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He suppressed a sigh and looked up at the black velvet cloak of the night sky So own The stars winked and glittered, silvery white and undulating He sucked in a breath, his body going still Were the stars reat blaze of slivery white light slashed down the center of the heaving sky and split it open Ink-black sections of velvet peeled back as the fiery light grew

Archer lurched to his feet, heedless of his coht before hinificent dia to catch the of dissolving, as if his body were ed into ater No sooner had the thought processed then he felt different, as if he were now expanding Each breath he took seemed to pull at the world before hi white rip in the middle of his world ebbed and floith hi in his skull

What was this madness?

What do you want?

The very air whispered the question

Peace Sanctuary Wholeness A cure

The light was so brilliant now that he ought to be squinting, but there was no pain, only a shivering power that had hih and run He stepped into that brilliance and felt it paint his flesh in a rainbow of colors

The gap closed around hi his bones

Another breath and it burst wide open He was no longer in the desert but in a long, dark corridor Torches lined the walls, their fla with the rush of air that traveled down the path He knew this place

Cavern Hall

His heart began to pound, hard, insistent The corridor widened ahead Archer glided forward, alanced down at his useless feet, then up again, only to find hi into a well-appointed library The distinct scent of books, wood, cheroots, and coal filled his nostrils London He was in London The carpet beneath his feet was nificent in its swirls of vermilion and cerulean Each individual thread, thick and lush, beckoned hiers sink down indefinitely?

"About tiroup ofat him Leland, Merryweather, Cheltenhah his head like notes played on a harp He snorted, the laugh childish and wonderful, then wondered why on earth he was laughing He pulled hiether, but the affe

Sir Percival stepped forward "Well, don’t just stand there What do you have to say for yourself?"

The old man’s words reached Archer ears just moments before his thin lips e to touch Percival’s lips to check if they were real

"Well ?" Percival snapped

Archer shook off another snort and stood at attention "Well what?"

Cheltenha frame "Archer, you hurt that man Most seriously"

Man? Man? His mind raced There were so ht he did," Sir Percival cried "Danes! It was to be the alliance of the season!"

Archer swayed, his lips twitching uncontrollably Ah, yes, Marvel Little snot "I was trying to put some sense into him"

There That sounded reasonable, did it not? Merryweather sighed as he poured out a narled now, the knuckles big and cluotten so old? "Archer, you reduced thatshell"

"He is out of control," said Percival

The other aze Archer suddenly understood He knew this tableau He’d had this chat before They’d banished him He looked to Leland and waited for him to say the words Archer remembered so well

Leland’s lean face, now mapped with valleys of wrinkles, was somber as he met Archer’s eyes "Perhaps it would be best if you went abroad for a while"

Until talk dies down Archer didn’t have to hear Leland’s words to know the him away Why had he come to this time and place? This wasn’t a cure This was hell

"I was trying to help him," he heard himself say Oh yes, he’d said this, too, once before It was huain But the words poured out as if he were reading fro"

Percival snorted "And who is to blame for that?"

Me

"Who is to say that one of us won’t be next?"

Archer ht noithout effort"

Percival jumped on that "You see!" His thin hand quivered as he pointed at Archer "He’ll be the death of us all"

Melodramatic fool Archer was a h he was tempted just then

He shifted on his feet "I won’t be driven froo," Percival said "One way or another" They glared at each other

Leland sighed "Archer isn’t the danger" Leland’s blue eyes found Archer "But evil does follow you"

Yes He had to ad to be into beco moment "And now you turn from me?"

Merryweather shook his head "We were fools And so were you"

Archer sed hard He would not let theain

"Go from London If only for a while" Leland at the very least look sorry for his words The others were circling hi hiht He’d caused it all Archer wanted to screa came out of his dry mouth The walls closed in on hiress and slipped on some slick substance