A sparkling trail of light cut through the dust. She followed it and felt herself rolling forward, the pressure of a hand on her arm pulling her up out of layers of debris. Her eyelids fluttered, barely opening, and she saw, hazily, shadows of figures. The voice murmured again behind her, and with one big push, she surged forward onto her hands and knees. She started coughing, then her eyes opened fully and she saw the Flickers pull back, startled.

“What’s happened to her?” Natala demanded. “What have you done?”

Behind the Flicker, Sami saw a flurry of wings fling open into the shape of a woman. Bat stepped forward, swiping the hair off her forehead with the back of her wrist. A sheen of sweat glowed on her face and her blue tunic was rumpled. “Reach into the time-world is what I have done. Where we nearly lost her.”

Dorsom held Sami’s arm. “I sensed it as well.” His voice dwindled and she could see he was examining her face and deliberately not saying…something. “I felt something throwing you so far away. I kept trying to pull you out, but you were gone far too far.”

Sami coughed and hacked. It felt like her mouth and lungs were full of smoke, like she was covered in it, but after a few moments of swatting at herself she realized there was nothing there. She struggled to sit up, then touched her face and hair gingerly. “What’s happened? Have I been here all this time? I don’t get this—I know I wasn’t dreaming. I was really and truly there—I know I was!”

“Certainly, yes,” Bat murmured. “You were there. I couldn’t see what place it was that was holding you, but I felt it. Only your self-physical remained here—which is the least part of any being.”

Natala gestured toward the horizon: a glowing purple-rose sliver of sun was lighting up the trees. “We kept vigil. So worried for you.”

Sami hugged her knees, gazing into the distance. “It—it was amazing.” She shook her head slowly. “I was in a bombed building—in Lebanon. The Actual Lebanon! And there was someone there—with me.”

Who was it? Dorsom crouched closer to her side.

She frowned. “It was hard to see. He was outside—on the street just under me. I shouted and shouted for him, but he didn’t hear me. Then I really screamed and I think he saw me—or maybe he did. But then…then—” She slid her hand over her mouth. She looked up at them. “It wasn’t really a man. It…seemed like a woman—someone a lot like my grandmother. Only it wasn’t my grandmother either.” She shook her head. “I know it doesn’t make any sense, but things just kept—shifting around.”

Dorsom and Natala both leaned toward her with questions: Did you speak? What did she say? How did you get there? Was she the one who brought you there?

“I can’t explain it—not at all. I only know she sent me a thought. She said she needed to talk to me. It was all so much like a dream,” Sami admitted, a bit miserably. She rubbed her forehead. “And there’s more than that—because it felt like there was something there—in that room—that I was supposed to see.” She shrugged and shook her head. “I have no idea what.”

The Flickers exchanged glances. Natala nodded at Dorsom. He frowned in thought, then stood and put his hands on his hips. “Sami? There is something, a possibility, we might want to…consider. Remember I told you about Reflection? The energy that can pass between an Actual and their Flicker? When a Flicker steps into a mirror, to help their Actual to see better?”

Sami nodded. “I think so. You said maybe you’d show me someday? What it was like, I mean….”

Dorsom lowered his gaze. “Okay, so this isn’t exactly the most optimal of circumstances. I mean, of course, the best thing would be for your own Flicker to do this for you. But whoever it might be, that Flicker isn’t here. So, if you want, we could try it now. You and I.”

Sami frowned, worried by this sudden offer. “Why? What are you thinking that I am going to see?”

“In Dreamtime, you were altered—a bit,” Natala said, touching Sami’s hair. “It’s rather…striking.”

Sami looked at Bat: she sensed that the Shadow would tell her the truth. But the bat’s lustrous eyes gave little away. “Samara—the reality is that none knows quite what this means. But if the Flicker helps Reflect you, you might be able to see something more—to better grasp the meaning of this…change.”

With a quiet sense of apprehension, Sami agreed to try this process of Reflection. She, Dorsom, Natala, and the Shadow bat walked down the soft slope to the water they called the gazing pool. Hundreds of colors danced across its surface, reflecting the gemstones lining its edges. Sami couldn’t really take it in, she was too busy worrying about whatever this “change” was that they’d mentioned.

While she and the others waited on land, Dorsom waded into the water. Don’t worry—I will be with you, just beneath this surface. He crouched, then sank back into the water so it covered his face and body in a silver sheet.

“I can’t see him,” Sami said nervously. “He isn’t going to stay under there like that, is he?”

Natala studied the sparkling pool. “Our water is full of light and air, Sami. We can stay beneath the surface for hours without needing to come back up.”

Bat put her hands on her hips and arched her back, luxuriating in the balmy air. “Gazing pools are especially lovely—they’re built for napping. It’s the best kind of sleep you can imagine, being rocked by warm, soft currents.”

“Here,” Natala said. “It works best if you come right down to the edge. Lean out until you see your reflection.”

Tentatively, Sami leaned out, watching her watery reflection begin to gradually focus.

Then she stood straight up and with a shriek she clapped both hands over her face.