Bridge of Dreams

Chapter 15

Danyal put Sholeh’s report in a separate file from his notes about Lee. It disturbed him to see Shamans listed so casually, and yet there was an odd relief that Shamans were not as unique as everyone in Vision believed. But the words, so casually spoken and so carefully written down for anyone to see, made it clear that Shamans, like the Landscapers and Magicians that had also been mentioned, did not have their roots in humankind. That was something he wanted to discuss with Farzeen in private before telling the rest of the Shaman Council.

What disturbed him even more was the note about Guides being able to talk to the world.

Did the world ever talk back to the beings it had created?

There was someone he could ask, but he wasn’t ready for the answer. Because he knew, with absolute certainty, that his life would change into something he couldn’t yet imagine once he had the answer.

Tap tap. Tap tap.

“Branch,” Sholeh said, grabbing Lee’s left arm. When he stopped moving, she released him, and he heard her flipping through the pages of some kind of book. “I’ll make a note for Zhahar. She’ll have the groundskeepers take care of it.”

“Are you sure she’ll tell the groundskeepers?” he asked. “She’s still not feeling friendly toward me.”

“She’s my sister. The three of us look out for each other.” A pause. “I wasn’t insulted that you wanted to walk in the moonlight with Zhahar instead of me.”

“She told you what I said?” That wouldn’t be kind, and he couldn’t picture Zhahar being insulted on her sister’s behalf and then telling Sholeh.

A hesitation. “I sort of overheard you.”

Now, how could you have done that? Lee thought. Unless…

He was free of the drugs, he knew he wasn’t crazy, and he’d seen his share of unusual races. Not as unusual as what he’d been thinking about Zhahar and her sisters, but he’d had plenty of time to think lately. He just needed some physical information to help that thinking along, and right now, if he could trust the single resonance that was Sholeh, baby sister was on her own during this interview. Since they were out walking the Asylum’s grounds and there was no one around them, how fast would her sisters show up if Sholeh was goaded into saying something she shouldn’t?

Once he knew what he was dealing with, he’d figure out how he felt about it. Zhahar’s compassion for others pulled at him and pulled hard. She could fit in with his family in the same way Lynnea fit, and he wanted a chance to see how well she could fit with him. Her reaction to the moonlight-walk comment made him hopeful the attraction wasn’t just on his side. He’d like the chance to know the woman, to touch the woman, and…

“Ready?” Sholeh asked.

“Ah…sure.” Maybe a little too ready, and this wouldn’t be a good time to let his mind wander through that particular daydream.

He let Sholeh guide him around the branch, then began tapping the long stick again. The paths were made of some kind of stone or brick that sounded different from the ground when he tapped them. By using sound instead of sight, he could keep to the paths and learn how to reach some parts of the Asylum on his own.

This morning he had awakened to a lighter darkness. His window looked out on the part of the porch that received the morning light. Since being given that room, he’d stood at the window in the morning just to breathe in the cooler air, but today there were dark stripes on a lighter gray—porch posts and daylight.

He didn’t tell anyone, not even Zhahar, that the eyedrops were helping, that some of his sight was returning. The wizards stopped by the Asylum several times a week to check on him—and to remind him that if he tried to leave, tried to get back home, someone would be close enough to go with him, to open a way into Belladonna’s landscapes.

He didn’t think there was anything in Belladonna’s landscapes that couldn’t take care of a wizard or two, but there was always the chance of one of the bastards stumbling into Sanctuary, always a chance that the damn Dark Guide could somehow touch the Places of Light.

So he said nothing. As long as his “uncles” thought he was blind and helpless, he was no use to them. As long as he was no use to them, they had no reason to harm the other people in the Asylum.

Except that they were wizards and fed the Dark currents of the world.

“What would you like to talk about?” Sholeh asked.

Oh, they would get to what he wanted to talk about, but first he needed to get her involved enough to speak without thinking. “Lady’s choice. Do you want to know about places, people, or demons?”

“Demons?”

He could picture her eyes going wide—excited and a little scared. Talking about Guardians and Guides yesterday had been interesting, but they weren’t nearly as interesting as Ephemera’s demon races. At least not to someone who was sheltered by two older sisters.

Sometimes the baby in a family should be allowed to scrape her knees and learn about life directly instead of just watching her sisters.

“Demons it is.” Tap tap. Tap tap. He followed the sound, hoping he was heading away from the buildings and all the potential eyes watching them. “There are the waterhorses. They come from a country called Elandar. They’re beautiful black horses that act as tame as a cosseted pet and are more than willing to let you climb on their backs to take a ride.”

