Sebastian

there had been too many people on the roads throughout the day, and now they were probably—hopefully—too close to the school for him to risk a dark intention that might change things for him .
    Ewan gave a hard tug on the reins, bringing the weary horse to a stop beside a wooden post that had an R carved into the wood.
    "This is it," Ewan said, turning his head to look at her. "Get out."
    "What?" Lynnea looked around. The road curved, and trees blocked the view. "Is this the school?"
    Ewan gave her a mean smile. "No, but this is as far as I'm taking you. Went up to the village yesterday while Pa and Mam were shouting at each other. Pa figured it was a two-day ride to the school, but I talked to some of the fellows, and they told me about this road."
    Her heart pounded. "This isn't the way to the school?"
    "There's a resonating bridge on the other side of the bend. That's what the R in the post means. I'm crossing over to another landscape to have some fun. You're getting out here. I got two free days before Pa expects to see me back home, and I'm not going to waste them on a piece of crowbait like you. And I'm not going to have the filth inside you influencing what landscape I end up in." He gave her a hard shove, almost knocking her off the cart seat. "Get out."
    "But…" When his hand curled into a fist, she scrambled out of the cart. "How am I supposed to find the school?"
    Ewan gathered the reins. "Cross the bridge—and hope you end up in a place that's better than you deserve. Giddyap there!"
    Stunned that he had done what she'd always feared—left her on the side of the road like a piece of trash
    —she'd almost let him reach the bend before she realized the bag with the change of clothes Mam had allowed her to take was still in the back of the cart. "Ewan!" she shouted. "Ewan! My bag!"
    Maybe he heard her, maybe not. Either way, he rounded the bend and was gone.
    Moments later he screamed.
    She ran down the road. Had the horse shied at something and thrown Ewan from the cart? He had screamed, so he must be hurt. Where could she go to reach help if he was badly injured and the horse had bolted, leaving her with no way to take Ewan anywhere?
    She raced around the bend—and staggered to a halt. Goose bumps rose on her arms as she tried to understand what she was seeing.
    The cart, overturned and sinking. The horse, frantically struggling in a pool of water that covered half the road. No sign of Ewan, but she thought she could still hear faint screaming.
    Wary now, her heart pounding, she approached the water and the struggling horse.
    "Easy, boy," she whispered. "Easy."
    The horse thrashed, as if spurred by the sound of a familiar voice instead of soothed by it. As its right front leg lifted clear of the water, she saw a strange-looking, fleshy vine coiled around the leg from knee to pastern. Then, in a heartbeat, two other vines, their undersides covered with disks, whipped out of the water and wrapped around the horse's neck and other front leg.
    The horse screamed as it was pulled under.
    Lynnea stared at the pool, watching the churning water turn red.

    She had to go back. She had to get away from this place. How far away was the last farmhouse she'd seen? Didn't matter. The sun was going down. She had to get away from here while she could watch for any traps.
    She turned—and froze.
    Rust-colored sand covered the road. It hadn't been there when shed rounded the bend. She couldn't jump across it, and she was afraid of moving into the trees on either side of the road in order to get around it.
    Which left the bridge.
    Travel lightly.
    A few steps back to provide some distance from the sand. Then she turned—and whimpered.
    The pool of water had spread. Only a thin strip of road remained, barely wide enough to walk on. Once it disappeared beneath the water, there would be no safe way to reach the bridge.
    She'd heard that when you crossed a bridge into another landscape, you thought about what you wanted to find on the other side. Then, if you were favored by the Guides of the Heart, you would end up in the place you needed to be.
    What she wanted with all her heart was a place where she felt safe, where she didn't have to be afraid all the time. A place where someone loved her.
    And that reminded her of the strange waking dream she'd had last night. She'd been yearning for the things she'd never had… and a man's voice had promised to love her, had said…
    Come to me.
    Even if he was real, how