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before me in chain link armor, a sword in her hand, red hair flowing in the
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wind, a smudge of blood across her chin. She looked fiercely beautiful. Beyond
her, I saw Juniper Castle, its walls half tumbled. Smoke rose from two of the
towers. Giant creatures, naked and hairy, carrying clubs and spears, roamed
the walls. Those had to be the trolls.
"Oberon?" she said. "What do you want?"
"I'm with Dad," I asked.
"Good. We are almost done here. Our vengeance is nearly complete. Tell him."
"He's about to destroy all the Shadows. You must leave now."
"What!" she cried. "How "
I shook my head. "We don't have time for that. You must return to Chaos as
quickly as you can. We don't know what will happen to anyone still in Shadows
when the end comes. Promise me you'll go?"
She hesitated, then nodded. "All right. But "
"Thanks. I have others to reach." I put my hand over the Trump, and she
disappeared, still calling questions. Hopefully she would hurry.
Next came Leona. I tried to contact her, concentrating as hard as I could,
but though I sensed her out there, she refused to respond. Probably minding
her orders, I thought unhappily. She had been told not to answer anyone, no
matter what, until we settled the matter of whoever was trying to destroy our
family.
"If you can hear me," I said, "this is Oberon. You aren't safe in Shadows
anymore. Get to Dad's house in the Beyond as fast as you can."
I could do no more than that.
My last Trump showed Syara. I got no response from her, either. I tried
sending the same message as the one I'd given Leona.
Then I put my trumps down and looked at Aber. He too had finished.
"Well?"
"I reached Titus," he said. "He and Conner are heading back. Blaise& sorry,
she wouldn't answer me."
I nodded slowly. "I spoke with Isadora. I couldn't reach Leona or Syara."
"Let me try them," he said.
"And I'll try Blaise."
We traded Trumps, and he concentrated on first one, then the other. Then he
shook his head.
"Nothing."
I raised Blaise's Trump and got only the faintest of stirring, as though she
were far away. Still I concentrated, willing her to appear before me,demanding
it.
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Finally her image wavered and came to life, though not clearly. She lay on a
padded bench sipping what looked like wine as scantily clad young men fanned
her with enormous wicker paddles. In the distance, I saw an emerald sea, with
languid waves splashing on a broad white beach. Gulls wheeled overhead, their
calls raucous.
"Oberon& " she said. Her voice sounded like it came from the depths of a cave,
flat and echoing.
"Get back to the Courts of Chaos as fast as you can," I told her. "You're in
danger where you are."
"Danger?" She laughed and looked about. "Here?"
I frowned. "All the Shadows, including the one you're in, are about to be
destroyed.
"Impossible!"
"This is the only warning you're going to get. Contact Fenn or Freda and join
them in the Beyond. It's your only hope. If I'm wrong& well, you can always go
back."
"Very well." She sat up, looking annoyed. How very like her. I covered the
Trump and broke our connection.
"I told Blaise," I said to Aber. Then I told him about the decadent scene I
had witnessed. We both had to laugh.
Our father, meanwhile, had finished his walk around the perimeter of the
Pattern. He was nodding and mumbling to himself, gesturing in the air as if
trying to do complicated calculations.
Standing, I climbed onto the immense flat rock and walked around its edge,
avoiding the Pattern, to join him.
"Well? Can you destroy it?" I asked.
"That is not the problem," he said in a low voice, so Aber wouldn't hear. "It
is only sand lying on top of the stone. It was& never meant to be permanent.
The next one must be."
"Sand?"
I looked down at the Pattern; it looked like a solid gold ribbon on top of
the rock. I reached out to touch it, but he caught my wrist.
"No."
"Why not?"
"To walk its length, you must start at the beginning. To enter anywhere else
would kill you."
"I wasn't going to walk it," I said. "I just wanted to see what it's made
of."
"Do not touch it."
"Dad?" Aber called. "Oberon?"
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"What?" Dworkin said sharply.
"We've been followed!"
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