“No, not if you’re constantly worrying about letting me out of your sight.” Seregil started to speak but Alec cut him off. “Yes, I know—your dreams. So what do you want, Seregil? For me to sit home like Kari Cavish, waiting and praying you come back alive? Because if that’s the case, then we’ve got a problem.”

“She never had to watch Micum die.” Seregil closed his eyes, brows drawn together as if he were in pain. At last he sighed and said, “But you’re right, talí, and I’m sorry. You are my equal and I have no right or reason to make you feel anything less. From now on I’ll hold my tongue.”

“Never mind that, I just want you to stop worrying about me so much. Will you do that?”

Seregil’s grin was crooked but his eyes were sad. “I’d be lying if I said yes, Alec, and I don’t lie to you. So for now that’s going to have to be good enough.”

Alec nodded and nudged Windrunner into a walk. “You’re not tying a rope to me.”

“No rope.”

In daylight the corridor looked perfectly drab and ordinary and no different from any of the others around it in this disused section of the palace. All the same, Thero chalked a line back from where Seregil thought Alec had disappeared and Alec stayed behind it, as agreed. He leaned the Radly against the wall and folded his arms, trying not to look as frustrated as he felt.

The others reached the wall at the end of the corridor, and Thero drew a line around one of the stone blocks. Mika stood next to him and together he and Thero pressed a hand to the block. An instant later it turned to sand and poured out around their feet.

“Did you feel that, Mika?” asked Thero.

“Yes, Master Thero. The power went right up my arm.”

“A transformation?” Alec called.

“A sort of transmogrification, actually,” Thero replied, looking into the square hole where the block had been.

“What do you see?” asked Micum.

“More stone,” Thero replied. Reaching in, he cast the spell again and more sand spilled out. “And more stone,” he said, shaking his head. “There’s no way to have a hidden door this thick.” He cast the orange sigil on the air, but it simply dissipated. “And no sign of magic.”

Thero and the others walked back to where Alec was standing.

“Then what in Bilairy’s name happened to me?” Alec exclaimed. “How did I see a light through a stone wall? How did I get to another plane without there being any magic?”

Thero shrugged. “I didn’t say there wasn’t any, only that I can’t detect it. I’m sorry to say it, Seregil, but the only way we are going to know what’s actually happening is if Alec goes through again.”