Page 43 of Frosty and the Reaper

“Down it is, then,” Devlin agreed.

As they made their way to the lower levels of the palace, they scanned the area for any people. Sure enough, the palace was completely empty.

“It’s getting dimmer,” Lia muttered, holding the amulet up. “The further we go down this hallway, the dimmer the light gets.”

“Let’s turn around and try the other way, then,” Kami suggested.

Doing exactly that, they backtracked and chose another corridor to venture down. When the amulet started glowing brighter again, it seemed like that was the right decision.

“Are we sure we can trust that thing?” Kellen asked. “I’m just saying, we have no proof that it is going to lead us to that Death guy.”

“He made it,” Zander explained.

As they explored, Kami tried searching for any hidden doorways or other anomalies. When she sensed an area that just felt wrong to her, she stopped to examine it. “Something is here.”

“Step back, mate.” Zander examined it, and said, “It’s a magical dark zone. I haven’t seen one of these in…”

“Well, you have been away for a while,” Micah reminded.

“Magical dark zones are rare,” Devlin stated. “I recently encountered one in Mystic, Colorado, though. I find that interesting.”

“A dark zone?” Kami asked.

“It’s a powerful spell that erases all traces of magic from an area. All magic leaves traces, so if you can’t sense any, that usually means something powerful is being hidden,” Zander explained. “Wait here. Let me and Devlin check it out first.”

“But we—”

“Once we pass through, I will call for you.”

Giving in, Kami nodded. He wouldn’t be saying that if he wasn’t worried. And if he was worried, there was a reason for it. She held her breath as he and Devlin disappeared into the wall, then frowned when she didn’t immediately hear from him. She forced herself to wait a few more seconds, then started forward.

“Stop!”Zander commanded.“Do not come through. The magical dark zone was a trap.”

“Wait!” Kami shouted as Micah stepped closer to the magical blank spot on the wall. “Zander says it’s a trap.”

Jackie yanked Micah away from the wall. “What’s going on?”

Kami held up a finger to ask her to wait.“Are you okay?”

“Of course, I am, mate. But it sent us through a portal. At least we now know where all the missing fae in the Autumn Kingdom are.”

“Are they there with you?”

There was a long pause, then he said, “Sort of. We ended up in what looks to be Famine’s graveyard. A realm where he has been storing the bodies of all of his victims. Now, we are fighting a legion of skeletons.”

“Go focus on fighting. Be careful and let me know when you are done.”

“Will do, beloved. This might take a little time. Famine had years to experiment with spells on his army, and there are a lot of them.”

“Just make sure you come back to me.”

“Always.”

“It was a portal leading to another realm,” Kami told the group.

“Not another one,” Lia groaned.

“Yeah, and this one sounds like a nightmare. It’s where Famine keeps all of his victims. Now, they are fighting a skeleton army. Some of them are the fae from the Autumn Kingdom.”