There was a circle filled with strange symbols that weren't all that strange. There were waves, sparks, and whorls of wind, all in their own segments.

Jacquie heard footsteps approaching from both hallways. She stepped closer to Kyran, who then edged back.

Johnathan, Kirna, Daniel, and Ellie--how did she get there? -- came from the right entrance.

"Here, Ellie!" Kyran called. Ellie bounded over to Kyran, nearly knocking him over.

"Kyran, did you know this place had traps?" Johnathan said.

"Of course," Kyran replied. "Who would own a castle without putting traps in it?"

"Wait," Daniel said, "so we're trespassing? Some old wizard could have killed us by now! Or maybe there's a spell to stop us from ever leaving this castle!"

"There aren't any spells because this place has been abandoned for at least 6 years," Kyran said, "No trap spells last that long."

"Oh," Daniel said. "But--"

"What kind of sicko puts SPIKES on a wall?” Robin yelled from the other pathway. “I mean crushing us to death is okay, but spikes to kill us?”

“It could have been worse,” Maize said. “The spike could’ve shot flames, burning us to a crisp.”

“True,” Riordan added. “And it probably would’ve burned us before I got us out of there.”

“Oh, wow,” Maize said, now noticing the zodiac.

“Thank you for sharing, Riordan,” Kyran said. “I think we should move on and get this over with.”

Maize practically flew over to her symbol of rolling waves. When she stepped on it, it lit up in a soft indigo light. “Woah,” she murmured.

One by one, everyone else stepped on a symbol, lighting it up in an array of golds and purples. Robin walked onto a flaming symbol. A fiery gold lit her face. Erik stepped on a symbol of blowing wind. Johnathan tentatively put one foot on a puzzle piece. It glowed a soft gold. Riordan walked in a mummy-like trance to the symbol of a tree. Kirna gave a running start and leaped on her symbol. Blazing violet veined through the sparks. Jacquie herself felt a strange pull towards the star symbol. Her legs moved, her face in a hypnotic trance. Daniel, too, walked to his symbol very slowly. He walked on a symbol that looked very similar to Maize’s, but the waves were sharp and jagged, like a storming sea. 

As Jacquie walked to her zodiac symbol, a fiery blue wall flanked Jacquie from each side. Her first step onto the symbol changed the blue fire to a gold one, radiating heat. The star symbol glowed in shades of lilac and canary yellow. Fierce energy flowed between Jacquie and the others. Wispy butterflies flew up and down their bodies. Jacquie was so mesmerized by all of this that she almost overlooked the symbol no one was standing on: the sunset.

Kyran.

“Kyran!” Jacquie shouted. Kyran turned toward her, near the entrance to the pathway.

“What?” he asked.

“We need you for the zodiac!”

“… I don’t think we should do this,” Kyran said.

“WHAT?!” Johnathan shouted. “We followed you to the ends of this place and you’re just gonna shrug and call it a day?”

“No,” Kyran said. “It’s just—”

A bolt of golden magic blasted Kyran in the chest, knocking him into the wall. Everyone turned to see where it came from.

A short, blond kid in an indigo cloak and yellow lightning bolts was standing in one of the entryways.

It was the kid from my vision, Jacquie thought with absolute certainty.

“I’ll finish that sentence for you, buddy,” the boy said. "It's just about time for you all to leave my castle."