The Magician slowly turned his head to look at Dare, and whatever she saw in his face left her speechless. Something ancient and alien peered out through his eyes. She watched, frozen, as his hand rose, bringing the weapon up before his face.

Fire.

The stone sword blazed with white-hot fire.

Ice.

Ice crackled and formed on the blade and hilt.

Suddenly the sword shifted and separated, leaving him holding Clarent burning red-black in his left hand and Excalibur cracking with blue fire in his right.

“Where do you want to be, Virginia?” Dee’s voice was a hoarse whisper.

“Anywhere but here.”

The cucubuths were almost on top of them now, circling warily around the two swords. The ravens were laughing in Odin’s voice.

“Do you know where I want to be?” Dee asked. His arms described two enormous perfect circles-blazing red, crackling blue-in the air. The circles overlapped in the middle to create a long oval that shimmered like melting ice.

“John, you’re scaring me.”

“I want to go home,” Dee said. He stepped into the oval and vanished. Immediately, the fire started to die, the ice began to melt. The cucubuths howled and darted forward; the ravens screamed.

Closing her eyes, Virginia Dare threw herself into the burning melting oval…

… and opened them to the sun on her face. She breathed in warm salt-scented air and discovered that she was lying on grass, listening to the sound of traffic. Car horns blared, and it suddenly occurred to her that it was the most musical sound in the world. She sat up and looked around. Dee was sitting beside her. Excalibur and Clarent lay on the grass alongside him, a puddle of ice around one, scorched earth around its twin. “John, your hands…,” Virginia said in horror.

Dee lifted his hands. They were both burned black, the flesh raw and ugly, blisters already beginning to form. “A small price to pay.” He grimaced.

Virginia stood up and looked around. She could hear voices close by. There were trees all around her, and she could see the tops of nearby buildings. One, a tower, seemed familiar-very, very familiar. “John, what did you do? Where are we? Tell me this isn’t another Shadowrealm.”

“I suddenly realized what the swords could do,” Dee said quietly. “No, realized is the wrong word. I was told what the swords were capable of.” When he turned to look at Virginia, she noticed the tiny speckles of blue and red, like chips of ice and cinders, in his gray eyes. “The Elders created the Shadowrealms with the swords… but the Archons used them to fashion the leygates.”

“You created a leygate!” Virginia looked down at him, shocked. “Even for you, John, that is very impressive. And what about the cucubuths and the crows?”

“Trapped forever… unless Odin goes after his pets.”

“How did you get us here?” Virginia asked.