The air wavered with power, over where the cliff cut off. Robby shivered. As he turned to the old lady, Tiffany vanished into her, like a stray thought.

The old woman backed away, pulling Robby/Giles away from Jasmine. She knew Giles recognized Tiffany in the sparkling eyes.

She wanted to watch Robby kissing the old woman (she had never thought kissing was icky) but she knew Tiffany wanted her to watch what Robby couldn’t see, the sky.

So Jasmine watched as the gilt edge of the world’s thinnest, most evil knife cut open the solid blue of the sky and a hungry old man’s face looked through. She watched him snarl with frustration or disappointment and make a warding-off gesture with his spotted hand.

But the cut widened and a hissing vortex of Chaos rushed through.

The old man roared and pulled himself back, vanishing like a basketball going ka-whannng against the hoop, but the cut spread and spread.

Now there was only a small rind of the old clear blue along the horizon. The whole dome of sky was gone and there was the familiar Chaos, which cleared to reveal a speeding lump of red rock. Cloud Rock swelled monstrously until poor Jasmine had to shriek and cower down and probably wet her pants.

But even out here, she was not alone. Strong and true came the almost forgotten presence of Popster and Yako, holding her in their hearts, sending her love as soft as her favorite purple blanket which she hadn’t needed for years. (Her beloved blankey had pictures of all the planets including close-ups of Pluto even though it wasn’t a planet anymore.)

She lay sobbing but not super freaked out anymore as a soft hand touched her shoulder in the sudden quiet.

She rolled over and looked up through the tears at the old woman who squatted next to her. The rough, gnarled, bony fingers stroked her face.

A pair of onyx eyes looked her over and did not know her. But the wrinkled grandma face smiled. Not from joy but as a stern old woman would smile to reassure a scared little girl, I won’t hurt you.

“You wasn’t here and now you are. He was here and now he’s gone. And the bad that we was all afraid of happened anyways. Sky is gone.”

Jasmine understood several things without words. The old woman (Mrs. Benz? Mrs. Brynn? She realized two different names had been used) did not remember throwing Giles up into the sky while Tiffany had possessed her. She was inclined to be suspicious of a strange child appearing from nowhere but her natural kindness and the hospitality her people extended to any helpless being made her offer caring to Jasmine.

And that Tiffany was gone again. Had she gone back to face the demons alone? Or did she flit somewhere in the world of this story?

“Come little one. Can’t be good to be up here like this with no sky. I’ll give you a meal and then we’ll decide what to do with you. You can tell me how you got here over food.”

“I’m Jasmine,” she said, giving the old woman her hand.

As they walked down the mountain path, her shoes getting coated with red dust, Jasmine found Mrs. Benz’s company strangely comforting. Was any of this real? She was just a made-up character in Giles’s story, wasn’t she? But she put out calm like an old wall radiator put out heat: not fast, not flashy, but steady and solid.

It got dark as they reached the place where the conference center used to be but the Chaos above never dimmed.