He wastes no time leading us along the edge of the rift, glancing down repeatedly to see when we might have cleared the landslide that forced us out into the open. We follow in pairs, with my dad and I right behind Kai. Piles of rock sometimes force us away from the crevice, but we always return to it as soon as possible.

  Finally, Kai stops. I move up beside him and look down. The rift is clear for traveling again.

  Kai looks at his brother and nods. Raj immediately jumps down into the dimness.

  “All clear,” he calls up after a moment from out of the shadows.

  Kai drops the end of the rope down over the edge. He lowers us into the dimness one by one, in pretty much the reverse order of the way we climbed up. When we’re all at the bottom he leaps down, landing beside me with scarcely a thud. He hands the rope to Jordy, who quickly coils it up and stuffs it back into his pack.

  I’m very happy to be back down here hidden in the shadows—I felt much more exposed and vulnerable up on top. Even so, I still hope we leave this land of gashes and upheavals sooner rather than later.

  I get my wish much sooner than I expected. Less than half an hour after we roped back down into the depths of the rift, the rocky floor begins rising steeply upward, carrying us back up to the surface.

  The view that meets our eyes as we emerge from the crevice is totally unexpected. Just a few yards in front of us stands the edge of lush green forest, stretching away in both directions as far as we can see.

  Unconsciously, I rub my eyes in disbelief. Though the trees are not all that tall, the thickness of their foliage and the denseness of the undergrowth rival any of the great rainforests and jungles on earth. To find such a forest here on this barren world is almost inconceivable.

  “The place we seek lies on the other side of this wood,” Kai tells us. “Fortunately, it’s not all that wide.”

  My dad steps forward, up to the very edge of the forest. He looks like he wants to touch some of the tangled brush, but he knows better than to do so without an okay from Kai or Raj.

  “It may not be all that wide,” he says, “but how are we supposed to get through it? It looks pretty much impassible.”

  Dad is right. Even with machetes and swords, I don’t think we could cut our way through any faster than a few yards an hour. Maybe I could burn a path through, but doing so seems almost sacrilegious. I doubt that’s what Kai has in mind.

  “It is impassible,” Kai says. “At least, it is without help.”

  I look around. I don’t see any help.

  A loud rustling arises from the underbrush. I can’t believe anything could be bulling its way through that tangled mass of limbs and leaves, but that’s what it sounds like. Whatever it is, it must be gigantic.

  I glance at Kai. He doesn’t seem concerned, so I hold my ground.

  Slowly, the branches and leaves directly in front of us begin to bend to either side, creating a path into the forest. There’s no sign of anyone or anything who might have opened the pathway, so that leaves only one explanation I can think of—magic.

  “Looks like that help you mentioned is here, Kai,” Radar says, staring down the empty path.

  “You won’t see anything,” Kai tells her. “But you’re right—this is for us.”

  “Is it safe?” Plush asks.

  Kai smiles. “Safer than any other place in my world,” he replies. “You can all relax a bit. Nothing will threaten us in there.” He steps into the passageway, then looks back over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

  We follow him into the forest. It’s pretty dim under the thick canopy of leaves, but compared to the deep shadows at the bottom of the crevices, it’s almost like broad daylight. The branches above us seem to have bent aside slightly, allowing some daylight to filter down to us.

  It’s an eerie feeling walking along this narrow path, bordered as it is by impenetrable undergrowth on both sides. The plants all seem identical, so there’s no real sense of progress because the view to either side never changes. The hard ground beneath our feet is equally unmarked.

  All of this messes with my sense of time. Whether we’ve been walking through these woods for thirty minutes or two hours, I can’t tell. It’s really pretty disorienting.

  I keep thinking I see tiny flashes of red light out of the corners of my eyes, but whenever I turn, there’s nothing there. I consider asking if anyone else has seen them, but I decide against it. Kai said we’d be safe in here, so if the lights are indeed there, I doubt they’re anything dangerous.

  Finally, I see open space in front of Kai.

  “We’re here,” he announces.

