Al shared some of Shrike’s suspicions. For one thing, they’d been in a wide open expanse before, and now there were walls…but maybe that was just how this hippie place was….If the others were out into the corridor Sian had burrowed, would their comms work. Al tried his, but no go. He joined Shrike in looking around, trying to find some clear delineator between the real and the unreal. But, truth be told, he couldn’t really concentrate. The words kept ringing in his mind. An obvious lie, but one that couldn’t be disregarded…Actually, it would.

He thought about it as hard as he could. Even though such things were impossible, even with all this magic crap back in the world, what if the potentialities of this place were somehow wider, deeper? Hadn’t the never-dies talked about how the freaks across the chasm relied on much higher levels of mana? What if things arcane theory red-lit in the real world could be green-lit here?

And as if giving the idea credence called the voice back….Actually, it would.

Al felt something constrict in his chest. He knew no one could kill him, so he’d never given much thought to mortality. Now, the possibility loomed, pregnant with promise…All right, he thought, how exactly would that work?