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  “Laura, no,” she heard Logan say beside her, but she had already made up her mind. Unlinking her fingers from his – which, she had to admit, was one of the most difficult things she’d ever done – she stepped forward.

  “What do I need to do, Gabrielle?”

  Gabrielle smiled and drifted over to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and gently led her forward. Positioning her in front of the torrial, he stepped back.

  Laura, he said, you are the only one who can hear me now. I will tell you how to use the torrial to achieve what you want. Listen well, for it is imperative that nothing go wrong.

  Laura gave a curt nod to acknowledge him.

  Look into the sphere, Laura. Do you see the lights? Each of those lights is a representation of every living body in existence. Everyone is there; there are none omitted.

  Laura came closer, and could see deeper into the torrial. Whereas before she thought all the lights were contained within the sphere, now she knew different. The lights appeared to extend out forever. There was no other side to the globe when she looked in. It just extended indefinitely. It made her dizzy just thinking about it.

  Every star is the representation of a single person. The light you see given off is their life energy. It is what makes them who they are, what allows them to feel pain and happiness, sadness and pleasure. It is what gives them life. The torrial allows us to see all the people of the world represented at once. And it allows us to enter their minds – their dreams – or bring them into our own. It is what we will use to find the elders.

  Do you see the black surrounding the stars? That is the sub-ethereal matrix, the nothingness that exists to give structure to our world and to all of life. Without it, nothing could exist. But at the same time, there is nothing that exists within it. It is bleak and barren and devoid of life, and yet gives rise to the physical dimensions of our worlds.

  That matrix is where the torrial will take you, Laura. When you’re inside, you will see the billions of stars that represent every living body on the earth. Time and space become meaningless there. You will find the elders’ stars, and go into the first one.

  “But how can I possibly pick out the right star?”

  The torrial operates on need, Laura. It will take you to where you need to be more than anything in the world. Feel the need, and the torrial will respond in kind. Do you understand?

  “I… yes, I think so.”

  You have to be sure, Laura. Are you sure that your need to find the elders is stronger than anything else on your mind? That your desire to see justice done, to ensure that you can live your life in peace, supersedes everything else?

  “Yes,” Laura answered strongly.

  That your anger for what the elders have put you through makes you want to seek revenge? That your passion for seeing it done fuels the very fires of your heart?

  “Yes!”

  Then your need is the right one. Close your eyes.

  Laura did so. She felt reality distort around her. It was as if a cleave had been made right through the air, opening into nothingness. She felt a pull from it, and was plunged inside.

  Chapter Eleven

  ~A Reunion~

  Laura was floating through the darkness. She knew she was above ground, but could not feel her body. In fact, she could not even tell which way was up, and which was down. She floated, like a leaf travelling down a meandering creek. She did not know where she was going, only that she was in motion.

  She opened her eyes. Darkness filled them. It was overpowering, fighting to swallow her up. She was an intruder, and not welcome here. But she was here. How did she get here? She fought to remember, but catching a memory was like grasping at water. It was like trying to recall a dream of a dream.

  Slowly, ever so slowly, the darkness receded. In its place Laura saw shapes forming. Small shapes, and all far in the distance. The darkness still existed in the interval, but where the shapes were, it did not. A thousand years seemed to pass as the darkness continued to ebb away, revealing the intricate shapes that surrounded her. They were everywhere, now. Close and far, left and right, down and up. Every one of the shapes was different, but every one was perfect in its own right. Laura could see the lines that made up the shapes like bars of streaming light. The shapes all called to her, all demanded her attention. There were so many of them it would take a thousand lifetimes just to get started. But Laura did not want to wait.

  She reached out toward one, but it scampered away. She tried again, extending herself toward another. It reacted the same way. She was like a drop of oil floating in a pool of water. Skimming at the top, but repelling everything around her.

  Laura blinked, and the shapes changed. What were previously angular figures became glowing balls of light. And the darkness ebbed away. Paradoxically, it threatened to swallow everything up. The little spheres around her fought back, shining with increased fervor, and the darkness did not advance. An equilibrium had been reached.

  Laura moved forward, and the equilibrium shifted. The darkness became more powerful. The little lights contracted. She felt a pulse of terror come out from all of them.

  She stopped in place. Had she done that? Had she upset the balance somehow? Carefully, she shifted herself back. The lights expanded outward instantly, and the darkness shrunk in on itself.

  She had done it! But why? And how? What did any of it mean? She felt like she should know, like she should recognize the place she was at, but her memories were fuzzy. Thinking of anything in her past was fuzzy.

  She felt an itch between her shoulder blades, as if she were being watched. She turned around, careful not to disturb the delicate balance of the place. And for a heartbeat, she saw the panel of glass that separated the abyss she was in from the outside world. On the other side, she spotted Gabrielle, towering a thousand times larger than her. The image lasted for a second, and was gone. She was alone in the darkness.

  But the momentary viewing awoke all the memories she had lost. She knew where she was again, and knew the orbs of light around her were ethereal representations of all humanity. She was here to find the orbs that belonged to the elders.

