Book 17: Stuck in a Shift

Aris

“Are you okay? Dizzy?” Posey’s cheeks are warm and flushed between my gloved hands. She nods, but it’s short and sharp, and I can tell she’s lying about feeling anything but insanely nauseous and out-of-body.

I’ve jumped with her before, when I brought her mangled, bleeding body back to the castle and dosed her with so many healing drafts I wondered if I’d inadvertently killed her with them instead of healing her injuries, but unlike Brie and some of the other normal people in our family, she has powers, and she recovers within seconds of being torn between realms and stitched back together again.

It’s early evening in the Deadlands. Silverhide glows in the pale golden haze of the first light of sunset. The snow-covered landscape shines pink as the sun dips below the ridges, turning the sky a stunning violet, but we’re not here on a sightsee