I clutched the scroll in my hand tighter. I'd found the second piece, tying us with Chariot. Not much further. My Attendant would be waiting and I'd be safe from the man with the portal magic.

Starbursts exploded behind my lids, a searing agony doubling me over. A blade stuck out of my middle and blood gushed out through my fingers onto the red sands of the Negev. If you ignored the part where my pink fleshy bits were hanging out, the crimson stain I made on the ground was kind of ...