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"Got it." I figured the answer worked for both of them. "What now?"
Kaylin pointed ahead. I followed his gesture and there saw a pair of what looked like beacons, lit up brighter than the Space Needle on New Year's. As I gazed at them, the shapes began to sink through and I realized what they were.
"The Twin Oaks!"
"Yes. If they were just ordinary trees, you wouldn't be seeing them nearly so well. They'd be lit up, yes, as with the auras of all living things, but not like this. Look around. Really try to focus because so much out here depends on learning to open your mind in order to see more than one dimension at once."
Once again I tried to breathe and panicked briefly as no air flowed into or out of my lungs. I caught myself and let my fear settle.
"What am I looking for?"
"Think of Rhiannon and Leo. Then look for them."
I brought Rhiannon's face to mind. Her smile, her red braid, the sparkle in her eyes . . . then I thought of Leo and--
"Whoa . . . there they are!"
Not two yards from where we stood, I could see them, vague and indistinct but their auras shone like the neon of a bar sign. Leo's was green, steady and brilliant. But Rhiannon's aura crackled, her energy looking tight--as if she had clamped restraints on it. Flaring like sunspots, it tried to break free time and again and was yanked back to meld again into her body. The tension was palpable, as if she were wrestling with a nest of writhing snakes.
"Shit . . . she's going to explode someday and it's not going to be long. Look at that--she's got so much repressed energy that it will eat her alive if she doesn't do something soon."
Kaylin nodded. "We have to take her in hand, help her overcome her fear of the fire. She could burn up with that much repressed force."
Spontaneous combustion. The thought ran through my head with alarming clarity and I could so easily see her setting herself up for it. Surely she could feel the power shifting, though? Or had she blocked any natural connection out of fear she'd misuse it again? One way or another, we had to help her find balance.
"How are you doing? Think you're ready to go check on the Barrow, or do you need another moment to adjust?" Kaylin--or the inky black shape that passed for him--leaned against a splotch that I finally realized was a boulder back in the physical plane.
I gauged my comfort level. I still felt misty and oddly at loose ends, but I had gotten over my fear of not breathing, and the shapes on the astral were becoming clearer and more defined to my new eyes.
"I think I'm ready. What do we do? And how will we know if they see us?" I tested out my footing on the ground. Dreamwalking felt kind of what I always imagined bouncing around on the surface of the moon might feel like.
"If we fall into a field that negates the magic, we'll know all too well. The question is: Will they have any seers capable of ferreting out astral entities? Essentially, psychic spies? That's our biggest worry, providing the magic holds. Just keep your eyes and ears open. Focus on the person you want to hear and tune in that way."
He motioned to me and we headed toward the Twin Oaks. A nervousness settled in my solar plexus. It was odd not to feel my body. Was this what it felt like to be an Elemental? Never solid, but instead made of shadow-stuff?
We neared the oaks and the energy between them crackled, lightning bolts in miniature flaring between the trunks. The trees were ancient, with swirling rings in their aura. They were old past counting and their roots ran deep into the world, their veins glowing beneath the surface. They burrowed down--foot after foot the sparkling anchors delved through the soil. They had been alive and growing long before my ancestors set foot on this land.
The energy flowing between the trunks set up a grid of sparkling lines through which we had to pass. I sucked in my breath and wondered if the portal would knock us off the astral, or if it was simply a gateway.
Kaylin paused. "Let me go first. If something happens, then you run like hell and ask your Elemental to escort you to the nearest dreamwalker to see if they will take you back over to the physical side."
"Won't this just wear off?" I blinked. "I thought there was a time limit on the spell?"
"Theoretically. In practice, I don't know." He shrugged. "Here goes nothing. I'll cross over, then return for you if everything's okay." Before I could say a word, he passed through the portal--and in the glare of smoke and mirrors was gone from sight.
I waited, watching the portal. If I'd been able to breathe, I would have been holding my breath but barring that, I counted seconds. Of course, on the astral--as in the realm of Fae--time ran differently. We could be out here for days and only minutes would pass in the physical world, or vice versa. Still no sign of Kaylin. Where the fuck was he, and what was I going to do if he didn't come back?
I was about ready to follow him--he didn't really think I was going to run off and leave him there if something happened, did he?--when there was a shimmer between the oaks and he reappeared, motioning to me.
I hurried over to his side, Ulean following me in her cloud of starstuff.
"Is it safe?"
Kaylin nodded. "For now, at least. But we were right to worry. There's a group of the Indigo Court Fae near the mound. I don't think they can see us. Let's get our butts over there before that changes."
He grabbed my hand and the smoke of his hand mingled together with mine to form an odd merging of our bodies. It was as if we were conjoined twins, bound by our fingers.
"Hold on to me when we go through the portal. It's a little freaky."
