Belladonna

everything they did say.
    He might have enjoyed the new experience of riding a demon cycle if he really believed Sebastian and Teaser's assurance that the creatures didn't harm the people they'd agreed to transport.
    He didn't consider "they usually don't eat their passengers" to be sufficient assurance. "Demon cycle are safer to ride than waterhorses" wasn't much comfort either since the whole reason the horse-shaped demons gave humans a ride was to drown that victims.
    But if he survived this and found his way home again, he'd have a story that would buy him a meal and a bed in any inn he chose to stay at, and an always-full glass in any pub he walked into.
    When they reached an odd spot in the dirt lane, Sebastian told the demon cycles to stop, then looked at Michael. "Which way do you want to go?"
    Michael studied the land ahead as best he could in the available moonlight. The dirt lane ran straight ahead, but the odd spot was nothing more than a bump of road that formed a half loop, reconnecting to the straight lane. At the midpoint of the half loop were two boulders set far enough apart to allow a wagon to pass between them.

    "What's the difference?" Michael asked.
    Sebastian pointed to the straight lane. "If we go on that way for another mile or so, we'll reach the border that connects the Den to the waterhorses' landscape." He pointed to the half loop. "That's a stationary bridge that leads to Aurora, which is where we have to go in order to reach Sanctuary."
    Michael stared at Sebastian. "I'm in a part of the world that's nowhere close to home. I know that. I can feel that. But you're saying that a mile down the road can pass between a couple of stones and end up within walking distance of a village I've stopped at once each season for the past ten years?"
    "That's what I'm saying."
    He'd met some crazy people in his travels, but he'd swear by the Light that Sebastian wasn't one of them. Which meant he could be back in Elandar, no more than a long day's walk from Dunberry. Not that he'd go to Dunberry. Not anymore. But...
    "If I make that choice, I won't find Caitlin Marie, will I?" Michael asked.
    "Probably not."
    And I'll never find Belladonna. An unshakable certainty rang through him. If he didn't make this journey, he would never find the woman who haunted his dreams.
    "We'll go on to Sanctuary."
    Sebastian nodded. "Best clear your mind of everything but the thought that you need to cross over to Aurora."
    "Teaser said these stationary bridges only go to specific places, so you can be certain of where you end up when you cross one of them."
    "Nothing is that certain in Ephemera," Sebastian replied. He tapped the demon cycle on its shoulder. "We're crossing over to Aurora."
    "Do we need to hum a particular tune?" Michael asked.
    The demon cycles jerked to a stop, and they and Sebastian looked at him with the same quizzical expression.
    "I had to hum a note when passing between the Sentinel Stones in order to get from the Merry Makers' bog to the Den,"
    Michael mumbled, feeling his face heat as Sebastian continued to stare at him, "So I just wondered."
    "That spot between the Merry Makers' landscapes and the Den is a border, not a boundary," Sebastian said.
    Michael's only response was a lift of his shoulders to indicate the explanation lacked any useful information.
    "A boundary requires a bridge," Sebastian continued blandly. "A border is a place where two landscapes connect without need of a bridge. They're usually marked with stones just to make it easier to find the spot."
    "So what was the humming all about?"
    Sebastian shrugged. "They might have had a reason for you to do it, but it had nothing to do with reaching the Den."
    "That ripe —" Michael caught himself and considered the wisdom of roundly cursing one demon in the presence of another, larger demon. That he was riding. Not to mention that the man escorting him was at least part demon. "As you say, there was probably a reason."
    "Indeed."
    He could hear the laughter in Sebastian's voice, Fine. Grand. Let the ripe bastard laugh at him. Wouldn't be the first time someone had laughed at him.
    "Aurora," Sebastian said to the demon cycles,
    Aurora, Michael chanted silently. Aurora. We need to reach —
    Sebastian and the demon cycle passed between the stones and vanished right before his eyes.
    "Lady of Light!"
    Even though he'd done this twice now himself, seeing someone else disappear was more frightening somehow. If he'd had time, he would