“That doesn’t sound bad.” Pencil scratching on paper.

“Up to that point, it’s not. But their magic binds you to them. Once you mount, you can’t get off until they release you. They’ll take you for a ride—and most of the time that ride ends at the bottom of a pond or a lake or a deep river. Doesn’t bother the waterhorse. He stays down until the rider drowns.”

Scratch scratch. Hesitation. Scratch scratch.

“Then there are the Merry Makers,” Lee continued. “They come from Elandar too. They live in the bogs and have a humanlike body but are not human. They look like they were made from the bog—moss and twigs. They’re strong and they’re deadly. Travelers who get lost in their pieces of Ephemera see the light from lanterns and hear music and think they’ve found some help. What they’ve really found is an invitation to be the Merry Makers’ dinner. Sometimes you can barter for your life, but not often.”

The Magician had crossed paths with the Merry Makers twice and walked away. The first time they let him go because of his music; the second time, they took him to Sebastian because Michael had told them he was seeking Belladonna, that her darkness was his fate.

Michael had been right about that. Her darkness was his fate.

And mine? Lee thought. Wasn’t blindness another way to snuff out light?

The scratching stopped.

“Bull demons,” Lee said. He heard Sholeh gulp, and clenched his teeth to stop the grin. Zhahar met the world through a passionate heart but was practical as well as compassionate. Zeela leaned toward the physical and was, he admitted, a bit scary. But Sholeh’s passion was knowledge, and she sounded so gleeful about having an opportunity to learn, he almost felt bad about tricking her into revealing something about her own people.

“Bull demons,” Sholeh said, her tone a reminder that he’d drifted from the topic.

“We’ve never seen a female, so I can’t tell you what they look like. The males mostly look like large, strong, well-muscled men, but their heads are bovine—like a bull, horns and all. It’s said they eat meat—all kinds of meat—but they consider vegetable omelets a delicacy and barter olives and olive oil for the treat.” He paused. “Now it’s your turn.”

Scratch scratch. “What are olives?”

“Your turn,” he repeated. “Fair exchange, remember?”

Hesitation. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about a race of people from this part of the world.”

“I don’t know about any demons from this part of the world.”

That wasn’t what he’d asked, but he found it interesting that it was what she’d heard. “Then any demon you’ve heard about.”

The dark glasses wiped out the small distinction he could make between light and dark, and he couldn’t have seen her as more than a woman-shaped blob anyway. Still, he wanted to take off the glasses and see her face, her expression, because he was suddenly feeling that triple resonance, and he was certain Zhahar and Zeela were close by—and were trying to stop Sholeh from saying anything.

Too bad they were up against someone who knew how to play the sibling game.

“It’s all right if you don’t remember anything from your studies. We can continue this another d—”

“Tryad,” Sholeh said, sounding scared and defiant.

“And what are the Tryad?” he asked mildly.

“One who is three. Three who are one.”

Lee rocked back on his heels as he absorbed the words. “Three personalities?”

“Three people.”

That explained the three resonances and the three voices he sometimes heard despite only one voice actually speaking. “One body?”

“A common core, but not the same outer body.”

Zeela had that jagged scar on her left arm, but Zhahar didn’t. So the outer body changed but they shared the innards?

He thought about men and women and how their parts went together.

Ooookay. If he was dealing with a Tryad and only wanted to snuggle with one sister, he was going to have to know more about the race before he and Zhahar put their parts together. And since body and heart were pulling him in the same direction, he was highly motivated to find out more.

“Hypothetically, if you and your sisters were a Tryad, how would you be identified? What would your name be?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she stammered.

“If you can’t even discuss something hypothetical, how will you ever meet the actual world?” He said it gently, but he meant it. Yes, he had tricked her into starting this, but he sensed this was a fork-in-the-road moment—the kind of moment that could alter a landscape enough to alter a life.

At first he thought a swarm of bees was in front of his face. Then he realized it was the buzz of voices all trying to speak from the same throat.

“Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar,” Sholeh said abruptly, clearly stung by his question—or frightened by the truth of it.

The buzzing stopped.

Youngest sister to oldest. That age difference probably was counted in minutes, but he had the feeling those minutes were significant in deciding place within the family. That could explain why, before discovering they were a kind of triplet, he’d thought Sholeh was several years younger than Zeela and Zhahar—really the baby of the family.

