“You what? Small friend—” Lyyll stared down at her.
“I’ve been a familiar in the human world,” Kii said. “I’m not ready to go back there, but Yyygrdii doesn’t have demons, and you are a kind and interesting person. I would like to adventure there with you.” She met Lyyll’s eyes for a long stare, eyes locked until they blinked as one and looked away.
“Aaiiiah.” Lyyll sounded pleased. “I will bring home amazing stories and a small friend. My clan mother may yet forgive me for being gone so long.”
“Surely they won’t be angry, when you explain?” Darien set a hand on the dry warm scales of Lyyll’s arm.
“No, have no fear.” Lyyll patted his hand. “They will understand. But small friends are much prized on my world. Having Kii at my side will be a joy and a matter of pride. And the worlds are shifting. If demons ever do find us, Kii’s knowledge and mine may be useful.”
Grim rose on his hind legs. “I have not Seen Yyygrdii taken by demons in any vision so far. One can hope that expertise will not be needed.”
Lyyll lowered her head far down to touch her nose to Grim’s. “Thank you. I admit, I have had enough adventures to like the sound of a few years doing nothing more exciting than fishing our overbold elvers out of the local pond.”
“May it be so,” Magda said with a gesture that flickered with power.
Lyyll looked at Silas. “Do you have those images of the gate?”
“In my pocket.” Silas dug the Polariods out and handed them to Lyyll.
“Must you leave so fast?” Xsing asked.
“Or faster.” Lyyll tossed her head, tilted as if listening to something. She turned to the nearest wall of the chamber. “Now. Immediately. Is this an acceptable place to draw my runes?”
Conservator Kell said, “I suppose it’s as good as any. I will ward the space, before you go.”
Xsing handed Lyyll the pen Nolo had used, and she took it with a nod. Consulting the photos in her hand, she began sketching the doorway on the wall. Silas followed closely, watching each stroke. Twice he questioned her, and they conferred over the picture.
Darien murmured to Grim, “Am I the only one a bit nervous about this?”
“I doubt it, young sorcerer.” Grim sat with his tail neatly tucked over his toes, but his ears twitched.
When only the destination rune at the top was blank, Silas took the photos back and stepped away. Conservator Kell gestured, and a red barrier rose between Lyyll and Kii and the rest of the company.
Lyyll bent and picked up Kii, setting the familiar on her shoulder. Kii braced herself, all three legs spread and her hands clutching at Lyyll’s neck spines. Lyyll’s eyelids drooped shut and she stood in front of her runes, swaying back and forth, hand raised and trembling. Then she blinked, she stepped over to the top corner, and drew unfamiliar runes in sure, fast strokes. “My home calls me,” she said. “Farewell. I am glad to have met you all.”
Setting down the pen, she raised both hands and drew power. Even through the barrier of Kell’s circle, Darien thought he could taste the rising of that odd, cool glacier flavor. The rune gate began to glow, pale blue, then turquoise. In the center, the haziness of a portal darkened and fuzzed the flat gray of the wall. Slowly the haze spread, deepened, taking on an echo of space far deeper than a flat surface. The haze met the sides of the rune gate and stopped, flickering and shifting.
Lyyll didn’t say anything else, just extended her hand to the wall and into it. Her head came up and she stepped forward, one stride, two, and she and Kii were swallowed up by the mists of the gate. For a minute and then another, the structure stood there, shining and pulsing with power. Then it expanded outward. A wave of pale green hit Conservator Kell’s barrier in a shower of sparks. The collision was so bright Darien closed his eyes, squeezing his lids against the yellow-orange afterimages.
When he looked back, the wall behind the barrier stood simple and flat, plain gray, without a hint of runes or power.
“That was unexpected.” Conservator Kell kept his barrier up for a dozen breaths before letting it drop. He went to the wall, running his hands across the surface. “Power detection is not my talent, but I sense nothing.”
Magda joined him, deploying seeking runes and shaking her head slowly. “Nope,” she said after a couple of minutes. “Nothing left.”
“Did it work, though?” Darien asked urgently. “Do you think they got through?”
Grim said, “We should know soon. If Kii doesn’t come back home in death.”
“That’s well thought of.” Conservator Kell headed out through the curtain.
They waited, Silas staring at the photos in his hands, Jasper playing with the pen, trying without success to write on his own palm. Magda busied herself dividing up their remaining supplies evenly into their packs and her bag, and Darien knelt and helped her. Keeping his hands busy was good.
After perhaps fifteen minutes, Conservator Kell returned, spreading all three hands. “No sign of Kii’s spirit in the hall of remembrance, nor has she returned alive and unbonded. That suggests they both made it to Yyygrdii intact.”
Darien let out a long breath and sat down hard.
“Thank the gods for that,” Silas murmured. Then he turned to Xsing. “Can we check your world display before I build my gate? See if our route to Earth is clear yet? I’d far rather go directly home than via Greenworld, if we can.”
“Yes, of course.” Xsing rubbed his hands together. “Were it not for the demon and my fatigue, that would have been my first task. Come, everyone. Come along now.”
They left the packs where they were and followed Xsing out. The crowd at the door seemed to have gone, probably chasing after the demon and whatever exciting science tidbits it had in store for them.
The display chamber, when they reached it, lay dormant, a gray hollow ball of a room. Conservator Kell, who’d come with them, said, “Xsing, do you need more power restoration before you activate this?”
Xsing undulated one arm. “I have rested and consumed energy. I believe I am able to proceed.” He led the way around the balcony to his control nook.
Jojo sat there, legs bent, leaning against a wall. He jumped up as they approached. “Professor! You’re here. I kept my eyes on it, but did not attempt to power it up, just as you instructed.”
“Well done. Fortunately, I have returned and can do so myself.” Xsing went to his control panel and brought it to life with a touch and a word. Another word with a flow of now-familiar power, and the display room flickered to brightness, the shapes of worlds coalescing.
“Look there.” Silas pointed toward Earth. “Those fireworlds have moved, haven’t they?”
Jojo bent over some other panel on the wall and said, “Yes. I am measuring the displacement, Professor. We have never seen anything like this. A largescale recoil of four fireworlds.”
Xsing rubbed his hands together. “The recoil must be due to the portals we cut. Perhaps two went to the same fireworld. Or perhaps the last portal didn’t cause the same force, since it vented into the Veil.”
“Are we clear to get back?” Darien craned his neck, trying to get a feel for the angles between Home and Earth. As far as he could tell, Earth still had a cluster of hells nearby, though perhaps not as close as they’d been.