Adne whacked him with the flat side of one of her skeans.

“Ouch!” Connor rubbed his arm.

“It’s fine, Cal,” Shay said. “This is how I got to the Academy. I know it looks crazy, but it’s safe.”

“Crazy?” Adne protested.

“Crazy beautiful.” Connor grinned at her. “I’ll go first.”

“Please,” I said, not wanting to admit how much the shimmering doorway made all my hairs stand on end.

Connor strode confidently into the light-filled image. His body blurred for a moment and then there he was, standing among the crates. He paused, stretching his arms and yawning, and then suddenly dropped his pants and mooned us.

“Oh God, Connor!” Adne groaned. “Get through there and bite him, Shay.”

“I’m not coming, remember?” Shay objected, but he laughed. “Even if I was, I wouldn’t bite his ass.”

“Maybe Calla will.” Adne grinned.

“Not likely,” I muttered, though on a second glance I had to admit that Connor’s ass wasn’t that bad to look at.

“Enough,” Anika said, briefly embracing Lydia. “Be well.”

“Of course,” Lydia said, rushing into the portal in time to smack Connor’s bare skin with the flat of her dagger before he could stumble out of the way.

Adne burst into laughter.

“Go ahead, Calla,” Monroe said. “Adne will be right behind you.”

“Wait.” Shay held on to me. “What are we doing while they’re gone? Just sitting on our hands until it’s over?”

“No.” Monroe came to his side, gently drawing him away from me. “We have a task of our own to accomplish.”

“We do?” Shay’s brow furrowed.

“We’re dropping in on some of the Academy instructors,” he said. “And you’re going to convince them that it will be just fine when they have a pack of young wolves joining their classes.”

So that’s what an alliance meant. We wouldn’t just be fighting with them. We’d be training with them, learning about their world. As much as that idea was strange, it was also exciting.

Adne began to tap her foot. “Come on, Lily. We try to open and close the doors quickly. This isn’t window shopping.”

The nickname jarred me enough to flash fangs at her. It was more than a little satisfying when she took a step back.

I glanced at Shay, who offered me a thin smile. “Good luck.”

Returning the smile as best I could, I closed my eyes and stepped into the gleaming haze.

Connor wasn’t completely wrong about the sensations that flowed over me once I touched the door of light, though moving through the portal didn’t exactly tickle. For a moment my skintingled, like I was caught in a space full of static electricity. In the next moment, stale musty air filled my lungs and Connor was laughing. Fortunately his pants were on again.

“You with us, Calla?” Lydia asked. “Trip’s over. This is where you get off.”

Connor coughed. “I could help you with that.”

I shook off my bewilderment, glaring at him.

“Do you ever get tired of hearing your own jokes?” Lydia shoved him toward the door.

“Do you really need to ask?” He grinned, batting his eyelashes at her.

She tried to give him a stern look, but laughter bubbled up from her throat. “You’re a disaster, boy, but I love you for it.”

“Of course you do.”

“Stop preening, Connor.” Adne had emerged from the portal. I turned around. I could still see the flickering image of the room we’d left in the tall rectangle behind her. “Everyone’s first time through a portal is intimidating.”

“Not a bad way to travel, though,” Connor said, rubbing his arms as if they were still tingling. “Is it, wolf girl?”

“No, it’s not.” My eyes fixed on the shimmering doorway. “But—”

“But what?” Adne’s hands were on her hips. “You don’t approve of my weaving?”

“It’s not that,” I said, still examining the portal. “But don’t they make you nervous?”

Adne sighed, slashing her skeans across the portal in a giant X. The door vanished. “Look, Lily. This whole exercise was to show you that it’s perfectly safe. I don’t know what more I can do other than let you walk back and forth through the door all night.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” I said. “Aren’t you worried the Keepers will just open one of these to find you? It’s perfect for a surprise attack. I mean, that’s what we’re using it for, aren’t we?”

“Oh.” Adne nodded. “I see.”

“See what?” I asked. “You should be worried. That’s a pretty big flaw.”

“Yes, it would be,” Adne continued, smiling wickedly. “If that were a problem, but it’s not.”

“Why not?” I was irritated by the smug expression on her face.

“Because our Weavers are so special,” Connor said, sliding his arms around Adne’s waist and kissing her on the cheek before she whirled around and shoved him away.

“You are such a jerk,” she said, but she couldn’t hide her laughter.

“I was trying to give you a compliment,” Connor said, feigning an injured expression and not quite dodging quickly enough when she grabbed for him.