“All the same gender?” he asked, still willing to pretend this was an academic conversation. “Or could there be two sisters and a brother, for example?”

“Rarely, but it happens. It’s usually three sisters or three brothers.”

“Who have different personalities and different skills.”

“Sisters in a one-face family wouldn’t be expected to be the same,” Sholeh said defensively.

“One-face?” Lee whistled. “Darling, I know an insult when I hear one. Although calling me two-faced…” He stopped, feeling fragile as he remembered a sister who was no longer whole.

Sholeh sucked in her breath. “That’s a terrible thing to say.”

Why? But she wasn’t the sister he wanted to ask.

“So,” he said. “The Tryad sound like an interesting people. They’d have some symbol to represent their people, don’t you think? Something like a heart inside a triangle?” The tattoo Zeela said she had on her arm.

“I think we should go back now.”

Sholeh sounded afraid. Her lack of experience in dealing with the world probably made it easy to trick her into giving too much information about herself and her people—and left her and her sisters vulnerable to discovery. If there wasn’t a reason to fear discovery, they wouldn’t need to hide what they were.

Something else to discuss with Zhahar.

“If that’s what you want,” he said.

“Yes. We— I—”

“All right. Answer one last question, and then I’ll tell you about another demon race.” And he was going to let all of them know he wasn’t going to be put off by physical differences unless there was a good reason.

“What’s the question?” Wary now.

“When I kiss Zhahar, are you and Zeela going to be watching us?”

A squeaky sound.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Not that I mind, you understand. I learned a lot about kissing when I visited my cousin, and in the Den, you get used to people watching you kiss—although being critiqued by a relative as he’s walking by isn’t appreciated, so you two put aside the idea of being bratty sisters and keep your comments to yourself.”

More squeaky sounds. A flutter of pages as a book hit the ground and was retrieved.

“However,” Lee continued, smiling, “if your sister and I reach the point of making love, you and Zeela are going to have to leave the room, so to speak. I’m not an incubus. I don’t consider sex a performance art. At least, not one that includes an audience.” He paused. “Shall we go back?”

He felt the shifting of resonances and wondered what it looked like when one sister changed into another. Then he didn’t wonder. He felt friendly toward Sholeh and wary of Zeela. But when he was around Zhahar, he felt a heat spiced with something more than lust.

“Weren’t you listening?” Zhahar said fiercely.

Lee pursed his lips. “Am I talking to Zhahar, or is there a little Zeela in the mix?”

Silence.

“I heard what Sholeh said. Knowing you’re a Tryad makes you a lot less confusing for someone like me.”

“Someone like—” A moment of buzzing. “Sholeh didn’t say we were Tryad.”

“I’m blind, Zhahar, but I’m not stupid. Everything about you and your sisters fits the race Sholeh described. Or do you want to try to float an explanation about how you and Zeela could show up so fast without me hearing anyone approach? There is nothing wrong with my hearing, darling. You weren’t here, and then you were. That’s something we need to talk about. But just so there is no misunderstanding when we get there, what I said about not walking in the moonlight with more than one sister also applies to sex.” When she didn’t respond, he reached out and touched her arm before she stepped back.

“Incubus,” Zhahar said. “You said you aren’t an incubus.”

“I’m not.” Judging by her tone of voice, he figured it was best not to mention—yet—that his cousin Sebastian was. “They were the last demon race I was going to tell Sholeh about today, but it sounds like you, at least, already know about them.”

“I don’t know much.” She sounded upset. “Not enough. I thought they were harmless. When she talked about him, he sounded harmless. What are they?”

Not an idle question if she knew someone who crossed paths with the incubus but didn’t realize what he was. “The incubi are sex demons. They travel through the twilight of waking dreams to be dream lovers for women yearning for romance or sex. The succubi are female sex demons.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“The purebloods are deadly. They can kill with sex—and they can change their appearance to look like anyone. Others see humans as prey, since the incubi and succubi feed on emotions, and sex provides a banquet. And there are others who provide a service of sorts.” He took a step toward her but didn’t try to touch her. “You know someone who tangled with an incubus?” Not one of her sisters. He pitied the incubus dumb enough to tangle with Zeela without an invitation. Sholeh? No, if the little sister had crossed paths with a sex demon, even one who was acting harmless, he figured Zeela would be the one asking him questions now.

But a pureblood incubus could do plenty of damage even if the woman lived. And he wondered what being two-faced meant to a people who normally had three.

“Who has met an incubus here?” he asked.

