“They’re really quite simple at this age,” Soheila said as she deftly cast her owl kite into the water. Instead of merely sinking into the water, the kite performed an elaborate parabola above the pool and then dove in the water as if it had spied a tasty fish.

“Show-off,” Diana said with a laugh. “Just because you’re a wind spirit doesn’t mean you have to make the rest of us feel inadequate.”

There was nothing inadequate, though, in the way Diana’s deer kite bounced merrily over the surface of the pool and then somersaulted into the water with a flick of its white tail. My companions might not be giddy teenagers, but they hadn’t lost the will for friendly rivalry.

Peering down through the water I saw swarms of undines circling the colorful kites. They had formed three separate circles.

“I’m afraid all we’ve done is make the current even more confusing for them,” Liz said. “The underwater passage to Faerie is right below them. Can you see it?”

I leaned further to look into the water. At first it was difficult to make out anything among the whirling water, colorful kites, and semi-transparent undines, but at last I saw something flash among the rocks at the bottom of the pool. It looked like a bright gold coin, so bright it was hard to look at. But as I stared, it grew larger and shot out rays of gold light into the roiling water.

“See!” Diana crowed triumphantly. “Callie just needed to look at the passage to make it grow bigger. I told you she was a powerful doorkeeper.”

Clearly there’d been some dispute about the matter, which might have bothered me if I didn’t have my own doubts about my power. I squinted up at the three women who stood between me and the midday sun.

“You’ve opened the door before,” Liz said, “I know you can do it again.”

“The first two times I was letting creatures into this world. I have a feeling that’s easier.”

“Yes,” Soheila agreed. “If the creatures want to come through, it would be.”

“And the third time was on the solstice, which is when it’s supposed to open,” I said, recalling the brief glimpse of Faerie I’d had that time: sloping green meadows and distant blue mountains. It had looked lush and beautiful and I felt a sudden yearning to go there … but then, recalling my dream last night, I felt a chill. As Liz had pointed out, my power was unstable. I might find myself in the Borderlands if I tried the passage to Faerie.

“But the last time, you opened the door to throw Mara through it,” Soheila said. “And she certainly didn’t want to go.”

Mara had been the liderc – a life-sucking bird monster – who had masqueraded as my student. She had attacked me and chased me into the woods and nearly succeeded in killing me. “No, she didn’t want to go, but she was going to kill me if I didn’t get rid of her so I was pretty motivated. Also, I used an opening spell from my spell book …”