The Veranics leave my body with ease. They float above and linger, shimmering in the blue sky. My vision spins as my body responds to the aftereffects. Once my body recovers, imagines of green grass, lush forest, and blue skies swirl into focus. Tall grass surrounds me, providing a shield from potential threats.

The boy is not with me; I realize, for the first time. He’s got to be close. A scan of the region reveals he is across the field. His body breathes effortlessly.

I consider what to do. He landed himself here without having a clue of what happened. I walk to him, abandoning the option of leaving him.

I poke him with my shoe. “Get up,” I command.

His eyes roll into the back of his head before he notices me. He flinches back for protection. “What the hell happened?” he asks while trying to sit up. He cannot take the nausea and throws up on the ground.

I can’t help but smile. He’s not so strong after all.

“I’m going to be asking the questions, not you. You were so keen on kidnapping me. You can answer to me.”

“I wasn’t kidnapping you. You were a delivery, nothing more. It’s not my rules, just my job,” He says before he throws up again.

“That sounds like kidnapping… whose rules are you playing by… well, what is your name anyway?” I ask impatiently.

“My name is Seth and its Derik’s rules I have to play by.” Seth wipes his sleeves on his chin.

I stand hand on hips. “Well Seth, I am not a delivery. It seems to me; you won’t be taking me after all.”

“Maybe not now, but it’s only a matter of time. Look, I’m sure we’ve got a lot of secrets which neither will share right now,” Seth says while sitting up. The color is returning to his face, making his cheeks red.

He is getting annoyed. Good.

He does not know the secrets I have. There is no way I’m sharing them either. I move my head to the side and reply, “Perhaps, but I want to learn about this Derik guy.”

Seth stares at me for a moment. “Fair enough,” he responds with a clinched jaw.

He stands now, and he towers over me so that I must strain my neck to look at him. His sandy hair is spiked with gel on the top of his head. I find myself not being able to turn away from his black tight shirt around his chest. My throat goes dry. I clear it tying to focus on something more important than him.

“All I’m going to say is that this guy wants you. He ordered me to bring you to him. Derik is not to be crossed. I don’t know what he wants from you. He doesn’t allow questions and doesn’t give answers. I bow to him. Meaning it’s not personal, it’s life or death.”

“You mean life or death for you, not me.”

Seth sighs and says, “Seems about right.”

“And… you do this often? You do this to girls your own age because a man told you to for no reason? That means perfect sense.”

“It doesn’t have to for you.”

Shaking my head, I respond, “Sure it does, buddy. Why even bother telling me this?”

Seth stutters, “I recognize you from somewhere. There’s something there, in my mind. Something, I can’t grasp right now. I have to tell you anyway, because I’m assuming you know where we are. And obviously, you pulled one over on me. Might as well be friends, right?” He smiles at me so that the corners of his mouth reach his eyes.

Seth is right. It seems like I know him too. From the first time in the parking lot, I had an inkling about him. It doesn’t seem like he’s going to hurt me. Might as well play along and see what I can find out along the way.

“So, what now?” he asks. “Do you even realize where we are?”

“Yes, I do.” That’s not really a lie. “I’ve been here on and off for a while.”

Silence. Seth’s eyebrows raise up at me. “Well… are we in Asia or something?”

I force myself not to laugh. “You are not even close. We are not even in the same world anymore.”

“What the fuck? You’re shitting me.” Seth now stands with hands on hips.

“Nope. I was coming here to get away from you. Not my problem you tagged along.”

Seth swings his hands to the side, motioning for me to go. “Don’t let me stop you.”

I want him to go, but I see no way of getting rid of him. Let’s face it. I don’t know what I’m getting myself into, and Seth might come in handy. “Fine. Come with me.”

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He smiles and says, “What’s the plan?”

“Figuring out the layout of the land would be a good start,” I reply.

We scan the region. It’s not what I expected to see. There is not a single grain of sand and the temperature is quite pleasant. Forest and grass fields have swallowed us. The air is mild and there is a cool breeze that runs through my hair. Tall trees, like pines, are all around the area. On the other side, there is the grass weed field where I landed and a replica of the portal from my room. The portal stands over the field, still as stone. There is no life in the leaves and no Veranics around-yet. This portal won’t be any help.

Seth comes and stands by my side. “Should we try to go through that thing again?”

Only if escape was that easy. We cannot go that way. “There is no one here. We can’t go the way we came,” I respond.

“Then, how are we supposed to get anywhere?”

“We need the Veranics to come back or a drink to get us back to the other side,” I explain.

“Do what?”

“Keep up since I’m going to explain everything to you.”

Seth rolls his eyes. “When you throw out terms such as Veranics, how am I supposed to know?”

I can feel the heat rising to my face. “You weren’t supposed to know. No one was.”

I can see he’s going to be a pain in my ass, so I tell him how I got the plant from Fae, the orbs, the pull to come here, and how I came across the liquid that saved me. Somehow… I omitted the part about Moshiem and his warning to not come back. He doesn’t need to know everything.

