more alcoves and dimly glowing lamps in each direction. At least there were plenty of places to hide if we needed to.
“Where do we go now?” I asked.
Rio grit his teeth as he attempted to shut the heavy door as quietly as possible. He seemed to be fighting against not only the weight of the door, but air pressure as well. There was a dull whistling sound before the door finally shut.
“North-eastern side of the tower, right?” Kewyn said.
“And me without my compass,” Rio said snidely.
“We'll just have to look around,” I said. “Let's keep moving.”
“Stay on your guard,” the half-blood said before he grumbled, “Not like we have much to guard with...”
I kept alert, ready to pick up the sound of any patrolling soldiers as we began to circle the tower. However, soon there was too much wind for me to hear much of anything. The outer walls opened into huge, gaping windows that looked out into the Cythruan Mountains. I clung to the inner wall as we continued around, squinting through the wind in hopes to catch a glimpse of the airship.
Only when I saw that we were rounding the tower again and the hallway closed up in front of us did I turn to the others.
“Where is it?” I shouted over the wind.
Kewyn shook her head, her eyes wide. Rio, however, did not answer. The half-blood crouched as he moved closer to the windows and looked down. He frowned, then leaned out a little further to examine the floors above before he moved back to the wall and gestured for us to keep moving.
Once we were further out of the wind, he said, “It's above us. Anyone see any stairs?”
“Not yet,” I answered.
We kept moving, but soon were back to the stone door from which we had entered. Rio stood there, glaring at it for a long moment before he stuck his ear to it again. I was expecting another beckoning gesture when he turned around and ran at us. Gripping Kewyn and I by the arms, he pulled us into an alcove that barely held all three of us.
“Get your hands-” Kewyn protested as the half-blood's pale arms pulled us closer.