Page 92 of Gilded Curses

It couldn’t be real, but even as she half believed this, she scooped up Pip and ran toward the beautiful, swirling portal. She almost expected to slam into a wall of air before she got to it, but as the familiar darkness that had proven so elusive these past months enveloped her, joy exploded through her.

Her feet moved so fast she could barely keep up with them as she resisted the scream of joy lodged in her throat. They had the key to freedom at their fingertips once more, but enemies in Epoch still surrounded them, and she had to find Orin.

They emerged across from the closet in Orin’s bedroom. Loth and Fath stood at the back of the closet, staring at the open door. They were both leaning toward each other with their heads nearly touching.

“Hey, guys!” Pip cried.

They squeaked and jumped as they spun around and threw their hands up in a defensive boxer’s stance. Then their jaws dropped and their arms fell.

“How?” Loth squeaked.

“We destroyed the stones,” Pip said. “We’re free!”

Loth and Fath exchanged a look before they clasped each other’s hands and started dancing, singing, and kicking their legs while spinning in circles. Thankfully, her silencing spell was still in place. Pip jumped down to join them, and the three creatures squealed as they hugged and kissed before dancing some more.

“We’re not free yet.” Sahira hated to interrupt their excitement, but she had to. “Oh, you can leave if you want. I won’t stop you, but Orin’s still in the castle somewhere, and these monsters are still alive. I can’t leave here without him.”

They stopped dancing to stare at her, and some of their excitement faded as their faces hardened.

“Neither can we,” Pip declared.

“What do we do?” Loth inquired.

“First, we get Elsa and Zeth, and then we form an army that these pricks will never see coming.”

The brownies all cheered before scrambling up her leg and perching on her shoulder. They had a lot of work to do.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

Having glimpsed inside Elsa’s room on the first day they arrived, Sahira could open a portal into it. Her friend had probably also set alarms, but Sahira could only hope that she’d only done perimeter ones because no one could open a portal into her room… until now.

Holding her breath, Sahira prayed nothing would start blaring as she stepped from the portal with the brownies. Thankfully, nothing did.

When she bent to rest a hand on her friend’s shoulder, Elsa shot up on the bed and blinked as her hands flailed.

“Shh,” Sahira urged. “It’s me.”

Elsa’s hands fell to her sides. “Sahira? How did you get in here?”

Sahira squeezed her shoulder. “We’ve beat them at their game.”

“What?” Elsa rubbed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on, get out of bed. We have to get Zeth too.”

The brownies remained on Sahira’s shoulders as Elsa rose. She’d fallen asleep fully dressed, probably in preparation for the guards storming their rooms and yanking them out.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Elsa asked.

“Wait until after we get Zeth, and then I’ll tell you everything. If you have a spell on the doors, can you release it?”

Elsa’s fingers waved before her. When she finished, she nodded to Sahira.

Sahira strode over to tap on the door joining Elsa’s room to the demon’s. She hoped it was loud enough, but as if he were expecting an early morning wake up, Zeth answered almost immediately.

While he’d been awake and ready for almost anything, he did a double take when he saw her. “Did the guards let you leave your room?”

Sahira grinned at him. “They don’t know I’m here.”