“Oberon!” she gasped.
“What's wrong?” I gave a bitter smile. That might easily become our family greeting.
“You are alive!” She smiled in relief.
“I could say the same thing about you. How are you? What's going on there?”
She smoothed her low-cut gown. Its shimmering green material, which accentuated her stunning figure, looked as though she'd slept in it for many days in a row.
“I have been better. Where are you now? Safe?”
“Yes,” I said. “I'm in a Shadow with Dad.”
“Good. I had given you both up for dead.” She glanced almost casually over her shoulder. I heard a distant pounding noise and the clash of steel on steel. Swordplay?
“What's going on there?” I said sharply. “Where are Freda and Aber?”
“I'm about to be arrested by King Uthor's men,” she said with calmly measured tones. “I don't know what happened to the others. I haven't seen Freda in two weeks, and I haven't seen Aber in a month. Are you going to bring me through or not?”
A loud banging noise, metal striking on wood, carried to my ears. She glanced over her shoulder again. The door behind her suddenly splintered.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“In the Courts,” she said. “Visiting Aunt Tana and Uncle Snoddar.” I had never heard of them. At my puzzled look, she went on: “They are all that's left of my mother's family. Unfortunately, things are not going well. Uncle is dead, and I think Aunt Tana just fled to the Beyond without me. I heard her carriage racing outside. Now, if you don't mind—”
“Does Uthor have anyone else?” I asked.
She nodded, eyes growing wide. “He ordered our whole family arrested. They already have Titus and, oh, I don't know how many others!”
“And I'm your last hope for rescue,” I said with a sigh. It figured I'd be the last one she'd call.
“Who else but the family champion?” She smiled almost desperately. Behind her, the door snapped in two; the top half sagged off its hinges. “Don't make me beg. Bring me through like a good brother.”
Why not? I had nothing against her. In fact, my original low estimates of her had proved quite wrong. She had more of steel than lace in her blood, a true daughter of our father.
“All right,” I said.
She swallowed visibly. “And, if you wouldn't mind hurrying u—”
I reached out to her. “Come on!”
She seized my hand with bone-crushing force, and I pulled her through to join me on the mountaintop. The bedroom scene behind her disappeared just as the first of Uthor's snake-faced troops came through the door.
Blaise gave a cry and collapsed into my arms. A jolt of alarm went through me. Had she taken a knife or crossbow bolt to the back?
Gently, I eased her onto the grass, searching for any sign of a wound. I couldn't find so much as a scratch. And yet she lay there gasping.
“Are you injured?” I asked.
“No…” she whispered. “I just feel… very strange… it hurts… all over… very sleepy now…”
Mental alarms went off. The same thing had happened to me the first time I entered the Beyond, the part of Chaos where Dad had his lands and keep. I had not been prepared for it, and I lay unconscious for most of three whole days as a result.
Her head fell back and her eyes closed. She snored softly.
“Oh, no you don't!” I cried. I shook her until her eyes opened Wearily. “Stay awake!”
“Wha—why—?” she murmured blearily.
“This Shadow is affecting you,” I said. “Fight it. Talk to me, sing to me, curse at me—anything! Just stay awake.”
Her brow furrowed. “But I've been in a thousand Shadows before—”
“Not like these,” I said. “Dad redrew the Pattern that's casting them. It's all different now, but subtly. Can't you feel it?”
“Different?” Her eyes widened. “How? Where is this Pattern?”
“Uh-uh.” I shook my head, smiling. “It's best if you don't know. Safer for you, too. Uthor would kill to find out.”
She sighed. “Everyone's already trying to kill me… what can one more secret hurt?”
“Not everyone.”
“Need to sleep…” she whispered, head sagging toward her chest.
“No! No sleeping! On your feet! Now!”
I lifted her easily, and she slipped one arm around my waist for support. For a second she looked up at my face. Then, seemingly against her will, her eyes closed and her chin slowly lowered again.
“Blaise!” I shouted.
“I'm awake!”
Her eyes blinked fast several times, then closed. She couldn't help it, I knew.
No more fooling around—this time I slapped her as hard as I could, leaving a scarlet handprint across her left cheek.
Her eyes flew open. A wolfish snarl came over her usually smooth features, and she twisted away from me.
“How dare you!” she snapped. She punched my chest hard enough to stagger me back a foot. Like everyone in my family, she had a temper to reckon with. And fists of steel.
I had the strangest feeling I might have gone too far. I had never seen her so furious. Still, it was too late to back down now, though not too late to apologize.
“I'm sorry,” I said quickly. I rubbed at my chest. “Keep in mind, though, that I was only trying to keep you awake and alive!”
“That's not good enough! Never touch me!”