Belladonna

walked through the woods? It seemed like they were all gathered just overhead and expressing their opinions at volumes little critters shouldn't be able to reach.
    And he'd drunk just enough that all that noise was threatening to fill up his head and change into a mountain-sized headache. As if that wasn't bad enough, he kept feeling like something was tugging him off balance — and it wasn't the whiskey he'd tossed back while he'd raged about Landscapers and Bridges who were determined to believe the worst about Glorianna because considering anything else might require them to use their brains.
    But Yoshani had been right. Sebastian's anger when Lee had spewed out the things that had been said at that meeting in Sanctuary had been a cleansing fire reflecting his own feelings, and they had burned each other's tempers down to a smoldering opinion that the surviving Landscapers and Bridges had as much understanding of the danger they were all facing as what came out of a horse's ass, and —
    He stumbled against Sebastian again and, this time, got a semifriendly curse and shove.
    Something pulled at the Bridge's power in him, wanting him to answer, wanting him to ... what?
    He grabbed Sebastian's shoulder for balance.
    "Daylight, Lee! You didn't drink that much."
    "No, I didn't." And he hadn't felt more than a little sloppy and tired until they'd crossed the border between the Den and Aurora. The closer they got to the spot where the path that started behind Sebastian's cottage branched and headed for his cottage or Nadia's house, the more he felt like he was being bounced and rolled and couldn't get a solid sense of where he was.
    Then Sebastian was holding his shoulders in a bruising grip.
    "Are you sick?" Sebastian asked, giving him a shake that wasn't the least bit helpful. "Lee, what's wrong?
    Good question. It was like everything was just a little out of focus, a little off balance. But still familiar, except...
    "It's not me; it's Ephemera." Lee turned and headed up the path, stumbling because this connection to Ephemera was producing a fever-dream sense of the world around him, as if he were almost seeing some other place while his feet were hitting the solid reality of Aurora.
    Sebastian walked beside him, swearing sincerely and creatively while keeping a supporting hand on his shoulder. Then they reached the boulder that marked the branch in the path. Lee stopped, throwing an arm to the side to block Sebastian.
    "Guardians and Guides," Sebastian said. "Is that hair?"
    A long tail of light brown hair tied with a blue ribbon lay next to the boulder.
    They approached cautiously. Lee crouched to get a closer look, then held his hand above the hair.
    "Careful," Sebastian said, his voice sharp.
    "Don't be a collie," Lee replied absently, waving off Sebastian's caution while he focused on the hair. Finally he stood up and shook his head. "This is strange."
    "These days, strange is not good."
    "I don't think there is any harm in this," Lee said, rubbing the back of his neck. Damn it, he was getting the kind of headache that was going to climb up his neck and threaten to crack his skull. And he needed to think "Besides, the magic in the hair is fading."
    "How can you tell?"
    "The ground is firming up. Or my sense of it is coming back into focus."
    Sebastian pointed at the hair. "That's what was making you act so drunk?"
    Lee nodded.
    "We should burn it."
    Lee shook his head. "Not yet. I'd like Mother and Glorianna to see it first. Maybe I reacted so oddly to it because my
    'translation' of the magic wasn't correct. Sometimes a Bridge touches a place with opposing needs. The two landscapes will not resonate with each other enough for a bridge to be created that will connect them. But someone in those landscapes is sending out a heart wish that is so strong that I'm picking it up as a need to create a connection, but I can't pick up a sense of place."
    "What do you usually do when that happens?"
    "Create a resonating bridge." Lee picked up the tail of hair. Nothing but a little tingle now. Enough that he would probably recognize the resonance of the person's heart. He looked at the paths, then at the hair. "Three choices," Lee said. "Three chances?"
    Sebastian studied the paths and swore softly. "For good or ill, this was aimed at someone in the family."
    "Yes. So let's see what Mother can tell us about it."

    Having decided that much, Lee headed down the path that would lead to his mother's house. Sebastian fell into