Belladonna

bonelover move toward the island.
    "I wasn't sure you could do it," the man said, coming up behind her.
    "You certainly sounded like you expected me to do it," Caitlin replied testily.
    "That doesn't mean I was sure you could. Better close your eyes again."
    The bonelover was moving toward them, heading right for the path she knelt on.
    She squeezed her eyes closed ...
    ... and heard a roaring. And beneath it, closer, the lap of water.
    She opened her eyes and threw her body back from the edge, knocking into the man and almost sending him tumbling.
    "Easy," he said, grabbing her to steady them both.
    "Lady of Light, have mercy." A wall of water, curved like a horseshoe, coming down from the land high above to meet the river.
    "Haven't you ever seen a waterfall?" the man asked.
    "Not like that." Even though their little bit of land was a safe distance away, the sheer sound of it made her tremble. Closer to them was another falls, its water breaking halfway down on a tumble of boulders as big as houses.
    "They're called the Guardian Falls," the man said, crouching beside her. "The river has several names, depending on which landscape you're in. Some call it the Wish River; others call it the River of Prayers." He paused and looked at her. "What do people call you?"
    "Caitlin Marie. And you?"
    "Lee." He rose and moved to the edge of the island, and raised a hand in greeting as a boat sailed past.
    Seeing the men on the boat return the greeting, Caitlin scrambled to her feet. "They can see us! Why can they see us?"
    "Because I want them to see us. The island resonates too closely with the river. Even if the people couldn't see it, the boats on the river would still run into it. So the people here can see it until I shift it back to the place where it actually exists."

    "You don't seem to be drunk, so you must be daft because most of what you say makes no sense."
    "It makes sense," Lee said. "In this part of the world, it makes sense." He leaned against the trunk of a tree and studied her.
    "Caitlin Marie, I don't know the customs of your people, so I hope you won't take this in a way it isn't meant."
    "Take what?" she asked, suddenly too aware that she was alone with a man she didn't know on a small bit of land she couldn't leave.
    He smiled. "I think it's best if I take you home to meet my mother."

Chapter Fourteen
    "S entinel Stones," the Heart of the Bog said, pointing to the two massive stones that rose out of the bog on either side of the
    "trail."
    "I never thought I'd see the likes of them out here," Michael said quietly, awed and uneasy. He'd seen Sentinel Stones before.
    They were always placed outside a village in a field beside a main road. Easy enough to reach, but set back far enough that going to them would be intentional.
    There was power m the Sentinel Stones, and some strange magic in the air between them. People disappeared when they walked between the stones. Sometimes they came back with wild tales of seeing different countries or of suddenly finding themselves walking the streets of a town on the other side of Elandar; more often they were never seen again.
    "No," Michael said, stopping when he realized the Heart of the Bog intended to walk between the stones. "We can't go there."
    "That is the border," the Heart of the Bog replied, turning back to face him. "There is no other way to reach the other landscape from here." Its yellow eyes studied him. "You afraid, Magician?"
    "Yes." No point blunting the truth.
    The Heart of the Bog was silent for a moment. Then, "You must pass between the Sentinel Stones to find the Justice Maker.
    He is the next step in your journey. If you do not find him, you will not find her."
    Damn the darkness. "People disappear when they walk between Sentinel Stones."
    "That is the purpose of the Stones. But these mark a border and only go to one place."
    That is the purpose of the Stones. Lady of Light, did anyone besides the Merry Makers know this?
    Michael swallowed hard, trying to push his heart back down his throat. You don't have many choices, lad. You can't stay here, and it seems a walk between the Stones is your only way out. The world has turned strange, and a great evil is out there, somewhere. And Caitlin Marie is out there, somewhere.
    "What do I have to do?" Michael asked.
    "Hum a note that sounds like what you seek," the Heart of the Bog replied.
    He thought about the woman who stirred him in dreams in ways other women had never done and who was somehow