Belladonna

suddenly filled with tears. "I knew a lot of the people who were slaughtered when the Eater destroyed the school. And in the days to come, most of you will stand at a memorial stone and grieve for lost comrades or loved ones."
    "We have graveyards here," Michael said softly.
    Lee wiped his eyes and gave Michael a smile that was painfully sad. "Magician, most times there won't be anything left to bury."
    He saw Kenneday shudder, and he thought about the fishermen who now haunted a stretch of sea. And he thought about what it would be like for men to take out the boats in order to feed their families if most of the sea was haunted with the dead, and there were only pockets of safe water left.
    "Are you saying there's a war coming?" a voice asked.
    Michael looked toward the door. Nathan stood there— and the dark, jagged notes that had filled the tavern faded away, replaced by a rhythm that was as strong and steady as a heartbeat.
    "It's already started," Lee replied wearily. "And it's already reached your shores."
    Kenneday stared at the table for a long moment, then looked at Michael and Lee before nodding sharply. "I've got a duty to my ship and my crew, so I can't he putting aside all my cargo runs. But she's a good ship, and they're good men. I'll put them all at your disposal whenever I can to haul cargo or passengers. Whatever you need." He stood up and looked around the room. "I sailed through the haunted water, and I was glad to have Michael on board."
    "Ill-wisher," someone muttered.
    "That's enough," Nathan said sharply, coming into the room. He tipped his head toward Lee, "I don't know this man, but I heard what he said. And I'm wondering if we haven't misunderstood some things about sorceresses and Magicians — and the world
    — for a long time now. So I for one am willing to offer a hand in friendship." He held out a hand to Lee, who clasped it.
    There was no actual sound in the room, but Michael could hear a dissonance shifting into the harmony of a different tune.
    Something has changed.
    He looked at Lee, who sank into a chair at the table, and he thought about the woman climbing the hill with his little sister.
    Neither Glorianna nor Lee understood the world as he knew it — but they understood it in ways he'd never even dreamed.
    Who was this woman? Caitlin wondered as she watched Glorianna study the outer walls of Darling's Garden. What kind of person talked about resonances, dissonances, and currents of power flowing through the world?
    And what kind of power flowed through Glorianna Belladonna that she could change the physical world simply by asking it to change?
    "Ephemera, hear me" Glorianna had said.
    Caitlin stood beside her, trying not to look at the burned husk of the cottage that had been her family's home. In front of them, the rust-colored sand had swallowed even more of the meadow.
    "This sand does not belong here," Glorianna said. "This landscape is not welcome here."
    Listen to her, Caitlin thought as fiercely as she could. Please, listen to her.
    A quiver along her skin, as if the air had asked a question. Glorianna watched her, waiting.
    Feeling self-conscious and foolish, Caitlin stared at the sand and said, "This is my place. The sand that comes from that dark
    ... landscape... does not belong here. It is not welcome here. I do not want that sand to touch what is mine."
    Something rippled through the land, then flowed through her, making her feel as if she were being lifted up to ride a wave in the sea. And then she watched the land change right before her eyes, and within moments, bare earth replaced the sand.
    Filled with a blend of delight and disbelief, along with a helping of fear, Caitlin laughed nervously. ''Isn't Ephemera going to fill in the bare spots?"
    "Yes," Glorianna said. "The meadow will reseed itself as it does every year."
    "That wasn't what I meant."
    "I know. But there is a difference between being playful and being careless with what you ask of the world."
    "This garden is loved," Glorianna said, brushing her fingers over the stones.
    "I tend it as best I can," Caitlin said, pleased that she sounded modest — and puzzled that Glorianna could tell what she'd done to the garden when they hadn't gotten inside yet.
    "You repaired the mortar?" Glorianna asked.
    "What?" Now that it was pointed out, she could see signs of recent work. "Maybe Lee's ability to impose one landscape over another isn't unique after all," Glorianna said. Then she smiled at Caitlin.