Rorin

By Rachel Gay

Traveling to another world is not a simple or easy thing, as Aito or Luke Toft could tell you. So when a friend from the country of Tanil appears in their house one night in desperate need of help, they know something's wrong even before Luke is, accidentally or not, kidnapped. Knowing that the king of Tanil or his former adviser Cain will know what to do, Aito follows after her father and her friend with every intention of helping however she can.
Too bad things are never that easy, as Aito finds herself far from both Luke and the friends who could help her find him. Without Cain or Kyrios there to guide her this time, it's up to Aito to find her way across Tanil and figure out what is going on. Because while Cain and the king launch their own efforts to find the Tofts, all of them find that help may come from unexpected places – and not all friends can be trusted.
There's more than one person with plans for the Tofts, for Cain, and for Tanil itself, and the longer Aito spends here the more she realizes how little she knows about this world and its people or what she's capable of when friends and family are on the line.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rachel Gay
• Release date: Sep 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370210541

Rachel Gay

Rachel Gay is an Alabama native living in New York (the state, not the city), an avid reader, and a bit of a nerd who is fascinated by anything and everything. Her work includes Tanil and its sequels Correst and Rorin, as well as the web serial The Last Inn.

Book preview

RORIN

By Rachel Gay

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2017 Rachel Gay

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Thank you for reading!

(Yes, you.)

Contents

Chapter 1: Of Soccer, an Unexpected Guest, and Mirrors

Chapter 2: Of a Request, a Command, and the Empty Castle

Chapter 3: Of Fruit Juice Stains, Back Alleys, and Trusting the Thief

Chapter 4: Of Breakfast, Warnings, and Warehouses

Chapter 5: Of Portraits, the Meeting in the Snow, and the Remains of a Letter

Chapter 6: Of Green Wings, a Note, and the Lieutenant’s Advice

Chapter 7: Of the Long Game, the Professor’s Book, and Nostalgia

Chapter 8: Of Glasses, Eavesdropping, and a Questionable Drink

Chapter 9: Of Dancing, Mineshafts, and Strange Fish

Chapter 10: Of Questions, Pasta, and Empty Fountains

Chapter 11: Of a Stone, a Mark, and the Way Things Are

Chapter 12: Of Tributes, Making a Fire, and the Missing Mailin

Chapter 13: Of Two Brothers, an Old Pain, and When an Ori Knocks at Your Door

Chapter 14: Of Grena Island, the Professor’s Theory, and Running Drills

Chapter 15: Of the Split City, Changing Abilities, and the Haunting of Cain Crusan

Chapter 16: Of Reunions, Forgetfulness, and Kerringway’s Report

Chapter 17: Of Suspicions, a Meeting on the Road Back to Yukosa, and a Confession

Chapter 18: Of the Snow, the Hunt, and the Fall

Chapter 19: Of a Clan, a Healer’s Duty, and Two Messengers

Chapter 20: Of a Bowtie, the Emperor’s Arrival, and a Brother’s Plea

Chapter 21: Of the Ori, Wanting to Believe, and the Young Couple Reunited

Chapter 22: Of a Sound in the Dark, a Family Matter, and Forgotten Fears

Chapter 23: Of Aegle’s Ride, Mistaken Identity, and a Terrible Liar

Chapter 24: Of Deals, Broken Treaties, and Singing

Chapter 25: Of a Monster, a Mask, and Making Sense of Things

Chapter 26: Of Echoes, Plans, and a Letter

Previously in the books Tanil and Correst. Aidan Toft and her father Luke found themselves in another world, in the country of Tanil. The following takes place two years later, but it’s still helpful to know what came before.

It is well known that in the country of Tanil there are seven races of people: those who initially resemble humans (the serans, korin, and gailloses) and those who resemble animals (the dog-like tyroks, the cat-like verkoni, and the monkey-like apones). And then there are the masked mailin. As anyone will tell you, there are no humans in Tanil, not anymore. This is, of course, wrong, but it’s still helpful to know.

Chapter 1: Of Soccer, an Unexpected Guest, and Mirrors

Aidan Toft’s headlong rush down the stairs came to a crashing end when she overshot the last step, but within a second she was back on her feet. After a quick moment to catch her breath and check to make sure no one had seen that, she walked into the kitchen and said, Come on, we’ll be late!

Her father lifted his head from the kitchen table to glance at the clock. I’ve been ready for the past ten minutes.

That’s great, come on, Aidan, or Aito as she preferred to be called, said before she grabbed her dad’s arm and pulled on it.

He groaned and far too slowly stood up. Ever since the air conditioner went out, he had been dragging himself around the house, moping because the repairman wouldn’t be by for another two days. Last night, Aito had found him with his head stuck in the freezer.

