“He’ll come back—there’s almost nothing that can actually hurt him when he’s like that.”
She was half right. Terrano did come back, racing around the corner and ducking. Something flew after him—fire? Bolt? It was dark and slender and moved quickly.
To Kaylin’s surprise and growing horror, she could see that he was both transparent and bleeding.
Kaylin ran to meet him while Hope squawked. She could see blood with both eyes, winged and unwinged. She couldn’t see a pursuer with either. Bellusdeo leaped above her, landing behind the fleeing Terrano. She’d drawn a sword, although it wouldn’t be her most significant weapon. No, that was her breath, and she did exhale. A fan of impressively pale flame covered Terrano’s flight.
Kaylin hadn’t drawn her weapons; they were long knives, and they weren’t impressive in a strategic ground fight—or a battle backed by magic, which this clearly was.
Instead, she reached out for Terrano. He ran straight for her, leaping forward to take both of her outstretched hands in his; they passed through.
“Come back to where I’m standing!” she shouted. “Do it now!”
He tried to grab her hands again, and this time she could feel something pass through her palms.
“Hope!”
Hope did nothing. Kaylin felt the air chill, although both Tiamaris and Bellusdeo had added instant, ambient heat to it. Her annoyance vanished, her worry deepening instantly. This was something Hope wouldn’t interfere in until and unless Kaylin was willing to sacrifice something meaningful in exchange.
It was the only thing she hated about the familiar.
“Tell Teela we need her hereright now!” she shouted. “She needs to bring Terrano back to our plane!”
06
She wasn’t certain if Terrano contacted Teela or not, but Teela skidded around the corner. She carried her greatsword in one hand, and with the other, she grabbed Kaylin by the arm.
Hope squawked, then.
“Next time,” Teela said, through clenched teeth, “we bring Mandoran.” She sheathed her sword and reached for Terrano with her free hand. Shecouldtouch Terrano. Kaylin tried with her free hand; she couldn’t.
“Torrisant?” Terrano said. His voice was weaker. “He’s better at this than you are.”
Kaylin felt something—sharp, hot—travel up her arm.
“He says he’s better at doing what you do—but Mandoran is far better at taking something with him when he sidesteps into different planes.”
Kaylin turned to stare at Teela.
“Terrano can’t come to where we are,” the Barrani Hawk explained. “He’s been trying. There’s only one option left. You have to go to him.”
Kaylin tried, three more times, to grab Terrano’s hand; each time, her hand passed through his. In the background, Teela cursed. Her grip on Kaylin’s arm was white-knuckled.
“I’m trying to connect the two of you, if I canget everyone else to shut up and let Mandoran speak.” Her expression was venomous, which wasn’t fair—Kaylin wasn’t the one being distracting.
Squawk. Squawk.
Teela inhaled slowly. She exhaled slowly as well. She’d been forced to sheathe her sword in what had become a combat zone. If Terrano had been injured—and demonstrably he had—it meant that Teela could be attacked just as easily.
Kaylin could see Terrano’s injury; if he wasn’t solid, he was close enough. She stopped even trying to talk to Teela as she concentrated on reaching the most chaotic of the cohort members. Teela was right. Whatever Kaylin was doing to reach the space Terrano occupied felt like a series of sharp, harsh, full-body slaps. When Kaylin had been with Mandoran, she hadn’t evennoticedthe shift. None of that mattered. She continually tried to connect with Terrano’s hand—which she could clearly see. Her hand passed through his each time.
Teela cursed. Kaylin cursed. Terrano said nothing, which wasn’t like him.
“What did they hit you with?”
Terrano’s mouth moved. Kaylin couldn’t catch the syllables. Or make sense of them. She’d heard him clearly before; it felt like Teela was moving her in the wrong direction.
“Are you ready?” Teela clearly wasn’t finished trying. “I think I’ve finally found the right place to shift.”