Zhahar hesitated, then said, “Kobrah. I think there have been two others—two inmates, a man and woman.”

“Are they all right?”

“The woman was getting better for a while. But I didn’t know the dream lover she talked about was a demon, was something real trying to get to her. When I told Shaman Danyal the dreams had helped her, I didn’t know they came from a demon. And when Kobrah told me about her friend, I didn’t know he was a demon.”

She paced a few steps away from him, then back, her agitation growing. In another minute, she might rush back to Danyal and stir everyone up. And that would have everyone looking too hard for someone who wasn’t completely human.

Had it occurred to her that he and Danyal were also people in the not-completely-human column?

“Slow down,” Lee said. “Zhahar, slow down. Not all dark landscapes are bad places, and not all demons are bad either. They’re like any other people. Have the people who connected with the incubi or succubi said anything about them?”

“The man kept insisting that he had to cross over, had to meet his lover in the flesh. He became violent when he ran across one of the footbridges on the grounds and nothing happened. He’s been in isolation ever since.”

“If she gets as much pleasure in tormenting a man as she does from sex, being in isolation won’t help, since the succubus can still reach him. What about the woman?”

“She was improving until the previous Keeper ordered her to be heavily sedated at night so she couldn’t dream. She’s failing now. The Shaman rescinded the order, but the dreams didn’t come back.”

“The incubus moved on,” Lee said quietly. “He couldn’t reach her anymore, so he moved on.” He waited a beat. “What about Kobrah? I had the impression she hates men.”

“Yes, she hates men. Something happened to her before she came here. I don’t know what it was, but a man named Chayne did it.”

“And yet she’s drawn an incubus to her?”

“Her… friend… comes to her in dreams. They take walks in the moonlight. Hold hands. That sort of thing. He doesn’t push to have sex.”

“Wait a minute. Wait.” Lee took off the dark glasses. She wasn’t more than a dark blob, but he didn’t want any kind of barrier between them. “Kobrah is Teaser’s friend?”

He saw her body blob jerk. “You know Teaser?”

“I’ve known him for years. He lives in the Den of Iniquity.”

“That place is real?”

“Sure. My cousin Sebastian lives there.” He hesitated, then decided it was better to tell her now. “You read Sholeh’s report, didn’t you? Well, Sebastian is an incubus and he’s also a wizard, but he’s a Justice Maker—the good kind of wizard. So I’ve grown up knowing some incubi, which is why I’m a good kisser. Just a point of information.”

The body blob got shorter.

“You feeling all right?” he asked.

“Dizzy.”

Translation: she was bent over, probably with her hands on her knees.

Then he caught a whiff of stinkweed. Someone Ephemera didn’t like—or didn’t like around him—was approaching.

“You can’t believe anything a madman says,” Lee said quietly, urgently. “You do remember that?”

Zhahar straightened slowly. “You made all this up?”

“I didn’t say that.” He kept his voice low. “We need to go now, Sholeh. We need to go back to the residence now.” He slipped the dark glasses on and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt her resonance change from Zhahar to Sholeh. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Sholeh said. “I guess I had too much sun. I need a drink of water and a little time to sit in the shade.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.”

“Here.” She brushed her arm against his. He cupped his hand around her elbow and let her take them back to the inmates’ residence at a pace too brisk for the heat.

She didn’t greet anyone, didn’t speak to anyone, and the smell of stinkweed faded. Which meant whoever had been approaching had slipped out of sight.

“How different do you and Zhahar look?” he asked quietly.

“She has brown hair and blue eyes. I have auburn hair and green eyes. Zeela has dark brown hair and eyes. We look different.”

Based on his physical contact with each of them, he agreed. Sholeh: thinner and nervier. Zeela: more muscle and physical strength—and that scar on her left arm as well as the tattoo that was a sign of her people. Zhahar: between the two, and a figure he suspected had a bit more softness and curve than her sisters. At least, that was his impression from the times when she’d assisted him. He wanted a chance to put his hands on her and find out.

“You think someone was coming?” Sholeh whispered.

“I know someone was coming. But I don’t think he got close enough to see us.”

“That’s good,” she murmured. “That’s good. We’ve gotten careless. Can’t afford…Oh!”

“What?” He swayed a little to balance the abrupt halt.

“The waterfall and pond are gone. And the fish. That smelly reflecting pool is back.”

Lee sighed. “You’re not used to things being so…fluid?”

“Are you?”

He sighed again. “Tell Danyal that he and I need to talk.”

