Emry shook her head. Perhaps it had been just a story her Gran had told. Or perhaps sending the creature home took more magic than she had. Still, she hated to walk away after coming this far. She could figure it out. She had to.

“άνοιξε την πόρτα,” Emry said, the Greek low and lovely on her tongue.

For a moment nothing changed, and then the henge began to tremble. The stone beneath her palm pressed back, and Emry gasped as magic flowed out of her, flooding into the stone.

She struggled to blink back the dizziness. It was like the healing spell she’d performed on Lance, only worse. The air between the standing stones shimmered, then began to glow. Emry could just make out a faint landscape forming beyond it, one that wasn’t the forest.

A cliff the color of bone. A beach of strange pink rocks. A wine-dark sea.

The creature arched its back and padded through the doorway, silent and graceful as a cat. The air rippled behind it, and the creature stared back at Emry from the other side of the doorway, just for a moment.

Then it bounded away, toward the cliffs. Emry watched, pleased.

She should get back. This doorway frightened her, as did the screaming forest.

Emry tried to lift her hand from the altar, and found that she couldn’t. The stone was still sucking at her magic. The beach on the other side of the doorway grew more solid. Now Emry could smell the salt water, and hear the crash of the waves. She could see the stars that powdered the sky with unfamiliar constellations.

But more than that, she could sense the magic on the other side of the doorway, calling out to her.

Something you want?

Something you wish?

Something you desire?

Emry stared, transfixed, as the pink rocks on the beach began to glow with an otherworldly light. She could take one. Or two. Just a flick of her hand should do it.

Emry licked her lips, imagining the warm, solid weight of the stone. Imagining the power it contained, and what she might do with such magic.

No. She pulled, trying to wrench her palm from the stone, but it was stuck. Panic flared in her chest as she pulled again.

On the other side of the doorway, the pink rocks chattered like teeth.

“κλείσε την πόρτα,” commanded a harsh voice from the edge of the clearing,

The Lady of the Lake.

The stone released, and Emry stumbled backward, catching her balance just in time to watch the doorway fade.

Now they were just stones. Emry was breathing hard, as if she’d been running. Though the night air was cold, she found she was damp with sweat.

“What are you doing?” the Lady of the Lake demanded, a lantern held high, her expression fierce.

“My Lady,” Emry said, with a short bow that had become second nature after the time she’d spent at court. “I’m sorry. I—”