It was a damp, dark, freezing underground cavern.
Will was certain he had set the Time-Turner to take him back three hours. He had no intention of taking chances; he planned to use the Wizard's Eye three hours earlier so he could travel through time more safely.
But this looked nothing like the Time Room three hours ago. Will suspected it might be the Time Room three hundred years ago.
Before he could do anything else, his vision went black and he collapsed unconscious. Only the drip of water echoed through the cavern.
In the darkness, an ancient phoenix lay on the ground, great patches of its feathers gone. Without so much as a cry, it burst into silver-white flames of startling beauty.
Before long, it had become a silver ball of fire. The flames blazed, lighting the cavern as bright as day.
The feathers it had shed began to transform into scraps of clothing and a Book Trunk.
After an unknown length of time, the light faded. The phoenix was gone, leaving only a heap of still-smoldering ash on the floor, where silver sparks flickered.
Much later, a tiny, wrinkled chick poked its head out of the ashes.
"Did I... die once?" Will looked around at the ashes and the Book Trunk. Time Travel had clearly done him some harm.
And judging by the way he had been reborn, had he died of old age in the span of a moment?
Will closed his eyes and examined how he felt. Once he was sure there was nothing else wrong with his body, he tried changing back to his original form. He suspected the Felix Charm he had cast on himself before leaving had helped.
In the blink of an eye, Will was human again. He shivered. The cavern was