Ice and Demons

Breaking through the Great Fog, the group arrived at Cassandra Auction House at half past two in the morning. For safety, the dream-entry ritual was conducted in a room in the auction house basement. There were many rooms beneath the auction house hidden by illusions, and no one knew what Grandma Cassandra intended to do with them.

The room chosen for the ritual was much smaller than the one Grace and Helen occupied. A normal-sized four-poster bed stood in the center, lit by a burning fireplace—there was no gas lamp, since connecting gas pipes would render the room's concealment meaningless.

The Old Witch's maids were still arranging the room. The fragrance of the "Death Sleep Flower" nearly made Shade sneeze. While they waited, the Witches told Shade what to watch out for after entering the dream. They also told him that, to prevent Joey Barton from using the three passages to enter death and summon back the dead, The Church had commissioned the Witch Council to guard the Mountain Waist Seal while the Sealing Ritual, "Saint Tree Scar," was being performed.

Grandma Cassandra and Miss Aurora planned to invite Sister Devlin to reenter the Interstice with them once Shade returned from the dream, then wait at the Mountain Waist Seal until The Church's ritual was complete.

As for the seals at the mountain summit and the Nature Church at the mountain foot, The Church would guard those.

As the time approached three in the morning, Shade removed his coat and shoes and lay on the bed in a white shirt. The Witches had already covered the bedside with white Sleep Dragon Grass.

Beneath his pillow was half of the Clown's umbilical cord specimen from before his death. No one knew how Grandma Cassandra had obtained it ahead of the Orthodox