Sebastian

go."
    "Why? We don't deal with those landscapes anyway."
    Frustration filled Sebastian. He hadn't expected Teaser to get scrappy about this. "Are you sure we don't deal with them? Are you sure we can survive if those other landscapes are destroyed? I'm not sure."
    Teaser looked away.
    "I'm going to leave a message for Lee, telling him about the bridge and the places Koltak was able to reach through the waterhorses landscape. I'll leave it in your room. If he shows up before I get back, you make sure he gets the message. And look after Lynnea."
    "We'll look after each other, I guess. Kind of like family."
    Looking at Teaser's wistful smile, Sebastian felt a shimmer of rightness go through him. "We are family."
    Pleased and embarrassed, Teaser tipped his head toward the dining room door. "That one is impatient."
    How long had Koltak been standing at the door, watching him?
    "Sebastian?" Teaser said. "Travel lightly."

    "I'll be back as soon as I can." As he walked away from Teaser and passed the doorway, he said to Koltak, "Let's go."

    Watching Sebastian was like seeing his brother, Peter, again. The same indefinable quality that drew people to him, made them listen. The same combination of charm and steel. Peter Justicemaker. Never Peter, Wizard Third Level, or Wizard Peter. It had never been about being Somebody—not for Peter. It had always been about justice.
    But believing in justice hadn't prevented Peter from disappearing into the landscapes, never to return.
    Of course, no one in Wizard City had known darling Peter had sired two children with a Landscapes So maybe his disappearance had been a kind of justice—the punishment for having done the forbidden.
    Koltak pushed the thoughts away as Sebastian finished a discussion with some kind of demons that were a combination of flesh and a thick bicycle without wheels.
    "The demon cycles will take us as far as the bridge that crosses over to Wizard City," Sebastian said when he returned to the corner where Koltak waited. "After that, Guardians and Guides willing, we'll find someone to give us a ride."
    We . Sebastian had said we . The mind control was working.
    To save Ephemera , Koltak chanted silently. For the good of Ephemera .
    They went down a side street and entered a building halfway down the block.
    Plush. Well-kept. He'd seen places like this in the cities of many landscapes—he had needs like any other man—but the only times he'd been in a place that looked this expensive was when a well-to-do family paid for the room and the woman in return for a favor. All very discreetly, of course.
    Sebastian paused at the foot of the stairs, as if something was troubling him. Koltak resumed his silent chant. To save Ephemera. For the good of Ephemera .
    The room on the third floor was large enough to have a separate sitting area and didn't shout "whore." It would seem Sebastian had done well for himself.
    The room felt masculine, but there were touches of femininity.
    "You live with a woman?" Koltak asked, wondering how an incubus did business with a female in residence.
    "None of your business," Sebastian snapped, pulling a pack out of the bottom of the wardrobe.
    "No, it's not." He saw the hesitation again. The boy had always had a will of steel. For the good of Ephemera. To save Ephemera .
    Two changes of underwear went into the pack. Two shirts.
    Then Sebastian went through a door, closing it behind him. A moment later Koltak heard the bang and grumble of old water pipes.

    Not sure how long Sebastian would be occupied, Koltak scanned the room as he reached into the inner pocket of his robe and withdrew the folded, sealed paper that contained Ephemera's salvation. He'd worried that he wouldn't find a good place to leave the document—a place where he could be certain it would be found, but not too quickly. Sebastian had conveniently solved the problem for him by having a female living with him.
    The water pipes stopped grumbling.
    Koltak tucked the paper between the seat cushion and the arm of one of the sitting room chairs, leaving enough of it visible to catch the eye.
    "Ready?" Koltak asked when Sebastian walked back into the room, shifting slightly to hide the chair and keep Sebastian from noticing the paper.
    "Let's go."
    When they reached the street and Koltak saw the two demons waiting for them, he balked. "No."
    Sebastian adjusted the pack on his back, then swung a leg over the creature's leather seat. "You're the one insisting that we get there as