The car’s air conditioner still works, doesn’t it? Aito prodded as she resisted the urge to push him out of the house.

It doesn’t take two minutes to drive to your school, he said, with a sigh that would have put a depressed hound dog to shame. Got your bag, and your shoes?

"Yes, I’ve got everything!"

Aito waited until her dad was busy putting on his own shoes to dart into the living room and grab her duffel bag, which was the same blue as her uniform. She followed him out of the house, and bounced from one foot to the other while he locked the door. It seemed to take forever for him to get to the car and unlock the doors.

We have plenty of time, her dad said when Aito groaned at the stop sign. Calm down, breathe already.

I know, Aito said, and she turned her eyes to the window on her side so she could not watch his driving. How could he go so slow? She could walk to school faster than this.

Finally, her dad turned in to the drive of the school. He followed a couple of other cars around the building, which looked dark and grim to Aito’s eyes, and to the field in the back. Aito managed to wait until the car had come to a complete stop before she bolted out of it and ran across the parking lot to join the line of blue shirted kids gathering around the coach.

Aidan, your bag! her dad called, but she was already out of earshot.

Well, looks like your only option is to run after her, said an auburn-haired woman as she walked over to his car. Run, Luke, run!

I think I’ll pass, thank you, Luke Toft said, but he broke into a smile. How are you doing?

Tess smiled back at him. Oh, been hanging out around here for the past half hour. Figures the only time I can get Shane excited about going to school, it’s in the middle of the summer.

She waited while Luke clambered out of the car, and they walked across the baking parking lot toward the stands. Metal benches, Luke noted. Great.

As if sensing his thought, or more likely noticing his grimace, Tess said, I brought some blankets for the seats, if you want one. Last practice I thought I’d burned myself on those things.

Th-thank you. Luke added Aito’s bag to the pile around the team’s bench, and they found a seat together on the stands. Not far down, the other team’s coach was leading them in some warm-up drills.

They’re getting a lot of practice at that, aren’t they? Tess said, nodding her head toward the parent volunteers who were readjusting the goals to make sure they were far enough apart. The football field was the only place they had room to play, as this was the first year Aito’s school had attempted a soccer program. Oh, over here!

Luke had to duck to avoid Tess’s arm, as she hailed the couple walking around the stands. Before long, he found himself sitting in the middle of a group of parents, as well as some of the siblings who had not wandered off to sit as far from their families as possible or play on the grass beside the field.

Glad you could make it, Doc, said a man who Luke was not sure he had ever spoken to before now. Bit of sun will do you good, eh?

Uh, yeah… Luke said, unnerved when some of the others smiled at him at that. Er, I’m glad the weather’s so nice.

More like blazing, Luke thought to himself, but it seemed to be enough to satisfy the man, who started talking about how it was supposed to get into the upper nineties next week. Luke glumly nodded, and tried not to think about how much fun that was going to be without a working air conditioner. Was it too soon to start looking for a hotel room?

It is good to see you here, a woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail under a baseball cap with Knights scrawled across it said to him. I know Aito’s so glad you could make it this time.

R-right, Luke answered. This time? It was only the first game, unless she was talking about the practices. Was he expected to go to those too? Luke knew he did not have the greatest track record when it came to showing up for school events, but he had been doing better these past two years. Hadn’t he?

Tess smiled, a small, reassuring smile, and made a gesture when everyone else became distracted by the teams trooping out onto the field that seemed to say, Don’t let it get to you. That, or maybe, They’re all nuts, just go with it.

Down on the field, Aito waved up at her dad before the whistle blew, and then she lost track of everything else except keeping up with the ball. Anytime she ended up with the thing, she passed it on to one of the other players as fast as she could. Usually it was Val, who seemed to be everywhere at once and scored at least three goals for their team within the first half. Before long, the other team had taken up the strategy of just sticking to Val like glue, until she was just a solo dot of blue amid a group of redshirts.

It was while Val was trying to get some space from the other team’s players that the ball ended up at Aito’s feet again. She sped around one of the few defensive players who had not strayed too far from the goal and looked around for a teammate to pass it to.

Take the shot! roared Coach Lanner, along with a few of the parents in the stands.

Aito glanced at the goal and its keeper, then looked around again.

Something was wrong.

Take the shot! came the yell again, snapping her into action even as her mind screamed something else.

Aito stepped back, and then kicked the ball as hard as she could. It grazed the goalie’s hands, the contact just enough to keep it from going in and sending it tumbling off in the wrong direction.

There was a groan from part of the stands, while other parents cheered on the kid who picked up the ball and tossed it back in. Not that they had any time to do anything with it, as the whistle blew for the half.

