The man stared at Erin for a long moment before he spoke.

“Who are you?” he said finally. His face had paled, and he sounded rather shaken. “How do you know that name?”

“My name is Erin Lir-Anaurian, or Erin Archer in the human world. And Edward Marin was my grandmother’s oldest brother.”

The man’s expression changed. “What’s your grandmother’s name?”

“Angela Johansen,” Erin said, watching his face. “But her maiden name was Marin, of course.”

“Angela…” the man repeated wistfully. He looked intently at Erin. “Yes,” he said slowly. “Yes…you have her eyes....”

He was silent for a moment, his gaze still searching Erin’s face. Then he sighed and turned away from her.

“Edward Marin…. Yes, I once went by that name.” He glanced back at Erin, and the corners of his mouth twitched. “I’ll admit, it never really occurred to me that I had a grandniece.”

“You've got quite a few of them, actually. And grandnephews.” Erin frowned at him. “But how are you even here? You were supposed to have died forty years ago!”

“Yes, I was supposed to. Exactly how I came to be here today is a very long story.” Edward glanced nervously up and down the hallway. “And I'm afraid I don’t have time for long stories right now. But I promise I’ll tell you another time if you tell me how you came to be here. I mean, a teenage human girl wandering around the Zeiryn Eyathar storage rooms on her own? And you just happen to be related to me? It seems like a very unlikely twist of fate, don’t you think?”

“It is a pretty strange coincidence, I guess. I don’t really know how I got here. Like I said, I got lost. I was here in the eyathar having my leg and hands fixed up.” She held out her bandaged hands for him to see. “When they got done with me, I left the room to go back to the room next door where my friend was, and I came out in one of these hallways. I was walking around trying to find my way back or find someone to help me when I ran into you. I recognized you from Kirchel’s pictures. I’m staying with her for the summer, and she’s got photos of you in her house.”

“Kirchel? My daughter Kirchel? You know her? Where is she?” There was desperation in Edward’s voice.

“Yes, I know her,” Erin said, startled by the urgency of her great-uncle’s questions. “I’ve been staying with her, like I said. And she’s here in Katan Jyrat with me.”

“She’s here? So close?” Edward said, his eyes widening. He glanced around nervously again and then leaned forward. “Listen, Erin. I have to leave. If Nievar finds out I’m gone, it could ruin everything. Please, will you tell Kirchel that you talked to me…that I’m alive? And….” He hesitated, obviously thinking hard. “Tell her…. Ask her to come to the Nirá Garden tomorrow evening, at sundown. I should be able to get out again then, and I can come and meet her there. You’ll tell her, won’t you?”

Erin nodded. “Yes, I’ll tell her. The Nirá Garden at sundown.”

“That’s right.” Edward straightened up again. “Thank you, Erin,” he said with a smile. “I’m so very glad we ran into each other.”

“Can you help me get back to my friend before you go?” she asked hopefully.

He nodded. “Do you remember what the room number was?”

Erin frowned, trying to remember what the sign on Arturyn’s door had said. Jechrin had taught her how to read Silmarith numbers the day before, and she had been practicing on all the numbers she had seen since then. “I think it was either 124 or 125. I can’t remember which room was which.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter that much. Either one will get you to the right hallway.”

Edward walked over to the nearest door. When he opened it, Erin’s jaw dropped. There, on the other side, was the hallway outside her room and Arturyn’s.

“How on earth did you do that?” she asked, feeling stunned.

“Magic, of course.” Edward laughed at the amazed look on her face. “You obviously haven’t spent much time in this world. Now, go on through. And remember to give Kirchel my message.”

When Erin had stepped through the door, Edward closed it behind her, leaving her alone in the sunlit hallway. Turning around, she saw that the door she had just come through was the one that ought to lead to Arturyn’s room—assuming that this was actually the place it looked like it was.

She stared at the door for a minute and then, feeling rather foolish, she raised a hand and knocked. Logic told her that Edward was on the other side of the door, and when he opened it, she would see the grey stone passage she had just left.

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But as had happened so many times that day, logic was proven wrong.

After a moment, the door opened, and Legan was standing there.

“There you are,” he said. “Come in and sit down. Arturyn will be done in a minute. Kimoja’s just giving him one last inspection.”

He held the door open for Erin, who entered, her mind still reeling from the unpredictability of the whole thing. Arturyn was sitting on the edge of the bed with Kimoja bending over him, examining his left eye. As Erin came into the room, they both turned to look at her.