  How could she do it? She could see millions of lights all around her, and any movement she made seemed to threaten to upset the balance that held them in place. Picking the right ones out of the mass would be more difficult that finding Atlantis in the ocean.

  But Gabrielle had told her she could do it based on need. If she felt the need, the right spheres should reveal themselves to her. She closed her eyes tightly. Need.

  Swish.

  She opened her eyes, and knew instantly she had been transported thousands of miles away. Space was meaningless here, but she felt the spatial difference of where she was. The stars shining around her were different from the ones before. There was no order to them, neither here nor earlier, but Laura could tell they were arranged in a different array. There were still millions of them everywhere she looked. She closed her eyes again. Need.

  Swish.

  This time, she opened her eyes before the movement took place. It was not movement, really – one second she was in one place, and the next, another one far away. It was as if she had not bothered with the intervening space. With her eyes open, she saw the blurring of the stars as they sped away and were replaced by new ones. This time, the stars around here were a little sparser. She could still see millions of them, of course, but now the spaces between them were a little bigger, a little broader. Was she getting closer? Not bothering to close her eyes, she did what she did before. She felt need.

  Swish.

  The stars did not blur as they sped away this time. Instead, Laura was pushed forward with the force of a tidal wave. She plunged deeper in one direction, where stars became even sparser. Over to her right, a cluster of them shone with a slightly different intensity than the rest. She knew that was where she needed to go. Need.

  Swish.

  The movement of the stars brought her face to face with th
at cluster. There were eight stars in total. They did not share the same bright blue light of the others. Instead, they were yellowing, and shone only weakly. Yet the darkness stayed away from them. Out of respect or fear Laura could not say, but she knew that if any other stars were so weak as these they would have long since disappeared. And she knew instinctively that those eight stars belonged to the elders.

  So, she had found them. But how to get inside? She reached out, and immediately the stars scurried away. Much as the last time she had tried to move. Darkness moved in, becoming more menacing and looming all at once. And while it did not move closer to the cluster of eight stars, it had no reservations about pressing in on her.

  That was the wrong way to proceed. Why would she change the method that had got her here already? Need was what brought her here, and need would be what let her cross the final distance. She closed her eyes and focused. Need.

  Swish.

  She opened her eyes, expecting to find herself out of the darkness… and was surprised when she was not. The cluster of stars that she had been by earlier were nowhere to be found. Alarm started to grip her. Had she messed up her chance? Had she done something wrong? She closed her eyes and focused with all her might. NEED!

  Swish.

  The darkness around her shifted, changing into something… softer. Less menacing. She looked around, but couldn’t find the cluster anywhere. But despite that, she felt oddly at ease. She was comfortable where she was. The stars around here were few and far between, but none were close enough to distinguish themselves. Curiosity got the better of her. Where was the torrial taking her? She would find out soon. Need.

  Swish.

  She came face-to-face with a peculiar star. It was larger than the others, much heavier, but at the same time, its glow was much gentler. She could feel its pull tugging at her. Surely this was not one of the elders’ stars? No, of course not – she would not feel this way if it were. From this one came all sorts of happy emotions. Love and caring, compassion and companionship. This was not the star of a regular Vassiz, much less the corrupt leaders that led the entire race. Something tickled the back of Laura’s mind. It was as if she should be able to recognize the star. Looking at it, she did notice it was familiar, in a way. But what that way was, and how it was connected to her, she could not place.

  She closed her eyes again. Need.

  Swish.

  She was back in the denser area of stars. Back from where she had come from. Why was she taken to that strange, larger star in the first place? Then she noticed a pull from behind her, and looked there. The heavy, peculiar star was right behind her – it had followed her here! And while that alone should have alarmed her, she felt no threat from it. In fact, Laura thought that it afforded her protection, somehow. She closed her eyes again. Need.

  Swish.

  She arrived smack in the middle of the elders’ cluster of decaying stars. Their light pulsed sickeningly, waxing and waning like something rotten. She looked to either side, around and behind her, and realized the larger star had followed her here as well. She had not seen any of the other stars move like that. Why was it trailing her? What was it – and whose was it? She had to find out before entering the elders’ dreams. Need.

  Swish.

  Laura came back face-to-face with the larger star again. She did not move far this time, as there was no need. The star had followed her all this way. She felt the good emotions flowing out from it. She had to find out what it was. But, how? Could she peer inside somehow? Need.

  This time, there was no swish. The star simply opened up to her. She did not get closer, nor did the star get any bigger, but somehow what she saw now took up her entire field of vision. She was skimming on the surface of the light, looking down into the aura of the being who existed there.

  She saw trees. Thick, dense, trees in a green forest. Looming evergreens and mountainous ranges extended as far as her eye could see. It reminded her of the forest back home. She did a double take. It was the forest from back home! The one that she and Logan had traveled across. But she was sure this wasn’t Logan’s star.

