Julian and I ran all the way to Nicholas’s room. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer.
“Maybe he’s asleep,” I said.
“See if it’s locked,” Julian said.
I tried the handle. The door opened at once, pushing inward. Together, Julian and I stumbled into the room. Then, I gasped.
Furniture had been shoved over. The carpet was torn to shreds, like wolf claws had sliced straight through. There were claw marks etched into the wall.
“He struggled,” Julian said, stepping into the center of the room. He paused, and turned to me. “Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?”
He lifted his head and looked around. “Magic.”
Now that he mentioned it, now that I knew what to focus on, yes. I could feel it too, like a tingle in the back of my mind. Or my nose preparing for a sneeze.
“How could this hap