Back at the bench, Coach Lanner told her it had been a good kick, but Aito only nodded. She did not mind missing the goal that much; thanks to Val, and Shane’s saves at the goal, they were still ahead.

No, something else bothered her, but Aito could not put her finger on it. She looked around again, taking in the empty field, the players gathered around the coach or getting drinks at the cooler, the parents in the stands, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

At the start of the second half, Lanner had asked Val and a few other players to sit out and rest to give some others a chance to play, and Aito found herself racing around the field again. It seemed the other coach had told her players off, because now they were being more careful to keep apart instead of crowding in one area.

Aito was on the other side of the field when she heard the groan from the stands, just before the whistle blew again. Both coaches, along with the acting referee, ran out to a girl lying on the ground holding her ankle, and Aito spotted her dad threading his way down the bleachers to meet them when they walked the girl in red back to the bench.

She started to join the crowd around the benches, but Coach Lanner waved them back and so she stayed out on the field, waiting like everyone else.

With no one standing nearby, Aito felt it again, that strange sensation that something was off. The air felt different, and the ground seemed to pulse beneath her feet. It was as if the whole world could tilt out from underneath her at any moment. Or was that just her blood racing, her heart pounding as though she were running again? Everything felt distant and far off, and Aito stared at what she thought was nothing in particular.

That is, until she saw the flash of white near the bench, and felt a jolt run through her whole body like an electric shock. She blinked, unsure of what, or rather who, she had seen, and started to move when the whistle blew again.

Coach Lanner waved at Aito to come back to the bench, and as another player went out he asked, Are you okay?

Yeah, I’m fine, Aito said, and realized that she was. Whatever that strange feeling had been, it had passed with the whistle blow. Still, she was glad to sit and rest for a minute, not far down from where the other girl sat with a bag of ice on her ankle, thankfully only bruised from the look of it. Not that Aito could sit still, as she kept turning and staring every which way, looking for that flash of white she had seen earlier.

She tried telling herself it had probably just been the shirt of one of the parents, but it gnawed at her all the same. It was almost a relief to go back out onto the field again. By the time the game was over, and she and Luke were making plans to meet Tess and Shane for victory pizza, Aito had nearly forgotten about the whole thing. She certainly never thought to bother her dad by telling him about it.

In retrospect, Aito would admit that had probably been her first mistake.

***

In the dark hour before dawn, the only light in Aito’s room came through her window. The fading moonlight managed to turn the darkness of the room into a myriad of shadows, but little more than that.

While Aito tossed and turned on her bed, one shadow darker than the rest crept out of the corner behind the door and scurried across the path of the dim light. Moving like the stillest of breezes, it swept back and forth over the room, hardly stirring the blankets on the floor or the papers on Aito’s desk. Its search lingered over the desk, and a sharp eye could have seen the slightest movement of papers or caught one of the drawers sliding noiselessly open.

On the other side of the room, Aito jerked again and the shadow froze before slowly continuing its search. Even though it made no noise, Aito remembered hearing the clear, distinct sound of a long, low hiss.

From asleep to awake in less than a second, the girl’s eyes snapped open and saw something moving in her room. Acting on the sort of logic that only makes sense when someone has suddenly woken up, her hand shot out, grabbed the lamp sitting on the stand beside her bed, and threw it at the shadow just as it turned to face her.

Ow! What was that?!

Aito blinked. She recognized that voice, but could not place it for the life of her. Standing and keeping her eyes fixed on the shadow, she sidled over to the door and flipped the light switch on.

The shadow in her room suddenly became a young man with long, brilliant white hair, blinking owlishly in the light.

Aito stared back at him, not so sure that she wasn’t still dreaming. Dismas?

He rubbed the back of his head and looked down at the object lying at his feet in disbelief. Who throws a lamp at somebody?

Who comes sneaking into someone’s room in the middle of the night? Aito responded. It came out of reflex more than anything, as a hundred other thoughts hurtled through her mind, starting with how she wished she had worn different pajamas. She crossed her arms to try and cover up the dancing mice on her shirt and went with, "What…no, how—"

She was interrupted by a knock on the door and her dad’s voice. He had probably been getting ready to go to work when he heard the noise.

Aidan? Is everything okay?

Uh… Aito hesitated, again at a loss for words.

The knob turned, but the door only opened a crack before Dismas charged it and pushed it shut again.

What are you doing? Aito asked. She tried to push Dismas away from the door when she heard the lock click, but the gaillos grabbed her arms and pulled her away from it. Let go of me!

Aidan? There was a different note in his voice now.

It’s just— Aito started to call, but Dismas put a hand over her mouth.

