“I sense that they have magic,” Rave told her. “What kind it might be, I do not know.”

  Leesa definitely did not want to hear that. Giant sabre-toothed cats were bad enough—sabre-toothed cats with magic were another thing entirely. She could only hope that whatever magic they possessed was as weakened by this place as hers was. This was their home, though, so she doubted that was the case.

  “Do not make any sudden moves,” Rave added.

  Leesa knew better than that. The only move she wanted to make now was to have Rave scoop her up into his arms and get them out of here.

  The cats snarled again.

  LEAH

  CHAPTER 17

  WE TREK DOWN THE HILL from the portal, maintaining a moderate pace and following as direct a route as possible as we weave our way among the many boulders. Kai makes sure to give a wide birth to the dangerous gray ones. We stay bunched close together in the order he suggested, with one exception. To the surprise or concern of no one, Jordy has taken his usual place beside Radar, right behind Kai and me. Plush and Lights follow behind them, with Doc and Rerun coming next. Sneak walks by himself, with Dad and Sergeant Moss bringing up the rear. The two of them should provide enough protection to the back of our small column.

  As we hike down the slope, Kai’s head seems to be on a swivel, constantly moving back and forth, his keen eyes alert for any sign of danger on the ground or in the air above. Thankfully, we reach the cover of the woods without incident.

  Close up, the trees look even more gnarled than they did from atop the hill. Even the tallest of them rises no more than twenty-five feet into the air, with branches even more bent and twisted than the trunks. The canopy of leaves is mostly thin and sparse, with plenty of gaps that allow the meager daylight to leak through. I’m guessing the weakness of the sun keeps the trees from growing any more lushly, though why the trunks and limbs seem so malformed I have no idea. Perhaps it’s something in the soil, or maybe it’s something else entirely. I remind myself that we’re no longer on our earth, so there can be things going on here I have no idea about.

  Despite the pale sunlight filtering through the trees, the forest floor is surprisingly clear of underbrush. A few small shrubs and saplings poke through the soil here and there, but for the most part the ground is bare or covered with a thin layer of dead leaves. The lack of undergrowth should make traveling through these woods pretty easy.

  By far the most unusual feature of the woods is the mass of thick, greenish-brown vines that loop from tree to tree. The rope-like growths are seemingly everywhere, draping the branches like holiday garland. Most seem to be high enough up that they won’t impede our progress, but some hang low enough that they’ll require ducking under or stepping around.

  The other thing that catches my attention is the rows of what appear to be large purplish fruit hanging from many of the limbs. They’re oblong in shape, about six to eight inches long and maybe half that in width. I wonder if they’re edible, and if they are any good.

  Kai leads us just a few feet into the trees, far enough to conceal us from any spying eyes, then stops. Our company gathers close around him.

  “First, another warning,” he says. “Do not touch any of the vines.”

  “Don’t tell us they have mouths, too,” Sneak says, just a bit snidely.

  Kai fixes him with a hard stare. “No, they don’t,” he replies. “But they exude a strong, toxic substance. It probably won’t kill you, but the burn is quite painful, I’m told. Feel free to test it if you need more convincing.”

  Sneak seems to shrink a bit under Kai’s stern gaze. I almost expect him to go invisible.

  “Uh, no thanks,” he mumbles. “I’ll trust you.”

  “What about that fruit, or whatever it is?” Rerun asks, looking upward. “Is that poisonous, too?”

  “No,” Kai replies. “In fact, they’re quite tasty—and very nutritious. They’re called kookiya.”

  He reaches over my shoulder and grabs the handle of my machete, then leaps up into the trees, pulling my machete free from its sheath as he does so. He lands nimbly upon one of the lower branches, perhaps fifteen feet above us. With one swift slash of my blade, he cuts loose a half-dozen of the fruit, which tumble to the ground in front of us. A second slash to his other side provides a similar harvest.

  Kai jumps down. His bare feet scarcely make a sound as he alights beside me.

  “Thank you for the use of your blade,” he says as he hands me my machete.

