The boy was spoiled, but he was powerful. Surprise welled up in her suddenly, sped her heart, and she threw every thought she had into reinforcing the wall around her mind. She built a fortress of imagined steel and stone, a forcefield of electricity and atomic heat. From within her walls, she crouched like a cornered beast, teeth bared.
“Nothing,” she said in the voice of Mallos. The words hovered in the empty air.
She flung herself away from the castle.
As before, her destination was random: a forest of trees in rows, the sickly sweet smell of rotting fruit, greeted her senses as she rematerialized. The orchard? With a glance around her, she confirmed that she was alone, and released the breath she had been holding.
“There isn’t time for this,” she muttered to no-one, and closed her eyes. This time she thought hard of familiar stones and sighing waves, of dark, hidden places. She drew the distance close around her like a cloak and moved purposefully in the direction of the caves, of her home, and opened her eyes to blackness.
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