“That was illusory,” the Avatar said quietly. “And it was not a form taken; it was a form evoked. What you saw was born of your own experience, manipulated; it was not what the Shadow was. The attempt is being made to...be themselves in your presence, but I agree it lacks a certain visual acuity. We are not the same, and my attempts to teach what I instinctively know have not been as successful as one could hope. But they have a suggestion: take Spike with you. Spike is capable of recording and storing information gained, and Spike has clearly been entirely free of compulsion since first gaining freedom.

“Spike is also accustomed to you, and to your Helen; I feel that this suggestion is the most flexible and the most reasonable. Spike will not have the ready answers my friend might have, but Spike will certainly have more information than Terrano, his friends, or you.

“Spike also has the same immunity to Shadow—to unaspected, unenslaved Shadow—that my friend has. Listen to Spike if a warning is offered.”

Kaylin nodded. Spike then emerged from the Shadow that was not quite the Adversary but definitely not person-shaped. He was, as he had been before, a ball with protrusions—he looked like the head of a mace, removed from any useful way of wielding it.

Kaylin held out a hand, and Spike flew to her palm; she could feel the protuberances as he sank, quite literally, into her flesh. This was not the first time it had happened. Hope squawked at him; Spike clicked in response, but adjusted his spikes so they didn’t dig further into her palm.

“I think we should confer with Helen before we make our way to fourteen and a half,” Serralyn said, voice subdued.

“What she means is Sedarias wants us to come home first.”

“I’m against it,” Teela said, joining the verbal part of the discussion. “If we return home first, we’re likely to approach Orbonne Street in the company of the entire cohort.”

Plus one, Severn said.

Kaylin winced. It was, no doubt, dark now—but darkness seemed to be the time to attempt to approach the absent number fourteen. It was also the time when Ferals came to hunt; it was the time when Shadow was the strongest.

She lifted a hand—the one that didn’t contain Spike. “I think,” she said, “that we should find Amaldi and Darreno and bring them here, first. We don’t know what the enchantments Azoria laid are—but when we free them, we’ll have a better idea.”

“And if, in attempting to free them, you instead cause their death?”

22

“You did not want those paintings touched because you were afraid of the effect interference might have on the two people you characterize as out of phase.”

She nodded.