When we woke up the next morning, Emilia was waiting for us. With her was a dark, athletic young man who looked about the same age as Keegan. His sharp features were accentuated by his short hair and broad shoulders.

  “Keegan, Maria, this is Donavan,” Emilia said. Donavan nodded towards us, but said nothing as we each got up slowly, stretching ourselves awake. I could see him watching Keegan and felt a sense of appraisal. He had obviously heard of Keegan before. He knew whatever it was that made everyone think Keegan was so dangerous, but he was going to make up his own mind. I appreciated that.

  After a hurried breakfast, the four of us walked outside, Donavan, Keegan, and I carrying packs with provisions that Emilia had readied. The sun was already shining brightly. There was a warm breeze floating through the air, reminding me again that summer would soon arrive.

  “Donavan is a Traveler,” Emilia said as we walked to the middle of the clearing. “He can do something similar to Keegan’s Shifting, but only within this dream.”

  “So you are going to take us straight to Soren?” Keegan asked.

  Donavan shook his head. He spoke in a deep voice with an accent I didn’t recognize, “I can only go shorter distances when I take people with me. Taking you across Wendellia will take a while.”

  “We will not be going all the way to Cyrus either,” said Emilia. “It will not be possible for us to Travel once we get into more populated areas, and it would be too dangerous for Donavan. He will not be coming with us.”

  “And it’s not too dangerous for us?” demanded Keegan.

  “There are reasons I am taking you and not Donavan. There are reasons that Soren asked the two of you to rescue him. There is much that you do not know.” Emilia’s voice was stern.

  Keegan looked mutinous. “Tell us then,” he demanded. “We are the ones who are going into danger. You aren’t even really coming with us. You expect us to walk into Berul, and yet you stay hidden some…”

  “Enough,” Emilia interrupted. She did not raise her voice, but the anger that came from her was stronger than any emotion I had felt before from her image-self.

  Keegan stopped speaking, but the defiance did not leave his face.

  Emilia sighed. “It is not for me to tell you. You will hear the story from Soren.” Emilia looked at me as she said this, and I had the strange feeling that the story had more to do with me than with Keegan, or even Soren himself.

  “It is high time we leave,” Emilia said. “But before we do, Ria, I want you to try to swap emotions with Keegan and Donavan at the same time. Each place that we stop, you will practice.”

  I nodded, but felt a little nervous. I had never attempted this before, and was not even sure how to proceed. I opened myself to the feelings in the clearing. Keegan was still feeling mutinous, frustrated. Donavan was feeling extremely uncomfortable. He still hadn’t made up his mind about Keegan, and since I seemed so comfortable with him, he wasn’t sure he trusted me either. As usual, there was just a blank coming from where Emilia stood.

  I considered carefully what emotion to try to send. I thought about how I felt, and knew that, mostly, I was determined to rescue Soren. I would not let Cyrus have him, and I refused to even think about killing him. I let a vicious determination fill me up to overflowing. When I felt that I could no longer contain the feeling, I sent it flying towards both Keegan and Donavan. I could feel it split into two, spreading out to the two of them.

  I watched with satisfaction as I saw both of their eyes grow steely and their jaws clench as the emotion filled them, just as I was hit with two sets of emotions – Keegan’s rebelliousness and Donavan’s unease. Keegan’s emotions were so familiar to me, that they almost felt like my own. Donavan’s were so different that for a moment, I was bewildered. Then the two combined into one emotion different than any of them had been separately. I shook my head, trying to clear it of the strange, new feeling.

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  “That was… interesting,” said Donavan. “Should we be going now?”

  “Wait a moment,” Emilia said, placing a hand on his arm. “Donavan, be sure not to stop in the empty spaces, but use them if you must. Cyrus’ soldiers will not come near them. Maria and Keegan, you must be ready at all times. Once we stop, Donavan will be unable to move you again for several minutes. You two will need to be ready to act. Keegan, if anyone gets too close, Shift out. Take Donavan with you. But come back before you wake up. Time is getting short.”

  The three of us nodded solemnly.

  “Are you ready?” Donavan asked.

  Keegan and I nodded. Donavan held out both of his hands. Keegan and I each grasped one, and Donavan stared off into the distance. Keegan had his eyes wide open, carefully watching both Donavan and what was going on around us.

  At first it seemed that nothing was happening. Then, without warning, the world was flashing past us at a dizzying speed, trees rushing by, the ground streaking under our feet. It did not feel like we were moving at all, rather that the whole world was rushing past us at top speed.

  We flew down the mountain, and the snow disappeared as we reached the foothills. Next followed fields and fields full of sprouting greenery. We came to an abrupt stop in the middle of a grove of trees. Although we hit nothing, the sudden stop made it feel as if we had just slammed into a wall. Only my hand grasped tightly in Donavan’s kept me from falling over.

  As I righted myself, I was alarmed to see Donavan stagger forward.

  “Hey, you okay, man?” Keegan inquired.

  “He will be fine in a few minutes,” Emilia’s voice startled us. None of us had noticed her winking into existence. “Traveling takes all of his energy. He will be weak and vulnerable each time you stop.” Before she had even finished speaking, Donavan had steadied himself.

  “Maria, check and see if there are any people nearby,” Emilia commanded.

  I allowed emotions to flood into me. I could feel Donavan’s utter exhaustion and Keegan’s restlessness. I closed my eyes and shut out both of them, pushing out further and further, trying to feel anyone around. Far to the south, I could feel a cloud of emotions. There were so many of them that I couldn’t separate them from one another.

  “To the south,” I said. “I think there are a lot of people there.”

  Emilia nodded. “It is the village near where Cyntia lives. What do you feel?”

  “Just a jumble,” I said.

  Emilia nodded. “You must be very careful when you are near a large group of people. If you let all of their emotions in at once, they will overwhelm you. You could lose your sanity.” Emilia said this very seriously, and I slammed away the feelings, protecting myself.

  Next to me, I could feel Keegan adding one more thing to his list of things to worry about.

  “I’ll be careful,” I murmured to him.

  “Yes, you will,” said Emilia. “Now, I want you to switch emotions between Keegan and Donavan. It is essential that you learn how to do this.”

  “How?” I asked. “I don’t even know how to try to do that.”

  “Try doing it within yourself, to start with,” Emilia suggested.

  I nodded, concentrating. I again filled myself with determination to find Soren and sent it flying towards both Keegan and Donavan. Almost immediately impatience and exhaustion flooded in from the two of them. Without pausing to think, I sent the emotions flying back.

  “You are…impatient,” said Donavan to Keegan.

  Keegan smiled sheepishly. “I just wish that I could be doing something.”

  “Sorry, guys,” I chimed in. “I didn’t get that exactly right.”

  “It is good enough to be starting with,” Emilia said. “Donavan, are you ready to move on?”

  Donavan nodded.

  “Wait a sec,” I said. I filled myself with excitement, joy, eagerness, every energy-filled emotion I could think of, and hurled them to Donavan.

  His exhaustion had lessened as a result of being mixed with Keegan’s impatience, but it still managed to make me feel incredibly drained.

  “Thank you,” Donavan said sincerely, smiling for the first time.

  I nodded and smiled back at him. He reached out and took my hand. Keegan took his other, and once again the ground was flying beneath us.