Luke knocked again, and when Aito heard his retreating footsteps, she knew he was going to fetch the key. Dismas, however, relaxed enough that she could pull his hand away and then stamp on his foot for good measure.

What are you doing?! Aito asked again. How are you even here?

Fair enough questions, as he wasn’t even supposed to be in this world. Aito had been to his world enough times, even her dad had been there, but no one from there had ever just shown up here without a reason. Dismas just limped over to the desk and began opening and shutting drawers and going through the papers again as if he had not heard her.

Where is it?

Where’s what? Aito asked. She edged toward the door, but the gaillos turned his head to look at her as if he heard the movement. It was the first time she really looked at him, and she noticed that his face was pale and withdrawn, and his eyes were red and swollen. He looked ill, or like he had been crying. Are…are you okay?

Where’s the book? he asked, looking around the room. At anything except her, really. "Where’s Tanil?"

Aito couldn’t help it, and Dismas followed her glance to the closet door. He yanked it open and immediately went to the trunk at the bottom of it, from which he pulled out Aito’s old clothes she had worn while in Tanil, a wooden painted mask, and an old, worn book, on which faded silver letters spelled out Tanil.

Dismas hesitated, the book in one hand, but his eyes on the mask. He sounded surprised, almost like himself again, when he asked, Is this a real mailin mask?

Yeah, I guess so. The mailin gave it to me, Aito said, still studying the gaillos. What had happened to him? He wore a black and blue uniform, including an armband on which a pair of silver wings were crossed over a silhouette of a tree. She figured it had something to do with being a royal messenger, but her attention was drawn to the large bruise on his arm, just under the band. Did Kyrios send you?

Dismas froze at the name, still staring at the mask. I….

A small click distracted him before he could finish the thought. Well, it was either that or Luke bursting into the room immediately after that, the door opening so fast that it nearly slammed into the floor-length mirror standing in the corner. The man barely had time to take in the scene before Dismas sprang forward, pushing the door shut on him once again.

Luke grabbed the door this time, and Dismas was not able to simply push it shut on him, especially since, as Aito realized too late, he was really using only one hand. The other hand, the one holding Tanil, he reached out toward the mirror in the corner.

Dismas pushed the book through the surface of the mirror as effortlessly as Aito would push a book through the return slot at the library, and the reflection of the room rippled and swirled like a pond in which a stone has been tossed.

What? Aito stared at the mirror, which continued to ripple and twist. Everything else in the room faded from sight and sound, except for the pulsating mirror and a long, low hissing that traveled up her feet and legs, until her bones seemed to thrum with it.

She did not notice as Luke forced the door open and Dismas stepped back, his hands in the air as he quickly said, I’m sorry. They wanted the book, that’s all—

But Luke was hardly listening. He grabbed the gaillos’s shoulder and pushed him up against the wall without noticing the strange behavior of the mirror beside them. Who? Cain, Kyriakos? Why can’t you people just leave us alone?!

I’m sorry, Dismas repeated, gasping a bit. I’m sorry, I – they said….

The sound got through to Luke more than the apology, and in an instant, he took in the bruises on the young gaillos’s arm and the tears gathering in his eyes. Without thinking, Luke’s grip and tone changed. Calm down, breathe. Who said what?

Th-they said if I didn’t…Gear and Gamma— He choked on his words, and Luke could feel the kid tremble under his grip. He did not know who Gear was, but Luke had met the old, catlike verkoni Dismas referred to as Gamma, although he did not know if that was her actual name or what the gaillos called the woman who had apparently taken him in.

I get it, Luke said, when it became clear the gaillos could not put it into words. "Who said this? Why would they send you here? No, how did they send you here? I thought world-jumping was Kyriakos’s thing, but I know he’s not part of this."

Dismas shook his head and glanced to his right. Luke followed his gaze and, from the angle they were standing at, he saw the silvery sheen of the mirror bulge out of its frame and then suck back in, the reflection of the room distorting with the movement. It was as if it was moving in unison with something breathing on the other side, just out of sight.

Wh-what is that? Luke asked and Dismas, eyes wide in genuine surprise, shook his head.

I-I don’t know. The portal maybe? He sounded doubtful even as he said it. I came in through there. It…I guess they’re getting impatient.

The gaillos started to shake, as his hand went to the bruise on his arm.

Don’t go near it!

Luke and Dismas both looked at Aito, having almost forgotten that she was there. The girl trembled, staring at the mirror with an ashen face that suggested she might be sick at any moment.

Wasn’t planning on it, Dismas said, trying to smile despite his own fear and concern. Aito, you okay?

Aito swallowed. She had seen the mirror swell out again at her shout, and she was sure that someone, or something, on the other side could hear them. Could hear her.

We need to get out of here, now.

