Sebastian

particular window would see what It wanted him to see.
    Ready now, It reached out with a mental tentacle for the Dark One. It didn't try to slip into that mind unobserved. It made Its presence felt—and relished the fear that flooded that mind before the feeling was controlled.
    Come to the window , It whispered. Look at the steep land. Watch . It withdrew the tentacle, knowing the Dark One would obey.
    Choosing ground that was a short distance from a flock of sheep grazing on the hillside, It altered the grass into a large patch of rust-colored sand, changing that piece of Wizard City into the bonelovers'
    landscape.
    Then It waited until It sensed the Dark One's presence.
    The simpleminded animals began to bleat and move away as It rippled beneath them. Already primed to bolt, they panicked when It transformed part of Itself and tentacles burst out of the ground in the middle of the flock. The ones in front of It ran straight into the patch of sand—and disappeared.
    Satisfied, It pulled the tentacles into the earth, changing them back into Its natural form.
    It felt the Dark One's mind reaching out. Hesitant. Afraid.
    We helped you , the Dark One said. All these years, we sent you prey .
    More prey found its own way into my landscapes , It replied. You never freed me. Never tried .
    We couldn't! We didn't know where the Landscapers had hidden —
    Lies . It waited, savoring the fear.
    What do you want?
    The True Enemy must he destroyed. She is one; you are many. It will he easy for you to destroy her.
    We've tried to destroy Belladonna!
    A shudder went through It. Belladonna. The first male It had killed at the Landscapers' School had used that word as a shield for a kernel of hope. Now It knew what the word meant.
    Destroy the True Enemy , It insisted.
    Why can't you destroy her?
     
    A thread of hope flowed through the words, enraging It. The Dark One was too fearful to hide his thoughts completely. He hoped It and the True Enemy would destroy each other. Foolish creature, to think that It had learned nothing from Its prey when It had spent so much time absorbing Its prey's deepest fears.
    Don't you want to befriends?
    We are your friends!
    Prove it . It projected an image of the females It had found—the females that had been hidden for generations. Destroy the True Enemy — or something besides sheep will disappear in the bonelovers' landscape .
    It felt the Dark One's fear spike.
    We… We will find a way to destroy Belladonna . The Dark One hesitated. Is there anything else we must do to prove we are friends ?
    It considered for a moment, thought about the dark hunting ground It wanted to claim for Itself. Yes.
    Destroy the thing called Sebastian .
    Glorianna walked the paths in her walled garden, the statue of the sitting woman cradled in her arms, an old piece of towel tossed over her shoulder. Fifteen years ago, she had done what Nadia had asked—
    she had removed all the access points from her garden at the school and had rebuilt her garden on this small island. Then she had altered the landscapes, hiding this place so well it could not be found by conventional means.
    Its existence was known in Sanctuary, but the Keepers of the Light did not talk to outsiders about the Island in the Mist—unless heart's need compelled them to speak.
    The wizards could not find her here. The Eater of the World could not find her here. The only way to reach this island was through Sanctuary, and Sanctuary was held, protected, within the walls of her garden.
    She could feel the connection between her landscapes and the rest of Ephemera breaking, setting these pieces of the world adrift, anchored only to one another.
    Ephemera. As solid and strong as stone, as delicate as a dream.
    And if she was successful, the dream would not become a nightmare.
    She just didn't know how she was supposed to fight something like the Eater of the World. And if she did manage to find It and fight It, she didn't know how a single Landscaper could win that fight when it had taken so many like her to contain the Eater the first time.
    "Stop dithering," she muttered. "You'll reach that battle when you reach it. You know what needs to be done now." She turned around and walked to the front part of her gardens.
    She hadn't spent the past hour wandering the paths in order to decide where to put the statue that would anchor Nadia's home. She already had an access point to her family home—a bed of flowers she had grown from seeds and cuttings