Sebastian

building. "We've got to reach my cousins garden," he said quietly. "When I tell you to go, you run like a rabbit. Understand me?"
    Staring straight ahead, she nodded. "Something's coming."
    "I know." He gave himself a moment to picture the map Glorianna had drawn, not daring to take the time to pull the linen napkin out of his jacket pocket. The sundial was the first marker.

    Glorianna . He focused his will, focused on the need to find her garden… and hoped that something—
    Guardian, Guide, or Ephemera itself—would respond to his heartfelt call for help in finding the piece of ground that resonated with her. Glorianna. Glorianna . "Ready?"
    Lynnea tightened her fingers around his in answer.
    "Run!"
    Things out of nightmares ran after them. Ants as long as his forearm. Spiders as big as dogs. And things he had no name for.
    The flagstone path beneath their feet felt spongy, fluid, as if the stones were about to change into something else between one step and the next.
    We're in the school. We're in the school. We're in the school Underneath that chant he hoped would keep them from stumbling into one of the Eater's landscapes was another chant that came from his heart: Glorianna, Glorianna, Glorianna .
    The sundial should be there, right in front of them. But there was nothing but a circle of bubbling mud.
    No markers anymore. Nothing to guide them.
    "Where… ?" Lynnea gasped.
    They had to keep moving or die.
    Glorianna, Glorianna, Glorianna . "This way."
    He ran, pulling Lynnea with him, letting instinct—or something more—guide him. A maze of gardens, all the same. Walls and walls and walls. The light almost gone. They'd never find their way through this maze once the light was completely gone.
    But he turned from one path and followed another and another as if a string had been attached to his chest and were reeling him in.
    Glorianna, Glorianna.
    Then he saw it. No different on the outside from any of the others, but he knew it was hers.
    "Here," he panted, rattling the wrought-iron gate as if that would be enough to break the lock. Even if he did break it, there was a wooden door behind the gate that was probably locked from the inside, since he couldn't see any way to open it from this side.
    He didn't have time to figure out if wizard magic could open doors. Somewhere in the twists and turns of the paths, they'd lost the predators, but the creatures wouldn't stay lost for long. Not with fresh prey available.
    "Climb." He clamped his hands on her waist and gave her a boost up to get her feet on a crossbar. "Pull yourself over." Sounds coming from the intersection of two paths. " Now !"
    He took a step back to avoid getting kicked in the face as Lynnea swung her legs over the top of the gate and the wooden door. His foot came down on a stone, making him stumble. He grabbed the gate to keep his balance—which brought his face level with the brass plaque attached to the stone wall next to the locked gate.

    Etched into the plaque was a date and the wizard's symbol, indicating that this was a forbidden place.
    He forgot about the danger coming toward him. Everything faded to insignificance as he stared at the date on that plaque.
    Then Lynnea screamed, "Sebastian.'"
    Jolted back to the immediate danger, he snatched up the stone he'd stumbled on.
    Giant ants and spiders raced toward him, and in front of them was something that looked like an elongated spider with two black eyes and jaws powerful enough to crush his legs.
    A deadly part of the magic wizards wielded was something they called "the lightning of justice." Bolts of magic that could kill a man. It was used when a person was deemed so dangerous he or she had to be destroyed instead of being sent to a dark landscape as punishment.
    Unfortunately, he had no idea how to call that kind of magic or control it. But raw power swelled inside him now, so he channeled it—and his anger—as best he could into the stone in his hand.
    The spidery thing rushed toward him with terrifying speed. The others weren't far behind.
    With a yell that was part fury, part desperation, he threw the stone at the spidery thing. It struck between the creature's eyes, then—
    Sebastian threw his arms up to protect his eyes as bolts of light exploded out of the stone, searing the spidery thing and the other creatures near it.
    He blinked, shook his head, then scrambled over the gate. Coming down on the other side, he leaned back against the solid stone wall.
    "Sebastian?"