They've left me in Cormac's quarters, which are as slick and impersonal as Cormac himself. The blue light flashes and a stronger bolt knocks the breath from my lungs. Taking a deep breath, I raise my hands to my mouth and try to bite down on the latch. On each gage's cuff a small blue light is illuminated. They appear simple in construction, but if I press too hard against them a shock of electricity jolts through my skin. The gages look like a series of rings stacked on top of one another and then melded together.

I must remember that, especially as I stand alone, torn from my friends, my family, and Erik.įlexing my fingers against the steel gages that lock them into place, I study these glove-like shackles that are meant to cripple me. Now as they take me back to the alteration labs and the Coventry looms, I know I have power. Being separated from my arguably most powerful weapons reminds me that I have one defense left-one capable of inflicting much more damage: my mind.Ĭormac and the Guild have underestimated me. Even though my hands are bound, I feel in control. Around me is possibility-the luminous pulse of the universe surging through the golden strands. Through a small round window I watch the crackle of light and energy bursting through the barrier as the aeroship glides smoothly along the Interface, the roughly woven boundary that separates Earth from Arras. Without access to my hands, I struggle to rise like a bird with broken wings. My hands are in heavy gages, restrictive manacles that prevent me from using my skills. Then I remember I'm in Cormac's quarters on an aeroship bound for Arras. The bed I'm in is strange and unfamiliar, and I can't quite sort out where my dreams end and my life begins. My convictions and memories jumble into a snarl of thoughts I can't quite untangle, so I call for the lights. I WAKE TO A DARKNESS THAT ENVELOPS me in comfortable oblivion.

Unraveled gennifer albin