Kay immediately began shuffling through the pages of his tome.
Dax suddenly looked visibly nervous, and he shook his head more vigorously. “Don’t… don’t bother on my account. Really.” He placed a hand on Kay’s wrist, closing the book. “My old home wasn’t really anything special. I’d rather be… er, I think I can manage staying in Greystone Valley for now.” Noting the smiles on Sarah’s and Keeley’s faces, he let out an even more melancholy sigh than usual. “I’ll get by somehow, even though I won’t like it.”
Sarah leaned in close and gave Dax a hug. “You really can be happy, can’t you?” she whispered.
“Yes, but don’t tell anyone,” the old man whispered back to her.
The companions stood together one last time. Then, with a bow, Dax took his leave.
Keeley followed after, shouting farewells as she flew circles around her friend. “Take care, Sarah and Kay! Keeley will always remember stories about this Emerald Enchantress!”
Sarah stayed still until they disappeared over the crest of a hill. She and Kay remained completely silent until a few drops of rain hit her forehead.
“We should head into the castle,” Kay said.
As Sarah and Kay took their first careful steps into the castle, the voice that had turned Aries to stone spoke again. Sarah jumped in fright when she heard it.
“You are chosen,” it said. Sarah couldn’t see who inside the dark corridors was speaking—if anyone was at all—but the voice sounded like that of an angry old man. “Enter and receive your reward.”
“Reward?” Sarah asked Kay. “What do you think he means?”
“I guess it’s your chance to go home… if you want to.” Kay squinted into the darkness. With a frown, he handed Sarah his book. “Could you… well, could you find a light spell in there? I’m afraid I’ll collapse the castle if I cast the wrong spell again. But make sure it’s outside the castle… we wouldn’t want to waste our one spell, would we?”
“Of course.” Sarah backed up until she was outside the castle. Ignoring the rain, she flipped through a few pages and then read off three quick syllables. A weightless sphere of white light appeared in her hand. She carried it with her into the castle and tossed it into the air like a ball. It flew straight up to the ceiling, where it hung like a chandelier, lighting up the dim and dusty entrance hall of Castle Greystone.
The hallway was larger than Sarah’s entire house. It stretched farther than she would have guessed, even after seeing the mountain-sized castle from the outside. Dozens of thick wooden doors with brass knockers lined both sides of the corridor, extending farther than even Sarah’s light could show. The corridor was easily fifty feet high and had two balconies. Lining those balconies were even more doors. All of them were identical—heavy, wooden, and dusty with age.
“Where do you think all these doors lead?” Sarah asked.
Kay gingerly took his spellbook back and flipped through it. On the page where he stopped, Sarah saw a picture of the castle, drawn in lifelike detail. “According to my father’s book, each of these doors leads to another world. Greystone Valley touches thousands of other lands. This castle is the one place where everything comes together. It’s sort of like a crossroads between worlds.”
“But which one is mine?”
Kay turned the page. “That’s what the spellbook is useful for. We can cast one spell and one spell only from it within the castle. The right spell will lead us directly to the door back to your world.”
“And what about that voice? Does the book say who that was?”
“That was the keeper of the castle,” said a voice that was not Kay’s. Sarah knew exactly who was speaking, and she swallowed in fright. Turning, she and Kay found themselves looking directly at Baelan.
The warlord had the magical blade Uthyr in his hand and had just stepped into the castle. “That old man is the one who created this castle hundreds of years ago. He’s behind one of these many doors. Once I find out exactly which one, I’ll be able to take his power from him. Then I’ll be able to open any door I want without fear. Every place in the universe will be a place that I can conquer. All I need is that book of yours.”
“You won’t get it,” Kay said. “Take one more step, and I’ll cast a spell at random from the book. It will crumble to dust, and you’ll be trapped here forever.”
Baelan didn’t seem intimidated. “If you do that, I won’t be the only one trapped here. Sarah will never get a chance to go home. I know you’d love to keep her here with you, boy, but she’ll grow to hate you because of it. Is that what you want? To spend your entire life trapped in this valley, knowing that the one person who could ever consider you a friend hates you?”
Kay’s face paled at the warlord’s words, but he didn’t let go of the book. Still, that moment of hesitation was all a skilled warrior like Baelan needed. In one swift motion, he drew his sword and lashed out at Kay.
Sarah shouted a warning, and Kay stumbled backward. He raised the book instinctively, as though it were a shield. It turned Baelan’s sword away, but only at a great cost. The magical blade ran right through the old leather cover, cutting clear through the enchantments that had protected it against dust and bookworms for so many years. True to Baelan’s word, Uthyr was capable of destroying anything it struck, including the previously invulnerable spellbook. Each of the three people in the room let out a cry of despair as the torn pages flew through the air. The magic words and ancient lore of the old spellbook disappeared into the shadows of Castle Greystone, useless.
“You imbecile!” Baelan shouted, even though it had been his sword stroke that had torn the book asunder. His blade flashed cold and cruel, and he sought vengeance against the boy who had trapped him in this valley.
Before the blow could land, everything went dark.
