“There’s no telling where it emerges, is there?” Vince asked. “There’s no saying whether it mirrors the portal Grace made up above. We might walk through into Mallian’s hands.”

“One way to find out,” Shashahanna said, and she took three quick steps forward and vanished.

Vince gasped. There one second, gone the next, without any shimmer in the black curtain, no sound, and no evidence that she had ever existed at all.

“I guess the mermaid’s gone,” Dastion said.

“We came down here for a reason,” Vince said. He slipped his belt off. “How about you hang on to one end while I take a peek?”

“And I’ll pull you back from the dark depths of infinity if it’s too scary for you,” Dastion said. He nodded. “Plan.”

Vince let Dastion tie the belt through one of his belt loops and the dwarf held the buckle end in one of his big hands. He was strong, Vince had no doubt of that, but strength might count for nothing. The darkness was cool, sucking the heat from his body. It was silent. It gave the impression that it was indifferent to them, yet Vince thought he felt the regard of a great, unknowable consciousness.

He hated the idea that he was leaving Angela again, but events seemed to conspire to force them apart.

With a nod to Dastion he followed Shashahanna.

It was different from passing through Grace’s portal. There was more pull and pressure here, his skin compressed from every angle, air forced from his lungs, muscles crushed into his bones as he walked, and his broken arm was shifted and tweaked so much that he opened his mouth to scream.

The darkness rushed in and put pressure on his insides, pushing out. He felt trapped, yet somehow he kept walking, two more steps, three, and then he fell to his knees on soft ground and he was out. The relief was immense. He drew in a startled breath, feeling lighter than he ever had before. He thought if he breathed too deeply he might drift up from the ground into the air, and maybe if that happened he’d never come back down.

“Quite a rush,” Shashahanna said. She was standing beside him, and when he reached towards her took his hand and pulled him up.

Vince noticed that his belt hung limp from his jeans.

“The dwarf let you go?” she asked.

“Not sure he had a choice.”

“It’s okay.” She went back through, leaving Vince alone. He took in another deep breath and looked around.