  I smile and slide the weapon back into its sheath. “I’m not sure I had much of a choice,” I say, thinking about how quickly he had moved. “But you’re welcome to it anytime.”

  Kai bends down and picks up two of the kookiya. He hands one to me. The skin is rough and leathery. The closest comparison in appearance and feel that I can make to something from our world is an avocado, though these things are much bigger than any avocados I’ve ever seen, with more of a reddish tint to their skin.

  “There should be enough for everyone,” he says. “Take one, and I’ll show you how to eat it.”

  My companions all pick up a piece of fruit. Kai holds his in up front of him so we all can see. He grabs the stem between his thumb and first two fingers.

  “Just pull down,” he instructs. “It peels easier than you might expect.”

  He tugs down on the stem and half of the skin peels away, exposing a pulpy, dark red interior. Bringing it up to his mouth, he takes a big bite. When he moves the kookiya away from his mouth, his full lips are stained red, making them look even more sensual than usual. I quickly look down at the piece of fruit I’m holding as I feel my cheeks begin to grow warm. I sure hope no one has noticed.

  “Delicious,” he says.

  I take a bite—it’s a good way to hide much of my blushing face. Kai is right. This thing is delicious. The flesh is a bit softer than an apple, but more firm than a peach, with a sweet, almost berry-like taste.

  “This is awesome,” Radar says before pushing her kookiya to her mouth for another bite.

  “You can live on just one of these for days, or even longer if you have to,” Kai tells us. “Of course, if I’m not around to fetch them for you, you’d better climb very carefully to get them.”

  I don’t like the sound of that—him not being around. I wonder if he’s planning something he’s not telling me. I don’t voice my question, though. I have to trust that anything Kai does will be for the best for all of us.

  When we finish eating, we follow Kai’s example and toss the empty skins onto the ground.

  “So,” my dad says to Kai, “you said we didn’t come through the portal where you expected us to. You sounded concerned. Is there something especially bad about this place? Apart from rock trolls and poisonous vines, I mean.”

  “Perhaps I misspoke,” Kai replies. “It’s not so much where we arrived—it’s more about where we DID NOT come through. I had expected to emerge in the Lady’s lands, if not in her actual presence. The fact that we did not troubles me, along with the weakness of the portal she created. Something is definitely amiss, I fear.”

  Dad’s concern is evident in his voice and on his face. “Any idea what it might be?” he asks.

  Kai purses his lips in thought. “No. I wish I did. As I said, all this was unexpected.”

  “Does this lady have a name?” Radar asks, never one to beat around the bush. “We’ve been doing her bidding ever since the mermaids showed up in San Diego, but no one ever tells us her name.”

  Radar’s blunt question brings a small smile to Kai’s lips.

  “She does indeed have a name,” he replies. “But it is not mine to give you. She will give it to you—or not—when you meet her.”

  “So you know how to find her?” I ask. “From here, I mean? We’re not lost or anything, then?”

  Kai’s smile widens. “No, we are not lost, Leah. Far from it, in fact. I know these woods quite well. I grew up in them. And yes, to answer your question, I can find her from here. It will just take a bit longer to get there than I expected.”

  That’s good news for the most part. Maybe I’ll even get to learn a bit more about Kai, traveling through the area where he grew up.

  “Perhaps that’s why she opened the portal here,” Dad muses, “if something kept her from doing so in her own land. A place you know well would seem to be the next best choice.”

  “I hope so,” Kai says. “Such intention on her part would be a good sign. It means she maintains more control over her power than I feared.”

  “How long will it take to reach her from here?” Dad asks.

  “Alone, I could be there in less than a day,” Kai replies. “But I can travel quite a bit faster than any of you. I’d guess it will take the better part of three days for us to get there.”

  Dad frowns. I’m sure he was hoping for something a little quicker. So was I.

  “We’d best get started, then,” he says. “Is there anything else we need to know before we set out?”

  Kai shakes his head. “Not as long as we remain in these woods. We need to stay alert, of course, but the vines are the only likely threat here.”

