Three SlipGates stood side by side in New Hope Square. The large platform on which they had sat during the ceremony had been removed. Now, each triangle rested on the cobblestones. If she looked carefully, Kalia could see that the middle one had a thin layer of crystals running through each of its many grooves. Crystals that sparkled in the sunlight.
In black pants and a gray blouse that she left untucked, she stood on the cobblestones with her arms folded. A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth, but it was nothing compared to the tightness in her belly. She wasn’t sure who had accompanied her back to the house, but it wasn’t Desa. Not her Desa, anyway. That bubbly, wool-brained fool of a woman who had terrorized her son may as well have been a total stranger.
herfoolTommy was on her
