They found Doneil at another part of the town’s ripped outline, staring at a spot somewhere to his left.

No, not staring. Searching. As she approached, he leaned to and fro, his head bobbing and tilting as if trying to locate something.

“What is it?” she asked, furrowing her brows in the direction he was looking.

As far as she could tell, nothing was there.

“I don’t know, but I keep hearing things,” he said. “Figured I should call you.”

A part of her was tempted to make a remark about his drinking habits, but his normally easy-going expression had set into a tense, concentrated frown.

She focused instead on the spot he was searching, quieting her senses and reaching into her woodcraft.

A jangling sensation snapped up her spine. Cold swept her runes, burning her skin with ice.

She sucked in a breath, eyes widening.

Kodanh?

Holding a hand out to keep the others back, she approached the edge, searching the air. Her senses picked at a spot partway off the ground, ice burning into her shoulder whenever she swept past. A high-pitched whine came in and out, like a persistent mosquito. The pitch was all wrong for an insect, though. Too high. And it sounded odd. More like a machine. Something the goblins made.

“What is that?” Nales said. He was behind her, easing in a similar track but going wider.

She didn’t bother to check his expression. Didn’t bother to answer him, too. All her attention honed on her target, trying to align herself with the right spot.

Abruptly, the whine dimmed in her ears. Her runes burned again, their cold settling deeper into her skin. This time, she caught Kodanh’s image in her mind—the great ice lizard, alone, surrounded by his glacial crevasse. Felt him reach out. His power poured into her. The temperature dropped. Cold leached into her bones, spreading like ice.

She took another step, and his presence cut.

The whine picked back up, piercing her ears.

She flinched back—and Kodanh’s cold swept up her arm again.

Catrin halted.

What the…

Behind her, Nales stopped, too.

“I can hear voices.”

His tone was incredulous. He’d veered farther to the left. Like her, he’d gone still, head cocked at a permanent angle.

“Voices?” she asked, careful not to move.

“Yes.” He paused. “I can’t understand them.”

Her brows furrowed. Holding onto the spot in her mind, she took two experimental steps to the left, aligning herself with Nales’ trajectory to the spot.

The whine vanished. Kodanh’s cold burned, guttered like a candle, then vanished as well.

Something flashed in the air in front of her.

She stopped. Went back.

It flashed again, and she stopped, staring.

Five lines had shifted in the air, shining like spider silk in the sun. She held the image for a long moment, memorizing it. Then she shifted again.

The whine screamed, an angry buzz that vibrated her teeth, cut, then—

A man’s voice appeared, mid-sentence, speaking so close to her she jolted where she was standing, hands going for her blades.

She forced them to stop, listening.

Recognition hit.

She pointed a finger at Doneil.

“Go get Matteo. He’ll want to hear this.”

*****

[Connection restored. Downloading Fragment 59/133]

Matteo crouched at an angle, staring at a single spot in the air that seemed to warp whenever he moved—like catching the edge of a piece of very thin, very clear glass. His comms datalog was lighting up, the signal stronger than it had ever been since entering this new world. Reports scrolled down the far right side of his visual field, logging its progress.

[Downloading Fragment 60/133]

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

[Downloading Fragment 61/133]

[Downloading Fragment 63/133]

[Downloading Fragment 64/133]

[Downloading Fragment 65/133]

[Downloading Fragment 66/133]

They were coming rapid-fire now, each there for barely a breath before the next iteration slotted into the log.

He didn’t dare move, waiting for the downloads to finish.

But inside, his mind was whirling.

What the hell was this? A mini portal? The thing wasn’t even big enough to stuff paper through—but he could see it. God, if he reached out—

No. That was a bad idea. He shouldn’t touch it. Not yet. Best to wait for the download to finish.

Besides, he could hear people on the other side. Two men, maybe three, but he thought he’d heard the third man leave.

But—they were speaking English. He could understand them.

They also appeared to be military of some sort. He hadn’t heard enough to tell which branch. Army, he suspected. Maybe National Guard. Whoever they were, they were definitely on guard.

Which made sense. If a piece of Millerville had been as violently removed as this one appeared to have been—if it had just vanished—someone official would cordon the area off for investigation.

And if they’d found this break or mini portal…

Yes. Officials would be all over it.

[Downloading Fragment 96/133]

[Downloading Fragment 97/133]

[Downloading Fragment 98/133]

[Downloading Fragment 99/133]

[Downloading Fragment 100/133]

[Downloading Fragment 101/133]

Careful not to disturb the download, he signaled his HUD to reach out for local signals.

Maybe Friend showed up again, as strong as he’d been for the past half hour. He held his breath, staying as still as he could, waiting.

[Searching… Searching… Searching…]

[Six signals found. Do you wish to connect? Y/N]

He stared.