  I’m surprised to hear that. I had imagined this entire world would be filled with dangerous creatures. I’m curious why these woods are not, especially with the abundance of delicious fruit hanging from the trees. I’m not about to question Kai about it, though, since Dad is obviously keen to be on our way. Maybe the poisonous vines are enough of a nuisance to keep most creatures away. Or more likely, perhaps the deadly beasts that inhabit this world prefer flesh to fruit. Whatever the reason, Kai will tell us everything we need to know, I have no doubt about that. It’s nice to learn we’re in a relatively safe part of his world, though.

  The conversation done, Kai leads us deeper into the forest. We travel in the same formation we used earlier, so I get to walk beside him again. I can tell that he’s still alert, but he seems less anxious than when we were exposed out on the hillside.

  The woods change little as we move silently through them. The trees remain just as gnarled, the canopy just as thin, the tangled vines and fruit just as plentiful. We move in a fairly straight line, except where low hanging vines force us to make a detour. How Kai maintains his sense of direction in the face of such unchanging scenery I’m not really sure, but if he grew up in these woods he must know where he’s going.

  It’s difficult to judge the passage of time under the cover of the trees, but after what I guess is somewhere around an hour a new feature joins the landscape. A narrow stream has curved in from off to our left and now flows alongside our route. The water is clear, shallow and slow-moving—it’s only by some leaves floating slowly on the surface that I can tell it’s moving at all. The brook is flowing in the same direction we’re traveling, which tells me we’ve been traveling down a very slight slope.

  Walking beside the stream reminds me of hiking alongside the much wider stream in the redwood forest, which gets me to thinking. We left our world on a tall hillside, and we entered this world on a tall hillside, albeit a much rockier and more barren one. Below the ridges in both worlds was a forest, though the one here is nothing like the lush redwood forest of our world. And now here is another stream cutting through the trees, just like back in Muir Woods. I wonder if the topography of both worlds is somehow analogous in a general way, though it varies in the specific details of each feature.

  There’s an easy way to test my idea. I reach over and touch Kai’s forearm.

  “How far are we from the ocean?” I ask him.

  Kai looks at me with narrowed eyes. I can tell my question has surprised him…maybe even confused him. After a brief moment, he smiles.

  “Why, are you wanting to go for another swim?” he jokes.

  I chuckle. “Not hardly. Not without mermaids and dolphins, anyhow. But I was thinking that the geography of your world has been similar to mine, so far at least. The details are very different, of course.”

  Kai thinks for a minute. While he does, his eyes continue to scan our surroundings. I can’t tell if he’s looking for something or just being alert.

  “The hill, the woods, maybe even the stream?” he says at last, correctly reconstructing my thought process.

  “Yeah,” I reply. “It was the stream that really got me thinking about it.”

  “It’s a good observation,” Kai says. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s true. We’re nowhere near the ocean. The similarities you noticed are just coincidence, I’m afraid.”

  I’m a little disappointed, but not too much.

  “No biggie,” I say. “It was just an idea that struck me. I’m not sure how much use it would have been even if it was true.” I grin. “There were no rock trolls on that hill in my world.”

  Kai laughs. “No, there weren’t. There’s a lot of stuff here that you don’t have—and a lot more you didn’t have until all those portals started opening.”

  Now that I’ve got a conversation with Kai started, I don’t want it to stop, especially since I’ve got him smiling and laughing. Before I can think of what to say next, I’m startled near to death when a shadowy figure drops out of one of the trees and lands with a soft thud an arm’s length in front of us. I gasp and reflexively step back, instinctively reaching for my machete as I do so. Kai, on the other hand, doesn’t seem the least bit surprised or worried.

  I pull my hand away from the grip of my machete. If Kai isn’t alarmed, there’s no reason I should be.

  Now that I’ve recovered from the shock of the guy’s abrupt appearance, I can see why Kai didn’t react. The newcomer is the spitting image of Kai—tall and muscular, with long dark hair framing a handsome face. Like Kai, he has a wooden bow strung across his broad shoulders.

