“Both of you, stop it!” Impulsively, I snatch the compass out of his hands.

As soon as my fingers close over the metal, the figure winks out of existence and doesn’t reappear, but for a heartbeat I could swear he looks right at me—right through me. A shock of cold runs up my arm, chilling my veins, and the compass simply...vanishes.

Not quite. The weight of it is gone, but the biting cold isn’t. Metallic liquid puddles in my palm, clinging to my skin. Panicked, I try to wipe it on my apron, but it doesn’t even smear. Holding my hand close to my face, I can see it slowly seeping into my skin, like a stain on cotton cloth.

“Where’d he go?” Raze demands, but his question seems faint, at the edges of my awareness. Far less pressing than whatever’s happening to my hand.

Tendrils of silver run ice-cold under the surface of my skin, like they have somewhere to be but they’re not in a huge rush to get there. The primal urge to stop it, to tear it out if I have to, is only held back by the observation that it’s running through my skin, not below.

“Sol?” My voice comes out a choked whine. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what’s happening to me.

When I look up, Isolde and Raze are both staring at me, just as uncertain about what to do now as I am.

At the door, Olani swears quietly. “It’s Aris,” she says. A flash of light brightens the hall outside like an explosion, which makes the decision for all of us.

“Run!” Raze says, unnecessarily.

Isolde takes my other hand, and we sprint out into the hallway, bolting like rabbits from a hole. I can make out a handful of uniformed guards in the hall we came from, accompanied by three snarling dragons, so retracing our steps is out. We’ll just have to find a different exit.

Another flash of light, and something like a sunbeam streaks past us, leaving a smoldering hole in the wallpaper. I dare to turn around, expecting Leira or a somber enchanter in the manor’s uniform. Instead, I see a teenager with tawny skin and dark brown curls barely long enough to be tied back from her face. All her features are pointed, precise, as if they’d been painted on by a fine-tipped brush. But it’s her eyes that stand out—shockingly green as they narrow, catlike, on the four of us.

“Olani, you traitor!” the girl shrieks. “Get back here!”

Isolde’s grip tightens on mine, squeezing all the blood from my hand. Raze and Olani are still ahead of us, cloaks billowing behind them. They may know a way out, but that girl seems to know who they are. Which means if we split up, she’ll be more likely to follow them...and we’ll be more likely to escape.

We go faster and faster, the thunder of boots behind us, blasts of light shooting at us like arrows. At least the girl seems to be the only enchanter among them. Finally, the hallway branches off. I watch Raze and Olani, still a few yards ahead of us, turn right, and I drag Isolde to the left.