Please, she added when Luke and Dismas only stared at her. The hissing was so loud now. Couldn’t they hear it?

Okay, we can talk downstairs, Luke said, trying to sound as soothing as possible for the benefit of both of them, even though he had no idea what was going on anymore. He glanced at the mirror again. Maybe I should try to cover this up?

No! Dismas and Aito said in unison, and Luke hastily dropped the blanket he had picked up from the floor.

Right, got it. He motioned for the two of them to head toward the door. The mirror was getting to him too, and Luke admitted to himself that he would have felt more comfortable with it covered up even if it wouldn’t do any good.

Dismas walked out of the room first and hesitated out in the hall, unsure of which way to go. Aito needed no extra prodding, and she practically ran out of the room. Just as she passed the mirror, Luke noticed that the distorted reflection caught her image and then swelled out again, stretching so far as to almost brush her shoulder.

Luke held his breath, sure that a shout would only cause her to stop and turn around. On the other side of the doorframe, Dismas spotted it too and without a word he grabbed Aito and pulled her out into the hall.

Go! Luke yelled when Dismas looked back at him, and he had a glimpse of the gaillos nodding before taking off down the stairs with his daughter in tow before the swelling reflection filled the doorframe, pouring out of the mirror like a shining silver stream.

At his shout, part of the mirror surface pulled away and whipped around, following the sound. Luke backed away, but there was nowhere to go. He had only a glimpse of a distorted reflection of himself before the thing engulfed him.

Aito and Dismas thundered down the stairs and charged through the living room. Any thought of stopping or slowing down did not last long when they saw the silver torrent rebound off the corner and come flowing down the stairs after them.

What do we do? Aito asked as they went through the living room and into the kitchen.

Run. Running is always good, Dismas said, glancing around the door before he shut it.

But my dad is still up there, Aito protested.

Dismas backed away from the door and looked out the nearest window at the backyard. That tree, it’s the one the king planted?

Aito glanced at the tree in the backyard, whose green leaves shook and rippled as if tossed by a wind that did not affect any of the other trees or bushes in the neighboring yards. Looking at the size of it, no one would have been able to guess that it was not even three years old or, more importantly, that it grew in two different worlds at the same time. Yeah, why?

Maybe we could use it to get out of here, Dismas said.

Aito shook her head, but she had no time to remind him that only Kyrios had ever seemed to be able to use the tree to move between their worlds, or to protest that she wasn’t about to leave her dad behind with that thing. That thing being the silver puddle that was seeping underneath the door right now, shining as it caught the faint dawning sunlight starting to come through the window.

Or we could just get out of here, Dismas corrected when he spotted what she was staring at. He grabbed her hand again and yanked open the back door, slamming it behind them as they took off across the yard.

He would not let Aito stop until they were under the shade of the tree, which he began to study and run his hands over as if looking for a switch or something to make it take them to Tanil. Aito turned and looked up at her window, but from here she could not see anyone in the room.

Her heart dropped, thinking of the mirror thing pouring down the stairs, blocking the door. Dismas…

Behind her, Dismas leaned against the tree with his head pressed into his hands. She had to say his name again before he looked up, but even then Aito wasn’t sure that she heard him.

It shouldn’t be doing this. Kato said all I had to do was get the container and send it back. So why is he angry?

Kato? Aito repeated. "He’s doing this? How?! Why would you help him?"

She put as much disgust as she could into the word him as she could.

He had this mirror, some kind of artifact or something he said, Dismas explained, pressing his hands to his head again as if that would help him figure it out. Going through the mirror sent the book back to Tanil. Maybe…

He hesitated, biting his lip before he continued, Maybe he really is getting impatient, waiting for me to come back. He probably has no idea how to control the thing, after all.

Dismas, Aito said, interrupting his train of thought. Anything or anyone that goes through that mirror ends up on the other end with Kato?

Yep. Dismas paused and then looked at Aito, before following her gaze up to the empty window. …Oh.

Chapter 2: Of a Request, a Command, and the Empty Castle

After Aito insisted on checking to make sure that, as far as they could tell, none of the neighbors were up this early to see, Dismas rolled his shoulders. The movement caused a pair of bright, white wings to come sweeping out of his back. The gaillos flapped his wings a couple of times and, with a running start, flew up to the second floor of the house.

Dismas hovered outside of Aito’s window, and when he went on to the next one and then every other window on the floor, Aito knew he was looking for another explanation for what they both knew had happened. Her dad had been taken, dragged not just into Tanil, but to the very person who had nearly helped to kill her, Dismas, and their friend Cain.

The gaillos landed a few feet away and shrugged, causing his wings to disappear into his back. He opened his mouth, saw the look on Aito’s face, and clearly changed what he was about to say. I’ll go.

