Excerpt: Twilight IV: The Witch of Andvarra

Giovanna bent a little to reach down to Terry, wrapping her fingers around his collar. She raised the Twilight Gem to her eyes and imagined the park at home... Suddenly a chill wind swept over her and she saw the Twilight Gem darken. Her fingers were stung by the cold.

Giovanna frowned. By her side, Cally said something; and Aneath also shouted, but their voices were drowned out by the heavy beating of her own heart. Time itself seemed to freeze and a terrible coldness seeped down her arm. The Gem itself captured her gaze. Within the darkness was an intriguingly complex pattern. Giovanna tried to resolve it to her own neighborhood park, but the image did not change. It drew her into itself... she could not tear her gaze away...

Always before when traveling at Twilight, the transition was warm, bright, immediate. Now, Giovanna, her left hand still holding onto Terry, felt herself and her friends being slowly drawn sideways into a space between the worlds, a space that was colder than any winter Giovanna had ever experienced.

She screamed. Suddenly time snapped back. Aneath and the whispering grasses of Naqua Theirti vanished from around her. A terrible dark presence leapt at her and clawed at her throat. She heard Cally scream. The Twilight Gem flared with light and the thing before her tore it from her hand. She felt the chain tear painfully at her neck before breaking. There was maniacal laughter and then reality faded in around them.

For a moment Giovanna and her friends hung suspended in space, then they fell into cold and swift moving water. Giovanna choked as the waters closed in over her head.

Hurt and panicked, Giovanna kicked out and somehow maintained her hold on Terry's collar. She felt him pulling at her arm as they moved swiftly downstream. Her head broke the surface of the river. Terry barked sharply and swam fiercely. Giovanna thought she heard Khala's answering bark dismayingly far ahead of her.

Taking care not to pull down on Terry but deeply afraid of losing him in the turbulence, Giovanna used her free arm and her legs to swim in the direction Terry was pulling her. Her backpack, shoes and clothing dragged horribly on her.

Giovanna and Terry slammed against the large boulder, but the water flow was slightly blocked by its large surface. Freezing and numb, Giovanna brought her feet up to push against the boulder. "Shore!" Terry gasped. They swam as hard as they could; and suddenly Giovanna found the water was shallow enough to stand up in. She let go of Terry and they both flung themselves upon the muddy bank.

In the distance downstream, Cally screamed.