Gallowgate by K. R. Alexander

Author:K. R. Alexander [R. Alexander, K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2023-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

As December neared, snow and shadows gathered outside the walls of Gallowgate. Bastian woke to blistering winds rattling his windows more mornings than not, and the little daylight they had was swallowed in all-consuming gray clouds that never seemed to break. The school grounds were blanketed in white, disturbed only by the winds that swirled and the faint green ghostlights that flickered through the trees, or the spectral dogs that roamed after dark.

Inside the manor, however, the halls bustled with light and activity.

Every hearth fire in Gallowgate seemed to burn 24/7, and as midterms encroached, the halls were filled with frantic students practicing for exams, or returning from their time out in the field.

It seemed to Bastian, as he crept toward the Hall of the Fallen, that there were more hunts now than ever before.

Thankfully, he’d only been called to the field a few times, and even then with large groups of upperclassmen. Each time, he’d managed to stay back and watch as the skilled Summoners and crafty Conjurers put the rogue spirits in their place. He’d given up wishing he could be like them.

He knew who he was supposed to be.

He reached the crumbled hallway and—with a quick glance behind him—steadied his breath. He didn’t even need to close his eyes now (a fact that had creeped Harold out the first time he saw it). Between one breath and the next, Bastian astral projected, standing a few inches to his physical body’s side. With his transparent hand, he touched the plaque and slipped back into his body just as the door reassembled, and he made his way into the study.

“You are getting quite good at that, young Sebastian,” Virgil said.

“It’s getting easier,” Bastian replied. He went over and sat on the sofa, picking up his copy of The Ferryman’s Handbook and his notebook.

“You won’t be needing those now,” Virgil said. “You are ready.”

Bastian’s breath caught in his throat.

“Are you sure?”

Even though astral projecting came easily, he’d been hesitant to start descending. He looked down at the page he’d flipped to in the handbook. It was one of the chapters on the lower levels of the underworld. And while he’d learned everything he thought there was to know about the ghosts that dwelled in the depths in his theory class, it had turned out that there were horrors there that even old Nicodemus didn’t know about.

Including the spirit on this page. A hulking, shadowy beast with the name maleficarum.

Bastian shuddered and shut the book.

“I’m quite sure,” Virgil said, “you have memorized all the necessary wards and protection circles. You are ready to descend. Now, join me over here.”

Virgil floated over to the amethyst circle inlaid in the floor.

“This is a special protection circle,” Virgil said. “While other circles will only protect you in the mortal realm, this will protect you past the Corpus Velamentum, or the First Veil.”

He gestured, and Bastian sat in the middle of the circle. Virgil guided him to lie down and close his eyes, to follow the exact same process as when he astral projected.

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