Page 38 (1/2)

I turned toward Pritkin, to point out that, see--that was how a noriant storh the skies of hell But I didn’t, because he yelled soate"

And oh, crap

I turned back around, flattened out, and stared underneath the rigid edge of our sail And saw to ed to cover alround as it had taken us hours to walk Whichup fast

It was already visible, the twin peaks of the canyon where the doorway to Rosier’s court originated, well away fro if he was attacked But I hadn’t, and I didn’t know for sure that I could do this, and Casanova’s outraged face de to sound a lot more like the voice of reason and--

"Shiiiit!" I yelled as the wind howled and the dust whirled and the guards around the portal saw us and hit the ground And Casanova and Caleb screaed hold of the side of our carpet in the process, slinging us around in a huge arc Because no one knew if the gate would stay open for anyone asn’t withto open at all

I couldn’t tell if I was doing anything, because we spun back around, and then around again, still headed for possible oblivion, but in wild, whipping arcs thatthat wasn’t clinging to our crazy craft and screaolden-red sand I saw another swirl of colors, a bright azure twist that glowed froht, but I couldn’t tell if the shield was covering the portal or not because it was ood conditions But Pritkin, da his best to ai e’d conclusively proved that that was pretty much never the case, and suddenly Casanova and I were shrieking in unison but I didn’t care because oh God--

And then ere through, tearing across a mad swirl of colors that usually made me dizzy but--too late--and then out into darkness

But not that of Rosier’s secondary court That darkness was filled with sandstone and hushed servants and stately foreign elegance This one was neon streaked, with flashing lights and peppy spend- guy, too, e’d scooped up from the floor when Pritkin tried to course correct to keep us froly carpet, and instead sent us careening straight for a stalactite-littered ceiling

Including an enorhhhh!" said the guy in the pink pig shirt

"Auggghhhh!" said Casanova, straight in hhh, I didn’t say, because he’d grabbedme in the process

Which wasn’t healthy but wasn’t any worse than hitting the giant mass of fake rock that was about to skewer all three of us--

Until Caleb sent a spell at the last second that burst the thing into a cloud of plaster dust and a zillion flying pieces

And then I was just coughing and hacking and trying to hold on And sirip while also atte ahead of me Because ere at least half a dozen stories up, careening around a cavernous space like a

Well, actually, there is nothing else quite like a speeding, sand-filled flying carpet full of freaked-out passengers

And then Pritkin finallyus falling back into hi as it flattened out, the spell that had felt so fliht up now that ere back On earth?

I didn’t understand, but the view through the carpet fringe was un, where the thehost town, not Aladdin, but nobody see up at us expectantly, like ere a better variation on the street perfor to scare people Only this ti by the way Casanova was still shrieking

I wasn’t, for the sa

"Help," I choked, not able to get any air past the hundred and seventy pounds of va on my back And as a result, a certain porcine T-shirt and the panicked guy wearing it were slowly sliding out ofhiave the crowd the spectacle they were hoping for A bunch of Dante’s security ran up underneath us, aupward like everyone else Because their training stopped just short

Until the boss crawled across hty whities, and stuck his no-longer perfectly coiffed head over the edge And screaain Only this time, it was actual words

"Get etat one another, and then a bunch of them linked hands and looked back up at hi who their boss was

I’d have thought he’d beaten that out of theuess Casanova did, too, because he started yelling some more, but I couldn’t hear it The wind had just picked up noticeably and blew the words away, like it was suddenly wafting ainst reat--

"John!" Caleb said urgently

"I know"