Abi d'Ilga was delighted to see that her hot bath spell had not lost any of its steam. In fact, there was so much steam she could barely see anything. She covered her eyes anyway. No one could accuse her of peeping.
Except someone did just that.
"Covering your eyes doesn't count when there's so much space between your fingers," said Edrus.
"Rude!" protested Abi. "I rescued you!"
"You may as well put your hand down," said Edrus. "Everyone is wearing a towel. Is it a coincidence that Jihûn is here?"
"Of course it's a coincidence," said Abi. "What else could it be?"
"You didn't know he would be here when you cast the Astral Projection spell?" asked Edrus.
"I had only recently come into an understanding that he would be here," said Abi.
"Then it isn't a coincidence."
"It is nice to see Jihûn," said Abi. "But he is not why we're here. So it's a coincidence."
"Why are we here, Abi?" asked Nin eagerly.
She hugged her doll Countess Niwa fiercely and twisted from side to side.
"We are here for two reasons," said Abi. "First, to explore the deep basement. Second, to make sure this prodigy is getting enough steam."
She indicated a young man whose emaciated body could barely hold up his large head. He resembled a sleepy potato.
"He's the painter you ordered our pungent thief to befriend?" asked Edrus.
"Our thief is able to bathe regularly now," said Abi.
"This painter's name is Randal," said Nin. "He's pretending he can't see us. Sometimes he draws cute cats for me. Maybe he can draw Nhao!"
The kirin puppy struck a dynamic pose.
"Can he really see us?" asked Hermes, leaning close.
Randal did not react to the blond imp with sharp ears. Abi considered it a bad test because even sensitive people had trouble seeing Hermes. She moved her own face close to Randal's. The young man twitched, sweated more, and looked somewhere else. His awkward facial expressions enticed Richan to get in on the face-in-face game.
"The longer he spends in my spell," said Abi, "the more he will shake off the miasma of defeatism and self-doubt. Once it's gone, the power of his paintings will grow."
"What kind of power, Abi?" asked Nin. "Magic power?"
"Magic power!," agreed Richan.
"Can Randal hear us?" asked Edrus.
"If we raise our voices," said Nin. "Like when you talk to old people. Hi Randal! These are my new friends! Edrus, Richan, Abi, Hermes, and Nhao! Can you draw a picture of Nhao? He's a lightning kitten."
Nhao crackled with electricity. Randal looked somewhere else.
"Nin," the young man whispered urgently. "This is the boy's room. You shouldn't be here."
"Don't be silly," said Nin. "I come here all the time."
"I forgot to tell you," Maurice Lupin told Jihûn. "Randy sees ghosts."
"I suppose this is the neighborhood for it," said Jihûn. "An ancient graveyard."
"Randal!" said Abi. "Don't give away our names!"
"Would they believe it?" asked Edrus.
"How else would he know our names?" asked Abi. "If you can hear me, Randal, blink twice."
He blinked twice.
"Everything is going to be fine," Abi assured him. "What I need you to do is paint Jihûn's portrait."
Randal turned pink.
"Is there a ghost here with us, Randy?" asked Jihûn.
Randal nodded.
"Tell Jihûn the ghost commands you to paint his portrait," said Abi, "and that he should buy the art supplies for you."
"I could just give him a gold coin," whispered Nin.
"Jihûn needs to have skin in the game," whispered Abi.
"He certainly has skin," said Edrus.
"You're envious of his muscles," said Abi.
"Why does the ghost want you to paint my portrait?" Jihûn asked Randal.
"It will build his legend," instructed Abi.
The Eighth Prince laughed at the prospect of growing his legend, and agreed Randal's drawings were "pretty good" — but wondered if a portrait might be a reach.
Nin defended Randal's skill.
Jihûn couldn't hear her, so she tapped a stern finger against his chest. Ordinarily it would have been too high up for her to reach, but Jihûn was sitting on an old wooden stool and Nin was floating in the air. The Eighth Prince felt pressure; looking down, he saw his skin distort. Sensing danger, he manifested a shell of force at the location.
