Belladonna

in place. When he scooped up a shell, he looked at it, then at her. "Beach?"
    Caitlin nodded. "I'm thinking it's the one near the village's harbor, but I can't be sure."
    He set the shell aside and scooped up more sand. "And where would that be?"
    "Are you asking the name of my village or my country?"
    Now he looked puzzled. "Both."
    "I live in Raven's Hill, and my country is called Elandar."
    There was less warmth and more wariness in his green eyes.
    "That should do it," she said, trying to sound cheerful as she pressed the sand down around the plant. On impulse, she set the shell next to the heart's hope.
    He brushed off his hands, then reached into his jacket pocket. "Is this yours?"
    She looked at the coil of braided hair tied with blue ribbon that he pulled out of his pocket — and shivered. "Where did you find that? I left it ..." She wasn't about to tell him where she left it.
    "It appeared near my mother's house," he said, looking and sounding more wary. Then he looked beyond the circle and stuffed the braid back into his pocket. "Let's finish this discussion in a safer place."

    A bonelover was right at the edge of the circle, staring at them.
    "It can see us!" Caitlin said.
    "No, it can't," the man said with an oddly heavy emphasis. "But I think the boundaries have thinned to the point that it can hear us and it knows there's prey close by, so we need to leave here now." He helped her to her feet, then took a step closer to the bonelover and picked up her broken hoe handle. Stepping back, he wrapped a hand around her upper arm and led her to the spot where he had disappeared.
    "This will be easier for you if you close your eyes," he said.
    What would be easier? But she closed her eyes. He moved away from her, but not so far that he released his hold on her arm.
    "Imagine stepping over a log," he said. "Lift one foot up and over."
    "We're too close to the edge," Caitlin protested. "If I take a step, I'll be out of the circle."
    "You'll be all right," he said. "Take the step."
    Wasn't much choice, so she took the step.
    Her breath caught. Not sand beneath that foot. Firmer ground. Where ... ?
    "Now the other foot," the man said. "Now is not the time to daydream or dally."
    "Where did you hear that saying?" Caitlin muttered as she obeyed him. For a younger man, he suddenly sounded like a querulous uncle. Or how she'd imagined a querulous uncle would sound.
    "From my mother. I heard it often at one point in my life."
    She smiled — and had the strange feeling that she'd almost fallen but had recovered her balance.
    "Open your eyes. Give me the bowl."
    She opened her eyes, but she hugged the bowl to her chest as she looked around. Trees and dappled sunlight. The cool air of autumn. But to her left was the circle of sand from the Raven's Hill beach and beyond that the rust-colored sand that belonged to a nightmare. "How ... ?"
    "We'll discuss it later. Right now ..." He pulled the bowl out of her hands, then gave her the hoe handle. "Undo this access point to the beach before the bonelovers find a way to cross over. If they manage to get through to your beach, they'll have access to everything it connects to, including your village."
    "How do I do this? I don't know how to do this.'"
    He stared at her. "You really don't know what you've done, do you? You don't know what you are."
    Sorceress.
    "Ask Ephemera to take your beach back where it came from. Tell Ephemera to leave nothing connected to the Eater's landscape — not so much as a shell or grain of sand."
    She hesitated.
    The man lifted the bowl. "The sand and shell are enough to create an anchor point. You can get back home."
    If I knew how this worked. "I can't be talking to the world while you're watching."
    "I'll go up the path a ways. But we need to get away from this landscape as soon as you're done." He touched her arm lightly.
    "Don't step off the island."
    As if she needed the warning.
    The moment he was out of sight, she wished she could still see him. Pretending to be brave was easier when she wasn't alone.
    Just get it done, she thought as she knelt at the edge of the island. He sounds like he sees this sort of thing all the time. Why would he see this sort of thing all the time?
    She shook her head and put her mind to the task. He was right; there was no time for anything except getting away from this place.
    By the time there was no trace of the circle she had made, she was sweating and panting — and fighting panic as she watched a