Sebastian

that you can alter landscapes and put together pieces from all different parts of the world. It's this—the ability to connect with Ephemera so strongly you can create landscapes. That's it, isn't it?"
    "Yes, that's it."
    He looked at her as if he'd never seen her before. "You really are like the Old Ones, the ones in the stories. The Guides of the Heart."
    "A Guide, yes. But since I may be the only one left, I guess, in a real sense, I'm Ephemera's heart." He was still looking at her as if she were a stranger.
    "How long have you known?"
    "Not long. Mother told me some things about our family just recently that explained why I am the way I am." She hesitated. "Does it bother you, knowing what I truly am?"
    He studied her a moment longer and smiled. "No. We're still going to squabble." Then he narrowed his eyes, considering. "Have you created anything else?"
    "The Island in the Mist."
    His mouth fell open. "The whole island?"
    "It's only a few acres."
    "But… an island?" He thought for a moment. "The house, too?"
    "No, not the house. Ephemera can create quarries of fine stone for building, but it can't build a house. Or put in plumbing."
    "Or use a wrench to take apart a piece of pipe that's clogged."
    "That's what brothers are for."
    "How considerate of Mother to have provided you with one."
    "I know. That's why I bring her flowers every year on your birthday."
    He grinned. "I guess things are all right between us. We're squabbling again."
    She smiled. "I guess we are—and they are."
    "Then it's my turn." Releasing her, he walked over to the two wooden planks that crossed a narrow creek. "I'll break this bridge so nothing from Wizard City can reach this landscape. Then…" He crouched in front of the wooden planks. "I don't like the part that comes after this. I'll tell you that plainly, Glorianna."
    "If you want to stir up a hornets nest, you hit it with a big stick."
    "Let's just make sure neither of us gets stung."

    *
    The student wizard hurried across the open ground, relieved his shift at the tower had finished before the sun set. Things felt… strange… lately in the city after the sun went down, even here at the hall.
    He skidded to a halt and bit back a yelp when a woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere and walked toward him. She wore mannish clothes, the kind no respectable woman in Wizard City would wear, and her black, unbound hair flowed down her back, fanning out in the breeze that always blew at the top of the hill. For a moment he thought—hoped—she was a woman of loose morals who would be willing to do some naughty things with him in exchange for his not turning her over to the guards.
    But she had the coldest green eyes he'd ever seen, and his heart trembled when she looked at him.
    "The Wizards' Council has demanded Heart's Justice," she said. "Tell them the Landscaper will meet them outside the walls of the city tomorrow at sundown, and Heart's Justice will be done."
    She turned and walked away.
    "And who should I say gave me the message?" he asked, shaken by the brazen way she was giving orders to the council.
    "They'll know."
    "How are they supposed to know which Landscaper you are?"
    She stopped and looked back at him. Those cold eyes went straight through him—and he felt as if she could see every secret in his heart.
    "I'm the only one left." She took another step… and disappeared.
     
     
    Standing on the edge of the little island that was Lee's landscape, the piece of Ephemera he could shift at will, Glorianna watched the young wizard run toward the hall.
    "Well," Lee said, "you whacked the hornets' nest."
    She nodded, resisting the wind of emotion blowing through her own heart.
    Lee watched her for a moment, then said quietly, "We could try to find Sebastian, get him out of here now."
    So tempting to agree, because it was what she wanted. But…
    Opportunities and choices. Something in Sebastian had changed—or had been changed. She could barely feel the resonance of his heart, and what she could sense was different, alien. This heart would never be at home in any of her landscapes. But deep in the core, fiercely protected, was still the cousin she knew and loved.
    "No," she said with regret. "He has to make his own choices on this journey." And if he doesn't follow the shining warmth I can still feel in his heart, we'll lose him forever .

    Lee sighed. "In that case, the bridge between this landscape and the waterhorses' is broken, and the wizards know you're coming. It's