Nin shocked him anyway.
Jihûn fell backward. All the little ghosts covered their eyes and screamed. Accepting both the strike and the embarrassment, Jihûn rolled through his fall, sprang to his feet, and re-secured his towel.
Maurice Lupin blinked in disbelief.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"The ghost makes a good point," said Jihûn. "We'll shop for art supplies tomorrow."
Abi hurried everyone out of the steam — and down into the first layer of cellars.
"Oh, shoot!" said Nin. "I was going to tell Randal to include Nhao in his painting."
Nhao struck a dramatic pose and crackled with electricity.
"Is this the deep basement?" asked Edrus.
"No, silly," said Nin. "It isn't nearly deep enough."
"We could just keep going down," said Edrus.
"That won't work," said Nin. "Once all you can see is rock, it's easy to get lost. But even if you know where you're going, you can't get there."
"Why not, Nin?" asked Richan.
"There's a barrier," said Abi.
"Oh my gosh have you been there too, Abi?" asked Nin.
"I am anticipating," said Abi.
"How will we get through the barrier, Abi?" asked Nhao.
"With teamwork!" said Abi ambiguously.
"Improvise?" asked Edrus.
"Hermes is good at getting into places he shouldn't," said Abi. "But Nin is right about getting lost in solid stone," Abi continued.
"I can get us to the big rock," said Nin.
"Is that the entrance to the deep basement?" asked Richan.
"Maybe it's where Hermes can get into someplace he shouldn't," said Nhao.
The floating imp with pointy ears brought a small hand up to his forehead and saluted. His hand disappeared completely into his bulb of yellow hair, making the gesture impossible to fully appreciate. Nin cautioned that the big rock was really scary. Nin and Richan went around in circles expanding on the definition of "really scary." Edrus took charge, however, and the little ghosts set off through the shallow basement of Marquis Yue's (presently Madame Wu's) Mansion.
It was a complicated space.
Not all the rooms had obvious doors. Ghosts and astral projections didn't require doors, but it was fun to look for where the openings were hiding. Most walls were thick. In some cases, they contained narrow corridors. Sneaking through secret corridors was mysterious and edgy. Richan and Abi took turns insisting that one of them was cheating by moving through the rock instead of the secret corridor.
Most of the basement's rooms were full of crates and barrels. Those were full of spices, silks, and beer. Most were stamped with the abstract representation of an angry turtle. Sweaty workmen wearing old pajama bottoms and no shirts moved crates and barrels between the secret rooms and a big cave. The cave wasn't completely full of water, but it was full of docks. Nin expressed concern for how skinny the workers looked.
"They look healthy enough," said Edrus. "Are we sure this is the right way?"
"Of course!" insisted Nin. "I know exactly where we are."
"Where are we, Nin?" asked Hermes.
"We're under the big rock tower," said Nin. "Boats come in from the river through that tunnel."
"That explains where we are," said Edrus. "But where are we going?"
"Into the water!" said Nin. "That will take us to the middle basement."
"With the treasure room?" asked Richan.
"The treasure room is in a different part of the middle basement," agreed Nin. "I'm the only person who knows about the part where we're going! Except the people who made it. Not even Daddy ever found it."
Nin jumped into the water. The others followed. The pool was deep. Its cavern walls were full of holes. They looked like mouths, and were even full of teeth. Dangerous fish and crustaceans hid inside them. Nin led down, down, down, then into a spiraling tube of rock, then up, up, up to air.
"This water should be at the same level as the docks," said Edrus.
"Maybe!" agreed Nin. "But we're going to go down some stairs soon."
"Into more water?" asked Edrus.
"No," said Nin. "It's dry."
The stairs weren't far. They spiralled down twenty or thirty feet. At the bottom was a twisting maze that continued to slope down. The corridors were dry. Edrus expressed surprise that no water seeped through the rock.
Abi suggested spells were involved.
