They kept a slow pace over the relatively even terrain, through thick moss and grass heavily perfumed with wildflowers the size of dinner plates. She walked right up to the magique line with no problem. When she stumbled over a patch of purple vetch that had formed a sort of rope across the ground, he caught her hand to keep her upright. And then he refused to let go, his fingers with their growing claws gripping her own gently as spun glass. Zed started shaking his head occasionally as they moved closer, twitching in mild discomfort, but Dani felt downright leisurely in her enjoyment of the rift’s pulse.

“It’s so beautiful,” she sighed as the lights writhed in the distance. “Can’t you see it?”

“No,” he sighed, pulling her a bit closer to his side. “I wish I could see it the way you do.”

“Imagine the most beautiful painting ever created, only it lives and breathes.”

“Okay.”

“And then another even more awesome painting busts through the wall Kool-Aid-Man style and kicks that painting’s ass.”

Zed threw his head back and laughed. “Finally, someone explains la faille in a way I can understand.”

Dani stood, silently, letting the waves of the rift’s energy wash over her like the tide. Blocking out Zed’s discomfited chuffing, she closed her eyes and felt out the edges of the rift’s space, and felt it leap to respond, throwing itself against the barriers of her gift like an overeager puppy against a pet shop window. It had so much to share with her, so much to show her, if she would only come closer.

The separation in the “fabric” surrounding the rift was immense, though it wasn’t something Dani could measure in distance or even explain to someone who couldn’t feel it inside their head. But something about the tear felt forced and manufactured, which didn’t make any sense. Rifts were natural accidents and this felt like vandalism. Something was wrong here.

“I want to see if I can get closer.”

“No.” The smile slid right off Zed’s face. “I won’t be able to go in and get you if you pass out.”

Dani reached into her backpack and pulled out a coil of climbing rope. “That’s why I brought this.”

“Your fancy scientific method is that I’m going to tie a rope around your waist and drag you back to safety when you push yourself too hard? Like in Poltergeist?”

“It worked in Poltergeist.”

“Just when I think you may the smartest person I’ve ever met, you go and say something like that.”

Shrugging, Dani secured one end of the rope around her waist in a double bowline knot and handed him the coil.

“I do not feel right about this,” he told her.

“Duly noted.”