With a whispered word, Sarah had canceled her spell of light. She dropped to the floor, hoping that Kay would do the same. The sounds of scuffling told her that the boy had decided otherwise. He thought he could gain an advantage against Baelan in the dark and was taking the fight to his attacker.
She didn’t have time for despair. As soon as she had seen Kay’s torn book, she had known she’d be trapped in the valley. But there was nothing to be done about that at the moment. Her friend was in trouble, and she needed to figure out how to help.
“You’re thinking like a hero,” came a voice from the darkness. Sarah recognized it as the voice that belonged to the keeper of Castle Greystone. If the other two heard it, they didn’t show it.
“A frightened girl thinks about herself first and ignores others,” the voice continued. “When you came here, you were just a child, wallowing in self-pity and hiding from the responsibilities of your world. But you’ve grown quickly, Sarah. Even the Emerald Enchantress would be impressed. And as long as your mind holds the clarity that a conscience provides, you’ll find this castle to be quite transparent to you. After all, it’s in your blood.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sarah asked. Her voice echoed into the darkness without an answer.
From nearby, Baelan’s sword struck the stone floor. In the brief shower of sparks that followed, she saw Kay’s frightened face. He was bleeding from the shoulder where Baelan had landed a glancing blow.
She saw one other thing before the light died completely. Across the corridor, she noticed one of the many doors. More than that, she got a flash of what was behind that one door. She saw a world made up entirely of stormy seas, with crashing waves and whipping winds. And she knew what she needed to do.
She didn’t have to move very carefully or quietly in the darkness. The men’s scuffling was easy enough to hear and avoid. Moving as quickly as her feet would take her, she sprinted across the wide corridor. Feeling along the wall, she found the brass handle that would open that door. “Kay, hold on to something!” With that brief warning, she threw open the door to the sea.
Light filled the hallway, thanks to the lightning and hail that belonged
to the world on the other side of the door. Kay had followed her instructions blindly, grabbing on to a large brass knocker on a door across the hallway. Seeing an opening in his foe’s defenses, Baelan made one last lunge. His blow would have landed under normal conditions, but the winds were swift and fierce. They tore the sword out of his hand and lifted him off the ground. Baelan shouted in panic as lightning struck his metal armor.
The entire castle shook with the force of the tempest, and the cold, driving rain made Sarah wonder if she and Kay could keep holding on. Luckily, they managed to cling to their makeshift handholds just long enough. The winds tossed Baelan about and then finally threw him through the door and into the infinite sea. As soon as Sarah saw the warlord pass through the open door, she slammed it shut again. The last thing she heard was one more wail from Baelan as he went plummeting into the water.
“Go try to conquer that world,” said Sarah. “And stay out of this one.”
Twenty-Six
“He’s gone,” Kay said after the door closed. “He’s really gone!” Then he turned to Sarah. “How did you know which door to open?”
“I don’t know,” answered Sarah. “I just got this image of the open sea. In fact, when I get near any of these doors, I get a quick picture in my head of what might be on the other side.”
Kay whistled and shook his head. “Have I ever told you how jealous I am of you?”
“We spent so much of our time together running for our lives that you didn’t get the chance,” Sarah replied.
“I had my book and my training, and I thought I was going to be the biggest, toughest wizard in all the valley. Then you come along, and within a few days we’re in Castle Greystone and you can even see the worlds beyond each door!” Kay laughed, seeming more amused by the situation than envious. “It’s almost like you were the one who was really born here.”
Sarah remembered what Adlin had said about Kay’s potential and touched her friend on the arm. “Just stick to your studies and I'm sure you'll surprise everyone, even yourself. Next time I’m here, we’ll have a wizarding duel and see how much we’ve each improved.”
Kay’s smile faded, and his gaze drifted away from Sarah and toward the floor.
Their vision had adjusted to the darkness inside the castle by now, and they could see the faint gray outline of torn pages on the floor. Baelan’s sword had cut clean through the ancient spellbook, rendering it useless.
“Maybe I’ll be better at wizarding someday, but right now it’s too bad I won’t be able to help you find your way,” Kay said sadly. “I’m pretty useless without that spellbook.”
Sarah reached out in the darkness and took her friend by the hand. “I can find my way home, but I’ll still need someone to walk with me. Just in case there are any monsters or traps in this castle, you know.”
She couldn’t be sure, but she thought Kay smiled. They began walking through the dark old castle together.
By running her hands along the outside of each door, Sarah could get a mental image of the world that the portal led to. She saw a world full of black woods and another one where castles hung magically in the clouds. She saw spaceships and stars, mermaids and monsters. Any one of those many portals would have made a wonderful new adventure for her. But her own adventure had been long enough, and she was hoping to finally get home, see her mom, and get some rest.
She cracked open one door just an inch or so. The world beyond was a world on fire, and the crackling light that spilled in through the door lit Castle Greystone better than a hundred torches could. Soon after that, she found the door she had been looking for all along. There wasn’t anything mystical or fantastic on the other side—just her warm, comfortable, and inviting bed.
“This is mine,” she said, touching a hand to the knocker. “Make sure you close the door on the world with the sun before you leave the castle. We wouldn’t want to start a fire or anything.”
They both chuckled, but their laughter trailed off shortly.