“All right.” She started walking again. He hoped they were heading for shade and water.

“Don’t worry about Kobrah. She’ll be fine with Teaser.”

“Why are you sure of that?”

He laughed softly. “Because if he gets out of line, my mother will whack him with a wooden spoon.”

He heard male voices. The Handlers Nik and Denys. Good resonances that belonged in this landscape.

“Thank you for the walk, Sholeh,” he said.

“I was glad to help,” she replied. “I hope we can talk again.”

Lee grinned. “Just ask your sister to arrange it.”

She walked away without saying another word.

Nik and Denys let him find his own way up the stairs, but he felt them stand ready to help if he stumbled.

“Sholeh mentioned that the pond changed to a pool?” Lee put enough doubt in his voice to make the statement a question. After all, something like that changing would be unsettling for a man who couldn’t see.

“It changed,” Nik said grimly. “Not even the Shaman knows how or why.”

Not a good answer. “Anything else change?”

“Those stone walls with the vines are gone. Had to wrap Vito in restraints when he saw the place was gone. He’s been wailing ever since.”

“Anything else?” Lee asked.

A hesitation, as if they were deciding whether they were answering an inmate or a fellow Handler.

“Nothing significant,” Denys finally said. “Just that weird treasure hunt.”

“Treasure hunt?”

“Yeah. These old pocket watches keep showing up in the flower beds. And Teeko found a piece of a sundial this morning. Somebody must be slipping out at night and burying them around the plantings.”

“I guess it provides a bit of interest,” he said. “And like you said, it’s weird but harmless.”

Counting the steps from the door, Lee tapped his way to the lounge chair that was under the window in his room. Kobrah appeared a few minutes later with a large glass of water.

He sat alone, letting his mind drift as it picked up the pieces of information he’d been given and put them down again, shifting things around until they formed a different pattern.

Message received, Magician.

Was this some kind of heart lesson, that it was Michael who had found a way to locate him, to let him know his family was trying to reach him?

Message received. But until I can figure out the risks, I won’t be sending a reply.

Danyal waited until dusk to have Lee brought to him at the reflecting pool. Teeko and the other groundskeepers had drained the stagnant water—or most of it. Tomorrow they would clean out the rest. Again. Then what?

A reflecting pool gets replaced by the waterfall and pond. That disappears and the reflecting pool returns. Then that mysterious place Vito was so excited about vanished. If Danyal hadn’t seen the place for himself, he would have said it was a delusion of a troubled mind.

In the city of Vision, you can find only what you can see. But nothing like this had happened in the city before.

Ever? some part of him asked. We’ve accepted the nature of this city without ever asking why it is the way it is. We’ve accepted it as a reflection of the rest of Ephemera. But if we’ve accepted for so long without looking, what don’t the Shamans see? And why does everything keep pointing to this blind man having some of the answers?

He watched Lee tap his way toward him, with Kobrah keeping pace. When Lee reached him, Danyal thanked Kobrah—a gentle dismissal.

“Is there something I should know about?” Danyal asked quietly.

“Any number of things,” Lee replied, sounding distracted. “You asking about anything in particular?”

“I asked Zhahar to escort you to me. Why was Kobrah your guide?”

“If that’s your way of asking if I did something inappropriate with Sholeh, I did not. But I suspect Zhahar and her sister are currently engaged in a lively discussion because of a couple of things that were said.” Lee wrinkled his nose. “I wonder if this used to be Sorrow’s Ground.”

Danyal felt a prickle along his spine. “What?”

“Something I’ve wondered, Shaman. All that sorrow that’s released in your little temple. Where does it go? Most villages have a dark place—a piece of land that has sinkholes or that looks fine but won’t grow crops. A place where the Dark currents are swollen with all the bad feelings. It’s often called Sorrow’s Ground. At first I thought it might be the whole Asylum, that this place was a dumping ground for the rest of the city and people were sent here as punishment.”

“They’re sent here to have a chance to heal,” Danyal snapped. Then he caught himself. Was that true because that’s what he wanted the Asylum to be—a place for these people to heal? When he raised his voice to the world, wasn’t he hoping to bring something that would change the emotionally barren earth of this place?

He looked at Lee and the prickle along his spine grew stronger. “Several months ago, something arrived in Vision and…stained…a piece of the city. Turned a shadow street so dark the Shaman who tended that part of the city could no longer find that street. Then other shadow streets were lost from the Shamans’ sight, and some bright places began to have pools of shadow.”

