Heart pounding, Sienna thought of the map shop, the pedestrian street that ran in front of it, the maps whispering inside, their texture on her skin. There was a whisper of breath on her cheek, and the sounds changed as the dungeon faded. Cool stone disappeared, and she opened her eyes to find them both back in the shop.
"That was close." Mila uncurled her hand from Sienna's. "We have to go down to the Ministry and tell Bridget what we saw. And what you can do."
Sienna suddenly felt dizzy and sat down on the chair by her grandfather's desk, her head in her hands. "What can I do?"
"You don't need to have a physical map or know it by heart to mapwalk. I've heard rumors of that kind of magic, but it's incredibly rare."
Sienna looked up at her. "But I don't know how to do it again. It was a fluke, and you realize that we almost got ourselves killed, right."
Mila grinned. "But we're still here. You got us back."
"But not whoever was in that dungeon." The memory of the screams rang around Sienna's mind. "We have to get back there."
Mila raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you're joining us?"
Sienna met her gaze and nodded. "If there's a chance that my father is alive, I've got to try and find him."
They left the shop and walked down towards The Circus again. The mist still shrouded the trees in the center of the round, but it faded even as they watched. Police stood guard, turning people away, but Mila walked towards them. As she approached, they lifted the tape.
"Afternoon, Miss Wendell," one said with a respectful nod.
"Afternoon, Constable." Mila ducked under the tape and Sienna followed, curious as to what they might find within the mist.
"The Ministry has close links with the local police," Mila explained. "Sometimes they pick up Ferals who make it across, or there are incidents with Borderland creatures. Most of them think we operate some kind of weird zoo."
They approached the perimeter of the mist and stepped through. Bath faded around them, and Sienna felt a sudden sense of expansive space, far bigger than was possible in the tiny circle. It had the same darker vibration that she had felt in the dungeon, the touch of the Borderlands. But it was faint, further away now.
A roar came from deep within the mist.
"What the –?" Sienna's words were cut off as a huge lion padded towards them, its golden mane thick, keen eyes fixed upon them. Its huge powerful shoulders rippled with muscle and the fur around its mouth was stained with blood. It bared its teeth.
Sienna froze.
"Just stay still," Mila whispered.
The lion came closer and sniffed at Sienna's clothes. Then it purred like a big cat and rubbed its head against her, almost knocking her over.
"He likes you." A young man stepped out from behind a tree. His hair was a dark mop of loose curls, and his languid demeanor suggested that he'd just woken up from some debauched party. A few days of stubble highlighted his jawline and full mouth, and his eyes were a bright hazel-green. Mist swirled around him as he walked towards them, his gait confident and in control.
Mila introduced them. "Xander Temple, meet Sienna Farren. Hopefully our newest Mapwalker recruit."
Xander walked closer, his eyes appraising. Then he grinned and reached out his hand to shake hers. "Good to meet you, Sienna. We could use someone new to keep Mila out of trouble."
Mila nudged him in the ribs and they both laughed. Xander bent to kneel on the ground and wrapped his arms around the lion's neck, leaning his head against the soft fur. "This big softie is Asada. We've just been finishing off the last of the Ferals, and the border is now closed again."
He was so close to the powerful blood-stained jaws but there was no fear in Xander's eyes. Sienna noticed flecks of gold there, echoing the creature's golden gaze.
"You walk around Bath with a lion?" she asked.
Xander stood and pulled out a tattered map of the city on a scrap of leather from his pocket. The edges of the map were inked with creatures, a tentacled sea monster and a shark in one corner, a dragon in the opposite, a coiled serpent and then a space in the top right where it looked like something was missing.
"I'm an Illustrator," Xander explained. "On every map, there are decorative cartouches, and the corners of maps often feature monsters, demons and animals. Illustrators have earth magic. We draw creatures, and they live." He petted the lion once more and then placed the map on the ground. Asada stepped onto it, and for a moment, it looked as if his heavy body would tear through. Then he disappeared, and the inked image of a lion appeared in the previously empty corner. Sienna blinked in surprise, but the lion really had gone.
Xander picked up the map and folded it neatly before putting it back in his pocket. "We all have our different gifts." He smiled. "But I have the coolest."
Mila snorted. "You wish."
