a8eb54fe2a7e7ca192cef2761fb9d6c0

“Neither did I.”

“So how did she leave without opening and closing the door? She couldn’t go through it—she’s touched me, you know. She’s solid. And slow. You’ve seen how she walks.”

“Maybe she’s just pretending to be slow.”

“I think I’d know if she was faking it.”

Austin snorted.“You’d be surprised.” He padded back to the bedroom and stared up at Dean. “I don’t know how she’s doing it, but she’s been sucking your life force!”

“You sound like Lance.”

“Yeah?” Hooking his claws into the edge of the mattress, he rappelled his way up the side of the bed and stood on Dean’s thighs. “You look exhausted. Explain that!”

Dean squinted at the clock.“It’s three forty-sevena.m.”

“You were sleeping; you should be rested.”

“I should still besleeping.” Settling back against his pillow, he gently stroked the spot behind Austin’s left ear with his thumb. “Has it occurred to you that maybe you’re having mummy nightmares because you’re a cat and cats have this whole Egyptian connection going?”

Eye narrowed, Austin glared.“You know nothing about that.”

“Not true. When I had the new strut put in the truck, there wereNational Geographics in the waiting room and I read this article on cats in ancient Egypt.”

“How old was the magazine?”

“Some old, but they were talking about 1,500 BC; does it matter?”

“I am not having nightmares. I am not imagining things. And I did not tell you to stop doing that.”

“Sorry.” Dean started stroking again as Austin stretched out.

“I will get to the bottom of this,” he vowed, sweeping his tail across Dean’s legs.

“Sure you wi…OW! Lord t’undering Jesus, cat! I’m attached to those!”

“Then maybe you should consider where my claws are before you make another patronizing observation.” Having leaped safely away from any physical retaliation, Austin curled up into a tight ball on Claire’s pillow and closed his eye. “Turn out the light, would you. It’s the middle of the night.”

*

“Where are we?”

“Based on the cannons, the parapets, and that big guardhouse,” Claire hissed, grabbing a handful of Lance’s wet shirt and dragging him down behind the buttress, “I’d say we were in a fort.”

“Which fort?”

“I don’t know.” They were still on the Otherside, although which Otherside she wasn’t entirely certain—a concept she’d take the time to find disturbing the moment she was no longer personally responsible for an idiot Bystander. Motioning for him to follow, she murmured, “Stay close,” and led the way along the inside curve of the outer wall. When she paused in the triangular shadow of a small lean-to, he tucked up tight behind her. She reached back and shoved hard enough to break the contact between them. “Notthat close.”

He inched in again.“What are we doing here?”

“You yelled cannonball as you hit the water and that influenced the path.”

“This is Meryat’s doing, isn’t it?”

“No.” Claire measured the distance between their hiding place and the guardhouse and decided a sprint across open ground with a Bystander in tow was just too dangerous—no matter how much she would dearly love to lose said Bystander. They hadn’t seen any actual guards, but that didn’t meanthereweren’t any actual guards.

“But…”

“Would youplease shut up.”

“But why is it dark?”

“It’s night.” She didn’t know why the magic word wasn’t working—whether it was her, or him, or a combination of them both—but only an urgent need to return to the mall kept her from trying out a few more words. Any delays at this point would only serve the segue.

“It wasn’t night at the beach.”

Any delays at this point…“No, it wasn’t.” She’d be willing to detour and take him back to the beach, but that didn’t seem to be possible. That path had closed behind them. And taking him back to the real world would take far too long. Time she—and the world—didn’t have.

“This is Meryat’s…”

“No, it isn’t. Shut up.”

On the other side of the lean-to, the wall curved out to the left. Wet skirt clinging to her legs, she crept forward, stumbled as Lance grabbed hold of the fabric, and managed to regain her balance without doing anything Lance would regret for the rest of his very short life. She followed the wall into a shallow alcove and began running her hands over the stone.

Lance crowded in with her.“What are you looking for?”

“A door.”

“Why?”

“So we can go through it.”

“And then we’ll be on the other side of it!”

“Yes…no.” She didn’t know what the alcove was for, but it wasn’t an access to anything. “Didn’t I tell you to shut up?”

“Yes!”

Turning brought them almost nose to chest. Claire glared up at the oblivious grad student.“How many times am I going to have to say shut up before you actually do it?”

Lance looked thoughtful.“I don’t know.”

*

“So you used this budgie mirror to contact a magic mirror in the Emporium…” Frowning at his reflection, Arthur turned the tiny mirror between long fingers. “…which is both the store nearest to the darkness anchoring the segue and the place where you and the Keepers crossed through to thisside.”