The Silver Dream (InterWorld 2)

I managed to get to my feet, making my way toward them. I was in a park—and that bench looked familiar. So did that stone statue. The street signs were names I recognized.

I was home. Not InterWorld Base Town—home. My home.

My world.

Lord Dogknife had not only left me alive, he’d sent me home.

FrostNight comes, his voice whispered in my mind. And you will be alive to see it, little Walker.

The power that will reshape everything….

Binary and HEX wanted to reshape the Altiverse, to gain complete control. To make all worlds into what they wished. He had sent me home, but soon, there wouldn’t be a home. It would be erased, and I along with it.

I limped toward the intersection, breathing as deeply and as evenly as I could through the pain.

If I were not here, I would be dead. Jerzy’s voice echoed in my mind from long ago, one of the first conversations we’d had. I owe InterWorld my life.

That was true for me, too. I’d Walked by accident the first time, and had drawn the attention of HEX. They’d sent people after me, and if not for Jay, I would have been captured and killed. I would have been one of those little blue lights used to power Joaquim.

You will not be able to Walk far enough away, Lord Dogknife had said.

Still breathing deeply, I cast out for a portal. The paralyzing, mind-numbing terror I felt at the thought that I wouldn’t find one was replaced an instant later by relief strong enough to make my knees weak.

I couldn’t get back to InterWorld, but I could still Walk. I could still sense portals. I could still move between worlds. I could find more of us.

I squared my shoulders, training taking over as I continued to move despite my injuries. I wouldn’t let a few broken bones stop me, not now. I had things to do. I had the will, and a way, and more—far away from here and now, I had a ship.

And I could Walk farther than Lord Dogknife had ever dreamed.