Jack screamed in frustration as Jessica’s accusing eyes stared at him through the flames.

“Jack!”

He heard Ann’s voice and clamped his mouth shut. Jessica’s face drifted away like smoke.

“Where are you?” he asked.

He felt her settle into his mind once more, reclaiming her space.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“Are you out of the box?”

“I’m out, but I don’t think I’m awake.”

“You are on your way to sleep, or coming back from it, child.” Millae’s voice this time, confident and compassionate.

“Millae,” Jack said. The flames retreated, blown back by an unseen force, and Jack found himself in a massive room surrounded by towering windows. The flames lapped at the glass, struggling to break through. Large tapestries hung from high gilded ceilings.

“You are in my realm for the moment,” Millae said.

He stared at the two women before him. Millae, on the right, wore a dark green dress with golden embroidery. A modest neckline revealed the pale, smooth skin of her throat. Her black hair shifted to blue in the dancing light of the flames. Her brilliant green eyes studied him. Next to her, Ann stared at the raging fire out the window with wide eyes. Her auburn hair was tied back in a loose ponytail. A pale silk dress clung to her curves, the black dragon twisting around a low-cut back, ending in a snarl at her thigh. Shen power pulsed behind her eyes. The glowing eyes of a slave, Jack thought.

“So our masters know when we touch the source code,” Millae said.

“Or the minds of others,” Jack said.

“Yes, child,” she said.

“But that was before my time,” Jack said, taking Ann’s hands in his. “We’re coming for you.”

“I know,” Ann said, pulling her gaze from the flames outside. She studied his face. “You’ve changed.”

“We have a lot to talk about,” he said.

“It’s a trap, he knows you’re coming,” she said.

“I have help,” Jack said, searching her eyes as if the answers to his questions lay in their depth. He wanted to ask her if she was Tara, the goddess of mercy. Did she save him on the Isle of Song after the burn? But how could he? She wouldn’t remember.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“The In-between child,” Millae said, “on your way to waking, I assume.” She looked at Jack with a puzzled expression. “And you are traveling through a gateway,” she said. Her voice was silk with a steel edge beneath. “How are you here?”

“I don’t know,” he said, glancing at her.

“The In-between is the layer between life and death,” Millae said. “A reality some can touch on the way to and from sleep, but only briefly and rarely with intent. What have you learned, Jack?” She pursed her lips.

“I have intent,” Jack said, giving her a hard stare, trying to keep his tone steady. “And Saeb has taught me many things.” Millae returned his glare with a steady gaze.

“You have the journal,” Millae said. “Which means you have your totem.”

Jack stared at her without replying.

“Trust no one, Jack, not even yourself,” Millae said. The corner of her lip twitched.

“And you think you know who I am now?”

“You must come to me, I will guide you.”

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“I’m sure you would, mother,” Jack said.

“I alone can stop the Nost Accords, Jack. Isn’t that what we both want?”

Jack stared at her.

“You know what will happen if the Shu rule the earth. You have seen and you have—”

“What do you know!” Jack said, pulling Ann toward him. “You never saw the farms, the humans tortured and slaughtered, the hordes of Shi and Mara, they were helpless while you sit in your command room or on the council and you talk about compassion, but what have you seen… mother,” Jack twisted the last word as if it tasted sour.

“Jack,” Ann said. “Please, this is Millae, she has helped me, she is a creator, she—”

“I know what she is,” Jack said, turning to Ann. He grasped her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “I’m coming for you.”

The room shifted, and he blinked.

Flames.

Blink.

Human corpses stacked like cordwood, Lily’s laughter.

Blink.

Ann squinted at her surroundings. She tried to rub the stiffness out of her neck, but the rattle of chains rang out and her hand stopped short. An onslaught of pain ravaged her spine and shoulders as sensation returned. She shook her head slowly from side to side, planted her feet firmly below her, and pushed up to a standing position. Her wrists were swollen and bruised, wrapped in manacles above her head, attached to a stone wall by thick chains. A small groan escaped her lips as she gently rocked from foot to foot and rotated her hands.