And every letter he received from his nephew Kanzi, assuring him that Nalah and the baby were well, eased his heart. So did the assurance that the strangeness he’d felt at that one bridge hadn’t crept into the village.

“So this stain happened before any of the inmates—or Kobrah—began having vivid dreams?”

“Erotic dreams, don’t you mean?”

“Not in Kobrah’s case, if what she told Zhahar is true.”

“Yes, the stain was reported first, the streets lost to our sight. I wasn’t here when those dreams were first reported by the Handlers, but I’ve checked the files of all the inmates. Only two of them and Kobrah have had such dreams.”

“Any other kinds of dreams?” Lee asked. “Someone whispering in the dark? Whispering inside your own head?”

“Mice in the walls,” Danyal replied quietly. “Mice in the walls, scratching to get in. Always scratching. But the walls are strong.”

Lee shifted his body closer to Danyal. “You?”

“Yes. Perhaps others, but I’ve felt what you described. Tell me about your sister.”

Lee jerked.

Danyal felt a measure of surprise too. They had been speaking of something of grim importance to the whole city. But now that the words were spoken, they felt right.

“Why?” Lee asked warily.

“You grieve for her. I don’t think she is the only sorrow that is released when you are in the temple, but she is the sorrow you named. What happened to her, Lee?”

“Who is asking? You? Or the mice in the walls?”

“I—” Danyal stopped. Thought. Why had he asked about Lee’s sister at that moment? “I’m not sure.”

Silence. Then Lee said, “The Warrior of Light must drink from the Dark Cup.”

The words pulled Danyal into a current that was Light and Dark, hot and cold, that pressed him under before letting him go.

He breathed in deeply, as if to assure himself that it was air he took in. Then he released it slowly. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s a story from the country of Elandar. I’ll tell you my version of it.

“Once upon a time,” Lee began, “the Dark Guides shaped a terrible creature called the Eater of the World. It was made from the dark feelings that live in the human heart, and Its purpose was to change the world into a terrible place where fear ruled and hope could not survive. It wanted to snuff out the Light in the world. A war was fought. The Guides of the Heart rallied and broke the world into pieces in their effort to contain the Eater. Broke it more and more until they trapped the Eater in one piece—and caged It and the landscapes It had shaped and the creatures It had made. Unable to return to the places they had called home, the Guides remained in that landscape, hiding the cage from the Dark Guides. They learned how to reconnect some of the pieces of Ephemera, and some of them and the children borne to them became Landscapers who kept the currents of Light and Dark balanced in the pieces of the world that resonated with them. And some of them became Bridges who had the power to connect the broken pieces, allowing people to cross over from one place to another.”

Cross over. Danyal sucked in a breath. Wasn’t that what the inmate had wanted to do? Cross over to find his dream lover?

“Generations came and went,” Lee continued. “One day a special girl was born. Her father was a wizard and her mother was a Landscaper. Because of that, she had a connection to the Dark currents of the world as well as the Light. And because she came from a bloodline that was a secret protected by her mother’s family, she was not only a powerful Landscaper; she was also a true Guide of the Heart. She had a special connection to Ephemera, a connection so strong she could shape the world, make new places, rearrange pieces.”

Danyal stared at the empty reflecting pool that had been a lovely water garden a couple of days ago.

“One day the Eater of the World escaped Its cage. It attacked the school where Landscapers and Bridges were trained. It killed all the people It could find there and opened the school to Its creatures and Its landscapes. It hunted, and where It hunted, the Dark currents swelled and the Light was diminished.

“Because the girl, who was now a grown woman, could control the Dark currents as well as the Light, she was the only one strong enough to stand against the Eater of the World. But she didn’t know how to stop it, how to fight it, until a man showed her his family’s secrets and told her about the Warrior of Light. So she made her plans and prepared for this battle to save the world. She went to the school and built a trap for the Eater. She gathered Its landscapes and Its creatures. She trapped most of the Dark Guides and many of the wizards in their lair. And she stood there as bait, waiting for the Eater of the World to destroy her.

“But the Warrior of Light must drink from the Dark Cup. When the Eater arrived to take back Its landscapes and creatures, she sprang her trap. She gathered up the Light and cast it out of the dark landscape she had made. She—” Lee’s voice broke. “In order to close that terrible place so that no one—no friend or family—could reach her and be trapped in that place with her, she cast out the Light in her heart. She ripped the Light out of her heart and threw it away—and the last lock on the trap closed, sealing her in with the Eater of the World. And because there was no Light in her, because she was only the dark feelings that live in the human heart, she was more dangerous and terrifying than the Eater or the Dark Guides. She became the monster that Evil feared.

