Rave smiled. “You’re welcome. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity.”

  Leesa returned his smile. “Let’s hope you don’t have to make a habit of it.”

  Rave studied the mass of serpents surrounding them. “Now we just have to figure out a way to get past them all. There’s too many for us to push through, even protected by your shield. The sheer mass of them makes an effective blockade.” The creatures continued to thrust themselves against Leesa’s shield. “Maybe we can wait them out, though they don’t look like they’ll be giving up any time soon.”

  Leesa raised her arms in front of her, palms pointing toward the mass of creatures blocking their way.

  “I’m in no mood to wait,” she said grimly. Concentrating hard, she opened two fist-sized holes in the shield directly in front of her hands. Somehow, the serpents sensed the openings—maybe by smell, she thought—and thrust their heads toward the invisible holes.

  The openings were too small for their huge heads to fit through, but that scarcely mattered. Twin beams of magical yellow energy shot from Leesa’s palms through the holes, incinerating the two closest serpents. As soon as they fell, two more took their place. They met the same fate.

  The creatures were apparently as stupid as they were terrifying, because they kept trying to get at Leesa and Rave despite the grisly deaths that befell their fellows. The carnage continued non-stop. Every time one fell, another replaced it, which was just fine with Leesa, who kept blasting away. Soon, the ground around them was littered with smoking corpses.

  Finally, Leesa extinguished her magical beams. Not a single serpent had survived her onslaught. She resealed the holes in her shield just to be safe, and then she turned to Rave.

  “I think we can get through them now,” she said.

  Rave grinned as he eyed the pile of dead serpents strewn before them.

  “Yes, I believe we can.”

  “I’ll keep my shield in place, though, just in case.”

  “I think that would probably be a very wise idea.”

  Picking their way through the mass of charred bodies, they moved resolutely forward toward the line of trees in the distance.

  CHAPTER 10

  AS LEESA AND RAVE PUSHED ONWARD across the barren plain, they encountered no more serpents, saw no creatures of any kind. Nonetheless, Leesa kept the invisible shield wrapped around them, protecting them from any more strange and unexpected dangers this place might suddenly throw at them.

  Another hour of hiking brought them close enough to see that the dark line they had viewed from a distance was indeed the edge of a large wooded area—more of a forest, actually. The trees bore no resemblance at all to the grotesque, stunted trees that dotted the plain, nor did they look at all like any trees Leesa had ever seen.

  They weren’t all that tall—perhaps thirty-five or forty feet at most—but they were astonishingly lush and beautiful, covered with bright, emerald green leaves edged in a golden hue so bright it almost glowed. The leaves grew so close together they formed curved, mushroom-like caps that blanketed the top half of every tree. So thick was the foliage that the branches bearing the leaves were all but invisible behind them. The trees grew close enough together to form an unbroken canopy.

  The trunks of the trees were also nearly invisible, shielded from view by the leafy canopy above and a layer of almost impossibly thick, dark green underbrush down below. That a forest so lush and beautiful could grow right up to the edge of such a barren wasteland seemed miraculous—there was either a source of copious water beneath the ground or there was magic at work here. Leesa thought it could easily be both.

  She and Rave walked up to the border of the forest, stopping just a few steps away from the edge. The dense, tangled brush presented an immediate problem: Leesa saw no way they could possibly pass through it, at least not that she could see.

  “Any ideas?” Rave asked, recognizing the problem.

  Leesa stared into the dark shadows in front of them. “Not really. Let me try something, though.”

  Concentrating hard, she extended her shield out to the front, trying to force it through the underbrush. The heavy leaves gave way slightly, but her efforts created an indentation in the wall of brush no more than a foot or two deep. She stepped forward, moving the shield with her, and the leaves bent out of the way for maybe another foot.

  Leesa frowned. At this rate, it would take them an hour to cover just a few hundred feet. She thought she could probably blast her way through with her magic, but it would take most of her power, which was still a bit drained from their battle with the serpents. She didn’t know how long she could manage to blast through the undergrowth before she grew exhausted.

  Reluctantly, she backed up a step. The brush bounded back into place.

  “No go. We’ll have to find another way. Maybe we can find a path, or at least a place where the bushes are less thick.”

  Rave nodded. “I had guessed as much. North or south? Your choice.”

  Leesa looked to her left and then to her right. She still had no desire to head toward the far-off volcanoes.

  “South,” she said.

  Side by side, they struck out to the south, still encased in Leesa’s protective shield as they skirted the edge of the forest. The underbrush remained as thick and impassable as ever. It might as well have been made of tangled masses of barbed wire for all the opportunity for passage it gave them. Leesa began to think they would never discover a way into these woods—and even if they did, there was no guarantee they would find what they needed beneath the beautiful trees. She couldn’t think of anything else to do, though, so they kept plodding onward.

  They had covered less than half a mile when Rave grabbed Leesa’s arm, stopping her. When she turned to look at him, she saw that he was staring up into the sky off to their left. She followed the direction of his gaze but saw nothing.

