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Blue Jay said nothing After a moment, the Wayfarer nodded

"The ill take some little time Minutes Be patient, but also, be ready When we arrive, it will be suddenly, and there is no way to knoill be waiting for us"

"Get on with it," Oliver said "We’ve been spoiling for a fight for a long time"

Wayland Srip in the other Shtly to the right, and then the world fell away around them

"What the hell?" the trickster o!" he heard Kitsune cry

Slanced back to be sure no one had been lost Blue Jay felt his sto with the terrible sense of dislocation He had not even taken a step himself He’d lifted one scuffed cowboy boot and when it came down, he’d been here, wherever the hell here was Gray mist drifted around them The path was solid beneath his soles and his heels didn’t sink in the way they had into the rain-sodden hillside

"Follow," Smith said, and he started off

Stunned into silence, perhaps afraid, no one spoke a word Their strange parade followed along behind the Wayfarer without argument or hesitation They passed hundreds of side paths, little ribbon trails that led off either side, into the uided the paths that seemed barely there, Blue Jay tried to keep track, but soon he could not Lefts and rights blurred together

The place unnerved hiht of its possibilities What would happen if he did let go? How far would they wander? Where did all of those other paths lead? S about worlds, but there were only two--the ordinary and the legendary So if Jay walked along one of the side paths, another ribbon, and tried to pass through the e?

He decided he did not want to know

Just when the claustrophobia of the place--odd, given there were no walls at all--had nearly driven hilanced over his shoulder The others ht not have sensed it yet, or seen it in the Wayfarer’s eyes, but then the graybeard spoke

"We’re--"

"--here," S the hands of the Nagas on either side of hiuard

Even as he did, the thick fog of the Gray Corridor siht enveloped them all and Oliver had to throw up a hand to shield his eyes froe hand clutched his arrip

Oliver blinked the sun frorabbed hold of hie of a building over a hundred feet high Below, the central plaza of the island city of Atlantis spread out The ground had been tiled in a cascade of color so that it appeared to be a whirlpool in the midst of a red-and-blue ocean

"Holy shit," he said, the words little more than an exhalation

"Watch your step,drop"

Oliver nodded He glanced around to make sure everyone else had made it Kitsune ht around her, not at all pleased with their precipitous arrival Blue Jay and Frost stood together Li watched solees of the roof, bows at the ready, prepared to defend against an onslaught

But it didn’t look as though any attack was ih the air, but h enough to spot the intruders were far away, nearer the harbor and the outskirts of the city There eird, dangling jellyfish as well, but not a single octopus They had all been brought to war, it seemed

Very few people were out and about S in the open, not to iants No evidence of the war effort remained in the city center, but in the distance, at the harbor, he could see a single giant standing with his ar Colossus of Rhodes

"Quickly, all of you, this way," the Wayfarer barked, striding to one corner of the roof Fro with a spiral do that appeared, like the structure upon which they stood, to be lass, Oliver thought

"The Great Library of Atlantis," Smith explained "Where I found the prince upon er he’s there now We’ll cross--"

A gust of icy wind made Oliver shiver

"And hoe cross?" Frost asked The winter man drifted across the roof to stand beside Ser flashed in the Wayfarer’s eyes He reached his cane out over the edge of the building and swept it back and forth like a blindsolid Wayland Smith looked down at the place where his cane had stopped, raised it, and tapped it doice on clear air His mouth formed words Oliver could not hear and froray eyes had turned oil-black

The air becae across ee, arched library

"Go," said the Wayfarer

CHAPTER 20

No as Oliver going first

He had changed dramatically He felt it in his bones and the way his hands seemed always ready to defend hiic he could summon, resonated within him These past few days had made Oliver believe that in his heart he could be a hero But there was a vast difference between heroics and stupidity, and the idea of stepping off the roof of that building onto thin air seemed vastly idiotic

"Hurry, you fools!" Smith barked

Blue Jay stepped off the roof onto the solid air bridge He could have transformed into a bird and flown across Instead he walked quickly but carefully, barely looking down, even though Oliver found it difficult to see the edges of the bridge