  He reaches out and clasps Kai’s forearms. “Well met, brother,” he says. “Welcome home.”

  “It’s good to be back,” Kai says.

  As the warrior’s eyes fall upon me, I realize this must be Raj, Kai’s brother.

  “Is this the girl you were sent to save?” he asks Kai.

  Kai nods. “It is.”

  A small smile curls Raj’s lips. His gaze remains on me.

  “I didn’t expect you to bring her back with you,” he says. “But I can see why you did.”

  “I didn’t expect to return with her, either,” Kai replies. “It’s a long story.”

  I reach out to shake Raj’s hand. “I’m Leah,” I say. “You must be Raj.” I release Raj’s hand and lay my fingers on Kai’s arm. “Your brother proved quite useful, to say the least.”

  Raj’s smile widens. “I imagine he did. Kai is the best of us.”

  “We’re here to return the favor, if we can,” I say.

  Raj’s eyebrows rise slightly. I’m sure he must be wondering what kind of help a bunch of kids like us could possibly offer to warriors like him and Kai.

  By now, the rest of our little company has gathered around, so Kai introduces everyone to his brother. I don’t know if anyone else notices, but Doc has pushed close to the front, which is unusual for her. She usually stays more in the background. I catch her eye and give her a quick wink. I don’t blame her for pressing close—Raj is almost as gorgeous as Kai. I think Raj’s gaze lingers on Doc a bit longer than the others, but I may only be imagining that. Maybe not, though—with her dark, exotic beauty, I think Doc and Raj make a good match.

  “Don’t underestimate them, brother,” Kai finishes. “There’s much more to all of them than appears at first glance.”

  Raj nods. “I look forward to hearing all about it,” he says. “But there will be time enough for stories when we get home. You’ll spend the night, of course?”

  “We will,” Kai replies. “It will be good to spend one night in safety, at least.”

  I like the sound of that. I hadn’t known there were any safe places in this world. And I’m going to get to see Kai’s home, whatever kind of place that might be. I can’t wait for that.

  CHAPTER 18

  WE HEAD OUT through the trees again, in the same formation as before. Raj drifts back behind our small column to serve as a one man rear guard. As I watch Doc’s eyes follow him, I smile. She’s probably feeling the same way I always feel when Kai disappears on one of his scouting forays. I want to warn her it will probably grow even worse if she gets to know him like I’ve gotten to know Kai, but that’s not my place. Besides, we’ll be leaving tomorrow, and Raj will just become a fading memory.

  We walk for maybe an hour before we’re forced to a halt by a thick wall of the poisonous vines that reaches almost down to the ground. I glance to the left and then to the right, but the tangled mass of vines stretches as far as I can see in both directions.

  I look at Kai. He doesn’t seem surprised or upset, but I don’t understand why he’s not. Our way is most definitely blocked.

  Raj joins us at the head of the column.

  “I’ll tell everyone you’re here,” he says to Kai before leaping easily up into the branches far above our heads. In a moment, he’s gone, passing over the top of the wall of vines as if it’s not even there. Unless the rest of us sprout wings, though, I don’t see how we’re going to go any farther.

  Kai smiles at me. I’m sure he can see the confusion on my face.

  “I suppose you’re wondering how we’re going to get past these things?” he asks.

  “The thought had crossed my mind,” I reply.

  Kai’s smile widens. “Well, I suppose I could toss each of you up into the branches the way Raj went. But I’m not sure you all possess the balance you’d need to keep from tumbling right back down.”

  “There’ll be no tossing anyone,” Radar says from behind me, just in case Kai isn’t kidding. “So unless you have another plan, I say we let Blaze burn a way through for us. She could fry those things in a snap.”

  Radar’s suggestion catches me by surprise. I’m so unaccustomed to the idea I possess a Power the thought hadn’t even occurred to me. I still don’t really understand my Power—I’m not sure whether I have an endless supply of fire inside me to use at my beck and call, or if I only have a finite supply stored up from the blast of the balrog. Heck, I don’t even know if I can call upon it at will, or if I need something to trigger my Power.