The mist dissipated around them and the outline of the Georgian buildings appeared through the haze. A ray of sunlight burst through, turning the leaves a brilliant green as a gust of wind made them rustle. The Circus was back to its usual self again.
Sienna's anticipation grew as the three of them walked down the hill back towards the Abbey. In a single day, the direction of her life had changed beyond recognition. By stepping back into the Ministry, by actively choosing to return with Mila and Xander, she was taking it even further – and she was ready for it.
As horrific as that dungeon had been, something had called to her there, something dark within her echoed to the heartbeat of the Borderlands. She craved that feeling again, but she needed backup next time. At least until she learned how to use her Mapwalking skills and could go alone.
They arrived back at the Ministry door, and this time, Sienna felt more at home. With Mila and Xander by her side, she could face Bridget.
They walked down the long corridor towards the War Room. Bridget stood looking at charts while Perry was deep in conversation with one of the other men. Bridget looked up as they entered, a smile dawning on her face.
"I'm glad you came back, Sienna."
Mila explained what they had seen in the dungeon within the Borderlands. Bridget's eyes widened at the five-pointed compass on one of the skins.
"Are you sure that's what it looked like?"
Mila nodded.
"Then it was Jenny, part of your father's team, Sienna. She was an Illustrator."
Xander turned away, cursing under his breath.
"The fetish map you saw is a version of our world twisted into something darker. It is not real yet – but it could be. Was there anything else that might help you get back there?"
Mila shook her head.
Bridget thought for a moment. "There might be something. Mila, help Perry and Xander prepare for the mission. Sienna, follow me."
They walked together back up the corridor to the wooden door marked Blood Gallery. Bridget stopped outside.
"Blood maps are part of Mapwalker heritage. Each Blood Cartographer tattoos themselves over a lifetime of magic. The tattooing is part ritual, part protecting that which we love." She rolled up the sleeve of her shirt to reveal a tattoo of Dublin, the lines of the port and the River Liffey, marks for the castle and the cathedral. Her eyes softened as she looked at Sienna. "Your grandfather tattooed these for me."
Bridget unlocked the door. "When a Blood Cartographer dies, their skin is kept as a powerful map. It might seem macabre, but the layers of blood and tattoos over generations have kept the border sealed and safe."
She pushed open the door. A cool blast of air rushed out and Sienna's skin goose-bumped in response. Bridget stepped inside. "Follow me."
Like the dungeon, this gallery was hung with skins, but they were displayed with respect here, rather than roughly nailed to the walls. Each was framed with the name of the dead inscribed beneath it, and a portrait or a photo of the Cartographer alongside their five-pointed compass rose. It smelled of tanned leather, of a museum, not of death. But the skins were the same macabre items they had seen in the dungeon.
"This is one of the oldest Blood Galleries," Bridget explained, "although there is one in every major Ministry location around the world. Each Blood Cartographer understands that this is where we will end up. Part of our responsibility is tattooing while we're alive in order to seal the borders with our blood."
Sienna shivered as she looked around at the skins. "So what were the skins we saw in the Borderlands?"
Bridget frowned. "They would have been forcibly tattooed. Jenny was only an Illustrator, her magic wasn't strong, but the Shadow Cartographers could have used her skin to inscribe with blood and pervert what we have done as a sacred rite for generations."
"Who are they?" Sienna whispered.
"Think of the border as the line between light and dark," Bridget explained. "Those who operate beyond it are known as Shadow Cartographers. They have the same magic as us, but it's stronger over there. It gets even more powerful the further out they go, beyond the Borderlands into the Uncharted." She turned and indicated the skins. "But we have the numbers. There are still more of us than them … for now, at least."
"So why can't you just take control? Why are there so many incursions over the border?"
Bridget sighed. "Political events have tipped the balance in recent years. There are more people than ever pushed forcibly over the border, and they remember what it was like over here. Those people want to get home. But the border has been porous one way for generations, and only Mapwalkers have been able to cross both ways. Now we've heard that this Map of Shadows will remake the border in their favor."
"What will that mean?" Sienna asked. "I'm still not clear on how the border works."
Bridget smiled. "It's not like a hard border, patrolled by men with guns and dogs, where you need to present a passport to cross. Think of it more like a river, which acts as an ever-moving flow. When you cross it, you might enter at one point and emerge at another. And it can alter the banks on either side over time."
