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The air around me seems to vibrate. I can feel the magic as though it were alive.

Calling to me. Calling…

I pick my way through the vegetation and the looming lush trees, that insistent pull getting stronger. I stop only when I get to a dense, almost-impassable cluster of foliage.

I’m about to move away from it when I sense…more magic. Only this doesn’t have the same elements as the blue magic above me.

The spell here—and what I’m sensing is a spell, not unspooled magic—is unlike the one pulling me onward. This power is so subtle that I would have missed it if I weren’t looking for magic in the first place.

Now that Iamlooking right at it, I see the shimmery lines that its spellcasting left behind. Sometimes these can take the shape of writing, but other times, like right now, the spells look like nothing more than glittery string woven together.

This spell, however, is not simply a few magical strings; it’s a whole tapestry. The spells—wardstechnically—hang in the air like a giant web, one so complex and so intricately wrought that it must’ve taken weeks if not months to create.

I study the layers and layers of protective spells, in awe that someone created this.

The most prominent of these wards are ones that will a person to leave this place. There are still more that form a magical barrier of sorts, one that would be impenetrable to a nonmagical human. Finally, I sense several overlapping enchantments that obscure whatever’s beyond from view. It’s all so hopelessly complicated.

Unfortunately for me, the magic I’ve been following cuts directly across these wards, as though they weren’t there.

My queen…

That voice stirs my blood and prods my back, and if I have any hope of finding its source, I’ll need to get past these spells.

I give the web of them another once-over. After a moment’s hesitation, I reach out with my fingers, unsure how the wards will react. Hexes and curses could be woven into these things, and I really don’t want to walk away from here with some curse that rots me from the inside out.

Help me…

I’m emboldened by that plea. There may be someone on the other side of these spells that’s in true peril. And while I’m in no position to be some knight in shining armor, I am the only one who’s here, so I can at least try to be brave.

I take a steadying breath, then press my hand to the web of spells.

At my touch, the entire cluster of them disintegrates, as though it were no sturdier than an actual web. But even as my hand slips right through, I feel the massive amount of power these spells released, the wave of it slamming into me and causing me to stagger back. The shock wave spreads out into the jungle, dissipating as it goes.

I frown. Spells that strong should’ve put upsomesort of fight.

But I only linger on that concern for a moment because now that I’ve removed this section of wards, I can see the area in front of me for what it really is.

Ruins.

I stare at the toppled columns and the smashed remains of hewn arches, the white marble covered in vines and vegetation. The stone itself appears to be inlaid with golden floral patterns, and the ends of the columns morph into what look to be the boughs of trees.

I’m no expert but…I swear this architecture has the touch of the Otherworld to it, the realm where fairies reside. So what is it doing hidden away in South America?

My heart thumps harder.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s some sort of failed resort that was left to molder…

That would make some amount of sense, even if it doesn’t explain the protective wards.

Tentatively, I step forward and move through the ruins.

Come to me, my queen…

That masculine voice sounds clear and close, and there’s something about it that is gut-wrenchingly intimate. It makes my breath come out shaky.

I head toward it, the line of blue magic still guiding my way. It weaves between the structure’s fallen features. My gaze snags on a bit of smashed stone and what appears to be part of a marble branch, the end of it morphing into what looks like a real leaf. But that can’t be right.

The more details I take in, however, the more certain I am that this isn’t some failed resort. Instead, it appears to be an unearthly palace left to rot. Most of it is thickly buried beneath strata of vegetation, but here and there I catch glimpses of what once stood here.