  As we emerge from the magical forest, I almost can’t believe the sight that meets my eyes. Standing close by the edge of the trees and seemingly waiting for us is a beautiful white centaur. That the centaur is a woman is not what surprises me, nor am I overly startled by the dozens of tiny faeries hovering in the air nearby, their auras glowing in various shades of red that explain the red lights I’ve been seeing. I’ve grown used to all kinds of magical beings from this world, from mermaids to gorgons to two-headed cyclops to fire-breathing lava dragons. No, what really has my eyes wide with surprise is the very attractive but otherwise ordinary looking young couple standing beside the centaur—a couple who look as if they just stepped out of OUR world!

  TOGETHER

  CHAPTER 24

  AS THE NEWCOMERS APPEARED out of the forest, Leesa felt as if she had stepped into her dream. She recognized each of them, and knew at least a little something about all of them, except for the last one, a warrior who looked so much like Kai she guessed he must be Kai’s brother. He was the only one she had not seen in her dream.

  The first girl to emerge from the trees had been Leah, the one Leesa felt the most kinship toward. Leah’s eyes had been wide with surprise. Leesa didn’t know if it was the sight of Ariandre, or of two humans from Leah’s own world.

  Once they were all out of the shadows of the trees, Ariandre pranced forward.

  “Welcome, Miracles,” she greeted. “And brave soldiers as well. I am Ariandre. It is I who brought you here. I thank you for accepting my summons.”

  She turned to Kai. “It is good to see you again, my friend. You have done well. Thank you.”

  Kai acknowledged the compliment with a slight nod of his head. “It was my pleasure, Milady.”

  His eyes went to the bandage on Ariandre’s forehead. The look on his face was a mixture of surprise and concern. “What happened to…?” he stopped himself in mid-question, as if he might be asking something Ariandre might not yet want to talk about. “You’ve been hurt,” he said instead.

  “Not so much hurt as wounded…and weakened,” Ariandre replied. “We’ll get to that soon enough.”

  She looked back to the rest of her new guests. “I’m sure you all have many questions for me. But first, a few more introductions are in order.” She gestured toward Leesa and Rave. “This is Leesa and Rave,” she said. “As you have probably guessed, they come from your world as well. They were brought here by accident, but they have agreed to help on your quest.”

  Leesa felt as if everyone’s eyes were now fastened upon her. She didn’t blame them—Rave looked strong and athletic, but they were probably wondering what possible help an ordinary looking woman like her could provide.

  “Do you have a Power?” Leah asked her, confirming Leesa’s thought.

  “I have many,” Leesa replied. “I’m a wizard.”

  She saw looks of skepticism and surprise on many of the faces watching her.

  “There’s no such thing as wizards,” Sneak said, a bit derisively. “Except in books for little kids.”

  Leesa fixed her eyes on Sneak. “Are you sure about that?” she asked as she used her telekinesis to lift him five feet up into the air.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” he exclaimed. He immediately turned himself invisible.

  “Becoming invisible won’t bring you back to the ground,” Leesa said, smiling.

  Sneak reappeared, still suspended in the air. “Okay, put me down. Please,” he added.

  Leesa lowered Sneak back down to the ground. His companions were all grinning. Radar stepped toward Leesa and held out her hand.

  “Anyone who can get the best of Sneak like that is A-okay in my book,” she said.

  Leesa shook Radar’s proffered hand.

  “You called him Sneak,” Leah said. “How do you know his name?”

  “I know all your names, Leah,” Leesa replied. “I saw you all in my dreams. I dreamed about your journey and watched your battle with the lava dragon. You and I have something in common—my powers did not appear until I turned eighteen, either.”

  Leah’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Really? Were you worried that they would never appear?”

  Leesa shook her head. “I didn’t even know I was supposed to have magic. When it first started showing up, I had no idea what was going on.”

  “That is so cool,” Radar said, “that you saw us in your dreams. What other powers do you have?”

