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Nadia falls silent She squats with her face averted Raz and Sharmila look anxious and move away to discuss the revelation in whispers I stay where I a Beranabus work I&039;m not that disturbed by Nadia&039;s prediction This is all crazy anyway Death&039;s only to be expected in a place like this

Beranabus is having difficulties with theThe patches of light are slotting into place, but slowly And whileat the sahts, it would be si co spells

I can&039;t understand why the hts They&039;re more powerful and experienced than me So why am I the only one who can view the asse that, a few h the panel The various colours vibrate a few ti

"Ah!" Beranabus grunts He turns, claps his hands to get everyone&039;s attention, then waves at theof yellow light, now visible for all to see Raz and Shars back

"Do you knohat is through there?" Sharmila asks

"Another world," Beranabus says

"Can you befor Cadaver, not a specific world Until we pass through the , I&039;ve no way of telling where we&039;ll ee" He raises a bushy eyebrow "Nervous, Miss Mukherji?"

"Nadia told us about her vision," Raz aze lowered "About the Kah-Gash and your quest She said there would be fighting and death"

Beranabus snorts "That girl should learn to keep her s "You chance death every ti new"

"But we have been told that on this occasion it definitely lies in wait," Sharmila says "That is different"

"Not really," Beranabus says "Nadia has no idea ill die It could be anyone - you, her, me, the boy Maybe it will be all of us" Beranabus looks at theand scowls "You can quit if you wish I&039;ve no time for cowards But consider this - the Kah-Gash can destroy a universe If you withdraw and the piece of the weapon we&039;re chasing falls into the hands of the Demonata"

"You really believe the Kah-Gash exists?" Sharlance then Raz nods, followed - after a pause of several seconds - by Sharmila

"How about you, Fleck?" Beranabus turns his small dark eyes on me This is the first really close look I&039;ve had of hirime Lots of wrinkles, and a few old scars and blerey and white, his beard trimmed unevenly His hands are clean, in contrast with the rest of hiht flesh round his knuckles is covered by lots of blotches and faded scars Dusty, dirty clothes He wears a small flower in a buttonhole on his jacket, which looks pathetically out of place Several of his teeth are , and the rest are crooked and rotten He s that has half decomposed I don&039;t like him and I don&039;t trust hi Art

"I&039; to sound more positive than I feel

"Then it&039;s decided," Beranabus says and steps through the yello Sharmila follows, then Nadia - reluctantly, chin low

Raz claps ht Think about the de on the other side Take a breath Hold it Step through

A desert world It&039;s night, but lots of stars are glittering, so I can see clearly in all directions Beranabus isvery still, eyes closed After a few h here but didn&039;t stop" Rolling his shoulders, he spits on his hands, scuffs the sand with his feet, then starts on another spell, to open a ne and follow the deht round us are glowing steadily when Beranabus begins Soon after he starts searching for Cadaver, several pulse and move towards a spot in front of him As he chants, more pulse and others drift in from afar to be added to the patchwork panel Beranabus is piecing theether with spells But if he could see them like I could, andh at me, so I keep es since I ate or drank, yet I don&039;t feel hungry or thirsty Ion the sand close by, idly gouging out shapes with a finger

"I noticed that too," he says "And although I have been here a day or two, I don&039;t feel sleepy Our bodies ic and you can do ic" He waves a hand over the sand and a sandcastle slowly thrusts upwards, turrets, a asp "Do you think I could?"

"Try," he says "I didn&039;t know I could do that until just now"

Excited, I sit and think about a castle even bigger and grander than Raz&039;s I wave a hand over the sand, su happens

Disappointed, I decide I&039; too ambitious, so I picture a s happens I keep loweringless and less, until finally I ask for the simplest sandcastle possible The sand ripples, then spits up a ic shows itself uniquely in each person I can create sandcastles Perhaps you can change shape or make rain"

"Really?"

"It&039;s possible"

I close my eyes and think about what sort of an animal I&039;d like to turn into

Later No luck with the shape-changing or ift, it must be very unique!

Beranabus is hard at work on the hich see next to Nadia, Shar us about her life with Beranabus, the ways of de a lull "This is the second world I&039;ve been to, and apart from the trees, I haven&039;t seen any demons"

"In a hurry to spot so Where do they live?"

"They could be anywhere," Nadia says "Beneath the sand All around us and invisible On the other side of the world There ht be thousands here or only one It varies Some demons create a world just for themselves Others - "

"Deer ones can Most just ra realms, but demon masters have the power to make neorlds and even self-contained universes"

"Do they rimly "Those aren&039;t stars"

We stare at her then up at the sky It&039;s peppered with glowing dots They&039;re not like the stars in our universe - they&039;re bigger, brighter, closer, and many move across the heavens likeother than

"They&039;re demons," Nadia says

"They can&039;t be!" Sharmila protests

"Nevertheless, they are"