“Months passed. A Magician, the man who had told her how to defeat the Eater, found a way to reach her in that unreachable place. Because he also had a strong connection to Ephemera, he found a way to touch the Warrior’s heart, and he and Ephemera helped her leave that terrible place and come back to the people who loved her.

“But a heart that was torn apart as hers was doesn’t mend, can’t be healed. Instead of returning as the person she had been, she was now two people, the Light and the Dark. And that is how she remains. The Warrior is all that is good in the human heart, and most of the time, that is who you see. But sometimes, when you look into her eyes, you will see the monster that Evil feared.”

Lee let out a shuddering sigh. “That’s my version of the story about the Warrior of Light.”

Danyal studied Lee. Bitterness. Grief. Sorrow. “That is a powerful story, and a tragic one.” He laid a hand lightly on Lee’s shoulder. “But you were going to tell me about your sister.”

Lee stepped away from Danyal and said, “I just did.”

Tap tap. Tap tap.

Danyal let him go, but when he saw Zhahar standing outside the inmates’ residence, watching, he signaled her to go with Lee. Then he stared at the reflecting pool.

The Warrior of Light must drink from the Dark Cup.

She became the monster that Evil feared.

Lee being held captive—drugged and blinded—by men posing as his uncles.

Voices whispering in dreams, scratching at his own mind, trying to influence him. Why?

Lee’s version of a story. Not an evasion but a veiled answer.

Danyal stood still, hardly daring to breathe as particular words resonated in his mind and heart.

A Guide who became a monster. Lee’s sister was a Guide who became a monster.

If Lee was the madman and teacher, was his sister the Guide and monster he was supposed to find?

He wouldn’t mention Lee’s sister to the Council yet, but the Eater of the World and Warrior of Light? Yes, he would write to Farzeen and ask if any such beings were mentioned in the Shamans’ myths. He would do it now and send the messenger out at first light.

And he would hope that nothing else changed in the dark hours.

Tap tap. Tap tap.

“Lee, wait!”

He ignored Zhahar, since her tone sounded a bit too much like a command, and he wasn’t interested in anyone giving him orders. Not right now.

“By the Mother’s third eye, will you wait?”

She grabbed his loose-weave shirt and hauled back with enough strength to pop a few stitches in the seams. He would have shoved forward, trying to break a hold he suspected had more than a little Zeela added to it, but a quick stir of air brought the sound of leaves close to his face.

Zhahar got a firm grip on his left arm. “Let me take you back to the residence.”

“If I’d wanted to go back to the residence, I would have gone to the residence,” he snapped. “I need to walk. I need to think.”

He felt her hesitation. “If we walk, will you talk to me? Or at least think out loud, so I have some idea what’s going on?”

“You can’t trust anything a madman says.” And even though he participated in this particular ruse, he was getting damn tired of it.

“You maneuvered Sholeh into telling you too much, but Zeela and I didn’t try that hard to stop her. And it wasn’t a madman we trusted with a secret that could destroy our people,” she said, her voice low and rough.

That statement startled him enough that he took a step back in response to her tug on his arm. “Destroy your people? How?”

“Do you think we’re wanted? Accepted? We’re adrift in the world. Our land, our people.”

Lee stood perfectly still but felt as if everything was swirling around him.

Whatever you give to the world comes back to you.

Opportunities and choices.

Heart wishes.

He didn’t want to see Glorianna, and now he was blind.

He wanted to get away from the places held by his mother and sister, and now he was in a city he’d never heard of.

But the enemy was already here, working to alter the landscapes that made up the city of Vision.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll talk. You listen. Don’t say anything about your people. Lead us away from the buildings, but if you smell stinkweed, take the straightest route back to the residence.”

“This way.”

He wasn’t sure where they were going and was certain he wouldn’t find his way back by himself.

“Talk,” she said quietly.

“In other pieces of Ephemera, if you travel to a place you don’t belong, you feel so uneasy you leave. Where I come from, you can’t reach a landscape, dark or light, that doesn’t resonate with your own heart. How do people reach this city, Zhahar?”

“Reach it? Ships travel upriver from the sea. There are roads, so people come on horseback or in carriages. Although it’s been said that not everyone can find the city.” She paused, then asked, “Did you see the signs when you arrived?”

“No. What do they say?”

