Bis's tail tightened, and I felt him do that curious step-the-mind-sideways twist that Al always did when he pulled me to the ever-after. Yes! I thought exuberantly as I mimicked it and felt my bubble snap into place around me as my body dissolved.
And we were gone.
Chapter Twenty-six
Listen, I thought, feeling the ley line within me, tasting it. I was everywhere, in every line on the continent. Or at least I had the potential for it. Bis's presence was with me. His mental texture slipped through my protective bubble, bringing with him the discordant sensation of another line. It was as if I could see, taste, hear, the lingering aura that Al had left behind on it, shifting the sound a little deeper, the taste a little more bitter. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever felt. Bis brought the taste of the new line in with him. Otherwise, I'd never be able to sense it past my own bubble. And now that I knew what it sounded like, I could find it.
Confident from success, I reached a thought past my bubble to pick out the line he'd used from the myriad lines crisscrossing the Cincinnati mindscape.
That was a mistake.
Shock vibrated through me - and then the pain hit.
I had no breath, but I screamed. Fire poured through my veins to illuminate my soul - the entire line filled me, unfiltered. My mind rebelled, and my thoughts went white. Tulpa! I screamed, but there was too much. I couldn't spindle creation, and my neurons burned.
Al! I begged in my thoughts, but he couldn't hear me. I'd done something wrong. My memory was charring, flaking from me in sheets of thought.
I had to get out before I burned to nothing. There had to be a way. I had... to listen... through the pain. Where was Al?
Somehow I found him. Somehow I found Al's sarcastic thoughts, bitter and old. Tired, angry, bored. Alone.
Whimpering, I shifted what was left of my aura, modifying it to match the line he had used, and with a last gasp, I shoved myself into it. With the feeling of spiderwebs made of ice, and fog made of fire, I tore my way back into reality.
My face hit a dirty flat carpet, and I dropped my pain amulet.
"Oh. Shit." I breathed, arms shaking as I tried to push myself up, failing. That's okay. It's nice just to lie here.
"Rachel!" I heard Bis cry. Al snarled something, then bellowed in pain. And then Bis was with me. "Rachel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave you. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay," I said, hoping he didn't touch me. I'd freaking pass out. My eyes were shut, and slowly my mind was rebuilding itself. A savage smile curled my lips up. I had done it. Damn it, I had jumped the lines!
"Brooke, there's two of them!" I heard Vivian exclaim, but I couldn't move yet.
"Only one of them is Rachel," Brooke snapped. "Which one?"
Bis hissed, and I heard a scraping of claws. A sharp sound of a smack, and a feminine hand grabbed my wrist. "Ow!" I yelped as Al, looking exactly like me, jerked me up.
"I'd say the one not in charge," Brooke said, sounding smug.
My breath came fast, and I scanned the dirty, rectangular room as I found my balance: wood floor with a glowing pentagram laid down with salt, cement-stone walls, low ceilings, really small windows, and a broken table shoved against the big archway leading to a balcony barely big enough to stand on. I could hear water running over rocks somewhere in the dusk. Bis was slumped against the far wall by the stairs, shaking off Al's blow. Brooke and Vivian were standing before us, Vivian looking like she wished she were somewhere - anywhere - else, the skin around her neck red and blistered from being pixed, her clothes a mess, and her heels scuffed. She'd been taking a beating the last couple of days, and it showed.
Al had already gotten out of Brooke's circle by all appearances. No wonder, seeing that he looked like me in black leather and a TAKATA STAFF T-shirt. How had he known what shirt I was going to wear? And where am I? I thought, still confused.
It looked like a bad Hollywood set lit by candles, smelling of spilled wax, dirt, burnt amber, and mold. It was the last one that did it. "Holy crap, are we at Loveland Castle?" I asked, and Al gave me a