Seth raises his eyebrows and says, “You are telling me you were saved because you drunk some kind of liquid and that’s how we are supposed to leave?”

“You can believe me or not Seth, but that’s the truth.”

“Okay,” Seth says slowly, “What now?”

“Finding another portal is our best bet to getting out of here. Let’s go to the forest and peek around.”

In agreement, we walk to the trees, side by side. The forest should provide a way to get food and water. Part of me already regrets coming here. The other part is telling me I belong here. The problem is that feeling won’t go away. Then, I think of Moshiem and the look of his eyes as I left. There is more here and more at stake than I will ever know. Moshiem is my driving force. I can’t help it. I want to see him. Maybe thank him in person for being kind to me.

We walk for a while before deciding to get a better glance at our surroundings.

“You should go up,” Seth suggests, nodding toward a nearby pine tree.

I swallow. “I guess that would be okay.”

The trees surrounding us are over fifty feet tall, with thin branches. A scary sight if someone wants to climb them. I shake my head, not accepting I’m about to climb that high. My arms wrap around the trunk of the tree and the bark tugs at my shirt as I attach myself. Slowly, I reach about halfway up, just good enough to scan the area.

In every direction, the trees all look the same. Green leaves, bigger than my head, grow outstretched over dark bark covered branches. To the north, a break in the trees catches my eye. I hope water is around there. It seems so far away. We have a lot of walking to do. I sigh and began my descent to the forest floor, where Seth was waiting.

“What did you see?” Seth asked as I reach the bottom.

“The forest has one slight break just north of here. Seems like it maybe a lake or pond; at least I hope so. I don’t think we’ve got a choice if we want a good source of water.” I say as I walk away.

“Well, let’s test our luck.” Seth takes the lead ahead of me and heads north.

We try to keep quiet, but our footing is not the best. Especially mine. Our feet hit crunchy leaves and limbs break under our feet at the slightest pressure. The terrain is difficult to climb through. Vines with thorns have taken over most of the land. Navigating through thorns causes problems when you are trying not to make a sound.

Seth looks back at me from time to time with a sigh and moves along. The landscape makes me uneasy. All I can think about is the heat and sand. The desert was the only climate I noticed last time. It stretched for miles, like this forest. There is not a lot of wildlife either-maybe a few birds flying overhead and a sound of a monkey from time to time. The animals seem in hiding. I feel like I am missing something important, but I just can’t place it and before I can speculate about it any longer, Seth breaks my thoughts.

He stops at the clearing a little way ahead of me. “Didn’t you say you saw desert last time? I am glad we are not in that or we would already be dead.”

“Who says you will not be dead in a few seconds?” asked a voice coming from a nearby shrub. Before I can brace myself, two women leap from the brush, landing on me and on Seth. I am pinned down with her face right up to mine. She holds a sword to my throat.

Her brown eyes glare down at me with her voice stern. “Tell me one reason I should not kill you and your friend, you little leach,” she demands while the tip of the sword cuts through my skin.

The cut stings and my eyes water. We haven’t been in Cander long, and someone is already trying to kill me. I throw out the only name I know.

“I know Moshiem,” I gasp under the pressure of her weight.

Seth’s words are muffled, but I make out one word. ”Moshiem?”

The woman’s hands falter while she takes in the name I produced. She stares at me in harsh silence.

“How do you know Moshiem?” she asks with less harshness in her voice.

“He saved me once before. The last time I was here. I’m looking for him,” I respond.

Some say it’s better to lay everything out in the open. But sometimes it makes things even more complicated. I’m hoping it helps. My only regret is now Seth knows about Moshiem too. I have nothing to lose. This woman can kill me now with the knowledge I know Moshiem or his name may be enough to save me.

She withdraws the tip of her sword from my neck, but I remain pinned under her. She studies my face, searching me until her face turns soft. “You are Laken? Laken Porter?” she asks.

“Yes,” I mumble.

“Moshiem warned me you may return. He said to trust you, as you would be the one to set things right,” she whispers.

“Moshiem barely knows me, so how would he know what I am capable of?”

“Ansari, we can trust this one. Throw down your weapon from the man.” The woman says, ignoring my question. She moves off the top of me and sheathes her sword. She offers her hand. I don’t take it.

“Why should we trust anything you say? I don’t even have your name.” I struggle to get to my feet. Blood flows down my neck as soon as I stand.

I reach up to touch my neck. Blood finds its way to my hands and begins seeping in between my fingers before dropping onto the forest floor.

Ansari lets Seth go, and he runs over to me. He reaches up and places a firm grip on my neck with his hand. For the first time, I notice his hands are healed from the glass he broke in my truck. His eyes meet mine and he whispers, “I don’t know how, but when I came through with you, my hands were back to normal.”

“Hmm,” is all I get out.

He turns to the woman who cut me and yells, “Are you going to help her?” She just stares back at me and says nothing. My heart rate speeds up and I panic.

“Zyre, he will never forgive you if you let her die,” says Ansari.

Zyre says nothing. She breaks her stare from me and walks away toward the break in the trees.