CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]

Level Thirty-Three

[MAGGIE'S PoV]

The menagerie, as it so happens, was exactly like a regular zoo, save for a few non-earth creatures like griffins and spiders the size of cows, supposedly native to the Wildlands. My favorite part was the butterfly room, but I was too busy dealing with Cas's horrific attempts at flirtation to enjoy it.

He wasn't a bad guy, really, and he was cute in a dopey sort of way. But I couldn't look at him without remembering that I was days away from killing his mom. And, somehow more difficult to admit, I couldn't look at him without comparing every single feature to Kindle.

Which was why, only moments after Cas returned me to my room, I sat down to write another letter to Kindle. This was my fifth letter in the brief time I'd been in Lumina, but Kindle had yet to send one back. Or rather, I'd had yet to receive one. I didn't know how long mail took by raven. Maybe he was writing to me and it just hadn't arrived yet. Or maybe my letters had yet to reach him.

Or, maybe he was happy to have the annoying human out from underfoot and didn't plan to write back at all. I sighed and shoved the paper back into my desk.

"...Okay, that's the sixth sigh in the past ten minutes, what's wrong..?" Carlyle materialized at my side.

I shook my head and leaned back. "It's nothing, I just... how long do letters take?"

"...As long as it takes you to write, I'd imagine..." I gave him a look, and Carlyle chuckled. "...Sorry, sorry. A letter from here to the manor should only take a day by raven."

A day? He really was ignoring me then, and here he had been the one to tell me to write in the first place. I propped my chin on my hands, playing our goodbye in my head for the millionth time. His warm hand gripping mine, the way he'd walked alongside the carriage...

"...Again with the sighing? C'mon, let's explore the palace more, or do some memory practice..." Carlyle whined.

"I feel like we've pretty much mastered the memory thing, haven't we?" With a groan, I stretched and wandered from the desk to the little round table on the other side of the room. True to his word, Cas had had an entire bouquet of those pretty blue roses delivered to my room, and while I slept one of my maids (or so I assumed) left a plate of pastries and fresh fruit next to it. I picked at the fruit. "Besides, I don't really want you peeking at any more of my memories."

Carlyle 'sat' on my bed. "...But I was thinking, what if there was a third party involved..?"

"Explain."

Excitement lit his blue-lipped face. "...You can see my memories when I touch you, and I can see the memories of anyone I touch. So wouldn't it be safe to assume that any memories I see are fair game for you as well..?"

"Huh." It was a reasonable assumption, and a potential game-changer if it worked out. Imagine what I could do for the Abandoned Order if I had a direct through-line to the Queen's memories? I sat next to Carlyle, considering. "How would we test this out?"

"...Two ways, and I'd like to test both if that's okay with you." Carlyle turned to face me and extended his hand with a flourish. "First, the usual method, but instead of trying to find one of my memories, look for the memories of someone I've touched. Kindle, or Faye, or Seraphim..." He winced, then added, "...Preferably not Seraphim..."

"And the second way?" I asked, bracing myself for the inevitable dizziness of his contact.

"...We'll worry about that after..."

Without any further dramatics, he pressed his fingers to my forehead and the world rippled around us.

I opened my eyes to Professor Kayts office, a steaming mug of tea in my right hand and a bundle of brand new charcoal pencils in my left. "I can't take this," I insisted, trying to give the pencils back.