  “Many of the same ones as your friends,” Leesa replied. She looked at Plush. “I used telekinesis to lift Sneak. I can’t turn myself invisible like he can, though.”

  Sneak smiled, obviously pleased he could do something that Leesa could not.

  Next, Leesa turned to Lights. She held out her palm and called forth a golden illumination orb.

  “This should look familiar to you, Lights. I can’t shoot light beams from my eyes like you can, though.”

  Lights created his own sphere and floated it toward Leesa. She responded by sending hers to meet his. Just before the two touched, Leesa turned hers blue. Where the edges of the globes met, the light fused into a glowing green hue. Leesa felt a pang in her heart. The green light reminded her of Ralin.

  “Hey, that’s neat,” Lights said. “I never thought about trying to make my light into other colors. I wonder if you could teach me how to do that?”

  “I doubt it,” Leesa replied. “Even though the end results are similar, our magics are very different, I think.”

  Lights smiled. “That’s okay. It would be mostly for show, anyhow. What else can you do?”

  “I have healing magic like Doc.” Leesa looked at the dark-hair girl. “I saw you use it several times in my dreams. Your healing seems to be more encompassing than mine—I don’t think I could have saved the colonel from the gorgon, for instance.”

  “Really?” Doc asked. “Why not?”

  “I can only heal hurts I can see. I visualize the wounded spot as it was before the injury. Apparently, you do something much different.”

  “I’m not quite sure how my Power works,” Doc admitted. “It just seems to know what is necessary.”

  Leesa smiled. “That certainly makes things a whole lot easier.”

  “What else can you do?” Rerun asked.

  “Nothing close to what you can, Rerun. Your ability is definitely amazing. I can do something similar to what Leah does, though—I can shoot magical energy beams from my hands. They’re not nearly as powerful as what I saw Leah do. Not yet, anyhow.”

  “What do you mean, ‘not yet’?” Leah asked.

  “I’m still learning about my powers. My mentor Dominic is far more powerful. His energy beams might be a match for yours—but he’s had centuries to practice and learn.”

  “Why didn’t you bring him with you, then?” Radar asked. “It sounds like he’d be a useful guy to have around.”

  “Believe me, I wish I could have. Rave and I are here by accident. We didn’t have any choice about who came and who stayed.”

  “What about Rave?” Leah asked. “Is he a wizard, too?”

  “No, he’s not.” Leesa took Rave’s hand. “But he’s a very handy guy to have around in a pinch. Kind of like Kai, without the bow and arrows. And he’s got some magical fire inside him, too.”

  Fiona twittered loudly beside Ariandre’s head. When the faerie finished, Ariandre chuckled.

  “Fiona wants to see a wrestling match between Rave and Kai,” Ariandre explained. “She said there’s nothing like watching a couple of hunky men get all sweaty rolling around on the ground together—unless it’s watching three hunky men. She’s incorrigible, this one.”

  Leesa joined the others in laughter. “I have a friend back in our world who would definitely agree,” she said, thinking about how she also used the word incorrigible to describe Cali. “She and Fiona would get along great, I think.”

  Leesa looked toward Fiona. “With all due deference to Kai’s prowess, any physical contest between him and Rave would be a mismatch. So I’m afraid you’ll have to do without, Fiona.”

  Fiona chirped again in Ariandre’s ear. “She finds that hard to believe,” the centaur translated. “She’s seen Kai in action, so now she’s more curious than ever.”

  Leesa could tell by the looks on everyone’s faces that they were as skeptical as Fiona. After all, they had seen Kai perform wondrous physical feats. She knew Rave hated showing off, but she thought one quick demonstration would prove her claim, as well as show Rave’s worth for their upcoming venture. And she had an idea how he could do it without actually competing with Kai. She saw no purpose in that.

  “Would you run over to that tree, sweetheart?” she asked, pointing to the tree Fiona had used a short time before to display her magic. “At volkaane speed, please.”

  Rave nodded in understanding. He flashed over to the tree, moving so swiftly he was little more than a blur.