“As you cross the boundary into the city, there is a sign that says ‘Ask your heart its destination.’ Then you end up crossing a bridge or going under an arch and there is another sign that says ‘Welcome to Vision. You can find only what you can see.’ Is that what you wanted to know?”

“When the landscape that held Wizard City was taken out of the world, there were Dark Guides and wizards traveling in other parts of Ephemera. If Heart’s Justice had exposed all of the Dark Guides for what they are, they can’t pass for human anymore. But the wizards, being descended from the Dark Guides but not pureblood, still wear a human face. If someone suddenly takes your stronghold, what do you do? You run fast and far. Get on a ship and hope it takes you somewhere. Cross a resonating bridge and focus on reaching a part of the world your adversary hasn’t touched. One way or another, a Dark Guide and some of the wizards ended up here in Vision.”

“But the Shamans…”

“Can’t see an enemy they don’t know exists,” Lee said. “They didn’t even realize something was wrong until bits of the city changed and are now out of their reach. Now they can’t see what’s happening in those places or what’s causing the change.”

“This way,” Zhahar said, leading him toward the right. “There’s a—”

“No bridges,” Lee said sharply.

She stopped, and he could feel her eyes on him. “How did you know there was a bridge?”

“I can feel it.” He could also feel that it wanted to change into more than simple wood. It wanted to resonate. It would pull at him, at his power, if he tried to cross it. Which told him how many hearts didn’t belong in this place. “No bridges, Zhahar.” Especially with her. What would happen to someone with three resonances if she tried to cross a resonating bridge? He didn’t want to find out. Not if there was another choice.

“We won’t be able to get as far from the buildings as you wanted,” she said.

“Fine. Just…no bridges.”

They walked in silence for a minute or two. Then she said, “Bits of the city are changing?”

He nodded. “Because the Dark Guide and the wizards are nurturing the Dark currents, making it easier for people to get away with doing harm. And they can get into people’s minds and influence them or weaken them. They dim the Light.” He felt her shiver. “But when you connect with a place, you change its resonance just a little. The Dark Guides and wizards are from my part of the world. When they came here, they left a trail of sorts. Because there is a similarity in their powers, the next ones to cross over were the incubi and succubi, traveling through the twilight of waking dreams. Demons who have never been in this city before. Then I was attacked by wizards and I made a choice: to get the enemy away from my family, especially my mother and sister. I don’t think I brought those wizards to Vision. I think they were able to focus their will on the resonating bridges I made and bring me with them because they already had a little piece of the city under their control. I was captured and blinded and drugged to sound and act insane.”

“They didn’t want anyone to believe what you said about them,” Zhahar said.

“That’s part of it,” he agreed. “But they weren’t paying attention to the nature of Ephemera. If they had, they wouldn’t have brought their own enemy to the city.”

“But what can you do?”

He heard the hesitation in her voice. She didn’t want to hurt him or remind him that finding his room, the porch chair, and the toilet were huge accomplishments for him right now.

Guardians of the Light and Guides of the Heart…No, Lee thought. He didn’t need to ask for help from all the Guardians and Guides. Just one.

“Why are you here, Zhahar? Why did you come to Vision?”

“We can’t talk about this,” Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar whispered.

“We have to,” he insisted. “Did you cross over a border or a bridge at some point and find yourself here, away from your people?”

She shook her head. “When our leader sensed we were close to another piece of Ephemera, she cast out lines of power that provided a connection between Tryadnea and Vision. In order to keep that connection, some Tryad have to live in the city, providing a kind of living anchor that holds Tryadnea in place. Six Tryad came here. I’m the only one left. If I fail, the last connection between Vision and Tryadnea will break, and my homeland will be adrift again.”

Maybe not, he thought. Maybe you need to let go of this connection in order to make a more permanent one. “All right. Here is something you and your sisters need to think about. Heart wishes are powerful, and Ephemera does listen.”

What you give to the world comes back to you.

Opportunities and choices.

Heart’s hope lies within Belladonna.

Was that still true?

“Where is Vito?” he asked.

“In isolation. We’re afraid…” Zhahar’s hand clamped on his arm. “There is concern that he’ll try to harm himself.”

“I need to see him, talk to him. We need to do it now.”

“They won’t let anyone see him now. That will get him stirred up all evening, and if he’s stirred up…”

“Tomorrow morning, then. As soon as possible. You can help me slip into the room so I can talk to him before too many people are up and around to notice.”

“Why?”

Lee took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “Because it’s time for me to go back to work.”