The blast of pure energy seemed to warp the fabric of reality, and its intense repercussions against the Shield knocked every ounce of breath from my lungs. I catapulted into the air with no sense of direction or understanding of what was happening. Tendrils of jagged electricity trailed behind me like ribbons on a kite, and before any part of my brain began to comprehend where I was going, I slammed into the side of a large pyramid.

Because of the great speed caused by the lightning, and the upward tilt of the pyramid, the Shield did not rebound me back toward the flat purple plain, but instead skipped me like a rock on a stream up the side of the pyramid. With no pain, only confusion, I bounded up the rain-drenched sides of the glowing edifice, until it merged with another one, and then another. With all the grace of a pinball, I bounced this way and that, ever upward, my momentum declining just slightly every time the protective bubble of the Shield hit purple stone.

Once I slowed to the point where I could think clearly, and since each bounce took just a little more time, I made an almost unsettling conclusion. The Lady of the Storm had driven the building-sized lightning at me with an extraordinary amount of calculation. She knew that my time was short, and understood the law of whatever physics governed this place to such a degree that the force of her conjuring was pushing me straight toward the gateway back into the Blackness.

One more bounce, and I settled with a perfect landing on the flight of stairs along the edge of the pyramid that held the iron rings, only thirty steps or so from the base of the crystal rod. Shell-shocked, I looked down at my watch.

Twenty minutes.

The flood of rain continued from the dark sky, cascading in sheets down the smooth walls and stairs, rushing over my feet. I gathered my wits and pounded up the stairs, hating that I had to be so careful not to slip. One more joy ride down the water slide would seal my fate—there would never be time to make it back to the Ripping in that case.

With ten steps left, I remembered the Shadow Ka. I looked over to the nearest peak. The Ka was gone. I looked at another. Gone. I looked all around, taking another step or two up the stairs. I could see no Ka anywhere.

Then I noticed a black mass of something behind me—hard to see through the water, but definitely there. It was writhing, and shifting, and gathering, forming a pointed wedge, and a shiver of horror went up my spine.

The Ka were forming a battering ram, made of their own bodies, to destroy the base of the iron rings. Although they could not see me, they were not stupid, and although my rare Gift had bought me precious time, the events down on the plain with the Lady had given me away.

My heart pounding, I turned toward the crystal beam and looked up at the gateway that it supported. It was twenty feet above me. I looked back at the Shadow Ka. They were starting to move toward the gate.

I threw my thoughts into the power of the Ice, and it worked faster than ever before. A solid ladder of the cold and hard substance of my Gift formed in an instant, perhaps aided by so much water in the air, going from my feet to the top of the portal leading back into the Blackness. Without the slightest hint of hesitation, I jumped on it and began to climb.

Rung by slippery rung I flew up the ladder, reminded of the one I had built back at the Pointing Finger—although that had been my first try at the strange power, and hadn't looked nearly as professional.

Halfway up, I looked over my shoulder at the Ka. They were now coming full speed, flying as one, gathered into a tight knot with a deathly pointed end of blackness at its head. I swiveled my head back around and climbed the remaining distance to the topmost iron ring, and jumped into the gateway.

I was facing the coming onslaught of Ka, and they were on a straight course to destroy the crystal rod, shattering along with it my hopes of seeing anyone I loved ever again. They were almost there.

I knew it would take a few seconds, like always, but it was maddening.

Two seconds passed.

Three.

The Ka were getting closer and closer, screams now erupting from their writhing conglomerate in unison, deafening and shrill.

Four seconds passed. Five. Come on, I thought. Come on, come on, come on!

Six seconds. Nothing. Seven.

The point of the Ka's battering ram made contact with the crystal rod.

Eight seconds.

It sliced into the glass, penetrating it with a sound like colliding glaciers.

Nine seconds. I screamed it out loud this time: “COME ON!”

The iron rings tilted and began to fall, the sounds of shattered glass below deadened by the torrential rain. In sickened horror I thought it was truly over.

There was a flash of light, and the rain and terror ended.

My hands gripped the iron rings on the Blackness side of the portal, and I coaxed myself into breathing as I looked at the comforting surroundings of mist, stone, and inky waters—a disturbing thought in and of itself. I jumped out of the gateway and kicked myself for remembering far too late that I probably could've stopped the Ka with the Ice somehow. So I wasn't so good under pressure—big deal, it had all worked out.

My watch revealed that I had fifteen full minutes to get to the Ripping.

Piece of cake—too easy.

I stumbled across the jagged, torn up landing of the Storm World portal until I made it to the unblemished black marble of the pathway. Then I took off running with all the energy I could muster from within my exhausted skin-and-bones body.

Halfway there, I looked at my watch again.

Thirteen minutes.

By the time I reached the gaping hole leading to my sweet land of Earth, I still had eleven minutes. A swelling of pride and joy filled me as I remembered the Red Disk sitting in my backpack four inches from my heart. Having been set to a daunting task in an impossibly short period of time, I had done it with minutes to spare.

Of course, considering my luck, I should've known better than to think such things.

It was not over.