  The earth below her zoomed closer, so that she could see the ground through the trees. She spotted a group of men moving through the forest. They picked their way forth carefully, but aside from their movement, Laura could not see them very well. They were… blurry. She could not tell who they were.

  Suddenly a loud gunshot blast shattered the silence. The earth sped one way. When it stopped, Laura was directly above the source of the blast. A cry of pain rang out. A tortured, wailing cry of pure agony. It was coming from right below her.

  The earth shifted even closer and she was looking down from the top of the trees. She saw another blurry shape below. She could tell it was a man, big and wide. Before him lay the still-breathing body of an enormous bear. Her fur was matted with blood, and her breathing was labored. Every once in a while another cry of pain escaped her throat, each one weaker than the last.

  But that was not what held her attention. Behind the bear, off to the side and almost invisible in the canopy, was a tiny cub with splotchy silver fur. It stared up at her with big, scared eyes. She would have recognized the cub anywhere. It was Gray!

  At that thought the whole image below her blurred. The colors streaked away, and the lines that made up the shapes dissipated into nothingness. The colors and lines fled to the edge of her vision, leaving a dark gaping hole in the middle. And then, ever so slowly, like the painting of a master work of art, the colors and shapes began to stream back. But they were streaming back to form different shapes. Laura watched, entranced by the entire process. Slowly, she saw the formation of a large, furry leg, and then another one, and another, and another. The legs connected to the bottom of an enormous body, and it was unmistakable whose it was. Gray’s.

  The remainder of his body formed slowly, built up by the colors and lines that came in from the edge of Laura’s vision. As the process occurred, Laura found herself amazed at how much Gray had changed. Even since she had left him in the woods three weeks ago, he had grown. He was so much larger now, so much more mature. Finally, when the entirety of his body was formed, a light zoomed in from the side to give life to his eyes. He opened them, and look at her.

  Laura couldn’t help but gasp. There was such knowledge in those eyes. Gray moved forward, unrestrained now, and tilted his head toward her. Laura reached out. But, just as her hand was about to touch his forehead, it went right through, as if moving through mist. Laura nearly staggered forward. She yearned to form the connection with Gray, the mind-link that they shared thanks to her unique vampire ability. But he was not really here – or perhaps, she was not. It was an illusion created by the torrial. She was not really inside his dream, but looking in from behind a barrier.

  Gray turned around in a tight circle, showing off his matured body. He really was stunning. His fur was luscious and thick, and the heavy muscles of his back and legs danced as he moved. The eloquent grace that he had before had been enhanced even further, so that every move he made looked as if it were perfectly choreographed. Laura had been sure he was done growing when they said goodbye, but that certainty was now being proven wrong.

  Gray tilted his head to one side, looking at her. It was a peculiar, questioning gaze – but one that Laura had seen from him many times before. Unfortunately, without being able to form the link, there was no way for her to know exactly what he wanted.

  He moved toward her, and Laura started to shake her head, to remind him that they could not physically reach each other. Then she realized that was not what he was doing. He came by her, and sat at her side. Then he turned his head and looked at her expectantly. He wanted to communicate something. That he was there for her?

  At that thought, everything around her began to swirl. She felt affirmation come in from all directions. Was that confirmation of what Gray wanted to say? The colors and lines that made him up swirled and mashed together, leaving nothing in their wake.

/>   Swish.

  Suddenly, Laura was back inside the dark matrix of the globe torrial. Gray’s star shone brightly before her. She could not see into it anymore. She turned, and saw the elders’ stars shimmering sickly there. The torrial operated on need, and it had brought her to Gray before bringing her to the elders. Or maybe Gray had called out to her somehow. Either way, they had been reunited. No wonder she felt all those emotions coming from the larger star. She and Gray were linked by an unassailable bond, and nothing would ever sever it.

  She could not waste any more time. Now, with Gray beside her, she was ready to face the elders. There were eight of their stars visible in total. Laura did not know which one she should attack. But then again, it was not like she had a choice. Every time she tried to move by herself the balance between the darkness and the stars shifted. The torrial itself would decide which elder’s star she would go within. She closed her eyes, and focused intensely on what she had to do. Need.

  Swish.

  Chapter Twelve

  ~A Twisted Land~

  Laura opened her eyes, and found herself in a barren world. She looked down at herself. Her body had formed again. A dull ache echoed from her heel, where the shadow had cut her. Gabrielle’s healing had removed the pain completely before she entered the torrial, but now it was back, though not quite as bad as before. She wondered if it meant her body in the human world was succumbing to the poison. If so, it meant time was not on her side. She had to hurry.

  She looked around. She was standing in a gray, dusty valley situated before an enormous mountain. The mountain’s peak reached high past the clouds above. It was the only thing that stood out in an otherwise flat land. The shadow it made extended far into the distance, and Laura could not see where it ended.

  The earth around her was harsh and bare. There was not a single sign of life anywhere. Nothing green grew here, and no living beings would call this place home. It was eerily devoid of life. Even in the desert, she had seen cacti and other resilient plants grow. Here, there was nothing but rock.