Page 54 of Lightlark
It was late. The Moonlings must have retreated to their rooms within the castle. Ever since the curses, Celeste said, most of them had movedinto the palace, the only building on the isle high enough to escape the monthly surges.
Even inside, Isla could hear the snarl of the sea, desperately rising in curls toward its inhabitants.
Most people must be asleep. Or perhaps there were rules. Cleo seemed to take pleasure in wielding her power. There could be a mandatory curfew. Or restricted areas of the castle.
It was a labyrinth.
Isla didn’t know where she was going, just that the library was at the very back of the castle, overlooking the sea.
So, she went deeper.
The occasional footstep sounded through the hall, followed by orders. Guards, patrolling certain corridors.
There were so many. Much, much more than she had seen on other parts of the island. Now that she thought about it, there hadn’t beenanyguards on Sky Isle. There weren’t many on the Mainland either, except for the ones who lit the torches in the agora.
What was Cleo up to?
Isla hoped the library wouldn’t be as highly monitored. The restricted section required Cleo’s touch to be accessed, after all. But the farther she made it into the palace, the more she heard. Whispers through the walls. The gurgle of water being wielded. The high-pitched crackling of water being turned to ice.
Was she close to the dungeons? Or were the guards simply practicing?
For what?
There was a flash of white at her side, and she darted into the closest room she could find.
Empty. Just four stone walls that chilled her to the bone as she pressed against them, hoping the passerby hadn’t seen her.
For a few moments, there was just silence.
Then, she heard voices.
“Were you patrolling this hall?” A man.
“No.” A woman.
“Was Lazlo?”
The woman grunted her no. “Why?”
A second. “I saw someone.”
“Here?”
Isla froze. Hehadspotted her.
The man and woman were walking down the hall now; she could hear their boots clearly against the marble, clacking like clinking china. Every step brought them closer to her.
“How would they get past the legion?” the woman said.
Legion?
Cleo was building an army.
Why?
What was she planning?
Isla didn’t have much time to wonder.
