“How will we find her?” I asked as he reached out to swing the door open. “And what happens if I need to pee?”

Because honestly, I’d drunk a lot of water at lunch, and my bladder was feeling decidedly uncomfortable. Shadow really should learn to check that no one needed the bathroom before we set off to another world.

“We’ll go to Angel’s family land first,” he said, somehow not managing to sound annoyed with me. “Thanks to your bond with her, it should allow you entry again. And if you hurry your ass up, you can use the bathroom right now before we leave.”

My smile could have lit up a dark room. “Thank you! Seriously, thank you.”

I sprinted off, heading toward the nearest facilities. It might have been weird to have bathrooms in a place like this, built of fantasy beings and other worlds, but the truth was, most of them needed to use a bathroom for varying reasons, most of which I did not want to know about.

When I was done, I returned to find Shadow in the same spot, all but guarding the open doorway into the Honor Meadows. “Everything okay?” I asked, noting how hard he was staring into the swirling white abyss that existed on the other side of the doorway.

At the sound of my voice, his focus returned to me. “All good,” he said with a nod. “I was just checking out the Solaris System since it’s still coming online from my reboot.”

Despite the many beings already making their way along his paths between worlds, there were clearly parts of the system not quite up and running yet.

“Did you find any issues?” I asked, not really expecting any because Shadow made no mistakes.

He hesitated, and I frowned at him. “There’s an issue?” I asked.

Now he was the one frowning. “There’s a foreign entity coating the surface of my magic,” he said slowly, like he wasn’t quite sure if he was reading it right. “It’s so light and thin that it’s barely noticeable, but it’s not mine. It doesn’t appear to be affecting the general function, but I will have to look into it when we return.”

He didn’t want to leave it be, but at the same time, there was no way in hell he’d let me head into the Honor Meadows on my own. “Will everyone here be safe until we return?”

“Yes.” This time, he was surer. “There’s no malevolence in the presence. It’s just foreign, and since this is built from Inky’s and my energy, it’s obvious only to me that there’s a foreign beat in the heart.”

As if it had heard its name, Inky swirled down then, wrapping around Shadow.

“Can Inky feel it too?” I whispered.

Shadow nodded. “Yes, and Inky thinks it’s best if it stays here and investigates.”