Page 52 of Freed Wolfsbane

“I’ll get the northern part if you want to get the southern areas, Saint?” Xander waits for Saint’s nod before he, too, swoops in for a barely there kiss. He then disappears in the direction Bastian did.

Saint’s mouth tips up in amusement. “Well, I don’t wanna be left out.” He tunnels a hand into my hair and takes my mouth in a lingering kiss. When he reluctantly pulls away, Saint spins on his heel and marches to the opposite end of the Forum.

I’m left standing there dazed from the very different kisses from three of my mates. Malachi’s husky laugh breaks me out of my haze, and my cheeks flush at him seeing how affected I am. Shaking my head at myself, I pick a direction at random and start striding over there.

Malachi catches up with me before I’m even halfway to the ruins of the basilica. He places a warm palm on my back as he guides me to the arch.

“Any idea what we’re looking for?” I ask as I squint at the stone, like if I stare hard enough, a neon sign that saysmap herewill pop up.

He tips his head back to inspect the top of the arch. “Not really. I’d say just search for anything that looks out of place or stands out for any reason.”

I nod because I don’t have any better ideas. While Malachi’s scouring the arch, I walk around the front to see if there’s anything there, but something shimmering to the side grabs my attention. When I look at it directly, I don’t see anything. But when I glance at it out of the corner of my eye, it almost looks like bronze double doors with a garland hanging in front.

That’s odd and definitely out of place.

It’s either what we’re looking for, or I’ve finally lost the plot and am hallucinating random buildings. At this point, it could honestly go either way.

Deciding to check it out before I get anyone’s hopes up, I trek over the uneven stone and moss-covered ground to where I can faintly see the shimmer. As I get closer, I can feel the telltale electric charge of magic making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. This is definitely something.

“Malachi,” I call to get his attention.

His head snaps up and instantly finds me. When he notices that I’m a little ways away from him, he scowls at me. “I told you to stay with me.”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m, like, thirty feet from you. And I think I found something.”

Shaking his head at me, Malachi’s face is still twisted in displeasure as he starts picking his way to me. “Stay put until I get there.”

“I wasn’t planning to go anywhere,” I retort as I turn back to the weird shimmering doors. I take a step closer but still try to stay a safe distance away. Unfortunately for me, I trip on a bit of uneven stone and go flying. Putting my hands out to brace myself, I squeeze my eyes shut and prepare to face-plant.

“Briar!” Malachi shouts right as I should hit the ground.

Instead, I pass through something that feels like a cool breeze. My outstretched hands slam against smooth metal as my momentum stops. Blinking open my eyes, I’m startled to see that I’m in a room made completely out of bronze. The walls, ceiling, and even the floor are all the same yellowish-brown metal.

Wondering how I got here, I whirl around and see two doors that look almost exactly like the ones I saw before I tripped into a different dimension. Only I could manage to be so clumsy that I accidentally transport myself through strange magic to land wherever I am.

Clamping my mouth shut to prevent the slightly hysterical giggle at the absurdity of my life from slipping out, I go over to the doors and try to pull and push the handles. They don’t budge, even as I throw all my weight behind them.

Awesome.

Looks like I’m trapped in a random metal room armed only with a key and kept company by an odd two-faced statue. The bronze man doesn’t have two heads but, rather, a face on either side of his head. Both faces appear to be the same, so it’s odd that he has multiple.

If this is indeed the Temple of Janus, I’m guessing the bearded dude that the whole space is built around is Janus. The statue dressed in flowing robes with sandal-clad feet peeking out of the bottom seems about right for what I would expect of a Roman god.

Cautiously approaching the statue, I wait for something to jump out at me. When no traps deploy and no Knights pour into the building, I grow bolder and walk right up to the two-headed statue that’s a good three feet taller than I am.

Latin is inscribed around the base. Here’s hoping it doesn’t have any instructions, because I can’t even begin to read that.

For many reasons, I wish I had waited to trip until Malachi reached me. He’d know what the inscription says, and I wouldn’t be trapped in here alone. Plus, he’s going to be absolutely livid with me if I do manage to get out of here. Even though I didn’t mean to enter this weird pocket of existence on my own, I still ignored him and wandered farther away than he wanted. He’s so not going to care that I didn’t do it on purpose.

But that’s a problem for future Briar.

Right now, I need to figure out what I’m supposed to do with the key.

Since I have no idea, I go out on a limb and call,Hey, Dido?

“Yes, child?”she answers immediately.

Do you have any idea what I’m supposed to do in here?I spin around the room so she can look at it through my eyes.

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