What?

I’m going to go through the mirror and get him back, right? Dismas said, smiling.

Aito stared at him, wondering if she had ever seen such a fake smile before now. Yeah, I’m sure Kato will just send him back if you say please.

Well, it’s not like he’s got anything against your dad, Dismas pointed out. Like I said, it was probably just a mistake on his end. I go through, distract Kato, and Luke hops back through. Problem over.

Except you’ll still be working for Kato! Aito shook her head. How could you possibly help him, after everything he’s done?

It’s not like I went looking for him! I didn’t ask for this, you know!

You could have told Cain, or Kyrios! They would have helped!

Aito and Dismas were almost nose-to-nose now, yelling back and forth.

You think they can fix everything, don’t you? It’s Cain’s fault I’m even in this mess, him and his stupid book!

What’s that supposed to mean? Aito roared back at him. Why would Kato even want the book? It’s just an ordinary book now!

Dismas started to protest, and then his expression changed, his eyes widening. Aito stared at him, wondering if he really had forgotten. Sure, Tanil had once been used to hide a seran ability to travel between Tanil and her world, but it had been removed years ago.

Right, of course, Dismas muttered. But then why…?

He trailed off, lost in his own thoughts, but Aito wasn’t about to let herself be distracted so easily. She glanced at the tree, which looked as normal as ever. As much as she hated to admit it, going through that mirror looked like it was going to be the only way to get to her dad.

So, you think you can distract Kato once we get there? she asked as she started to walk toward the back door.

We? Dismas snapped out of it and dashed between her and the house. Oh, no, you’re not about to go in there. Do you know what your dad would do to me if he found out I let you go to Tanil? Or Cain, letting you anywhere near Kato? Because there’s a good chance they’ll get together and think of something much, much worse.

Worse than what I’ll do if you try to stop me? Aito shot back.

Yes, Dismas answered without hesitation. You have met them before, right?

Aito pushed past the gaillos and opened the door to find the kitchen, looking as ordinary as ever. She ignored Dismas’s protests and continued through the living room, and then up the stairs, but there was no sign of the mirror blob. It was only at the open door to her room that Aito hesitated.

Maybe it’s better if you don’t go, this time, Dismas said behind her. I mean, Kato would recognize you. If all else fails, I can always fly out of there and get help from the king and the others, right?

It did not make Aito feel any better to know that Dismas was just trying to make her feel better about being scared.

Just stay here, he said, quietly. We can figure this out, I promise. Your dad will be back here before you know it.

Dismas walked past Aito, and she watched as he walked up to the mirror and, after a long, steadying breath, stepped through his own reflection. It swirled and then steadied, until the mirror’s surface became flat and rigid again, showing Aito standing alone in the middle of the room. She stared into her own eyes, round with a terror that she could not hide. She could still hear that hissing, if she listened close enough. Even just the thought of that terrible sound was enough to bring back too many memories.

Maybe she could just stay here.

Aito was ashamed of the thought as soon as it occurred to her, but what could she do to help, really?

A long, long moment passed. She did not know how long she stood there, paralyzed by her own fear and hating herself for it, before she suddenly sprang forward. She put a hand to the mirror and felt only the cool, smooth surface.

No. No, no, no…. Aito pushed harder, refusing to believe that it was too late, but it felt like just an ordinary mirror. Please!

She pushed until she was afraid that the mirror might break, and then sank down to her knees with the side of her head resting against the glass. Not far away, the mailin mask lay on the ground where Dismas had dropped it. It was the only sign that the gaillos or her father had even been there.

Aito picked up the mask and stared down at it. Maybe…maybe she could just wait. Here, alone, with no one to talk to, no way of knowing what was going on in Tanil. No way of knowing if Dismas and her dad were okay, or when they would be coming back.

If they came back at all.

The room was silent, except for a sniff from Aito when she gave up on trying to hold the tears back. It wasn’t like there was anyone to see them.

The empty eyes of the mailin mask stared back up at her, and one of her own tears hit the mask and dripped down, leaving a trail behind on the dark wood.

Please, Aito said, looking down at the mask. The thought of waiting here in this empty house, unable to do anything at all to help, filled her with more dread than the idea of running into Kato again, or whatever else lay on the other side of the mirror. There has to be something I can do.

Aito remembered the tree. Maybe Dismas had been right, maybe there was…She didn’t know, some way to contact Kyrios or Cain, some way to get back to Tanil. She had to try something.

The girl stood up, stretching out a hand to brace herself against the mirror, but at her touch the glass gave way and she stumbled sideways.

Through the mirror.

