“Cian—”

She squeezed Moira’s shoulder. “He’ll come. Hoyt?”

He drew out his key; Moira did the same. “We don’t say the words until Cian’s with us.” As with the stones themselves, power seemed to pulse from Hoyt as he took Glenna’s hand. “We don’t say the words until we’re a circle again.”

Blair nodded. Whatever the stones held, whatever Hoyt and Glenna had been born with, the full force of the power came from unity. They’d wait for Cian.

She turned to Larkin. “Nice riding, cowboy. How bad is it?”

He pressed a hand to his bleeding side. “Scratches. You?”

“Same. Clawed up a little. Everybody else?”

“We’ll do.” Glenna was already stanching a gash in Hoyt’s arm.

“He’s coming,” Moira murmured.

“Where?” Hoyt clamped a hand on her arm. “I see nothing.”

“There.” She pointed. “He’s coming.”

He was a blur coming out of the trees, a swirl of black up the rise.

“Wasn’t that entertaining? They’re regrouping, for all the good it will do them.” There was blood on his face, and more running down from a slice in his thigh.

“Come.” Hoyt held out a hand to him. “It’s time.”

“I can’t.” Cian lifted his own hand and pressed it against the air between the stones. “It’s like a wall to me. I am what I am.”

“You can’t stay here,” Hoyt insisted. “They’ll hunt you down. You’ll be alone.”

“I’m not such easy prey. Do what you’re meant to do. I’ll stay to make certain it works.”

“If you stay we all stay.” Larkin stepped to the gap between two stones. “If you fight, we all fight.”

“The sentiment’s appreciated,” Cian told him. “But this is bigger than one of us, and you have somewhere to be.”

“The other portal,” Larkin began.

“If I find it, you can buy me a drink in Geall. Go.” He met Hoyt’s eyes. “What’s meant is meant. So you’ve always believed, and so—in my way—have I. Go. Save worlds.”

“I’ll find a way.” Hoyt reached through the stones to grip Cian’s hand. “I’ll find a way, I swear it to you.”

“Good luck to you.” Cian saluted them with his sword. “To you all.”

With a heavy heart showing clearly in his eyes, Hoyt stepped back, lifted the crystal. Light beamed in it, and from it.

“Worlds wait. Time flows. Gods watch.”

Tears glimmering on her cheeks, Glenna took his hand and repeated the words.

“It’s not right.” Larkin spoke softly. “It’s not right to leave one of us.”

“Maybe we can—Oh shit,” Blair murmured as the ground began to rumble. The wind swirled up, and light began to pulse.

“Slan, mo cara.” With one last look at Cian, Larkin gripped her hand. “It’s a hell of a ride,” he told her. “Best hold on to me. Moira?”

She held her crystal; she spoke the words. And she stared into Cian’s eyes as she felt the world shift. Then she reached out, grabbed his hand. “We are one force, one power. This is meant!”

And pulled him into the circle.

I t was like being sucked into a tornado, Blair thought. Impossible wind that seemed to pull you away from the earth, spin you in mad circles while the light blasted your eyes.

Would there be munchkins on the other side?

She could see nothing but that wild white light, the spinning whirl of it. Could find no footing, no solid ground, so anchored herself with Larkin’s hand.

Then there was dark, and utter stillness. She rubbed her hand over her face, tried to catch her breath. And she saw now there was moonlight, silver streams of it that speared down and struck the standing stones.

“Is this our stop?”

“Oh my God!” Glenna’s voice was giddy. “What a rush. What a…wow. And Cian.” Putting both her trembling hands on either side of Cian’s face, she kissed him soundly. “How did you do it?” she asked Moira. “How did you bring him inside?”

“I don’t know. I just…It was meant. You were meant to be here,” she said to Cian. “I felt it, and…” Moira seemed to realize she was still clutching his hand, and pulled hers away. “And well, here you are.”

She pushed at hair that had come loose from its braid. “Well then, fàilte a Geall. Larkin.” She made a laughing leap into his arms. “We’re home.”

“And handily enough, it’s night.” If Cian was shaken, he hid it well—merely glancing around him as he shoved back his hood. “Not that I don’t trust your magical powers.”

“There’s still the matter of getting ourselves, and all this stuff where we’re going.” Blair gestured widely to encompass the chests, the weapons and cases.

“We can send men for most of it in the morning. I think we carry what we need most,” Moira suggested.

“Weapons then. We don’t know what we’re walking into. Sorry,” Blair added. “But you’ve been gone well over a month. We can’t know.”

“I can carry three, take the air.” Larkin tugged Moira’s disordered braid. “I could see if there’s anything to worry about. And you can take one on the horse.”

“My horse,” Cian reminded him before he looked at Moira. “I can take you on my horse.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s get it in motion.” Blair slung on her own duffle, then grinned at Hoyt and Glenna. “You guys are going to love this.”

Across Geall they flew, with the stallion and its two riders galloping below. As the moonlight dripped like magic, hills and wedges of forest were edged with silver; the river gleamed on its wandering journey through them. Blair saw cottages with thin smoke spiraling from chimneys, the dots that were cattle or sheep lolling in fields. The roads below were narrow and dirt, and empty of travelers but for Cian and Moira.

No cars, she thought, no lights but for the occasional glimmer that might have been a candle or lantern. Just land, she realized, left to roll and spread, and rise to the silhouettes of mountains.

A land, she reminded herself, that until a few weeks ago, she’d believed a fairy tale.