I could see how this could become annoying after a while. Sensory deprivation, isn’t that what they call it? I remembered reading that this kind of thing could serve as a form of torture. Pretty clever, actually. Didn’t leave any marks, and you couldn’t be accused of doing anything to your prisoner because you weren’t doing a damn thing. Interesting, in a theoretical kind of way.

Right now, all that mattered was that I got the point. The Nix could send me someplace where I wouldn’t want to spend a whole lot of time.

“Okay—” I stopped. I’d felt myself say the word, but hadn’t heard anything. “Okay, ladies!”

The silence sucked up my words before they left my lips.

“Hello?” I tried to say. “Hello, hello, hello!”

Creepy, but not like it mattered. The Fates seemed to hear me whether I spoke aloud or not. When they were ready, they’d bring me back. I settled onto the ground to wait.

Still waiting.

At least a couple of hours had passed. Obviously the Fates wanted to give me a real taste of this wasteland. Like I had time for this. Well, if they weren’t going to bring me back, I’d look after it myself.

I said the words of a travel incantation. I still couldn’t hear myself, but I was speaking and, in magic, there’s no bonus for blaring. I finished the incantation. Nothing happened. I tried a few more, but stayed where I was. Fine. I could wait.

Okay, now I was getting mad. I’d been here at least a few hours, tried every damned spell I knew, even ones that had nothing to do with transportation, and not one of them had worked. What the hell were the Fates doing? They had a murderous demi-demon on the rampage, probably planning her next atrocity against humankind at this very moment, but that didn’t stop them from sparing a few hours to piss me off.

The old Fate was behind this. She hated me. Like my teacher, Mrs. Appleton. I’d never known what I’d done to earn Mrs. Appleton’s hate, but I hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that she’d seen something in me, something bad, something waiting to emerge. When the old Fate looked at me, I felt the same thing.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, rested my chin on them, and tried to chase these thoughts from my brain. They clung like burrs, rubbing raw spots in my confidence. I needed to clear my head, needed to do something. But there was nothing here to do. Except think.