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Sharmila’s eyes narrow. “The Kah-Gash?”
“You know about it?” I sigh with relief.
“We helped Beranabus search for a piece once,” Shark says. “It wasn’t our most successful mission.”
“I am not convinced of that,” Sharmila says. “I always suspected… Kernel?” She raises an eyebrow.
My smile broadens. “Yes. He was a piece. Grubbs is another. So am I.”
“What are you talking about?” Shark frowns.
Sharmila waves his question away. “Does Beranabus know?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you not with him?”
“He didn’t want to keep us together until he found out more about how the weapon works. He thought I’d be safe here. Nobody else knew. At least we didn’t think so. But if the attack was directed at me, maybe my secret’s out. If that’s the case…”
“…Beranabus must be informed.” Sharmila nods. “I understand now.”
“Care to explain it to the rest of us?” Shark asks, bemused.
“Later.” She thinks about it for a few seconds. “I would go but I am old and slow, even when pumped full of magic. Besides, I know a lot about healing, so I might be of more help here. Meera?”
“I’m not as strong as you,” Meera says.
“But you are younger and faster. In this instance that is important.”
“I don’t like that other universe,” Meera mutters.
“Neither do I. Believe me, I would not send you there lightly.”
“You really think this is necessary?”
Sharmila nods slowly.
Meera sighs and agrees reluctantly.
“Shark?” Sharmila asks.
“You want me to place my life on the line without knowing the reason why?” he scowls.
“Yes.”
His scowl disappears and he shrugs. “Fair enough.”
“You understand how time works in that other universe?” Sharmila asks me. “It can pass quicker or slower than it does here. They might find him in a matter of minutes as we experience time or it could be several months.”
“I know. But we don’t have a choice. I’d go myself, except if it’s a trap…”
“…demons might be lying in ambush for you. Very well. Let us not waste any more time. I will stay with Dervish. Shark and Meera will accompany you to the cellar.” She smiles tightly at Shark. “You have been to hell in a bucket before, my old friend. Now it is time to go there without the bucket.”
In the cellar. I’m working on a spell to create a window to the demon universe. It’s an area Beranabus goes to frequently—his father took his mother there when he abducted her. Because Beranabus has opened a window to that realm many times, it’s a relatively quick and easy procedure, though it still takes me an hour.
As I complete it, a thin lilac window forms in the cellar. I get a shiver down my spine. I never saw a window like this in my own time, but Beranabus has been through thousands of them. He acts like it’s no big thing, but he loathes these demonic passageways. He always expects to die when he steps through, having no real way of knowing what’s lurking on the other side.
“Will you be all right staying here with Sharmila?” Meera asks.
