Richan disappeared into the rock. Abi urged everyone to follow. Quickly! Danger might be waiting on the other side! In fact, a bottomless pit waited. Down, down, down they plunged. In a realm of crystalized thought, ghostly bodies didn't fall so much as experience the concept of falling.
This place was an intersection of the Astral and Gloaming Realms, however, and the Gloaming Realm was a land of shadows, misery, and danger. All the thinking happening there was bad. That wickedness and misery oozed between realities, transforming the concept of falling into something horrifying. Which was cool. Ancient weapons sticking out of the pit's walls added to the terrifying ambience. The little ghosts and astral projections came to the conclusion that their concepts of falling should involve more caution.
"Is that thief looking for one of these weapons?" asked Richan.
"Interesting!" Abi agreed. "Unless I'm mistaken, however, these weapons are only psychic echoes from the minds of people killed a long time ago."
"What if one of those people was an Elf?" asked Richan. "Maybe it counts!"
"In this context," said Abi, "Elves are not people."
"Isn't Hermes an Elf?" asked Nin.
Hermes nodded enthusiastically. Blond curls flew every which way.
"Hermes has a unique context," said Abi.
"Does that mean he's people?" asked Nin.
"Yes."
"How long are we going to be falling?" asked Richan.
"If we speed up," said Edrus, "it will go quicker."
Nobody wanted to speed up.
After some time, the bottomless pit manifested a bottom. Little ghosts and astral projections fell through the ceiling of an octagonal room — and bounced off a stone floor.
"Ouch!" complained Nin. "This rock is hard!"
"Interesting!" said Abi. "We've fallen out of the Gloaming Realm."
The octagon's walls swirled with quartzite and sandstones. Every surface was carved with mythical beasts. There were three balconies at different heights on different faces. A forest of columns shaped like abstract trees made it difficult to see from one side of the room to the other. Glowing tiles formed a mosaic on the floor. There was no other light, but that wasn't a problem for spirits.
"Has this been down here the whole time?" asked Nin.
"Elven architecture," said Edrus.
Hermes nodded.
"There are eight walls and eight doors," said Richan. "Which one is for us?"
Abi considered. After a minute or two, she admitted that she wasn't sure.
"Don't these things come to you?" asked Edrus.
"Elves break all the rules," said Abi.
"What happens if we pick the wrong door?" asked Nin.
"There may not be a wrong door," said Abi. "There may just be doors that get us where we want to go more quickly."
"Alternatively," said Edrus, "there may be a wrong door."
"You are so negative!" protested Abi.
"I'm prudent."
"Which door should we go through, Hermes?" asked Nin.
Hermes rotated around his center slowly several times. He then pointed at one door confidently. Richan bounced up to it. When he tried to pass through its rock, he bounced back.
"Just like the floor!" he complained.
Nin rushed to make sure that Richan was all right. Richan insisted that bouncing off the door hurt less than bouncing off the floor, and was even fun. He and Nin proceeded to bounce off the door repeatedly.
"Is it another exclusion spell?" asked Edrus.
"The rock is made of special stuff," said Abi.
Edrus held out his hand and tried to move the door with the power of his mind. Despite being so skinny, his telekinetic techniques were strong. As he demonstrated with Countess Niwa, under certain circumstances he could move objects across boundaries of reality. Nin did that with gold coins. Richan relied on the metaphor of his body to exert force, and couldn't project it far, but his hands packed a wallop. All their efforts combined failed to budge the door.
"What about a knock spell?" asked Edrus.
"It's worth a try," said Abi.
She tried. The door trembled a teeny bit, but did not open.
"Nhao can give himself a real body," said Edrus, "and push in the real world."
Nhao gave himself a real body, grew large, and tried to push the door. It didn't budge. Abi asked him what the air was like. Nhao didn't need to breathe, but considered the air fine.
"What should we do, Abi?" asked Nin. "Is this as far as we can go?"
"Ask our thief!" said Hermes.
"Brilliant!" agreed Abi.
Hermes twisted shyly in her praise.
"It took a long time to get here," said Edrus. "He's probably asleep."
"Time doesn't tick in the Gloaming Realm," said Abi. "But you're right. He's probably asleep."
"Are we going to abduct him!?" asked Richan.
"Do we have to go back the long way?" asked Nin.
"I can make a glowing door!" said Hermes.
Nin thought a glowing door sounded amazing. Abi agreed a portal would be helpful, but didn't want to abduct Maurice Lupin directly.
"You want to abduct him indirectly?" asked Edrus.
"I want to use trickery," said Abi.
"Trickery!" cheered the others.
Instead of a glowing door, Abi asked Hermes to create a glowing window into Lupin's room. After consulting with Nin about the location of that room, Hermes created the requested window. Using the gold Abi gave him earlier, Lupin moved from a broom closet to a corner suite. The walls were paneled and wainscotted. The ceiling's coffers had coffers. A semi-circular extension in one corner of the room stuck out over a courtyard. There was only one bed, but it was huge. Lupin and Randal occupied separate halves. A row of pillows separated them.
"Lupin's half is much larger," observed Richan.
"By morning," said Nin, "he'll crawl over the pillows to cuddle."
"Focus!" said Abi.
"What should we focus on, Abi?" said Nin.
"Nhao," said Abi, "I need you to look like Maurice."
The kirin puppy took on the appearance of Maurice. Nin thought that was amazing.
"You're going to link their minds," said Edrus. "Aren't you?"