Off-balance, Aito fell and caught herself on a smooth, hard ground. She blinked and looked up, taking in what might have been a long hall in front of her where the mirror had once been. Might, because there were so many mirrors, not just on every side but above and below her as well, that Aito could not tell where one ended and the other began.

She slowly got to her feet, the different reflections disorienting her, and glanced over her shoulder. There was another mirror there, but if she stared hard at the bizarre reflection she could almost make out her room on the other side.

Venturing a bit further away, Aito looked in to, and then through another mirror to see a busy street corner, where a crowd of people passed by without looking at her. Another mirror looked out into a room where a group of men and women in strange uniforms were gathered around a table, looking at drawings of what looked like a huge, complicated machine.

It wasn’t until the third mirror, which showed a person who was definitely not human checking his teeth in what appeared to be a restaurant, that Aito was sure: each of these mirrors looked out on different worlds. Judging by the sheer number of them, as she bounced off one corner after another in this labyrinth of mirrors, there was a lot more than just her world and Dismas’s here.

Not that this was Aito’s first time in the place between worlds, as she called it to herself, although her memory of being here last time was fuzzy, at best, like a dream you can only half-recall.

As she staggered through the maze, a hundred other Aitos reflected all around her heading off in a hundred different directions, the memories started to drift back. She had seen this place like this before, briefly, but she also thought there had been trees. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the smooth glass floor beneath her feet became grass, and the mirrors to her right and left drifted backwards and grew, twisting shape.

She blinked, and the mirror maze was completely gone, leaving her standing near a path that meandered through a forest of trees, of which there seemed to be every kind regardless of whether they should be growing in the same area or not, from towering redwood to pine to elm to short little stubby trees that she could have easily stepped over. At the prompting of another memory, she placed her palm against the trunk of the nearest tree and heard the distant swell of voices. Aito listened intently, trying to make out any kind of tune or reason to it, before she realized that her hand had nearly sunk all the way into the tree.

Aito hastily pulled her hand free and stepped back, but the tree showed no signs of coming after her like the mirror in her room. She wondered what would happen if she stepped through it, or even just stuck her head through.

It was a tempting thought, but guiltily Aito remembered her dad and Dismas just in time. Aito stepped back from the tree again and paced near the path, trying to think, to remember how this place worked.

The main problem, she realized, was that she had been stuck here before, too scared to try going into any of these endless worlds, and unable to be sure which one was her own or Tanil. It had taken help from outside this place to get home then.

Aito looked up at the trees, which just a moment before had been mirrors. She’d had the sense before that this place changed, depending on how you looked at it.

She stepped onto the path and started to follow it, as she followed that train of thought. Why would it change, though? This many worlds, all pressed together, she had no idea what that would really look like.

Around her, the trees grew and shifted, becoming bright points of light, each a different shade and hue. Aito tried to ignore it, and kept following the path, which now looked like a shimmering trail of stardust wending its way over a vast swath of darkness.

Maybe. Or maybe it was something completely different. But still, why change just because she was trying to understand it? Like it wanted her to—

Aito froze, halfway through a step. Surely it couldn’t have been that simple?

She closed her eyes and thought of what she was looking for. A way back to Tanil, to help her dad and Dismas. To do something. A balled-up fist went to her eyes and she took a deep, steadying breath.

Aito opened her eyes to find that the worlds had changed, once again. She stood alone in between two large, wooden bookshelves that stretched to either side. Not far to her right, there was a small break between this set and the next, and the row continued as far as she could see in either direction. She knew that if she went to the break and looked, she would see a countless number of rows just like this one, spread farther than she could ever walk.

In front of her, books with strange titles on their spines, some in letters that she could not read or identify, filled the shelves from top to bottom. Tiny books were next to tall, slim volumes next to books so thick they made the shelf creak with their weight. Each shelf was full, but not crammed, except for the shelf that was at eye level.

There was only one book on this shelf, and Aito hardly needed to see the faded, silver letters to recognize it.

"Tanil!"

Aito put the mailin mask down on the shelf and reached out to take the book but hesitated, hardly aware of the faint hissing that filled her ears. It really had not been this easy before, she knew that. Granted, she had not been all there at the time, but she had been searching, desperately, for a way out. So why now?

The hissing was louder now, enough to break through Aito’s thoughts and send up a new wave of memories. She had not been alone here, in the place between worlds.

The scrape of claws digging into the floor, pulling a long, snakelike body forward, the swish of a tail bigger than her whole body, and above it all, that never-ending hiss that at any moment could turn into a roar which shook the whole world. Aito could hear it all now, getting louder with every second. Was it just a memory, or—

Calm down. Breathe.

Aito took a deep breath and slowly let it out. The sounds did not stop, but they faded long enough for her to reach forward and take the book. The moment she opened it, the book fell to the ground and Aito was nowhere to be seen.

