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“Not all, no. And every portal has more than one keeper. I’m supposed to be the senior keeper over this portal but they just brought Duran on and he has more say than I do now.”

“Are there undiscovered portals?” I asked.

“Yes, and nobody knows how many, or where they might be at. We’re discovering new portals around the world every week.

Not only that, but the Fae have their own portals that we have no say over.

The rips in space and time are kind of scary—it feels like our reality is held together by a few stitches and if those rip, who knows what will happen? ”

I thought about it for a moment, unsure as to whether I wanted to know about this. “That doesn’t offer much comfort.”

“Nope, and I don’t have anything else to soothe the fear. Anyway, let’s go take a look at this portal. You know, I have a theory which I proposed, but nobody’s taken me seriously.” Penn jumped out of the car, pulling the hood on her coat up.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“If we’d use the portals more often, it might strengthen them.

When you let any power run amok on its own and you don’t give it a direction, you allow chaos to creep into your life.

If you don’t use your magic, it doesn’t fade—it goes sideways.

When you use magic regularly, it gives it focus, like creating a channel for the river to run through instead of letting it splash across open ground without trying to direct it. ”

Penn motioned for me to follow her across into the ravine. “We need to follow the bottom of the ravine for a few minutes, then we turn left.”

“Won’t we run right into the hill?”

“In a way, yes we will.” She said nothing, just led the way.

I followed behind her, ducking branches that dangled off the trees.

Penn seemed to know where to step without thinking, but I ended up ankle deep in muck and detritus, time and again freeing my foot from ankle deep sinkholes.

The compost on the forest floor acted like quicksand with a shallow bottom, sucking up feet and ankles.

The possibility of turning an ankle was all too real, so I tried to step where Penn had.

How she managed to avoid sinking into the mire was beyond me, but she knew the ravine better than I’d have guessed.

After about five minutes, she paused, then pointed toward a large bush growing out of the side of the ravine. “There. Follow me.”

“What?” I asked, but she shook her head and plunged through a thick stand of huckleberry bushes. No thorns, but the branches were still relatively stiff and whipped against my face as I pushed my way through the foliage.

I grimaced, trying to match her pace. She wasn’t the most athletic woman in the world, but she was making tracks here in the bush.

Five minutes later, we were climbing the side of the ravine.

I wondered if we were going to have to reach the top, but after another five minutes, she stopped, waiting for me.

“You can book it through the bushes,” I said. “You should lead expeditions.”

“Yeah, right!” she laughed. “The reason I know my way through here so well is I’m here so often. I’ve learned the tricks of the trade—where to step, how to avoid getting slapped in the face by branches, all of that. We’re almost there.”

Penn led me along the side of the ravine on a trail that you’d never see from the bottom. It was covered by a multitude of trees and bushes, but it was there, a narrow ledge of compacted dirt. She slowed as we approached a matching pair of large madrona trees.

There, a young man emerged from behind the bushes next to the madrona trees.

He was wearing a rain poncho and I blinked twice, suddenly noticing that there was a rain shelter over the bushes that I hadn’t seen.

It vanished as quickly as I saw it, and I realized there had to be some sort of magic involved.

“Where’s the portal?” I asked.

“Right there,” Penn said, pointing to the trees. She turned back to the young man. “Have there been any issues?”

He shook his head. “No, nobody’s come by all day. Who’s this?”

“Kyann. I told you I was bringing her,” Penn said.

“Just make sure that PortalWatch doesn’t catch wind that you did.” He gave her a warning shake of the head, but then smiled at me. I didn’t sense he was upset over me being there.

“Why doesn’t PortalWatch stage a military presence here?” But even as I asked, I thought I knew the answer.

“We can’t. If we did that, the Coalition would be pissed out of their mind. While they accept the existence of the differing sovereign nations that exist in the nation, they have always been hesitant about the power we wield, even if it is mostly over our own people.”

The Crystal Court, like the Worldwide Shifter Council, had established a sovereign nation within each nation. The sovereign nations might only own a small piece of land carved out under treaty, but it was a matter of contention among certain nationalists.

“Queen Elsabetha has to keep a low profile when it comes to the portals, and we have ways of keeping our presence hidden.” Penn let out a long breath.

“I’m committing a breach even talking to you about this.

Bringing you here is a violation of the rules,” she added, glancing at the young man.

“Duran, you won’t say anything, will you? ”

He shook his head. “I trust you, Penelope. I won’t say anything unless asked directly.”

“Thank you. Kyann is safe. We can trust her and she can help us.” Penn frowned, looking around. “So, nobody’s been out this way today?”

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t seen anyone.”

“Are you on duty again tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I am.” He turned to me. “You’re Penelope’s best friend, aren’t you? She talks a lot about you.” He smiled.

“I am,” I said. “Kyann Sarasan, at your service.”

He took my hand and shook it. “Duran Willowcrest, at yours.”

“Well, we know that Brim Fire hasn’t been out here. Maybe they don’t know where to find this portal,” Penn said. “Benny could have been wrong.”

“I’ve got Carson looking into things on the dark web. We’ll see what he has to say,” I said. “Anyway, I feel a little better.” For some reason, actually seeing the portal made me feel better. “But what happens if someone comes here and walks between the trees?”

“We have spells set up to scare them away, and we can usually prevent them from getting this far in the first place. Also, it’s rare that the portal can be activated on its own.

You haven’t noticed because you’re not fully human, but most humans find this area seriously spooky.

” Duran glanced at the sky. “It’s going to pour in a moment.

You two should head back to your car, and I’m going to retreat into my shelter. ”

“Are you warm enough in there?” I asked.

“Warm and dry, and watching a movie on my tablet,” he said, smiling. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I’ll check with you later,” Penn said. She motioned to me and we turned, heading back to the car. Sure enough, the moment we reached the car, the skies opened and it began to pour.

As I buckled my seatbelt, I turned to Penn.

“I feel a little better. I won’t even claim to understand how this portal systems works, but it sounds like the Crystal Court is doing its best to keep everything in order.

Any government would do well to work with the witches when it comes to something like magical portals. ”

“You’d think…but nobody ever said the Coalition has a lot of common sense when it comes to certain issues,” Penn said.

“Duran seems nice,” I ventured. “But he seems young.”

“You’d think they’d make me the senior portal keeper, given I’m older than Duran. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I really feel like my position in the Crystal Court’s been compromised. I honestly feel like I can’t do anything right for them.” Penn’s voice sounded phlegmy.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Can you ask anybody?”

She shook her head. “The people I’ve been friendliest with seem to have backed off. They don’t talk to me much anymore.”

I put the car into gear, turned on the heater, and headed for Chicken Chicken , where Penn and I picked up a bucket of chicken, a tub of mashed potatoes and one of gravy, and a tub of mac ‘n cheese before we curled up at home for a night of takeout and TV.