“Since Adlin told me what had to happen, I had been hoping that you’d change your mind and want to stay in Greystone Valley,” Kay admitted.
Sarah looked at the ground and kicked an imaginary stone. “It’s been a wonderful adventure, but I need to get home. I have a mom and I have friends, and they’ll miss me if I just disappear.”
“I know,” Kay said. He brightened up a little and forced a smile. “It’s like a fairy tale. You can only enjoy them if you know they’ll come to an end.”
“I do hope I’ll be back again sometime.”
“Well… I guess there’s something I should tell you before you go.” Kay scratched the back of his neck and blushed a little. “Just before you showed up here, I sort of cast another spell. It was supposed to bring me a familiar—like a bat or a toad or something. I was lonely, and I wanted a friend. So I think I might have… you know, accidentally summoned you.”
Sarah smiled and gave Kay a hug. She moved so quickly that it caught him completely off guard. “Do try to figure out what spell you actually cast,” she said to him.
“I will. I can’t stay a bumbling apprentice forever, can I?”
Taking a deep breath, Sarah finally turned back toward the door. “Goodbye, Kay.”
“See you later, Sarah.”
She touched the door again, and the image of her bedroom lit up in her brain. Then she threw open the portal and stepped through. Everything seemed foggy for a moment as she slid between the two worlds. She heard a voice in her ear—the old man who had been watching her from somewhere inside Castle Greystone.
“This isn’t an adventure that you get right the first time,” he whispered. “You’ve gained much experience, but there’s still more to learn. You’ll find your way back here, and you’ll change this world again.”
Then the voice disappeared. So did everything else.
The clock struck one. Sarah awoke to the chime. She wasn’t in her green robes anymore. She was back in her blue pajamas. They were wrinkled from a fitful hour of sleep, but they weren’t torn and dirty as when she had left them in Adlin’s cave. It had all seemed so real, but had she been dreaming all along?
There was a light on downstairs. Despite the fact that Sarah had only slept for an hour, she felt wide awake. She pushed the blankets off and stepped across the cold floor. Creeping downstairs, she saw her mother reading in the den.
“Hi, sweetie,” her mother said, looking up from her book. “Can’t sleep?”
Sarah knew she couldn’t explain this to her mother, so she just said, “I keep having weird dreams.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve had some weird dreams myself.”
Sarah took a few steps into the room. The light in the den glowed a dull yellow. She remembered their fight from earlier, and she also remembered what the keeper of Castle Greystone had said about her being just a child before she had gone to Greystone Valley. “I’m sorry about earlier. I think maybe I was avoiding things, like you said.”
Her mom looked surprised at the admission and stared closely at Sarah’s face. It seemed like she was looking at Sarah for the first time. “A few hours ago, you didn’t want to do anything but get lost in your fairy tales. Why the sudden change?”
“I had… well, I guess I had a dream.” Sarah frowned. She remembered everything so clearly, and it didn’t seem like all that had transpired could happen in only one hour of sleep. “It was a really nice dream…” She just wasn’t sure how to explain this.
Sarah’s mom tilted her head and touched a finger to her chin, like Sarah was a riddle she was trying to figure out.
Sarah suddenly felt tears start to well up. “Mom, I don’t want to go back to Dr. Goldberg’s office.”
“Sarah, we’ve been over this—”
“I don’t want to go back alone. I want you to go in with me. I mean, the whole purpose is to get me to talk about Dad being gone, right? Well, I can’t do that with a complete stranger. It’s like—” She closed her eyes to compo
se herself and remembered walking the halls of Castle Greystone with Kay at her side. “It’s like I’m walking around in the dark, and I don’t want to do it alone. I need somebody to be there with me. I need you, OK?”
In a flash, Sarah’s mom was on her feet and hugging her daughter. She made a shushing sound and rocked her a little bit. “It’s OK,” she said, and Sarah knew it was true. “You’re right—you shouldn’t have to go it alone. We can talk to Dr. Goldberg about a group therapy session. I know what it’s like to walk around in the dark, too.”
Again, Sarah thought about Greystone Valley. “And I think I’ll stop reading my fairy tales, too. They’re giving me weird dreams.” It made her sad to think that it had all been a dream, but what else could it have been?
Sarah’s mom pulled away and held her daughter at arm’s length. “Weird dreams? Like what?”
“Like this big castle in a valley that everybody was fighting for and a dragon the size of a mouse and a warrior who was afraid of blood and a wizard who was… well, just odd… and all sorts of weird things happened that would take me a week to explain. I think all my stories might be affecting my brain.”
Sarah’s mom smiled knowingly and returned to her seat. “There’s nothing wrong with your fantasies, darling. But there’s a time to have adventures, and a time to appreciate what you’ve got. Come here. Sit down and I’ll read a little to you.”
“I’m not a kid, mom.”
“Just for right now, pretend you are.”
With a nod, Sarah decided to humor her. But then she remembered how early it was and started to wonder something. “What are you doing up this late, anyway?”
“Oh, I get restless in the night. When you’re asleep and I have the house to myself, I like to do some reading sometimes.”
“What are you reading?”
Greystone Valley Page 17