***

Luke gasped as the sharp chill of the mirror’s touch hit him, and then faded just as quickly. He lowered the arm that he had instinctively raised to fend off the mirror’s grasp, and felt a second chill run through him that had nothing to do with the mirror.

The sawdust coating the floor nearly caused him to slip as he took a quick step backwards to distance himself from the group of six or seven people standing in a semicircle around him. A tall man built like a professional wrestler moved forward with a speed that was even more startling and grabbed the front of Luke’s shirt, pulling him forward again.

Might not want to go that way, the man said with a smile that completely failed to reach his eyes. No, korin, Luke realized when he spotted the long, pointed ears jutting out from under his long, unruly golden hair.

Luke risked a glance over his shoulder and saw a massive mirror set in an ornate silver frame.

Oh, he said as two and two clicked together. Are you sure? Because I think I might’ve taken a bit of a wrong turn, so maybe…

The korin raised an eyebrow and Luke trailed off. A wrong turn? Well, that is a shame. And here I thought Dismas had sent us a present, even wrapped with a bow.

He flicked Luke’s bowtie and the others laughed. Now that Luke took a closer look, he saw that they were a mix of the races that made up the people of Tanil, with a gaillos like Dismas, a couple of tyroks and verkoni (people who resembled dogs and cats, respectively), and two serans, who as a people were almost indistinguishable from humans.

Luke’s gaze stopped on one of the serans, and he started to get a sense of just how very bad this was. Not that he couldn’t guess before, but the tall seran caught his stare and returned it with his own, cold, dark eyes that seemed to mock him as he broke into a cruel smile and put a finger to his lips.

Well, I guess this can only mean good things, the korin said, sarcasm dripping from every word. His almost jovial tune clashed with the way his muscles tensed, as if fighting the urge to punch something. What’s the point of sending a thief if he can’t get even one thing right?!

Luke flinched at the shout, and he was not the only one, although the seran just rolled his eyes. Luke started to edge away and the movement caught the korin’s attention. Just as he turned on the man, his gaze shifted and his expression changed from manic rage to eager expectation.

Behind Luke, the mirror shimmered just before Dismas came tumbling out. The gaillos caught his step and straightened up quickly, with a wince when he realized that everyone else had seen that.

About time, the korin said. He jerked a thumb in Luke’s direction and said, Want to explain what this is doing here?

Well, it might have something to do with your crazy mirror grabbing him, Dismas said, not even bothering to hide his fear and loathing for the korin who towered over him. Everything was going fine until then!

Luke kept his face blank at the blatant lie, but the korin did nothing to hide his confusion. What?

That thing, Dismas said, jabbing a finger in the direction of the mirror. On the other side, it…it reached out and tried to grab everyone in the room! What were you trying to do? I’d already sent the book through!

The korin looked to the others and then at Luke, as if trying to see if anyone else knew what the gaillos was talking about. Yeah, we got the book, but no one’s touched that mirror.

Well, something made it move around like a B-rate horror monster, Luke said, receiving a lot of blank stares in response. Definitely…not normal.

At least, not what he thought of as normal, but in a world where humans no longer existed and some of the people flew around like birds, he realized that might not be the usual standard.

The korin’s brow furrowed, and he stared at Luke and Dismas with an intensity that was frightening, to say the least. When did you say it started?

A-after I pushed the book through the mirror, Dismas said, clearly as unnerved as Luke felt. He looked around, and spotted Tanil, in the hands of the cold-eyed seran who he seemed to have just noticed for the first time. Dismas gave a strangled sound, but to Luke’s relief avoided looking at him. Kh—er, Kato?

The korin, Kato, was staring at nothing in particular with a strange expression on his face. He ignored the gaillos and started to pace the floor of what, now that Luke properly looked, appeared to be a warehouse. Crates were stacked along every wall, and strange-looking objects covered by sheets had been pushed back to leave space around the mirror. Kato’s people quickly moved out of his way, as he was so intent on his own thoughts that he did not seem to notice anyone or anything else.

Luke caught something moving out of the corner of his eye and realized that Dismas, taking advantage of the distraction, was trying to say something.

What? Luke mouthed.

Dismas tilted his head in the direction of the mirror and Luke resisted the urge to shake his head. This might be his only chance, after all.

Checking to make sure that no one was looking, he started to shuffle toward the mirror. Three steps away, two, then he stretched his hand out and touched the cool, flat surface of an ordinary mirror.

A silky-smooth voice chose that moment to say, Kato, a word?

Luke jumped, aware that the seran who had just spoken was staring straight at him, smiling so wide his teeth gleamed in the reflection