by Anne Bishop
He took her hand. She flinched at the touch, then chose to accept it. Michael’s touch, whether it was casual or in the heat of lovemaking, felt natural. So did her cousin Sebastian’s touch. Maybe because they were the ones whose hearts had found a way to reach hers. But with everyone else, even her mother, Nadia, there was still a moment when dark feelings wanted to rise in response to a touch—because where she had been, in that landscape she had created, anything that could touch would most likely also kill.
“Michael wouldn’t say why he didn’t want you to be alone on your island. Will you tell me?”
She studied the holy man who had been her friend since she was fifteen years old, who had helped her shape this part of Sanctuary into a place where people could come to find peace and renew their spirits. He had crossed over to an unknown landscape with her when the hearts living there had called out so strongly she had to respond. He was a trusted counselor to many who visited Sanctuary. And he was the person she trusted to be a guide for a Guide of the Heart.
“A landscape is calling to me,” she said, watching the koi. “A dark landscape.” She felt the sudden tension in his body, but he said nothing, so she could give him more words. “Its access point appeared in my garden a few weeks ago.”
“In the same way Lighthaven first came to your attention?” he asked, referring to a Place of Light she had saved from the Eater of the World.
“Yes.” Ephemera had brought a bowl-shaped stone and a silver cuff bracelet from Lighthaven to act as an access point she could use to cross over. Taking that step between here and there had begun her connections to the White Isle—and to Michael and his sister Caitlin Marie, a gifted young Landscaper who had been condemned as a sorceress because no one in her village had understood her power. “But for this landscape, Ephemera has brought a triangle of grass as an access point. It calls to me, but there isn’t enough of a connection yet for me to cross over.”
“So you wait to see if the connection grows or fades, yes?” Yoshani asked. “You’ve done this before.”
“I’ve done this before,” she agreed.
“Then why is it different now?”
She turned her head and looked at him. Her fingers tightened on his, giving him no escape.
“Because,” Belladonna said, “Michael is afraid I’ll disappear into a dark landscape and not come back.”
She looked into Yoshani’s eyes. They held alarm now. His heart hammered; she could feel his pulse through his fingers.
“Say it,” he said quietly.
“I want to call Ephemera.” Her voice was malevolent and dreamy. “I want to call Ephemera and have it wrap you in vines as thick as tree limbs. Wrap you in vines full of thorns that will pierce your skin so you hang over the koi pond like a succulent, bloody fruit. I could have done that there. I did that there. There was nothing I couldn’t do when I was there.”
“Is that what you want to do to me?” Yoshani asked.
Did she? Desire swept through her.…
???
…and Ephemera trembled, but the world wouldn’t disobey her. No matter what she asked of it.
She took a deep breath, willing the side of her that belonged to the Light to be the part of her sitting by the koi pond with a friend.
“No,” Glorianna said. “I don’t want to do that.”
“Yes, you do.” Yoshani placed his other hand over their clasped ones. “But today you choose not to. Isn’t that how a life is shaped? By all the choices that we make each day?”
“How did you get to be so wise?”
“I watch the koi and the clouds, and I learned from you.”
They sat in companionable silence. Then Glorianna said, “Did Brighid bake today?”
Laughing, Yoshani pulled her to her feet. “So that was the reason Michael’s journey began today and you agreed to visit.”
“Maybe. It seemed a shame to ignore fresh bread.”
“Indeed.”
As they headed for the guesthouse, currents of power swirled around her, through her. She stopped and looked toward the small island that divided a stream.
Something is changing, she thought. Has already changed.
“It appears someone else has kept track of baking day,” Yoshani said.
“No.” Glorianna headed for the island. “Something’s wrong.”
Nothing is wrong. The heart has no secrets from you. You just haven’t wanted to acknowledge what you felt in Lee’s heart the last time he visited the Island in the Mist. Wasn’t that one of your own sorrows all of these years? That he never had a life of his own because you needed him? But…
“Lee?” she called. “Lee!” She ran across the stepping stones. The moment her feet touched the island, she knew.
