It was like a slow bubble through syrup, a long stretch, and then a pop. Eris looked around the empty courtyard and at the pool in the center of the sundial that formed Ouroboros . Normally hopping here was quicker, but maybe that's just because they had gone together.

Selene looked around in wide-eyed amazement. "Come on," Eris pulled her by the hand towards the ornate building .

Selene followed Eris around to the building on the other side of the pool. The inside it was dominated by a huge ice crystal, a bright flame somehow burning within. Selene squeaked as Eris put her hand on the ice and then pulled it off. "Wha-What are you doing?" she asked, shaking her fingers to take the sudden chill out of them.

"You have to touch it first, to get it ready." Eris put her own hand on the burning ice and yanked it away from the cold "Now we have to think real hard about where we want to go. Let's see your mom first, 'kay?"

Selene nodded with a smile. "There were pictures of where they lived before me...it was a gray house...with a green roof...There were white shutters on the windows..." Selene continued to talk, in her soft voice, excited by the trip into more words then Eris had ever heard from her before. Eris built up the image in her mind of a place far away from all the fear of Paragon City. "...that's all I can remember." Selene stumbled to a halt.

"Okay...are you ready?" Eris pulled the golden pendant off her neck and held it in one hand. Selene nodded silently. "Put your hand up to it again on 3, okay?"

"O-Okay..." Together they slowly touched the ice at the same time.
"1"
"2"

"3"

Selene knew something was wrong the minute they set off the reaction. Something in her sparked as she touched the crystal, and the power surged, blinding her. "Eris!" She grabbed desperately, hoping to catch her friend. There was a terrible current, sending her spiraling out of control. Eris yelled in surprise as the fierce power surge ripped the pendant from her hand but she hung onto the strange column of burning ice.Selene's fingers finally connected with the edge of Eris's shirt as she fought to stay conscious, and she grabbed a hold with a terrified death grip. Eris changed hands on the ice and reached over to hold onto Selene as well. "Selene, are you okay? Selene!" Selene heard Eris's words as she slumped into unconsciousness, catching a brief glimpse of a ball of light in the torrent of color that they were rushing towards. "Oh hell," Eris didn't cuss but this was a time when it was needed. The ball of light rushed towards them, expanding suddenly before it impacted. It seemed
like it wrapped around them, cutting off the howling winds of power that had dragged them there.

The noise and colors of the crossing faded, leaving Eris sitting on the ground, holding Selene in her lap. She raised her head to look around and stopped in shock. In front of her was a hill with a towering square structure of pale stone. They sat on the beach with the waves lapping at her feet and a strange looking boat with a square sail in the distance. A few bored looking sheep tended by an equally bored looking shepard browsed the grass in the late afternoon light and stared at them curiously. Eris shifted the heavy weight of her friend off her lap and took off her trenchcoat to cover her. Then she
sat down to wait until Selene would wake up.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto" she quoted softly.