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First Rose Now Marron Perry could no longer deny that it was coe Aria was the safest path to hie so loudly Wondered how after a lifetis, he could be so poor at shielding his own

Aria took the device "We’re going to do the biotech first--just applying the device You’ll feel pressure, like it’s sucking up your skin But it lets up and then the inner ain when that happens"

Perry nodded stiffly "Right Pressure Can’t be that bad"

Could it?

He held his breath as Aria brought the clear patch to his left eye, digging his fingers into the soft ar

"You can close your eyes It ht help," Aria said He did and saw a shi hirine" Aria placed her hand on his forearht"

He focused on her cool touch Iers When the pressure cah his teeth The force reminded him of an underto it felt bearable at first, but then ca carried off On the edge of pain, it let up suddenly, leaving hi

Perry opened his eyes, blinked a few ti and movement on one side On the other, a heavy sense of protection He could see clearly through the eyepiece, but he noticed differences Colors were too bright The depth of things see his teeth at the added weight on his face "Nohat?"

"A moment, a moment" Marron fuddled with the palette as Roar watched over his shoulder

"We’ll go to a forested Realm first," Aria told hiive you a few seconds to adjust We can’t have you calling attention to yourself once you’re in the CGB’s research Real used to fractioning, Marron will check to see if the link with Bliss is back He’ll do all the navigating for you Everything you see, we’ll see on the wallscreen"

Ten different questions popped into his ot them all when Aria smiled and said, "You look handsome"

"What?" He couldn’t think about a corine?" Marron said

"Yes," he answered, though everything in his body said No

A hot sting ran up his spine and over his scalp, ending with a burst in the back of his nose On his right, he saw the co at hi the back of the couch Marron saying, "Easy, Peregrine," over and over On his left a wooded evergreen forest appeared The scent of pine burned deep into his nostrils The ies blurred and flashed before his eyes Perry looked one way and the other, but he couldn’tstick Dizziness came hard and fast

Aria squeezed his hand "Cal wrong?"

"Nothing Just try to relax"

The i his Pine branches swaying Roar leaping over the couch to stand in front of hioff Take it off!"

He pulled at the Set it off Pain burst across the back of his burnt hand, but it was nothing coers that stabbed deep into his skull Saliva coursed into his mouth in a warm rush He shot to his feet and darted to the bathroo trees as well as walls, and poorly at that He ran s with a solid thud Roar caught hiether, Roar holding hier trusted his balance

He felt cold beneath his hands Porcelain No ot it"

He was alone with the toilet now and that was how he stayed for a good long while

When it was over, he pulled his shirt off and draped it over his head It hung heavy and damp with his sweat He still felt dizzy and queasy, like he was co had he lasted in the Realms? Three seconds? Four? Hoould he find Talon?

Aria sat beside hilass of water appeared in front of him

"I felt the same hen I first came to your world"

"Thank you," he said, and drained it

"Are you all right?"

He wasn’t Perry took her hand and turned his face into her pal strength fro in hisa soft brushing sound over his scruff There was soerous about this About the power of her scent on him But he couldn’t think about it This hat he needed now

"How’d you like the Realms?" Roar asked

Perry peered from beneath his shirt Roar stood at the bathroom door, and he could see Marron out in the hall