all right. Stay quiet.”

Evin opened his mouth to protest, but she was right—who knew how close to the gnolls’ lair they were. The din of the trap crashing down could have alerted the gnolls to the arrival of intruders and sent the beasts running.

Evin strained his ears, expecting at any moment to hear the distant sound of claws against stone, the mocking howling of the vicious gnolls. His heart thudded.

After a long moment, Evin finally let loose the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. No gnolls were coming.

“Light your orb,” Evin whispered into the darkness.

Bet didn’t say anything, but Evin heard her muttering, and a moment later, an orange glow pierced the darkness.