Braxton released me, allowing me to step free and fill my oxygen-starved lungs. “Where exactly is this land in reference to Earth?” I really should have paid more attention in geography and history, but I’d had better things to do. Like sleep. Although, since it was about Faerie, the information probably hadn’t been in any school lessons.

Louis tilted his head back toward me. Over his left shoulder I noticed that the portal was opening. “This is the next dimension across. These two worlds sit parallel to each other, on either side of the great divide.”

I furrowed my brows. “The great divide?”

Braxton answered. “The divide is the “rumored” plane which exists between Earth and Faerie, a land of fire, mists and souls. The dead who have not been reborn or crossed to the gods reside there.”

I was trying to work the logistics in my head. Seemed as if these three “dimensions” sort of existed within the same space, but on different planes. Weird, but acceptable.

I wondered what a supernatural had to do to end up in the great divide.

“It’s supposedly where the dragon king’s soul rests, in the divide,” Louis said, before indicating I should step through the portal. “This is how he can return, his existence is stuck in limbo and hasn’t moved on to the gods.”

I was troubled by these words as I moved toward the doorway home. Louis reached out and halted me just as I was about to cross over. “Sorry it took me so long to get to you.” His sincerity bled into me. I almost lost myself in those hypnotic eyes, and the power which rode along with his words.

I shook my head a few times, clearing the vagueness which had descended. “It’s not a problem.” I pulled my arm free. “You’re not my keeper. Besides, we were doing okay on our own.”

That smirk crossed his face again, and I noticed the quick circumnavigation his eyes did of the scene around us — the mangled fey bodies, the creatures snarling and trying to break past the magic barrier – and I thought, for a moment, there was a sign of strain, just very mild around his eyes. I was probably imagining it.

Louis leaned in to whisper his last power-laden words. “Yes, you did very well on your own. Thankfully … they didn’t wake or it might have been a different tale.”

I wasn’t even going to ask what they were. Right now I didn’t care.

Just as I dropped my leg into the shimmery portal, I heard Braxton ask. “How much time has passed, Jake?”

I swung my head around, leaving that leg hanging in the unknown. What did he mean? We’d only been here for like a day or so.

“Almost three weeks.”

Uh, what?

“Time moves differently in Faerie land?” I was proud there wasn’t even the slightest waver in my voice.