***

Rosalie tumbled head over heels through the snow, swirling around her. But that was the worst way to fall. She didn’t need her mom’s voice yelling in her ear to always protect her head.

“You can get a peg leg if you lose a foot and a hook if you lose a hand, but you’re dead if you lose your head,” Mom liked to say, but it was sound advice right now.

Rosalie dropped what remained of the spear and threw her arms over her head. I hope I don’t land on my head. How did I even fall? There was a solid stone floor under me. But Ran could wish it away if he wanted. Did he do that? Why would he do that?

If he did it, then wouldn’t I have hit the floor on the level below the one I was standing on? The ceilings are high, but they can’t be more than thirty or forty feet above my head on every floor. So why was she still falling? The only reason that came to mind made her smile. Perhaps I’m not under Mount Eredren anymore.

While she fought the demon, Evarian lay on the floor behind her. And she thought he wrapped an arm around her ankles at one point. But maybe she imagined that since she was staring down the blood demon charging toward her.

Maybe he used his magic to take us back in time. She tried to remember both times he used his power to do that before. Was there a white light then? Or did he just disappear?

Rosalie struck something hard. Well, her arms did since she wrapped them protectively over her head. Then her shoulders struck a hard cold mass followed by her back, butt, and legs, laying her out on the ground. For a moment, she lay there and gathered her wits as she blinked the white light away so she could see where she was.

When her vision cleared, Rosalie stared up at a stormy sky, and a snowflake landed in her eye. She blinked and checked for any lingering pain. There was none. That was a good sign, so she wiggled her toes and dug her fingers into the snow under her. All good there.

“What did you do?” a man demanded.

Who was he talking to? Rosalie finished checking that nothing was broken and then sat up. She didn’t black out and nothing pained her. Maybe I got lucky, and that fall didn’t break my foolish neck.

“Where are we? What is this place?” Rosalie glanced around as she rose, her brow wrinkling as she took in the giant thing towering over them. It was insanely long and taller than the tallest house in her village. The glowing thing extended into the distance in both directions, but only one end widened into something angular.

“You must take her back,” a guy said while she gaped at the glowing thing dominating this freezing, snowy place.

What in the world is that thing? Rosalie rose and headed for it to get a better look at the flared end until a guy who looked like an older version of Evarian ran in front of her.

“This is somewhere you shouldn’t be,” said the Evarian lookalike.

“Oh really? Then why am I here?” Rosalie picked up the remains of the spear. For some reason, it landed nearer to the big glowing thing than to where she landed. Probably because it was lighter than her. The wind may have knocked it over there since it blew toward the angular, flared end of the giant glowing thing. A line of tall, dark pointed things stood in front of the tip of the glowing thing. Was it a giant spear?

“I brought you here.” Evarian tried to rise and just landed on his backside again.

Rosalie stalked over and extended her hand to him. “Here. Let me help you. It looks like you need me to be your pack mule again.” She was too cold to smile at her joke, and he looked too out of it to notice since his gray eyes struggled to focus on her. So that was all right.

“You’re prettier than any pack mule.” Evarian flushed, probably with embarrassment as he took her hand since he never once commented on her appearance that she recalled.

Rosalie laughed as she dropped the spear butt and pulled him up. “I’m glad for that. So what is this place?”

“Somewhere you shouldn’t ever go. Evarian, you can’t let her wander around here. You should take her back to wherever she came from.” Evarian’s double waved to her.

Rosalie wrapped an arm around his waist to hold him up and hoped this wouldn’t end in a fight. If it does, then I’ll drop Evarian and charge. The snow wasn’t frozen so hard that hitting it would hurt him. But he would hamper her in a fight if she didn’t let go of him. If I hit the lookalike low, I could probably flip him over my head. But I’d need to slam my shoulder into his thighs.

“Who are you? And what gives you the right to order him around?” Rosalie glanced from the lookalike to the stick she dropped when she helped Evarian up. Should I grab it when I drop Evarian? Nah. I’ll probably only get one shot to drop his double. She’d knock him down, then maybe grab the stick. That would give her an advantage.

“He claims he’s my cousin, but I don’t have any proof that he is.” Evarian glanced at the stick too. Maybe he knew what she was thinking.

“Does she know who you are?” His cousin pointed at him as the giant arrow/spear thing glowed brighter.

“We should go.” Evarian stumbled away from his cousin, forcing Rosalie to come with him.

“Where are we going?” Rosalie pulled him closer and took more of his weight on her shoulders to stop him from swaying and wrecking her balance. He was warm, and the cold seeped through her long-sleeved tunic and the trousers under her dress. Hopefully, they headed somewhere warmer.

“Back in time. I told you I could time walk. Well, that thing over there is the Arrow of Time. We just need to walk over and pick a moment in time to go back to, and I can take us there.” Evarian nodded to the glowing thing dominating the snowy landscape. So that’s what that thing was.

“I won’t let you take her with you.” His cousin ran past them and stopped in front of a line carved into the side of the Arrow of Time.

I wonder what the lines are for? Lines carved into the arrow’s glowing shaft striped it from just behind its arrow-shaped head for as far as Rosalie could see. “No one asked you what you think.” Rosalie pulled Evarian toward another line on the Arrow of Time, so she could get a better look at it.

Evarian touched the line on the icy side of the Arrow of Time, and an ice shelf slid out, presenting a ton of ice crystals. What were they for?

Evarian touched the nearest one before she could ask, and the world whited out. Rosalie fell again, but this time, she held tightly to Evarian and trusted his magic to take them to where they needed to go to right the future, where they belonged.