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Slowly and quietly, she closed the door again.“And that wasn’t.”

“But what was it?” Jacques asked, peering out in some confusion at the second floor hall. “It was a military vessel?”

“It was an imaginary vessel, Jacques.”

“What is an imaginary vessel? It is not real?” He shook his head. “But it was as real as the beach. And the not-a-squid.”

“It was real here. And now. With the door open.” The scene through the door remained the second floor. “But everywhere else, except on those occasions when it’s a way of life, it’s a television show.”

Dean shook his head, as though trying to settle himself back into reality.“I could’ve walked out onto the real bridge of the starship….”

“No.” Claire reached out, intending to lock up, and found herself, instead, opening the door a crack. For one last look at the real bridge of the starship…

It looked like a balmy evening on top of Citadel Hill in downtown Halifax. Except for the two moons riding low in the sky and the woman in the distance with an agitated shrub on a leash.

Behind and above her right shoulder, Claire heard Dean murmur,“It changes every time you reopen the door.”

“So the not-squid, it is gone? We could return to the beach?”

“Sure. Except the beach is gone.”

Claire quietly eased the door shut, so as not to further agitate the shrub, and latched the gate.“All right,” she sighed, her head falling forward until it rested against the fifty-year-old paint. “We’re in this so far now we might as well see what’s on the third floor. But…” Straightening, she folded her arms, turned, and fixed each of her companions with her bestI’m a Keeper and you’re not stare.“…no one gets out. Understand?”

“But what if…”

“I don’t care. No one leaves the elevator.”

Through the grille, itwas the third floor. It even smelled like the third floor.

“Do you think thatshe might have an effect?” Jacques asked nervously as Claire locked back the gate.

“Do I think that proximity toher could affect the elevator’s destination? I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Those are strong shields.” A puff of noxious air wafted in as she opened the door and stared out at the piles of blasted rock and steaming lava pools. “And then again, I suppose it’s possible that…”

A terrified shriek cut her off.

Dean pushed forward, allowing himself to be stopped by the flimsy barricade of Claire’s arm only because he wasn’t certain of where the sound had originated.

A second scream helped.

Off to the right, close to one of the steaming red pools, two large lizardlike creatures held a struggling shape between them, snapping and snarling at each other over their captive’s head. While accumulated filth and long dreadlocks made guessing age difficult, they didnothing at all to hide the gender of what seemed to be a completely naked twelve-or thirteen-year-old boy.

Captured. About to be devoured. Pushing Claire aside, Dean leaped forward, the porous surface of the rock crunching under his work boots. He heard her yell his name, felt her grab at his shirt, and kept running, throwing,“Stay where you’re at!” back over his shoulder. With any luck she’d see that there was no sense them both going into danger. If he concentrated on speed rather than concealment, he’d could reach and rescue the kid before the two lizards finished quarreling over their catch.

The closer he got, the more the snarling began to seem like…

“Because it’s my nesting site and I don’t want the dirty little egg-sucker cooking right beside it. That’s why!”

“So I have to carry it out of the nursery, all the way to cool ground? Is that it?”

“You caught it!”

“Crawling into your nest!”

“So now it’s my nest, is it? And I suppose they’ll bemy hatchlings?My responsibility while you’re off hunting with your friends.”

…words.

And familiar words at that. Through a thick sibilant accent it sounded remarkably like an argument his Aunt Denise and Uncle Steve’d had about dispatching a rat caught live in the kitchen. Which didn’t actually change anything.

“Our nest sweetie. I meant to say,our nest.”

“You say that now. You don’t mean it.”

Through eyes beginning to water from the volcanic fumes, Dean noticed that the lizard with his aunt’s lines was the larger by a significant margin. Sucking warm air through the filter of his teeth, he altered his path slightly so that he’d enter the smaller lizard’s space.

The boy screamed again and lashed out with one filthy, callused heel. The smaller lizard howled and lost his grip. For a moment the boy twisted and kicked, dangling only a foot or so off the ground then, just as it seemed he might get free, the larger lizard grabbed his ankle with her other hand.

“Honestly. You can catch them, why can’t you hold onto them?”

“It kicked me!”

“Stop acting like such a hatchling and remember you’re about to be…” The lizard’s amber eyes widened. “Behind you, Jurz! It’s another one!”