Tears formed in her eyes and she thought she might pass out, but Jack willed her to stay alert. I’m coming, he screamed, trapped behind her eyes. But where was his body, and why was he trapped inside Ann like before? Was it something Millae did, like last time?

“You are in my home, child.” Darean strode out from one of the dark doorways across from her.

“You are afraid and angry,” he said. “That’s good. Your friends will be here shortly to share your emotions.”

Ann wanted to spit in his face, but she recoiled instead, trying not to think about what he might have done to her while she was unconscious. Or Janile. She scanned the room but did not see anyone else. A shiver ran through her and the scanty material of her dress shifted. The icy wall pressed into her bare back. She felt naked. Jack raged deep inside her, struggling against an unseen barrier. He wanted to lunge for Darean’s throat like an animal. If he could only make her move!

“The dress pleases you?” Darean asked. The silk clung to her body, and she felt goosebumps erupt on her legs as Darean inspected her. He ran a finger up her arm. She shivered and the dragon crawling up her thigh seemed to slither.

“I’m going to kill you.” She didn’t mean to say the words. They were confident and full of determination, unlike the terror twisting her stomach into knots. Darean looked amused. The pain eased in her shoulders and wrists. Her mind focused, and she pulled in a deep breath. Energy vibrated through her body, the goosebumps faded away. She thought of Jack, solid and strong, but knew the power came from herself. The space in the back of her mind where he lived overflowed, sending warmth through her limbs, helping her stand straight.

“I’m not just going to kill you, I’m going to wipe out every Shi, Mara, and horde member you have created,” Ann said in an icy tone. While the physical power was hers, the words were something else. Jack felt himself flowing through her, using her strength to propel him.

“Who are you?” Darean asked.

“I will tear your spirit from that body and there is no Haven for you Shu, only darkness.” Her voice was a deep growl. Darean grabbed the hair on the back of Ann’s head, forcing her to look at him. His eyes narrowed, filling with blood as he reached out with his thoughts, but instead of prying into her mind, he found nothing.

“Who are you?” he hissed.

The edges of Ann’s lips twisted up. She felt the pulse of the world around her. Emotion and thought melded into a single state of being and she knew Jack was within her, channeling her strength. The threads of desire that created the world of living things were laid out in front of her like a map.

“I am the Shu hunter, child. I am the god of war. And I am coming for you.” She whispered as blood filled her own eyes like rolling clouds until even her pupils were overtaken. Not only was she blocking Darean’s mental onslaught, but she was also pushing back, delving into his mind. Darean’s hand shook, and he tightened his grip on her hair. His face twisted into a snarl. Ann glared with blood-filled eyes, letting Darean’s tremors build until his entire body was shaking uncontrollably. When his knees nearly buckled, she opened her mouth impossibly wide and a heart-stopping scream rolled out from deep inside. It was impossible to determine where Ann ended and Jack began. Their wills melded like a single living entity. Darean yanked his hand back from her head and swung his fist into her screaming face.

Jack gasped and tried to sit up, but the world spun. A dim light illuminated Sarathen’s scarlet eyes a few feet above his face. A chill filled him, which he thought was strange, hadn’t he just walked through fire? Pushing his cloak away, he tried to sit up again but fell back to the floor.

“Not yet,” Graves said, kneeling on the other side of him. She wrapped his cloak around him once more and he shivered.

“What happened?” he asked. He could sense the others standing a few paces away. Anxiety and fear rolled out of them. Light from an electric lantern illuminated cave walls around him. Graves lifted it from the floor as she stood.

“I’m not sure,” Sarathen said thoughtfully. She was still leaning over, staring at him as if trying to solve a puzzle. “As you came out of the gateway you fell, unconscious. Your heart slowed and nearly stopped. Your mind was active though, you must have been somewhere else. Where did you go, Jack?”

He closed his eyes for a moment, shutting out Sarathen’s smooth skin and questioning eyes. She smelled like leather and honeysuckle.

“Darean knows we’re coming,” he said.