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Something came at me in a rush of huge, bat-like wings, but Saffy jerked me to the side before I saw it clearly. And before I ended up as road kill, although I barely noticed. I was too busy gawping like a tourist, because I’d seen portals before, and even been in a few. But nothing like this.
Nothing even close to this.
It was the Grand Central Station of portals, I thought, in awe.
They were all different colors: one electric blue; another neon green; one pink enough to rival Hilde’s handbag; another a brilliant, sunny yellow; there was a purple so rich it looked like it was laced with glitter, a white so bright it hurt my eyes, and an ebony so dark that no light seemed to escape it at all, like a black hole had opened up inside the room.
There had to be thirty of them, maybe more. I couldn’t tell because, while some were at least two stories tall, others were as small as my doubled fists, just tiny things, and hard to spot in all the moving light. It cascaded down from the largest as if through stained glass, increasing the cathedral-like feel of the place. And throwing a moving, watery rainbow onto the crowd, while the combined energy field vibrated the rock beneath our feet.
But the fact that the portals were literally powerful enough to move a mountain wasn’t the most impressive thing about them. That would be the fact that they were fritzing and sparking with tiny, lightning-like filaments, sometimes fighting with each other, and occasionally arcing away to blow off this person’s hat or to shock that person’s backside. The wind generated by all that energy was also blowing people’s hair and stuff around, causing them to clutch their belongings tightly as they plowed ahead.
I could see it all, because the portals were just giant, 2-D, semitransparent circles hanging in the air, instead of being projected against anything. Passengers entered them from the interior of the circle and exited from the opposite side, often at the same time. That sometimes made it appear as if a man went in and a woman came out, causing me to do a few double takes.
And then to do another when a portal—roughly human height and bright green—suddenly winked out, causing a fey-looking woman barreling ahead and carrying a load of packages to hit a large . . . something . . . that had just emerged from the other side.
She went down, her packages scattering everywhere, while the large shaggy something, with a head the size and shape of a buffalo’s, turned to regard her in surprise. And then to help her up with a giant paw and assist her in picking up her belongings. She shoved bright purple hair out of her face and thanked him prettily.
I just stood there and blinked at them.
“May I have your attention, please.” The announcement cut through the cacophony, loud enough to make me jump. “May I have your attention, please. We are sorry to announce that service to Lalaquaie, Avery, and the Green Mountains has been disrupted. This is due to a roaming party having been sighted in the area. Management apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.”
A groan went through the space, and a bunch of people broke off from the crowd and went grumbling back out of the circle of light, looking like travelers who had just missed their train.
Which is basically what they were, I realized.
It really was Grand Central, or at least the magical, highly illegal, the-Circle-would-shit-a-brick-if-they-saw-this equivalent.
“Where are they getting all the power?” I yelled at Saffy, while it blew my hair in my face. “I didn’t think there was a ley line sink anywhere near here!”
That was the only thing I knew of that could fuel something like this. The ley lines, usually used for quick transport by people with the stomach for it, were rivers of magical power that flowed around the earth. Their source was debated, but one thing was sure: when a number of them crossed at the same point, they created pools of energy that were a coveted resource in the magical world. But the only place like that nearby was on the other side of Vegas, not to mention being in the Circle’s hands.
Saffy said something, but I couldn’t hear her. It was deafening this close. She must have thought so, too, because she was already tugging me away, out of the cathedral-like central space, and into . . .
“What is this?” I asked, stumbling forward slightly, because the floor was uneven and I was too busy staring around to pay attention. The portal light was still bright here, but no longer blinding. Allowing me to see that the main travel hub bisected a long, rock-cut corridor lined with shops, cafés, restaurants, and—
“What’s that?” I said. And hurried across the crowded causeway to a shop framed by large, glowing crystal formations in bright pink and yellow, where dwarves were hammering out something on giant anvils.
The anvils were huge, as were the hammers they were using. But scattered around the cave-like shop, behind force fields covering depressions in the rock, were the most exquisite, delicate creations imaginable. Gorgeous necklaces in quivering gold flakes that scintillated fascinatingly when you breathed on them. Daggers of chased silver set with what had to be talisman jewels, because they boiled with enough power to raise the hair on my arms, and I wasn’t even that close. Chalices covered with runes that flashed different colors as various sorts of people passed by, one of which had an almost human-looking eye that opened and blinked at me when I accidentally brushed the pedestal it was on.
I reached out, unthinking, to steady it, and Hilde grabbed my arm. “You bond with it, you buy the nasty thing,” she warned me, as a dwarf rubbed his hands on his apron and came hurrying over.
But the cup righted itself on its own, and I was already caught in wonder by the next shop in line.
“Oh, wow,” I murmured, running over to stare through the huge, force field–like front window, behind which a trio of animated mannequins was slowly turning.
They were interesting enough on their own—with scarlet lips that stretched into smiles when they noticed my interest and bright, jewel-like eyes that completely failed to look human, but I was more captivated by what they were wearing.
“What is that?” I breathed, watching as the exquisite evening dress one of them had on, a light, floaty, silken thing, like flower petals made into cloth, suddenly changed—into scale-like armor that cascaded down the full length of it, turning it into a battle dress to match the shield that folded out from the purse she’d been carrying.
Goddamn, I could use one of those!
But I hardly had time to take it in before a little graffitied crab was waving its pincers at me from a nearby rock wall. It was bright red and blended in a little too well with the stone. But the movement caught my eye, and its urgency made me follow it from the front of the sushi place it had been decorating, across the bumpy floor, and over to the other side of the huge, mall-like space.
Where I was promptly distracted by a magical tattoo parlor where powerful tats were being applied to several clients. And by a candy store, where a kid had just dropped a package, releasing a cloud of buzzing taffy bees. And by a bookstore full of animated ladders that zipped around overstuffed shelves five stories high and advertised book binding in “properly sourced dragon hide—certificates upon request.” And by a florist, where gorgeous flowers spilled out of the shop and into the walkway in colorful profusion.
The scent was almost overpowering this close, because I didn’t know these fragrances. And because the baskets of dried herbs inside were adding their perfume to the fresh flowers piled around the door. But despite that, a group of bright pink blooms were so sweet that I couldn’t resist moving in for a—
Saffy grabbed my arm. “Don’t sniff those. Unless you like fur.”