Six?

He asked the HUD to identify them.

[Error: Codex Not Loaded.]

Dammit. That stupid half-finished upgrade was buggering up things again.

[Do you wish to connect? Y/N]

He hesitated, glancing over to the side log. The download was counting its way through the one-twenties now.

He waited the extra few seconds it needed to complete, then hit Y.

Six new contacts lit up in his senses.

He blew a sigh of relief as, after a slight paused, they all registered as USMilSec.

The half-baked HUD could identify that much, at least.

Easing himself closer—and hyperaware of everyone on this side staring at him—he drew a big breath and yelled at the crack in the air.

“Hey! You guys! Can you hear me?”

The voices fell silent.

Matteo stayed put, straining to listen. Had he lost it? No, he didn’t think so. It felt like he could still hear the other side, but that both men had stopped talking.

After several tense moments, the voices started up again, much quieter than they’d been before.

“Did you hear that?”

“I swear to God, if Liv’s screwing around with throwing voices again—”

“That did not sound like Liv.”

“I’m not Liv. This is Sergeant Matteo Rossel, United States Guardian Forces. I’m trapped on the other side of this crack in an entirely different world. I connected to what I presume are your HUDs about twenty seconds ago. Send me a message and I’ll send you my live feed.”

The other side of the crack fell silent again. He thought he heard something rustle. Then,

“Shit,” one of the two men muttered, his voice much closer than it had been before. “It’s coming right through here. Call Dunlin. He’s gonna wanna be here.”

*****

Catrin studied Matteo. The soldier had taken to sitting on the ground on the left side of the crack, having a conversation with whoever was on the other side. Nales sat to his right, leaning in to hear whatever they were saying.

She stood on the very edge of the signal. If she moved any more to the right, she’d lose it and be back in ‘High-Pitched Whine’ territory. Another move to the right, and Kodanh’s ice would burn her shoulder.

As she watched, Nales furrowed his brows, listening intently to the men speaking on the other side. He couldn’t understand what they were saying, but damn it if he wasn’t trying.

They’d been like this for an hour. From what she could hear, more and more people had arrived on the other side. Scientists, Matteo had told them. Scientists and soldiers. A lot of higher-ups.

Unfortunately, they didn’t know what had caused the massive break between worlds. Matteo suspected they might have some guesses, but he also suspected that, if they did, they’d likely keep those guesses to a select group of people.

Until those people showed up and chose to inform them, they wouldn’t know.

Matteo was, however, getting a lot of information.

According to his Brain Machine, and the people on the other side, and the people on the other side who were also talking to his Brain Machine, his world had experienced a similar mass event as theirs had. Pieces of their world displaced by pieces of other worlds. Strange creatures wandering around. People killed, eaten.

His world hadn’t had portals to begin with, but they had had a technological advantage.

No magic, though. So, depending on what set of beings they’d encountered…

Elves had been found on the other side. And strange people. Some Fey. Demons.

The breaks between realities had proven the most difficult to study. Some of the elves and Fey they’d found were helping them, though they were under close watch.

Some demons were helping them, too.

The idea made her skin crawl with unease.

They were trusting demons?

Doneil must have read her expression, because he leaned in.

“Remember, Catrin. There are some good demons. Like the librarians.”

Irritation slid through her. She chewed her tongue, jaws working as she flicked her mind back to the demon librarians they’d encountered in Grobitzsnak’s castle.

“The ones I nearly beheaded?” she asked.

“Yes. Those ones.”

She grunted. “Perhaps they’ve simply led us on a wild goose chase.”

“A wild goose chase?” Doneil’s eyebrows arched. “Catrin, you are literally standing on something from another world, listening to people talk through a portal seed point.”

“‘Portal seed point’?” she questioned, finally diverting her attention from Matteo and Nales to round on Doneil incredulously. “Are you making up terms now?”

He rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. “All portals are formed from natural breaks in the veil. The really small ones are called ‘seeds’. If you get a bigger one, it’s called a ‘root’ or ‘fissure’.” He nodded to where Nales was sitting. “He’s not wrong about the weak points either, I think, and this proves it.”

She gave him a flat stare. “Since when did you become an expert in portals?”

“Since the time I dated a portal witch. You really need to get out more, Catrin.”

No. What she needed was the worlds to fix themselves and go back to normal.

She blew out a frustrated huff, earning herself a reproaching look from Nales, then cast her gaze skyward. The sun was creeping into midafternoon, but by the looks of Nales and Matteo, they were going to be here for much longer—and night would come quicker with the mountains.

They either needed to set up camp or find a place to stay.

She suspected it would be the former.

“I’ll go find some wood,” she said. “Call me if anything interesting happens.”