Page 16 of Trick Of Light

“And Ryan and Leith have built the power, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking at them. “Both of you are very strong. That power’s been building, as everyone noted back home. The others aren’t as strong, so they couldn’t make the crossing. I doubt even Jael could, or Deidre. It takes a lot of strength to move between the planes, plus to shield another with your strength.”

“We couldn’t open this kind of portal, though,” Ryan said with certainty.

“No, only I can. Also, I can only bring with me those who are bound to me, who I consider family.”

“We’re your family?” Julian sounded really touched. “That’s how you think of us?”

Raphael looked away, into the white nothingness all around him.

“Hey,” I said, tugging on his hand. “He’s talking to you. Answer the question.”

His frustrated huff made everyone smile. “Yes. You’re Jackson’s family, so…I think of you as mine as well.”

“Me too,” Simon affirmed. “I feel the same about everyone.”

“That’s great and all,” Leith replied irritably, needing, as usual, to get us back on track. “And I appreciate the kumbaya moment, but that doesn’t answer the question of why we didn’t notice that Deidre’s people weren’t with us or hear them yelling. I mean, I would’ve been screaming my head off if the roles were reversed. So what kept them from coming with us?”

“As I said,” Raphael clarified, “my portal senses that you all, for lack of a better word, belong to me. You’re mine, and therefore remain at my side crossing planes. I am the rock you all cleave to; we can’t be parted. I have no ties to the others, so they couldn’t pass through. It’s as simple as that.”

“But you weren’t positive of that until now?”

“I thought maybe my power would still allow them to come. I mean, there’s no manual, right? It’s sort of hit or miss.”

“And why couldn’t we hear them?”

“Whenever you cross from one plane to another, you can’t hear a thing, even if it was right in front of you. Because even though you can see the two places, they’re actually separated by immense time and space.”

“Are all kyries so well informed?” Julian queried.

“We walk in between realms,” Raphael said matter-of-factly. “Of course we know everything.”

“Of course.” Julian chuckled.

“I can tell you the secrets of the universe,” he boasted, and I couldn’t help smiling at him.

Ryan exhaled sharply. “So now what, you and Jackson will hunt Moira alone?”

His words sobered us all up quickly.

“I don’t see another option,” I told him. “Do you?”

“No,” Ryan agreed. “And I’m sorry.”

“Let’s focus on this,” Raphael directed, and we all stopped talking as the ground that had been like smooth marble suddenly changed to white gravel. “We’re coming to the part where we’re going to get sucked through a wormhole, and you have to prepare yourselves.”

He’d told us this the night before. That it was like base-jumping, except instead of falling, we’d be pulled. There would be a feeling in our chests, and then we’d be off. He said to cross our arms and not open them until we touched down.

I had been skydiving years ago, and it was like that, the yank of the parachute when it opened, a catching, except this hit my chest, was suddenly inside, and then I was wrenched off my feet and traveling forward fast, very fast, and I could feel the wind on my face. There was nothing to look at and estimate how fast it was, no buildings or trees, no sky, just this feeling of air rushing over me. I was afraid of what stopping would look like, but suddenly the light was too bright, and I closed my eyes.

The next moment I found myself on my back, squinting up at Raphael. “What happened?”

He waggled his eyebrows at me. “That last step is a doozy.”

“Ass,” I muttered under my breath.

“You can take those off,” he told me, and I noted that he’d removed his goggles and they were hanging around his neck.