Anthony and Erin exchanged a brief, mystified look and then obediently went around the side of the van to climb in. Sarah had the engine running before they were even inside and started out of the parking lot as soon as Erin had closed the door behind her.

“Sarah, what’s going on?” Anthony asked, leaning forward from the back seat. “What’s the hurry?”

“Later,” Sarah repeated, her face tense.

In fifteen minutes’ time, they were pulling up to the floral shop's delivery entrance. Sarah jumped out of the van as soon as it had stopped and hurried inside. Erin and Anthony followed her.

“There you are,” Nathan said as they came out into the front room. He was sitting behind the counter. “How did the hotel go?”

“Fine, fine...” Sarah said distractedly. “Where’s Kirchel?”

“She’s gone,” Nathan said with a shrug. He, too, seemed taken aback by the look of urgency on Sarah’s face. “Some guy came in a little while ago. I don’t know who he was—I just saw him in passing when I was on my way into the workroom. Then Kirchel came in a minute later to tell me she had to leave and ask me to watch the shop until you came back.”

Sarah was frowning. “Did she say who he was or why she had to leave?”

Nathan shook his head. “No, she didn’t say anything else. And she was gone before I could ask any questions. She seemed to know the guy, though. I heard her say his name when he came in. She sounded surprised to see him.”

“What was the name?”

“I’m not really sure. I didn’t hear it clearly.” Nathan screwed up his face, apparently trying to remember. “But it was something like Daryl…or maybe Gerald….”

“Or Teral?” Erin said quietly.

They all looked at her. Sarah’s eyebrows were raised, and Anthony looked bewildered.

“That could've been it,” Nathan said, looking at her curiously.

“I need to find her,” Sarah said, her expression troubled. “Come on, Erin. Let’s check the house—they might have gone there.”

Erin followed her back outside, feeling a little apprehensive. Why would Teral—if it had been him—need to come here to see Kirchel? Had he found out about what had happened in Raylmiyr and decided he still had a chance with her? But then why hadn't he told her he was coming ahead of time?

And why was Sarah suddenly so anxious to see Kirchel as well?

“You don’t need to come with us, Ant,” Sarah said, glancing over her shoulder. Looking back, Erin realized that Anthony had followed them out. “Why don’t you stay here and help Nathan take care of the shop?”

“I don’t think so.” Anthony was still walking resolutely alongside them. “Something’s wrong here, and I’m not going to just let you two go off and get yourselves into trouble.”

“That’s very gallant of you,” Sarah said dryly. “But we’re not going to get into any trouble. Everything’s fine—I just need to talk to Kirchel about something.”

“Don’t lie to me, Sar,” Anthony said quietly. His face was more serious than Erin had ever seen it. “I know you better than that.”

Sarah gave him a long, sideways look. Her expression was guarded and a little indecisive, as though she was trying to decide how much to reveal. After a long moment, she glanced at Erin and sighed heavily.

“Sometimes I really wish you spoke Silmarith, Erin…” she muttered.

“I…. What?” Erin stopped in her tracks, staring at Sarah.

“Silmarith,” Sarah repeated. “Yes, I speak it. And yes, I know about Silmar. Now please keep walking. We need to find Kirchel.”

Erin blinked in surprise for a few seconds and then hurried forward to catch up with the other two, who were walking quickly and had already gotten several yards ahead of her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked as she came up alongside Sarah again.

“Well, it’s not like we’ve had a lot of time to chat this week.... I kind of expected that Kirchel would have told you, but I guess she’s had a lot on her mind lately.” Sarah sighed again. “Apparently even more than she’s told me. She never mentioned this…Teral, did you say? Who is he—someone you two met when you were in Silmar?”

Erin nodded. “Yes. He’s….” She hesitated, glancing at Anthony, who was listening to their conversation and looking disconcerted. “Maybe we should wait and have Kirchel tell you when we get to the house,” she said uncertainly.

“Kirchel’s not at the house,” Sarah said grimly. “They’ve gone back through the portal already.”

Erin’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?”

“I’m a gatekeeper. It’s my job to know.”

“You’re the gatekeeper?”

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“Yes. Though I might not be any longer once the Dhaikar gets wind of this.... That’s the governing body over the gatekeepers,” Sarah added in response to the blank look on Erin’s face. “They don’t forgive lapses in gate supervision easily, and I’ve already had to answer to them for letting you get through.” She scowled. “You were the first person to slip past me like that, I’ll have you know, in over a century of gatekeeping duty.

"And now this…. A Silmarith getting through without giving the proper notification…or having an assigned guide…. The keeper at whichever gate he came from is mainly responsible for that. But the Dhaikar still isn’t going to like it when they find out there have been two slip-ups at my gate within a fortnight.”

They had reached the front yard of the house now. Sarah led the way off the road and straight across the yard to the front door.

“Did the cliffs used to come up to the house like that?” Anthony said, speaking for the first time in several minutes. He was looking back and forth at the sides of the house, a bemused expression on his face. “It’s been a while since I’ve been up here, but I don’t remember it looking like this....”

