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As I got closer, I realised that the patch of black had very straight edges This was definitely not a natural occurrence It had to be either man or monster made In fact it looked suspiciously like a door When I was a scant hundred or so yards away, I realised that that was exactly what it was There even appeared to be a doorknob, just as black as the rest of it I checked it for signs of a letterbox – perhaps I could drop Iabartu a little note, I thought sardonically, but there was only the door shape and the doorknob itself I couldn’t work out what material it wassolid and, as I could actually circle round the whole of it, I noticed that it was paper thin along the edges As the trail leading froht into it, and didn’t appear on the other side, this had to be the way I was supposed to go

I shrugged to myself and used the corner of my t-shirt as a barrier between my skin and the doorknob to twist it open There was a prickle across the length ofopen There was nothing on the other side, other than the rest of the valley, but the blue sh it one way and didn’t reappear on the other side, so it had to lead soed out the silver dirk and clutched it in h

And went nowhere The sh the doorway but I certainly didn’t I was in exactly the same valley and in exactly the same place, just on the other side of the stupid door That wasn’t h in the opposite direction Again, nothing I hopped back and forth through the fraic door was this? I had the horrible feeling that soherself laughing

I wondered if it was justout in surprised pain as it cut deep into the edges of , I wiped the blood ontothe tips of the grass blades tight Even though the dirk’s blade was razor sharp, I still had to saw through to free theround That was…different I definitely wasn’t in Kansas any rass and taking care not to cut h the open doorway

Like the blue s around in , I found a bottle of water and unscrewed the lid, taking a long swig Then I threw the bottle cap It vanished as soon as it passed through the black edges of the fra substantially froh It was just h Perhaps it was to do with carrying silver I was extraordinarily reluctant to leave ood stuck here in the ht anyway I took the backpack offtheround next to the dirk, then experih the doorway They didn’t seeo anywhere There was only one way to know for sure Casting a forlorn look at the grounded weapons, I tightly closedfirst Fuck I still hadn’t gone anywhere Opening the other eye, I kicked the doorway in frustration and felt the sa Yeah, yeah, so it was definitely a fantastic ical otherworld plane filled with killer grass It still didn’t help ain, this tis "You wanted ently swung shut as if in answer I paused for a second, hopeful, but nothing else happened It must have just been the vibrations fro into Iabartu’s ho hero and I’d end up having to go back to the portal with s Except then I realised that the portal was sealed shut again so I couldn’t even do that I i his head atthe ihts Maybe if I destroyed the door instead, then she would co up one of the silver arrows, I took outdirectly at the centre of the door I held my breath but the arrow just thudded uselessly into it, then bounced back onto the grass I kicked the door again, pissed off Then I scooped up the dirk and stabbed viciously at the black shape with all th It didn’t even make a mark, in fact it was the door seemed completely iain Nope My fingertips bristled with angry heat and I dropped and punched the door, scraping ainst the s pain reminded me that they were already tender froave h a Fae’s conjured barrier, then surely it could e this And even if it didn’t work, I knew at least that Iabartu wanted me, or rather my blood, for whatever nefarious reasons she had cooked up It could be that she’d sense it once it was spilled on her land

I knelt down again and grabbed another tuft of glass sharp grass, wincing again as the blades cut throughthe blood away this time, however, I smeared it onto the door fraround for further effect Then I stood back, and watched and waited

I wasn’t quite sure what I’d been expecting, but I’d been hoping for so rather draainst nasty otherworld materials Instead, however, there was the faint s, that reminded me of the tiht when trying to light the ancient gas stove with aelse happened After a few tense ain and twisted This tirated inbut the eain The blue trail still vanished in reat, I thought sarcastically Now there wasn’t even a door to try to enter; it was just a blank space of air Sooing to be very successful if there was nothing around to actually attack in the first place

I was so angry with ot stronger and began tugging atWhere there had only been still air that lay as flat as that of inside a sealed Egyptianstronger and stronger It started to whistle around my ears and ripple the cloth of my t-shirt The blackon my shoulder whipped off and danced away, carried on an invisible current I feltat rabbed by an unseen force, a ghostly er anted all of my worldly possessions I tried desperately to keep rab onto and I felt rass and feeling its points pierce into h my clothes

At that point a shadow passed over ht sun and looked up, trying to etting larger by the second, cartwheeling and spinning through the sky I tried in vain to scra It felt as if I was being pinned to the earth All I could do atch There was a roaring thunder in an’s loud animalistic ire as I’d escaped into the portal He didn’tmattered now My ti shape drew nearer and nearer Despite the situation, I vaguely adht She landed a few feet away fro ripples of treh, and the atmosphere returned to the heavy oppressive stillness fro to my feet Belatedly it occurred to me that I’d dropped the bow after I’d tried to shoot the door, and that no doubt it had been carried away in the hurricane Fortunately I’d had enough sense left in h one of the belt holes at the top of my jeans, where it was still secure I pulled it out and held it in front of me, prepared to take action

Iabartu stood relaxed in front of ernails, as if she needed to ency appointht as Alex’s scrying had intiround, as she had been when she had brutally attacked John A sudden ihflash of fire I shiftedI could to destroy her

"Bitch," Iit

Her white eyes lifted up to mine And they actually hite - she had dark pinpricks of pupils, but absolutely no irises The effect was extraordinarily unsettling Despite the shudder of revulsion her gaze caused in me, it occurred to me that she looked rather bored of me already

"What’s your point?" Her voice was quiet and yet icily hard

I sed and then steeled nored her question "I believe that you have been looking formy voice steady

Iabartu arched a thin eyebrow at on, I have"

"You may be rather disappointed," I countered, "I am more human than Wyr"

She hissed, unexpectedly "That is…unfortunate But not disastrous or unexpected It is your hu for h Why do you think I left the portal open? Or the cloth for you to track? Your kind are so very sentile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">