"Elven spells," she said enigmatically, "if I'm not mistaken."
Hermes, the last Elf, nodded enthusiastically. His yellow curls flopped around.
"Are these bones?" asked Richan.
Everyone studied a small pile of white flakes. Eventually, they agreed the flakes were the remains of a skeleton. Once Richan knew what to look for, he spotted a disturbing number of crumbled bones along their journey through a maze.
"How long did it take you to figure out the way, Nin?" asked Nhao.
"A long time, Nhao," said Nin. "But I had a long time to do it!"
"We haven't gone far," said Abi. "Not in a straight line. It's the turns that get you."
"That's right, Abi," agreed Nin. "Where we're going is also right in the middle of the big rock pagoda. But down deep."
"Could we have gone outside," said Edrus, "up to the top of the pagoda, and then straight down?"
"I tried that," said Nin. "It doesn't work. You bounce off an invisible wall floor."
"We're not in the mundane world's astral realm anymore," said Abi.
"Where are we?" asked Richan.
"The Gloaming Realm," said Hermes in a spooky voice.
"Then the only way to the big rock is following the path Nin discovered," said Abi. "Even without the barrier, someone trying to get here would be lost."
"You're amazing, Nin!" said Richan.
Nin glowed brightly enough to dispel some of the thickening gloom.
Finally, they reached a round room with a low ceiling. The walls were made from neatly stacked blocks of stone. An egg-shaped boulder ten or so feet across rested in the middle of the room. Glowing symbols covered the egg. An ethereal vapor covered the floor. Tendrils of mist wiggled in the mist like the feelers of an anemone. The feelers grabbed at the little ghosts and astral projections — but had a hard time sticking.
"Why stack all these rocks inside a cave?" asked Richan.
"Don't get too close, Richan!" said Nin.
He got too close. Spectral arms shot out from cracks between the masonry and tried to grab him. The limbs reminded Abi of the claws that tried to grab Nin's brother and pull him back through a tear in reality. After screaming in delighted terror, Richan grabbed one of the arms trying to grab him and started to wrestle with it. They were evenly matched.
Abi turned to the huge boulder in the center of the room.
"This must be the big rock, Nin!" she suggested.
"That's right, Abi," agreed Nin. "Will Richan be all right?"
"He'll be fine," said Abi.
Locked in a wrestling match with the spectral arms, Richan tumbled around the perimeter of the room — giggling madly. Edrus studied the masonry from a more dignified distance. He spotted more bones in the gaps. Abi reasoned the bones were all that remained of grim sacrifices meant to power the exclusion spell.
"Did Nin's father find this place after all?" asked Edrus.
"I'm sure he didn't," insisted Nin.
"This is an ancient Elven spell," said Abi.
"Are these ancient Elven bones?" asked Edrus. "Were there ever that many elves?"
"These are human bones," said Abi.
"We can't just go through the floor?" asked Edrus.
He jumped up and down several times. The floor was solid — even in the Astral realm.
"Hermes!" said Abi. "This is where you get into someplace you shouldn't!"
With the exception of his unruly yellow curls, Hermes Charleslouis looked like a thin boy no taller than Abi (and Abi was short for twelve). As the last Elven Emperor, however, Hermes could call upon a formidable magical heritage.
Hermes bowed to the boulder.
"Thank you for your service!" he said. "Please rest now!"
One moment, Richan was squealing and giggling as he wrestled with ghostly arms. A moment later, the arms vanished. The ghostly tendrils were gone too.
"Abi?" asked Edrus.
"Yes?"
"Have we released something sealed by the First Elven Emperor?"
Abi considered the question.
"No," she said. "I don't think that's it."
"Isn't that the sort of thing you know?" asked Edrus.
"These things take time," said Abi. "It was impossible for me to know before."
"Why?"
"Because the Elven spell blocked me," said Abi. "But I'll know more in a bit!"
Richan jumped gleefully onto the egg-shaped rock, and then sank down through it.