Bridget walked further into the room, stopping at one of the older skins set behind glass in a temperature-controlled environment. "This is a good example." She pointed at the lines, a group of islands off the eastern coast of Canada. "This is Newfoundland, and this is the Isle of Demons, which first appeared on maps in the sixteenth century, tattooed by one of the new world blood mages back then. But it disappeared in the mid-seventeenth century, and it's now part of the Borderlands. No one cared enough to keep it this side, so the darkness encroached and took it over."
Bridget turned, her eyes serious. "This could happen to Bath. This could happen to anywhere Earth-side."
"Why do the Shadow Cartographers want this land so much?" Sienna asked.
"Think about an olive tree planted in the soil that exists in the same place for a thousand years. The descendants of the original owner still think it belongs to them, but in later generations, as time passes and the man moves away, new owners come and resettle the land. The descendants of the new owners think it belongs to them too. There are many in the Borderlands who believe that Earth-side is still their home. But time moves differently over there and what they left behind often doesn't exist anymore."
"But who's to say which side is right?" Sienna asked.
Bridget smiled. "This is why you're meant to be with us. You see things differently because you haven't been brought up as a Mapwalker. Our mission is always to protect the border, to retain Earth-side as it has always been."
The door opened and Mila walked in, followed by Xander and Perry. Bridget turned to the four of them. "We don't have time to train you any further. Bath has the most ancient gate and the most well-fortified. If the border breaks here, England may fall. Make no mistake about it. We are at war. Some of you have seen what happens to slaves at the edges of the Borderlands. That could be our fate if you do not find the Map of Shadows."
Xander slouched against the doorframe. "No offense to Sienna, but why is she involved in this? She doesn't even know what ability she has."
He looked over at her and shrugged an apology. Sienna smiled back. "Oh, I understand. I didn't even know about this place until today, and now you're telling me I'm going into the Borderlands to find something I don't know anything about. It seems pretty crazy to me too."
Bridget raised a hand to silence them. "Mila mapwalked with Sienna today to a castle at the heart of the Borderlands. I've heard of it but never found it even though I looked, and I've ranged the Borderlands for twenty-five years. There is something that links Sienna to that dungeon, and the Blood Gallery suggests they might be creating the new map there, so you will need her. Your mission is to find the Map of Shadows and bring it back to the Ministry so the fire mages can burn it. Then we can re-strengthen the Border before it is weakened so much that the edges are frayed for ever."
"Why can't you come with us?" Sienna's voice was soft.
"I …" Bridget paused, her eyes full of regret and Sienna sensed she was hiding something. Then her voice hardened.
"It is your time. Your star charts overlap at this point in history. We have seen this conflict coming for many years, and we knew this day would come. Of course, we had hoped to prevent it. That's why the last Mapwalker team went over. But the prophecy speaks of the children of powerful mages coming together to defeat the shadow. The Illuminated Cartographer saw you would come, Sienna." Bridget shook her head. "I have been the one with unbelief. But now we don't have much time. You need to follow the footsteps of the last Mapwalker team.”
"Why doesn't Sienna just mapwalk us back to this basement dungeon?" Perry asked. "Surely that would get us closer to where we need to be."
"I don't know how to get back there," Sienna said, acutely aware of how inadequate her ability was. "I don't even know how I did it the first time."
"Go easy on her," Mila said. "Remember how it was starting out for all of us."
Bridget nodded. "I know you're not a team yet, and if we had all the time in the world I would take you out into the Cotswolds, train you, build you into a team as I did with the last group of Mapwalkers. But we don't have time now. I have to trust you will find it in yourselves to look after each other. This is your home. All of you stand to lose something if the Borderland bleeds through, and if the Shadow Cartographers take the Ministry…" Bridget trailed off, and in her silence, Sienna sensed what might happen, how the skins in the dungeon were created and what fate might await them if they failed.
"So how are we meant to find it?" Perry asked. "If you weren't able to locate the castle, how are we meant to?"
"There are many ways into the Borderlands, and you will go in through the same map the last group went through, a map that has the power to take you deeper into the Borderlands than any other, a map that has been protected for a thousand years."