“Glorianna!” Yoshani rushed up behind her.
“He’s not here.” She walked to the center of the island where the fountain drew fresh water from the stream. Lee’s pack was sitting there, unbuckled, as if he’d intended to come right back.
“I’ll look around,” Yoshani said, sounding calm yet grim.
She sat on the bench by the fountain and closed her eyes. She had created this island, had intended it to be a private sanctuary within Sanctuary. But the island had resonated with Lee the moment he set foot on it. It had become a small landscape that he could impose over any other landscape. Safe ground.
The grief swelled up inside her—and a painful joy. Her eyes filled with those feelings until the feelings spilled over as tears.
“Travel lightly, brother,” she whispered. Ephemera, hear me. Give him opportunities to find the life he seeks. But if he wants to come back, help him find his way home.
“Glorianna.” Yoshani went down on one knee in front of her.
“He doesn’t resonate with me anymore,” she said. “He doesn’t belong in my landscapes anymore. He crossed over to somewhere else.”
“Where would he go?” Yoshani asked.
“Somewhere I can’t.” She swallowed tears. “I need to return to the Island in the Mist and leave a message for Michael. Then I need to get messages to Sebastian and my mother. Will you help me?”
He let out a pained sigh as he started to rise. “Yes, of course.” He froze, then sank back down. “Your mother’s landscapes are held protected within your garden. And so are Michael’s.”
“Yes.”
“If Lee no longer resonates with your landscapes, he won’t be able to reach theirs either, won’t be able to reach Sebastian in the Den or Nadia in Aurora.”
“No. He won’t.”
“What about Caitlin Marie’s landscapes?”
“Her garden isn’t held within my garden, so he should be able to cross over to her landscapes if he wants to.”
Yoshani bowed his head. “But he won’t.”
“No, he won’t.”
“Then he’s left all of you.”
Because of me, she thought. He left everyone he knew because of me.
“Come away,” Yoshani said, rising to his feet. “We’ll take the pack and store it in his room at the guesthouse. Unless you think he’ll call the island to him and would want the pack?”
She rose, wishing they’d had one more of those silly sibling quarrels so that she could smile about it when she thought of him. “Lee can’t call the island. It doesn’t belong to him anymore.”
Chapter 6
Friends and family gathered at Philo’s Place in the Den, using the indoor dining room for this private meeting. Glorianna wasn’t sure why she’d chosen the Den instead of Nadia’s house in Aurora. Maybe because she needed to say these words in a landscape that was hers instead of one held by her mother?
She and Yoshani had left a message for Michael where he would find it the moment he returned from Foggy Downs, the village that was first on his list to visit. After leaving a message at Nadia’s house, she and Yoshani had gone to the Den.
She had created this landscape for Sebastian when they were fifteen years old. He had needed a place where he
would feel welcome, would feel at home. She had taken a dark piece of a city and reshaped it into this carnal carnival out of the wants and dreams and needs of the young incubus Sebastian had been.
The Den and the man had changed over the years, had matured. Had almost parted ways. In fact, she had almost lost her cousin when he’d been captured and taken to Wizard City, but he was still here. She needed to remember that a person could find his way home if his heart still belonged to a place or the people who waited for him there.
She managed to remain seated until Teaser walked into the room and grinned at her.
“Hey-a, Glorianna. I wanted to tell you—”
“Not now, Teaser,” Yoshani said quietly.
Glorianna pushed away from the table and began to pace. Being a Guide didn’t make her any less unhappy as a sister.
Teaser looked from one to the other, his grin fading. “Has something happened?”
“Yes,” Yoshani replied, “but let’s wait for everyone to arrive before we discuss it.”
“Daylight,” Teaser muttered. “I’ll go see what Philo has to drink.” He walked through the door that led to the kitchen.
Before he returned, Sebastian’s wife, Lynnea, entered the dining room. “Glorianna! It’s wonderful to see you here.”
