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collapse because it isn’t supported on either side, but of course I was thinking in mortal terms. The rules here are those of Purgatory and illusion; this structure is as Nox made it, and there is no point questioning it.”
    “So it really can be us assuming a solid semblance, because if Nox defines the rules of interaction, that’s how it is. A dream world.”
    “Yes, it really can be.” Jolie glanced at her, bothered by something else, but not sure what. Orlene didn’t seem quite the same, but Jolie wasn’t certain that she had changed. Maybe it was just this altered perspective again.
    They resumed their descent, but were shortly interrupted by something new. The ground, such as it might be, was shuddering.
    They looked around, alarmed, and spied motion across the pit. Something was moving, sliding across the surface like flowing water. The effect spread around the pit, toward them.
    “Avalanche!” Jolie exclaimed. “Or a snow slide, or something.”
    “Maybe water?” Orlene asked, peering at the stuff. It seemed to sparkle.
    “We’ve seen no water here before,” Jolie said. “But it does seem to move like it.”
    Then the effect reached them. Fine powder sifted down by their feet, and by the sound of it, more was on the way from above.
    “That’s not water,” Orlene said, bending to scoop some with a hand. “It’s dust, or, ouch! It prickles!”
    “That’s glass!” Jolie exclaimed. “Ground glass! Or diamond dust! Don’t breathe it!”
    Orlene dropped her handful with alacrity. “But in a moment it will bury us!”
    “Use your wand! We have to get out of here!”
    Orlene whipped out the wand and waved it. “I invoke you!”
    The darkness formed, expanding as it had before. In a moment it encompassed them. The vertigo returned.
    It passed. As the cloud dissipated, Jolie saw that they were back on the outer mountain, amid the bushes, but higher than they had been. Their progress inside translated into progress here.
    Orlene rubbed her fingers cautiously together. “No more glass,” she said gruffly. “Or diamond dust. Wish I’d had a bag to save some of it!”
    “That’s a relief! Apparently the things of the inside can’t follow us out, any more than the things of the outside can follow us in. The wand is attuned to us alone, by Nox’s order.”
    “Must be,” Orlene agreed in that same gruff voice.
    Jolie looked at her. Now she was sure: the woman had changed. She was using a lower tone, and she seemed a little larger than before. Indeed, her body was more robust. What was happening to her? Jolie decided not to comment until she had a better notion. It might be part of the strangeness of this mountain.
    They proceeded up, following the path. But before long there was another threat. A giant bird was coming down the slope, standing taller than either of them, with muscular legs and a thick, ferocious beak.
    “What is that?” Orlene asked, taken aback.
    Jolie was amazed. “I’ve had opportunity to do some research into this and that, over the years. That looks like one of the big flightless predator birds of prehistoric times-Diatryma, maybe.”
    “Is it friendly?”
    “Unlikely. They were fearsome hunters.”
    Orlene glanced to the side. “Maybe I can fight it off with a stick.”
    “Don’t try it!” Jolie cried, aghast. “They strike forward with their legs, to disembowel! Use your wand!”
    Orlene hesitated, then brought out the wand. As the bird charged, she invoked it.
    There was a harsh, angry squawk. The bird plunged at the expanding darkness. For a moment the malevolent head projected next to Jolie’s own. The great beak turned to orient on her face, but Jolie was already ducking down into the cloud. She felt the vertigo.
    In a moment they were back inside the mountain and the big bird was gone. Now it was certain: only those for whom the wand was intended could use it. Orlene was the only one who could touch it or invoke it, and Jolie was the only other one it