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Halliwell did not even hesitate He went to the door, tensed as though heit open The hinges creaked loudly Inside there was nothing but dust and shadows

"What the hell?" Halliwellaround to be sure there was nowhere for the wounded creature to hide

Julianna watched him for a moment and then followed As she stepped into the little building, she peered into each corner and then up at the ceiling There was a thirdat the back, opposite the door, and Hallient over to it and examined the fraet out this way," the detective said

"But it didn’t go out the door," Julianna said "So where is it?"

Halliwell looked at her, frowning Then he inclined his head and pointed past her, to the deep shadows hidden behind the open door Julianna held her breath If so was back there, she had been only inches froo

The detective came up beside her The two of the was in here with the But there was no sound at all

Halliwell swung the door closed The latch clicked shut If the storray, inside that little stone house, behind those griht It was ahad been there in the corner, it could have killed them both in the seconds it took their eyes to adjust

But the corner was empty

Julianna breathed a sigh of relief "Let’s get out of here"

"Agreed"

She went to the door It seeave and Julianna hauled it open, hinges creaking again

Outside the door, the world had changed

The storone, and so was Canna Island A blast of warht summer rain fell from a sky striped with low clouds, speckled with clear spaces where the blue sky showed through

Julianna could not breathe

Shaking, she stepped out of the little stone hut It stood now at the top of a long, sloping hill of rock, striated with colors like thousands of years of volcanic eruption At the base of the hill, far below, a river rolled gently past Sorew on the banks of the river, but on the other side, once again, there was nothing but rock She turned in a coh far to what ought to have been the south she saw the tops of trees in the river valley

A short way along the rocky slope was the still, lifeless fore of Canna Island only to die here, alone on the craggy hillside

"This…can’t be," Halliwell rasped

Julianna studied his face Tentatively, she reached out a hand to touch hiers confirmed that he was real and solid, she felt foolish Of course he was real But in that

"Go back," she said "Go back through"

Halliwell looked stricken, but he nodded and quickly reentered the stone hut She followed hientle rainUnnatural

They exchanged a silent look Tre theray darkness within those stone walls, behind those filthy s She expected to feel cold alht settled upon her and Julianna bit her lip as she opened the door But beyond it, nothing had changed There was the barren hillside and the river below, the su the rocks Whatever sort of door they had just traveled through, it only swung in one direction

After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped back out into the impossible world Her heavy jacket was too warm and she unzipped it, then slid it off and dropped it on the ground beside the open door

She wouldn’t be needing it here

Julianna turned and glanced at Halliwell She was surprised to find not fear or confusion, but determination etched upon his face

He stepped out after her, treading heavily upon the rocky terrain

"All right, then," Halliwell said "Let’s go"

"Go?" She knew they had no choice, but had no idea how to begin, which direction to take "Where are we going?"

"The job hasn’t changed We’re going to find Oliver And we’re going to find sooddamned answers"

Grim silence e the bank of the Sorrowful River When they had crossed through the Veil froed on a rocky slope not far from the water Blue Jay had transformed himself into a bird and taken to the air to survey their surroundings He had returned with the news that not only did the river valley become fertile and wooded to the south, but that he knew the area and believed they were not far froe

Kitsune had balked at this She believed Twillig’s Gorge was only a story, a legend aends, but Blue Jay insisted it was real So they had set out, following the river as it ran through the valley and then into a forest of whispering leaves and cool shade