“No, it’s not,” Teaser said as he swung back into the room with a tray full of bottles and glasses. “Well, it is, but she’s not here to play cards with the bull demons and win a jar of olives.”
“You play for olives?” Yoshani asked.
“I play for money most of the time, but Philo will trade meals for jars of olives or olive oil, so…” Teaser shrugged.
“Is something wrong?” Lynnea asked. “Where is Michael?”
“Foggy Downs,” Glorianna replied. “I left a message for him to meet us here, but we won’t wait for him.”
She saw the alarm in Lynnea’s blue eyes, but before Lynnea could ask any questions, Nadia and her husband, Jeb, walked in, followed by Sebastian.
Dressed in a moss green shirt and snug black denim pants, Sebastian had a body that would earn him a second look from any female old enough—or young enough—to dream about a man. The sable hair, sharp green eyes, and sinfully handsome face guaranteed he could have his pick of lovers. And he’d had his pick until he turned in his membership in the “I’m a badass incubus” club, married Lynnea, and became the Justice Maker for the Den. Of course, learning that he had inherited the deadly powers of a wizard from his father and was the heart Glorianna had used as the anchor for the Den might have had something to do with his decision to change careers.
Sebastian looked around. Anticipating him, Glorianna said, “Michael will be back as soon as he can. I didn’t ask Caitlin to join us. She’ll need to be told, but she doesn’t need to be here right now.”
“Told what?” Nadia asked at the same time Sebastian said, “Where’s Lee?”
Glorianna took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “Lee crossed over to another landscape, one that doesn’t resonate with me—or with anyone else in the family.”
“What do you mean?” “When did this happen?” “Glorianna…” Protests and questions from Nadia, Jeb, and Lynnea.
“Wait,” Sebastian said sharply. Nudging Lynnea out of his way, he walked up to Glorianna and studied her. “Why do you think he crossed over?”
“I don’t think it; I know it,” Glorianna said.
“He’s a Bridge and your brother. He wouldn’t leave.”
“You’re my cousin and you almost did.”
“No.”
“Yes.” This was why she’d come to the Den to tell the family about Lee. Because she’d almost lost Sebastian too, and she was hoping he would help the others understand. “You had grown away from the Den, had begun to want something else. If the Eater of the World hadn’t escaped when It did, if Lynnea hadn’t come to the Den when she did, you would have crossed over one night to rendezvous with a woman you had met in the twilight of waking dreams—and you wouldn’t have come back. Even if you’d intended to return to the Den, you wouldn’t have found your way back.”
“But I did stay,” Sebastian protested.
“Because things changed,” Glorianna said. “You changed. You realigned with the Den in a new way and opened your heart to the daylight landscapes in order to make a life that included the woman you love.”
“What does that have to do with Lee walking away from his family?”
“I’m not sure he walked away from everyone.” It hurt to admit that.
“Nadia’s landscapes are in your garden,” Yoshani said quietly. “While we made arrangements for this meeting, you seemed certain that Lee couldn’t reach the landscapes held by your mother.”
“I did think that at first. But Mother’s landscapes don’t resonate with me; they resonate with her.” Glorianna looked at her mother, who was a Fifth-Level Landscaper. “Lee is a Bridge. He can pick up a stone and make a one-shot bridge to Aurora anytime he wants to without going through any of my landscapes. So I think he’ll still be able to reach you.”
“Or he could use that island of his, right?” Jeb asked.
She shook her head, her eyes still on her mother. “That island doesn’t resonate with him anymore.”
Nadia sucked in a breath and pressed her fingers over her lips.
“Damn the daylight, Glorianna,” Sebastian snapped as the door opened behind him. “Why did this happen?”
“Why did what happen?” Michael set his daypack by the door. He hurried over to Glorianna and wrapped an arm around her waist.
Sebastian stared at Michael, whose brown hair was always a little shaggy and whose smoky blue eyes usually held a friendly look and missed little about the people around him. He was a Magician, ill-wisher, and luck-bringer—and he was learning to be a Guide to the world. Ephemera called him the Music because he used music to reach people’s hearts and keep his pieces of the world in balance.