  “Holy crap!” Radar exclaimed, staring at Rave standing beneath the tree fifty feet away. “If I’d have blinked, I would have missed it.” She grinned. “In fact, I think I did miss it.”

  Rave flashed back to Leesa’s side.

  “I concede defeat,” Kai said, laughing. He turned toward Fiona. “I’m afraid you’ll have to do without a wrestling match, Fiona, or any other contest between Rave and me. A wise warrior knows when he is beaten.”

  Fiona twittered again, her aura flashing as she did so.

  Ariandre grinned. “She says she might take Rave on in a race herself, but she’d have to practice for a while first. She’s only joking—I think.”

  “Now that we’ve got all the introductions out of the way,” Colonel Gallway said, “I think we should get down to business and find out why we’re here.”

  Ariandre nodded. “I think you are right. The time has come for explanations.”

  CHAPTER 25

  ARIANDRE REACHED UP and pulled the bandage off her forehead, exposing a perfectly round hole in her flawless skin. The wound looked to be nearly an inch deep. There was no sign of scabbing or blood—it was as if someone had drilled a neat hole into her head and somehow cauterized any bleeding.

  Her guests stared at the strange-looking wound, wondering what could have caused it. Leesa thought that perhaps Dominic could focus his magic precisely enough to cut such a hole, but otherwise she was as clueless as the others. She wondered if this world contained someone with magic as powerful and controlled as Dominic’s. She hoped not.

  “I guess this is the best place to start,” Ariandre said. “Kai and Raj noticed it right away, of course, though they were too polite to mention it.” She gently touched her forehead. “Someone has stolen my horn.”

  “You had a horn?” Leah blurted. She thought the experiences of the last few weeks had prepared her for almost anything, but Ariandre’s simple statement took her by complete surprise.

  “Like a unicorn?” Leesa added. As a child she had loved unicorns, but had never heard anything about a centaur being like a unicorn. Ralin hadn’t mentioned anything about a horn when he spoke of the “horse lady,” and Leesa was certain such a detail would not have escaped his notice. The horn must already have been gone when he saw Ariandre in his dream.

  “Yes, I had a horn,” Ariandre replied. “A very special and very beautiful one.”

  Leesa tried to imagine what the horn had looked like, as she was certain everyone else but Kai and Raj were doing. In her mind, she saw a long, spiraling white horn like the ones she had often seen in pictures, but she could not quite imagine such a horn sprouting from Ariandre’s human head. She wanted to ask about it, but felt doing so might be impolite.

  Sneak had no such hesitation, however. “How big was it?” he asked.

  Ariandre held her hands about six inches apart in front of her face. “Not too big,” she said. “About this long.”

  Leesa nodded almost imperceptibly to herself. She could picture a jeweled horn that size actually adding to Ariandre’s unique beauty.

  “Is that why you asked us to come into your world?” Leah asked. “To get your horn back?”

  “Yes, that is exactly why,” Ariandre replied. “It’s critical that it be returned to me. If not, it must at least be destroyed.”

  Leesa had so many questions swirling around in her head she didn’t know which to ask first. Why was the horn so important? Who took it? And where was it now? She also wondered how it was stolen, but she thought the answer to that question was probably much less important than the others. Before she could voice any of them, Ariandre spoke again.

  “Let me begin by telling you some things you need to know about our world. As you have seen by the creatures that came into your world through the portals, there is much danger and evil here. But there is also good.” She glanced at Kai and Raj. “There is courage, generosity and selflessness, among other things.”

  “We would never have survived our quest without Kai’s help,” Leah agreed. “And Selene and her sisters were a great help as well.”

  “Good and evil maintain a precarious balance here,” Ariandre continued. “It is my duty and my privilege to play a lead role in that balance. My magic comes from two sources. One is the innate power I carry inside me; the other originates from this place, which is why I seldom leave here. My horn enhances both aspects of the magic, magnifying them many times over. It gives me the strength to stand against the forces of evil.” Her hand strayed back to the wound in her forehead. “Without it, I am greatly weakened.”