  “What is it?” she asked, knowing his volkaane eyes had undoubtedly seen something.

  “I’m not sure,” Rave replied. “Two flying creatures of some sort. They’re heading this way.”

  Leesa continued looking. Finally, she saw two tiny black specks high up in the sky.

  “Birds?” she asked hopefully.

  Rave shook his head. “I don’t think so. They’re not flying like any birds I’ve ever seen.”

  Leesa didn’t like the sound of that. If they weren’t birds, then just what were they? In any event, she hoped it was just coincidence that they were flying in their direction.

  As the creatures flew closer, Leesa could finally see the wings, which flapped in a slow, sweeping motion.

  “They look like small dragons,” Rave said. “Small being a relative term—they’re at least as big as a person. Their bodies are covered in scales.”

  Rave’s description of a small dragon triggered something in Leesa’s memory.

  “Wyverns,” she said, recalling a piece of her dream. She felt like there was something else she should know, some unfamiliar word that was important, but nothing came to her.

  There was no longer any doubt that the creatures were heading for Rave and her. They had already begun a slow descent and were now close enough now for Leesa to make out more details. In addition to their scaly bodies and slender necks, each boasted a pair of large, membranous wings at least as wide as the creatures were long.

  With nowhere to escape to, Leesa instinctively doubled the strength of her magical shield and raised it higher above them. She was pretty sure it would hold even against creatures as powerful as the wyverns appeared to be. Rave slid in front of her, placing himself between her and the attacking creatures, just in case.

  Rave’s new position gave the wyverns only one real target now, so one veered off. The other kept coming. Leesa peered out over Rave’s shoulder.

  As the wyvern drew steadily closer, Leesa noticed something strange about its body. The creature seemed less than totally solid—it looked insubstantial, somehow. She had the feeling that had there been a brighter sun behind it, she would have been able to see the glow right through the wyvern’s wings and body. Before she could think about what that might mean, the beast folded its huge wings in close to its body and dove toward them.

  The creature attacked silently. The only sound was the muffled roar of air rushing over its folded wings as it hurtled closer. Leesa realized she was holding her breath, so she forced herself to exhale. She could see three wicked-looking talons curving down from wyvern’s short forelegs. Each claw looked as long and sharp as a dagger. The rows of yellow teeth filling its partially open jaws were not quite as big, but they appeared equally sharp and no less deadly. Leesa was thankful for Rave’s keen vision and for the shield that protected them.

  She instinctively braced herself for the impact of the wyvern against her shield, even though the force of the collision would not be transmitted through the invisible barrier. What happened next stunned her, though.

  Instead of the collision she expected, the head and neck of the wyvern passed through her shield like it wasn’t even there. Rave reacted instantly, shoving her down to the ground and crouching protectively over her. Leesa wasn’t sure even Rave would be powerful enough to stop the giant predator.

  A strange crackling sound filled the air, like a burst of static electricity. No longer did the creature’s fearsome head and jaws look insubstantial—they were now solid and terrifying.

  At the same time as the wyvern solidified, its downward momentum abruptly stopped. The lower half of its now fully materialized body was unable to pass through the shield. The monster was effectively trapped, pinned half inside and half outside the magical barrier.

  The wyvern screeched and writhed, twisting its neck and raking the air with its talons, trying to reach its prey, but as long as Leesa and Rave did not stand up, they were out of the creature’s reach. A foul stench filled the atmosphere within the shield.

  As she watched the beast’s futile efforts to get at them, Leesa remembered the detail about wyverns from her dream that she had forgotten.

  “Xyn,” she said.

  “What?” Rave asked, perplexed. The word was a new one to him.

  “Xyn,” Leesa repeated. “When a wyvern attacks, it partially dematerializes. That’s how it was able to pass though my shield. The dematerialization is called xyn. It works both ways, though. They have to rematerialize just before they strike. When this one did, it got caught by my shield.”

  The wyvern continued to shriek and try to get at them with teeth and claws.

  Rave turned his head and looked back up at the furious beast.

  “Let me see if I can kill this thing,” he said, preparing to straighten up.

  Leesa grabbed his wrist. “Wait. Let me do it. There’s no need to risk yourself. I can kill it from here.”

  She raised her hand and fired a narrow, bright yellow energy beam straight into the wyvern’s gaping maw. The monster howled in agony as the magic seared its insides. In just a few moments, the creature’s neck went slack and its eyelids fell closed in death.

  Leesa and Rave stood up, being careful not to touch the wyvern’s mouth or exposed teeth, lest they be coated with some kind of poison. Leesa carefully pulled her shield back a few feet, until the beast’s entire body was outside the barrier. Its carcass slid down the invisible shield and crashed to the hard ground with a loud thud.

  Up above, the remaining wyvern circled over them a few times, apparently deciding whether to launch its own attack. It must have decided against it, because the creature rose up higher into the sky and began flying back the way it had come.

  “I don’t even want to ask how you know so much about wyverns,” Rave said as they watched it streak off into the distance, “because I’m afraid I already know the answer.” He turned his head to Leesa. “Your dream?”