After a long moment of staring at Michael, Sebastian’s sharp green eyes fixed on Glorianna. “He’s acting like a brat because you and the Magician are playing house?”
“Don’t be snide about a heart’s journey,” Glorianna warned. “And Michael and I are not playing house.”
“Will somebody tell me what’s going on?” Michael demanded.
“Lee’s gone,” Teaser said. “Crossed over somewhere and poofed. Even abandoned his little island.”
Michael looked thoughtful. Then he shook his head. “No. He doesn’t want to be around me, and I’m sorry to say it, darling, but he’s a fair ways out of tune with the darker side of you these days. But he’s not out of tune with the Light. The music in him is still in tune with Sanctuary.”
“The island that was his personal landscape doesn’t resonate with him anymore,” Glorianna said.
Michael looked grim. “It should.”
She pulled away from him. Couldn’t they see she was struggling to accept this? Why wouldn’t they let her accept this? “But it doesn’t. Because he’s had enough. Don’t you see? Lee is twenty-nine years old, and he has never had a life of his own because of me.”
“Glorianna!” Nadia said sharply, rising to her feet.
“It’s true, Mother. You know it is.” Feeling desperate, she took a step away from them all. “He trained at the School in order to be a Bridge for me. He avoided making friends because he couldn’t trust anyone because of me. He’s never had a lover, never been a lover in the fullest sense, because he wouldn’t take the chance of the woman betraying me. Then I walked away from him, walked away from everyone. Well, now he’s walked away from me.”
Silence.
“That was quite a performance,” Nadia said. “Should we pass a hat and throw in some coins?”
Stunned, Glorianna stared at her mother.
“We are not the only family in Ephemera who has had secrets,” Nadia said. “We’re not the only family who has had to take some care in what we say and how we live. Your brother wasn’t a Bri
dge for you out of some sense of family duty, Glorianna. He chose to work with you. He chose to stand with you. If he’d found a woman he loved as deeply as Sebastian loves Lynnea or Michael loves you, he would have brought her around to meet the family, to meet you. Lee isn’t alone because of you.”
Glorianna’s eyes stung with unshed tears. “Then why is he gone?”
“When was the last time Lee used the island?” Sebastian asked.
“He was doing a circuit, checking bridges,” Yoshani replied. “He returned to Sanctuary every two or three days to replenish his food and check in. When Glorianna noticed the island, I thought Lee had returned.” He tried to smile. “It was baking day, and Brighid always set some treats aside for him.”
“The music in a man’s heart doesn’t change that much that fast,” Michael said quietly. “I’m not saying Lee didn’t find a place of interest to him that isn’t within reach of the rest of us, but a man doesn’t change that fast.”
“Unless something happened to him,” Sebastian said.
“Or someone happened to him?” Teaser asked.
Glorianna stiffened. Why hadn’t she thought of that when she’d known it could happen?
“All right,” Michael said. “Who could change a man that fast?”
“Wizards,” Sebastian spat. “When I was held captive in Wizard City…”
“Your resonance changed,” Glorianna finished softly. “Because of what they did to you. We almost lost you, Sebastian.”
Michael turned to Yoshani. “You said Lee would check in. Do you know where he was?”
Yoshani picked up a small book from the table beside him. “Lee kept meticulous notes about the bridges he created—where they were, what kind, and what landscapes they connected.”
Glorianna pushed her long black hair away from her face and held out a hand for the book. “Let me see that. If he was avoiding my landscapes, he would have been checking bridges in Mother’s pieces of Ephemera.” She riffled pages until she reached the last notation, then tipped the book when Nadia came up beside her so that her mother could read it too.
“I know that bridge,” Nadia said. “It’s in the landscape that borders Aurora. It spans a creek near a village called Tully and provides a way to cross over to two of my other landscapes and one of yours.”