“Where have you been?” Arturyn asked. “Somarid told us over an hour ago that you’d be here in ten or fifteen minutes.”

“Well, I got lost,” Erin said, sinking down onto one of the chairs near the door.

The other three all looked at her curiously.

“Got lost?” Arturyn repeated. “How did you manage that? You were just next door.”

“I know. But when I left the room, I came out into a different hallway,” Erin explained. “I don’t know how it happened. All of a sudden I was in the middle of a bunch of storage rooms and the halls kept twisting around and changing on me. Then I finally found…someone, and he helped me get back into the hallway outside this room.”

She decided it was better not to mention that the 'someone' she had found was her supposedly-dead great-uncle. She wasn’t sure that they would believe her even if she did tell them.

She still didn't know if she believed it herself....

“I thought you said she wouldn’t be able to do that,” Arturyn said, turning to Kimoja.

“She shouldn’t have been able to,” Kimoja said, frowning. “Not when she hasn’t had any magical training.” She looked back at Erin. “You said the halls kept changing. What exactly do you mean?”

“Well, I was walking down the hall and opening some of the doors, trying to find someone to ask for help. And one door would be a room full of boxes, and the next would be a hallway that went right through where the box room was. Then the next door would be a different hallway that was in the same place the last one had been. I didn’t go through any more doors—I just stayed in the same corridor. But even then it kept twisting around so that when I turned a corner, the next hallway was in the same place the one before had been. And I somehow ended up going back to the place I’d started, even though I was walking away from it the whole time. And once I went around a corner and then went back around the same corner, and I was in a different hallway than the one I’d just left.”

Kimoja was staring at her, looking perplexed. “You really shouldn’t have been able to do that.” She turned to Legan. “How could she have done that?”

“I don’t know.” Legan was looking at Erin thoughtfully. “I could see her perhaps activating the fylas once or twice accidentally, but she definitely shouldn’t have been able to keep doing it repeatedly like that without knowing what she was doing. And to travel to different hallways without even going through any doors….” He shook his head, frowning. “You’re Kirchel Lir-Anaurian’s cousin, aren’t you?”

Erin nodded.

“So you’re the one she was looking for information for? You’ve been seeing a strange man that no one else can see?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Erin looked from Arturyn and Kimoja, who both looked concerned and uncertain, to Legan, who was still frowning. “You’re not going to tell me that I’ve gone crazy and am just imagining all of it, are you?”

She had to admit that she could see some sense in that diagnosis, especially considering that she had also been having a conversation with a dead man a few minutes earlier.

“Well, it’s possible,” Legan said seriously. “But it’s not the only possible explanation, and I wouldn’t resort to it unless everything else has been ruled out.”

“You think Erin being able to activate the fylas has something to do with this man she’s been seeing?” Arturyn asked.

Legan shrugged. “I have no idea. But I do know that when a number of strange events start popping up in one place, there’s often a single underlying factor to them.”

Erin thought about that. Wraith had forced her to come through the caves into Isil-Gal at just the right time and place to meet Arturyn. And because of that, Kirchel had come after her and had been able to save them both from the Mataiths. Could Wraith possibly have known all of that was going to happen and steered Erin into those events on purpose? And if he had, could he also have somehow directed her down to the storage rooms to meet Edward?

She shivered a little. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of Wraith playing such an active role in her life without her being aware of it—not when she still didn’t know who he was or what he wanted.

“I certainly think we need to keep a close watch on that mysterious friend of hers,” Arturyn said. “For Erin’s safety and everyone else’s. He’s already made her get around the gatekeepers and go through a portal on her own. And it sounds like he might have been controlling a fylas through her as well. I shudder to think what he might be able to do if he decides to make any real trouble.” He sighed. “But I guess what I ought to be worried about right now is getting to my afternoon meetings on time. Are you finished staring at my eye, Kimoja?”

“I think so,” Kimoja said. “It looks fine, and if it seems all right to you, I’ll be happy to declare it healed.”

“If anything, I think it’s better than it was before,” Arturyn said, closing his right eye to look around with just the left one. “You’ve done a brilliant job, as always.” He stood up and gave Kimoja a little bow. “I’m in your debt yet again.”

Kimoja laughed. “Just doing my patriotic duty. What would Silmar do if the emperor couldn’t see to get to all his meetings?”

Arturyn made a face. “Well, come on, then,” he told Erin, starting toward the door. “Let’s see if we can make it back to the palace without losing you again.”