danced on the edge of the bubble, as flames fluttered along the back of the house again.
“No!” Mara screamed and flung herself against the static barrier, her body flickering as she pitched forward. She bounced off the sphere and fell backward, landing on her butt. Without pausing, she jumped up and threw herself at it again. Just before she collided with the static barrier, she disappeared and sensed nothingness—like floating weightless in space. Then a jolt of electricity passed through her, and she reappeared. Not meeting the anticipated resistance, she pitched forward again, sprawling onto her hands and knees.
A wave of dizziness swept over her, sending a tremble through her arms that threatened to fold beneath her. Shaking her head until the feeling passed, she found herself looking under her arms and past her legs, in the direction from which she fell.
Behind her was the blue wall of the bubble, intact. She was inside.
CHAPTER 55
Pressing her hands onto her knees and swaying as she tried to stand up, Mara felt old and spent, but she had stopped fading away for the moment. With her own existence continuing for the moment, she checked on her brother, and what she saw made her straighten, forgetting her weariness. Everything below his ribs had melted away. Behind him, the fire continued to rage, having reached the roofline of the house.
Mara turned to Abby and said, “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m not going to stand by and watch you take my brother.”
“I would not recommend doing anything too destructive while you are inside the sphere. The repercussions could be quite substantial, if you are not careful,” Abby said. She smiled and pointed to one of the nodes above them, near the top of the sphere. “Do you see that node way up there, right in the center at the top?”
Mara glanced up but immediately returned her gaze to Abby without replying.
Abby’s face twisted into a lopsided grin. “Watch this.”
She held out her hand, and blue light from the periphery of the sphere gathered above it and spun. Soon it was the familiar ball of roiling mercury, emitting a burst of blue light, the Chronicle in its active state.
Abby dug her fingers into the moving mass, reared as if winding up for a pitch and threw the ball at the node. The ball of mercury struck with an electric snap, and the node exploded into a shower of sparkles that rained down over them, fading before touching their heads. The ball of blue mercury arced along the edge of the sphere, making one complete orbit as it spiraled back down and alighted over Abby’s outstretched palm.
“An entire realm gone. Just like that,” Abby said. “If you are considering using your abilities in here, you might want to think about the consequences. One of those lightning bolts you like to throw around could wipe out countless civilizations.” She made a mock frown and added, “More collateral damage.”
“You murdered an entire realm, just to make a point?” Mara said.
“You are melodramatic, aren’t you?” Abby said. “Everything in that realm was already dead. In that version of reality, you and I lived only for a few seconds and died millennia ago. Like fruit flies, I suppose. My point is, this is not the time and place for a confrontation, unless you are comfortable with genocide.”
Mara’s gaze flitted over to her brother. Only his shoulders and head remained. Turning back to Abby, she said, “You’re just biding your time. You don’t care about repercussions and consequences. You want to distract me long enough to get what you came for and leave.”
Abby stepped back toward the dark opening at the center of the sphere.
“You’re worried about me using my abilities while I’m in here, but it’s not because you’re concerned about the welfare of these realms.” Mara nodded toward the nodes floating around them. “Why would that be?”
Mara scanned the interior of the sphere, putting her dissolving brother and burning home out of her mind long enough to figure out what to do. She scrutinized the node floating in front of her, the one that represented her realm, this realm. Apart from inflicting Armageddon by blowing up random realms, what are the implications of having her abilities inside this blue bubble of static? It’s like moving to a higher level on a flow chart. Outside the sphere, her abilities apply to just the realm she’s in. Out there, a lightning bolt can zap a dragon, but in here,