Sarah shook her head. “No. I stretched them over to the house before Erin came.”

“Stretched them?” Anthony echoed faintly. He looked dazed, as though he couldn’t completely take in everything he was seeing and hearing.

“You mean it wasn’t like that before?” Erin asked. She was more indignant than surprised at hearing this news. “Kirchel told me it had been built like that.”

“Well, what was she supposed to tell you?” Sarah said matter-of-factly. “You didn’t know anything about magic then. She was planning to tell you everything eventually. But we thought it was better to temporarily restrict your access to the canyon. Kirchel used illusion magic to hide all the windows on that side of the house, too.”

“Was all that just to keep me away from the portal?” Erin still felt slightly annoyed that Kirchel hadn’t told her all this sooner.

“Not exactly,” Sarah said soberly. “It was more to keep you away from me, really.”

“From you?” Erin repeated, startled. “Why?”

“I’ll explain when we get to the other side of the house.” Erin noticed Sarah glancing around the yard, as though checking to make sure no one was watching them. “Come on.”

They walked up the front steps, and Sarah tried the door handle. It was locked.

Erin started to pull out her house key, but before she could even get it out of her pocket, Sarah made a quick slashing motion with her hand in front of the handle, and the lock clicked open.

Sarah pushed the door open and stepped inside the house. Erin paused on the doorstep and turned to look at Anthony, who was still wearing a dazed expression on his face.

“It’s magic,” she explained with a shrug. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Then she followed Sarah inside.

The house felt unusually silent and empty, perhaps because Erin already knew that Kirchel wasn’t there. She felt a faint prickle of fear spread over her as they walked down the hallway toward the library, their footsteps somehow sounding much louder than Erin thought they should.

There was no real evidence yet that Kirchel was in any danger, but she still couldn’t help worrying. Something felt very wrong about the whole situation. Something much worse than Teral not following correct procedure in coming through the portal.

When they came out into the backyard, Sarah paused and turned to Erin and Anthony. She looked rather uncomfortable.

“I’m going to have to change into my natural form in order to be able to track Kirchel and Teral through the portal system. That’s the real reason Kirchel wanted to close off the backyard. I don't usually stay in human form when I'm not at the shop, and she didn't want you to see me by accident. It probably would have scared you half to death if we ran into each other before you knew anything about magic or Isil-Gal.”

“Why would it have scared me?” Erin asked, puzzled. “Aren’t you a Silmarith?”

Sarah shook her head. “No. I’m…well, I’ll show you.”

She glanced back and forth at them uneasily for a few seconds, her gaze lingering on Anthony. She was probably wondering if what she was about to show them would bring her relationship with him to a screeching halt.

Finally, Sarah took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her body began to change shape in a smooth, liquid motion, very much like Kirchel’s had when Seiyan had helped her change into Nirayl form.

But what Sarah was changing into definitely wasn’t a Nirayl.

She was bending over, her hands coming to rest on the ground. Her arms and body elongated and grew thicker. Her face grew longer as well, and her ears changed shape and shifted to the top of her head. Two large wings burst out of her shoulders, and a long, bushy tail appeared behind her. Sarah’s blonde hair and light skin turned dark, and her clothing was replaced by thick grey fur.

A moment later, a creature unlike any Erin had ever seen before was standing in front of them, watching them uncertainly and obviously waiting for their reactions.

“Well...” Erin said slowly. “I think you’re right. You probably would have terrified me if I’d seen you a few weeks ago....”

Sarah’s new appearance was something like a cross between a wolf and a bat. Her body was shaped more or less like a large wolf's, but her head was a little rounder, and her ears were larger and more delicate-looking. Her paws were also a bit more rodent-like. And then there were the wings—two huge, leathery wings that must have had a span of nearly twenty feet.

“I mean, you’re really very nice-looking,” Erin went on, since Sarah was still looking worried. “Definitely much nicer than a sethien. But it would be a bit of a shock to see you if I didn't have any experience with magical creatures.”

There could be no doubt about this statement, since Anthony looked shocked nearly to the point of fainting. He had taken a few steps back and was leaning against the side of the house, staring at Sarah. His face had gone white, and he was mouthing wordlessly.

For a long moment, he seemed to be stuck like that. Then he swallowed hard a couple of times and seemed to recover his voice at last.

“Good grief, I’ve been dating a werewolf…” he said weakly.

“I’m not a werewolf!” Sarah snapped, and even Erin had to admit that it was unsettling to hear a large, winged wolf speaking with a human-sounding voice. “And we’ve only been on two dates. It’s not like you’ve made a lifetime commitment.” She turned toward the back of the canyon again. “Come on. Staring at me isn’t going to help us find Kirchel.”

Erin followed her for a few steps and then looked back to see Anthony still standing frozen against the side of the house.

“Coming?” she asked him.

“I….” Anthony looked back and forth between Erin and Sarah for a moment, as though hoping that one of them was going to tell him that this was all just a bizarre dream.

When neither of them did, he let out a resigned sigh and started walking again.