Belladonna

air pulse between them as he resonated with those Places of Light. While it hadn't affected him in the same way, he had resonated just as strongly with the three dark landscapes he had pointed out.
    "Does any one of them appeal to you in particular?" she asked softly.
    He said he was from Elandar, came from the village of Raven's Hill. She wasn't sure what to think when he passed over the access point for the White Isle and pointed to the access point that led to the part of Sanctuary that was connected to Aurora.
    Michael turned in a slow circle, but the way she had designed the beds that represented her landscapes made it impossible to see all of the garden from any one place.
    "I wouldn't want her to face the dangers of the journey," he said, "but I wish my sister could see this garden. She found an old walled garden on the hill near the family home, and she's struggled for years to make something of it."
    She could still hear him talking, but Glorianna was no longer listening to the words. "Your sister has a garden like this?"
    "Oh, nothing so grand, but this place reminds me of her bit of garden."
    Guardians and Guides, she thought. There are Landscaper out there who don't know who they are or what they can do when they play with a bit of land. Especially if they come from the old bloodlines and are like me.
    Raven's Hill. A garden. A resonance that tangled with her own on the White Isle. And a man who had dared the river in order to find her. A dream lover who wasn't just a dream.
    "Glorianna?" Michael reached for her. She took a step back. "What's wrong?"
    "You came seeking Belladonna. Why?"
    A blush stained his cheeks. "I've seen you in my dreams. Loved you in my dreams."
    She could feel the warmth of his hands — a memory held within a dream.
    "I came to find the answer to a riddle — and I found you. 'Heart's hope lies within belladonna.' " He looked around the garden. "I'm thinking the answer to defeating the Well of All Evil is right here in this garden. Because this garden is your heart, isn't it, Glorianna Belladonna?"
    She felt breathless. Felt light enough to float with the clouds — and heavy enough to break the earth as she sank into it.
    A test of the river to prove he was worthy of what he sought. A different kind of Landscaper who might be able to show her an answer she couldn't see by herself. And maybe — maybe — someone with whom she could share her home and the island.

    Someone who could accept Belladonna as well as Glorianna.
    "I think I need to hear the whole story of how you ended up here, but I would rather you tell it to the whole family at the same time," she said. "So we'll have to go to my mother's house."
    "She lives on the island?"
    His hopefulness was so transparent that she had to smile. "No, she lives in Aurora. We'll have to cross over to that landscape."
    He paled. "Cross over. Then it's a ways from here."
    "Yes, in some ways it is a ways from here," she replied. "And in others it's no farther than a heartbeat away."
    He took the step that brought him close enough to brush a finger along her cheek. "Well, that's true of a good many things, isn't it?"
    Who are you, Magician? "Yes," she said. "It is."

Chapter Seventeen
    "D amnthe darkness," Michael said, bracing his feet as if that would help him regain his mental balance. Glorianna had told him that reaching Aurora and her mother's house required nothing more than taking a step between here and there, but he'd expected a little more ceremony. He'd expected a little more warning than "hold my hand and take a step forward." Although why he should keep expecting something more was a puzzlement.
    Face it, my lad. You just don't want to look this straight in the eyes and admit you've never known half of what must have been going on around you.
    "I don't hear the falls anymore," he said, turning in a circle to look around. Nice house, but not too grand. Well cared for grounds and ...
    He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the stone walls on the other side of a narrow brook.
    "My mother's walled garden," Glorianna said, "Come to the house. By now you'd probably like a bite to eat."
    "I would, thank you." He'd been grateful when she'd taken him up to her house on the island to freshen up and put on a clean shirt before making this visit to her mother. And he'd wondered if it had been her own manners or a customary lack of hospitality that had left out an offer of food or drink — until he realized her embarrassed mutter