  Leesa nodded. “Yeah. Kai told the company about xyn before a whole flock of wyverns attacked. If he hadn’t warned the Miracles and the Marines, they would have been slaughtered. I should have known a wyvern might be able to pass through my shield in its xyn state.”

  Rave flashed a wry grin. “Luckily, pass only part way through, you mean. Your shield caught that thing like a mouse in a mousetrap.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “You know what these wyverns mean, though, right?”

  Leesa sighed. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I do. I don’t know how, but we’ve either been transported to that alternate world from my dream, or we’ve ended up in the post-apocalyptic future. Believe me, I’m not especially happy about either possibility.”

  CHAPTER 11

  THE SURVIVING WYVERN had now disappeared from view, leaving Leesa and Rave alone at the edge of the forest once more. The attack was already beginning to feel unreal, but the lifeless carcass of the creature stretched out on the ground just a few feet away provided grim evidence that it had been very real indeed.

  “The sooner we figure out a way to get out of this place and back to where we belong, the happier I’ll be,” Leesa said.

  “I’ll second that,” Rave agreed.

  Leesa stared at the virtual wall of plant growth beside them. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling that the answers they sought lay somewhere inside this forest. She still didn’t see any way she and Rave could enter, however. She was growing more and more tempted to try to blast her way in, but she held herself back. She would save that drastic step as a last resort.

  “I guess we may as well keep walking and hope we find a path into this forest. Or at least a place where the growth is less thick—maybe a stream we could follow or something.”

  Before they could continue their trek, a loud rustling sounded in the underbrush, like a large animal passing through the bushes. Leesa braced herself for another attack, but none came. Instead, the branches and leaves in front of them slowly bent to either side, opening a path through the previously impenetrable growth. She peered into the woods—the path extended into the dimness as far as she could see.

  “It looks like the forest is inviting us in.”

  “Inviting us?” Rave replied. “Or luring us in?”

  “I don’t know,” Leesa admitted. “But I have a feeling we need to go in there, and this is the only entrance we’ve seen.”

  Rave nodded. “I think you’re probably right. Keep your shield up, please.”

  Leesa grinned. “After what we’ve seen already in this place, you don’t need to remind me about that, believe me.”

  Together, they stepped into the shadow of the woods. The pathway was wide enough for them to walk side by side, but just barely. Leesa never minded having to walk close to Rave, though. She took his hand, and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

  The underbrush on either side of the path remained as thick and impenetrable as ever, blocking the view in any direction but straight ahead. Leesa hoped there was nothing behind the wall of plants except more plants, but there was no way to know. She listened closely for any sounds, but heard nothing. The forest was silent and still, without even the tiniest rustling of leaves.

  The woods were dim, but not as dark as she had expected, given how thick the upper canopy of leaves had looked from the outside. She glanced up and was surprised to see the hazy gray sky through a latticework of branches and leaves. She couldn’t be certain, but it appeared as though the limbs directly above them had bent slightly to the side—just like they had down here below to form the trail—allowing the dim daylight to filter down onto the pathway.

  She was glad for the light, which made it unnecessary for her to cast an illumination spell. Doing so would have called more attention to their presence than she was comfortable with. Someone or something already seemed to know she and Rave were here—how else to explain this unexpected path?—but she saw no need to broadcast their exact location.

  They hadn’t gone far when Leesa happened to glance behind them.

  “Uh, oh,” she said.

  Rave spun around, alert for any danger. About twenty feet behind them, the pathway had closed up, blocking their way back out of the forest. He stared off into the dimness, listening intently, but his volkaane hearing picked up nothing. As far as he could tell, they were still alone.

  “I don’t hear anything to worry about,” he said, “but it looks like we won’t be leaving the way we came.”

  Leesa recovered from her surprise quickly. “Oh, well. We didn’t want to go in that direction anyhow. As long as this trail doesn’t close up in front of us, I don’t care.”

  Rave glanced upward. “Let me see if I can see anything from up there. Remove your shield from me for a moment.”

  Leesa did as he asked. Rave flexed his knees and sprang upward, grabbing onto a branch twenty feet above them with both hands. He swung his body up and around until he was standing on the limb. Turning his head in a slow circle, he tried to survey their surroundings. Leesa wondered what he might be seeing from his lofty perch. She considered using her levitation spell to join him, but Rave had already dropped down beside her, landing as lightly as if he had stepped off a three-foot high ledge. She immediately wrapped her shield back around him.

  “Nothing,” he reported. “It looks the same as down here. There’s an opening in the canopy heading forward, with everything else blocked by incredibly thick foliage. I couldn’t see more than a couple of feet in any other direction.”

  Leesa wasn’t really surprised, though she had been hoping Rave might see something, anything that could help them.

  “I guess we don’t have much choice, then. Let’s just keep going and see where this path takes us.”

  They continued onward, deeper into the forest, cautious and alert.

  How long they walked through these strange woods was difficult to judge. The scenery on either side of the path was unchanging, and the pale sun was not visible in the narrow slit of sky above them, so they could not track its progress.