I wasn't expecting the icy chill or the grinding of stone or the splash of something that felt like acid over my skin as I tumbled out of the path I made and landed in Tulip's arms. But I was beginning to make sense of the ways of travel without doors and, teeth chattering, mumbled as much to the startled centaur.

"They have their own feeling," I said. Because that made total sense to my best friend.

She hugged me tight, spun without a word and galloped with me in her ...