Page 59 of Freed Wolfsbane

I shrug because map reading really isn’t my strong suit. Regular reading, now that’s something I’m good at. But maps might as well be written in Latin for all the sense they make to me. “I guess we just place the old map on top of the new one?”

Saint taps his pen against the table as he stares between the two pieces of paper. “The problem is that it gives no context. It’s a map of an area. In the very corner, I can see a coastline, I think. Other than that, I have no idea which part of the city it refers to. It’s also probably a different scale than the modern one Xander found.”

Bastian rubs his chin in thought. “Let’s just put it along the coast and see if it seems to match with any of those areas.”

Taking the map to where Dido’s buried from Saint, Xander lays it over the other one. He moves it around the coast, but nothing seems to fit. He pushes a rough hand through his hair in frustration when he gets to the edge of the modern map without matching it to the older one.

Bastian stares intently at the two maps. “Move it back a little, twinnie.” Xander looks skeptical but does as Bastian tells him to. “There! Right there. Do you see that little hooked pointy bit? That matches up exactly to that part.”

I lean in to see what Bastian’s talking about. He’s right that the edge of the map we found in Rome lines up with a pier in Tunis. The only problem is that it extends the city out into the ocean, which the real city clearly doesn’t do. “Can we turn it around?”

Flipping the paper around, Xander puts it back in the same spot. That orientation flips the port so that it no longer lines up.

Saint braces his hands on the table as he squints at the papers. “That doesn’t make any sense. The map says the city should extend into the ocean, but it obviously doesn’t.”

A light bulb goes off in my mind, and I grin as I figure it out. “According to the human maps of the area.”

Tilting his head, Saint asks, “What are you saying?”

I point to the old map that shows a different part of Carthage. “I’m saying that the human part of the city ends there. That doesn’t mean that’s where the city ended in Dido’s times or now for the nonhuman inhabitants.”

Bastian’s eyes widen. “You’re a genius, pretty girl. Mages must’ve camouflaged this part of the city from humans, so it’s not on any maps we can find. That’s something they could do, right?”

Saint glances between the map and Bastian. “I mean, yeah, theoretically they could do that. But it would take a metric shit ton of magic to keep that spell constantly in place.”

I don’t really know much about spells, but if it’s possible, that’s something. “The Knights are working with the council, and council members tend to be pretty powerful. Couldn’t one or multiple of them be powering the spell?”

Rubbing his hand on the back of his neck as he thinks, Saint eventually says, “Yeah, they could, I suppose. It could also be concealed by an artifact from Dido’s time that still has enough juice to keep the spell going.”

Bastian looks between the two maps for a moment before he shrugs. “Does it really matter how it works? We know it’s possible, and we have a map that shows us where to go. Now, we just need to go to Tunis, find Dido’s tomb, and kick some Knight ass.”

CHAPTER29

BRIAR

Looking out over the tropical waters surrounding us on three sides, I try to see any hint of a hidden part of the city. I can’t find anything. There’s no strange shimmering, odd disruption of the almost hypnotic waves, or a single thing out of place.

I turn around to stare at the sprawling city full of cream-colored stone buildings, domed roofs, and a mashup of surprisingly modern architecture with buildings dating back to the Romans. It’s a gorgeous city, and I would love to have time to explore it.

A cruise ship’s horn from the nearby bustling port startles me from my thoughts. Unlike the cruise passengers, we aren’t here to enjoy the white-sand beaches or stunning architecture. We’re here to find the Knights and hopefully take them out.

“Any idea where we go from here?” I ask my mates as I spin back to face the ocean.

Malachi points out a tiny boathouse at the end of the pier. Unlike the nearby port, this stretch of sand and rock is practically deserted, with only a few dilapidated boats bobbing sadly in the water.

No one else offers any suggestions, so I take off in the direction of the boathouse. My sneakers sink into the soft sand as I walk, and I kick sand up into my shoes with every step. I’m going to be bringing home a mini beach with me at this rate.

With his long strides, Malachi catches up to me in no time. He walks in front of me as usual, and Xander and Saint flank me. Bastian walks a few steps behind. When I turn around to glance at him, I see his head on constant swivel as he marvels at the natural beauty around us.

We don’t speak as the squat white-plaster building comes into focus. Its flat gray roof has holes in several spots, and most of the windows are boarded up with rotted-out planks. The building looks like it’s been vacant for a while, so I don’t know how much it’ll help us.

I’m proven wrong when an old man shuffles out, a scowl twisting his weathered face. From his earthy scent, I’m pretty sure he’s a shifter of some sort. At the very least, he doesn’t smell like a human, so hopefully he knows about the hidden city.

His sharp brown eyes lock on the five of us, and his frown deepens. Brushing some of his thin white hair out of his face, he barks something in what I’m pretty sure is Arabic. Out of the many languages Malachi knows, he’s only familiar with the basics of Arabic, which isn’t enough to speak it.

When he sees the confused looks on our faces, the man huffs. He makes a shooing motion with the hand not holding his cane. “Private property.”

I reach into my jeans pocket to pull out the map. “We were hoping you might be able to help us find this.”

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