Abi linked their minds. At first, there was no change. There came a moment, however, when Maurice got down on the ground and bowed to his "Second Master." Abi explained to her Disciple that he was having a dream test.
"There is nothing to worry about!" she assured him.
"Whenever I dream about tests," said Maurice, "I worry."
"Disciple," commanded Abi. "Open that door!"
She pointed at the chosen door.
Maurice studied the door for several minutes. Then he studied the room. His approach was methodical. The children followed him around eagerly. His professionalism was entrancing. He was also cool. Despite their capabilities, the little ghost and astral projections felt an attraction to whatever a cool kid was doing. The cool kid examined the columns, wall carvings, and floor mosaic. He tapped on the rock with his knuckles — and listened to the sounds.
Finally, he blinked up to the lowest balcony.
"Oh my gosh!" said Richan. "Why didn't we think of that?"
"It's obvious now," agreed Edrus. "In our defense, the balconies were on the other side of the room from our chosen door, and hidden by the columns."
"And we aren't professional jewel thieves," said Abi.
The children floated up to Maurice. He complimented their lightness techniques. Richan started to climb onto the balcony, but Maurice stopped him.
"There's a trap," he said.
The children froze from too much excitement.
"What kind of trap?" asked Richan.
Maurice pointed out a crack in the wall, and said it hid a blade. He then pointed out suspicious tiles on the balcony floor. Edrus asked if Maurice had a solution.
"Of course," said Maurice confidently, "but we need the top balcony anyway. I don't suppose you could make me fly, Second Master?"
"I could…," conceded Abi. "But this is a test!"
If Nhao had been alone in his own body, he could have teleported to the top balcony easily. Maurice's mind worked differently. Teleportation was a big deal. Few practitioners could manage it. Consort Chen could teleport anywhere under the dome of the sky defined by her horizons. Jian Peak Abbot could make it a couple hundred yards. Almost everyone else was limited to short hops — and each hop was tiring.
Maurice wanted to conserve his strength in case he needed to escape. He therefore climbed up the old fashioned way. For most of the distance to the top, he relied on grips in the wall carvings. The children knew Maurice was in Nhao's body, and that Nhao was in no actual danger, but became emotionally invested in each minor slip anyway.
"Be careful, Disciple!"
Finally, Maurice reached the upper balcony.
It had no obvious relationship with the target door. In fact, it was impossible to see the door through the pillars. Despite that, Richan and Edrus again lamented the fact they hadn't thought of it.
"How did it occur to you to try this, Disciple?" asked Abi.
Maurice slapped his palm on the balcony balustrade.
"Hubris!" he said.
There was a pause. In that pause, Abi's big eyes got huge. Her pupils quivered.
"Hubris?" she asked meekly.
"Exactly that!" agreed Maurice confidently.
Abi couldn't believe it. The cool kid was accusing her of hypocrisy.
There was nothing in the great big universe Abi d'Ilga hated more than hypocrisy. Hypocrisy was a poison that contaminated the soul. She fought against its seductions with all the strength in her short, chubby body. Maybe her muscles weren't strong. Climbing into her favorite rocking chair, nevermind up a wall, was tiring. That didn't mean she lacked a strong spirit.
Abi wavered. Her lower lip trembled. She… almost started to cry.
People called her the reincarnation of an ancient witch, but that wasn't true. She was only twelve. She couldn't know everything. Before banishing the Grandiose Precept, she asked Hermes for help. There wasn't any hubris in asking for help. Asking for help was the opposite of hubris. She even asked Maurice to help her solve the door problem!
How could he accuse her of hubris?
Yes, she had accused him of hubris.
But he was trespassing against the Ancient Bailey! Consort Chen would have killed him. Abi almost killed him herself. He was just being mean. Or vindictive. Or both!
Why, she oughtta….
"Using the balcony isn't an intended solution," said Edrus. "Is it?"
Abi contained a sniffle. Maybe Edrus saw a different angle.
"Answering the Young Lord," said Maurice. "It was an oversight by the builders."
Abi contained another sniffle.
"You mean…?" she asked. "You mean the First Elven Emperor suffered from hubris?"
"Was this place built by the First Elven Emperor?" asked Maurice in shock.
Hermes and Abi nodded.
"I apologize to His Majesty," said Maurice. "But he was overconfident."
A wave of relief washed over Abi.
"Oh, you bet he was!" she agreed. "Elves are the embodiment of hubris. Not including Hermes, of course! Hermes is a sweetheart."
She gave the imp a hug. Hermes enjoyed being hugged.
"What gave the balcony away?" asked Edrus.
"There is a mechanism down there," said Maurice. "It's pretty incredible. I was about to give up, but then I realized cold air was coming down from above."
"I see," said Edrus. "This balcony connects to the outside."
"And if this room connects to the outside…," said Maurice.
"Then…," said Edrus, "the room we want to get to might as well."
"And the connections…," said Maurice, "might connect!"
"But my Nin would have found those connections," said Richan.
"Thank you, Richan!" said Nin. "I looked everywhere."
"The exclusion spell," said Abi. "You've done well, Disciple!"
"We're not there yet, Second Master. However…?"
He shuffled bashfully.
"Yes?" asked Abi.
"Even if this is a dream," said Maurice, "when we get where we're going…?"
"I see!" said Abi.
"I don't see," said Richan.
"You saw, Richan," said Edrus. "He's asking if he can steal something."
"I see!"