Winter Door by Isobelle Carmody Page B

hung motionless. It was as if she were the only thing in the whole city that moved. Wishing she had willed Billy along in his human form, she went on uneasily. The canal path curved again, and when it straightened out this time, Rage saw a small wooden bridge spanning the stream a little way ahead. She stopped abruptly, realizing where she was.
    “This is Fork !” she whispered.
    “Are you sure?” Billy asked doubtfully.
    Rage whirled to find him standing behind her in his human form!
    “The smell of places doesn’t change and this doesn’t smell like Fork,” he said.
    Rage’s delight faded as she turned to look around. “But it is Fork, Billy. Look at the canal streams and the paved banks and the way the houses don’t have any spaces between them.”
    “Fork was black.”
    “It was, but remember, that was only because of the High Keeper and the conservatorium.” A shadow crossed Billy’s face. “Remember the wizard said he was going to go back to Valley and fix Fork up so that it would be the way it was before the High Keeper took over?”
    “Where are the people and animals?” Billy asked.
    “People didn’t live in this part of the city before,” Rage reminded him. “Maybe they still don’t.”
    Billy sniffed again. Then he looked at Rage. “Why did you bring us here? I thought you wanted to see if the firecat would contact you.”
    “I didn’t bring us here. At least, I didn’t mean to if I did. Maybe this dream-traveling doesn’t work the way the witch Mother said it does.”
    “Should we try to go to the castle?” Billy asked.
    “I don’t see how we could get all the way there before we wake up,” Rage said. “We had better try to see if we can find someone to take a message for us. And maybe we can get some idea of how much time has passed since I was at the heart lake.” She glanced down at her pajamas ruefully. “If only I had dreamed myself here in something more sensible!”
    Billy had moved away from her a little and was examining the carvings on the building facades with an expression of puzzled wonder. “These leaves look real. I wonder what made Fork create them.”
    Rage gave a little gasp. “Oh, Billy, I’ve just remembered! Rue told me that Elle is here in Fork trying to help the city to resist the winter. Maybe she’s the reason it’s not frozen here like the heart lake was.”
    “You think we’re here because of Elle being here?” Billy asked.
    “I don’t…oh, of course! It must be that!” Rage clutched at Billy’s hand. “Just as I was falling asleep, I was thinking about the way Elle named Goaty—I mean Gilbert—so maybe I dreamed myself to her instead of to him.”
    “Let’s go and find her,” Billy cried eagerly.
    “But how ?” Rage muttered. “Fork could help if we knew where she would be, but I can’t imagine she’d be at the Willow Seat Tower or the conservatorium or any of those places we know. The best thing would be to find someone to ask where the Valley council sits. Elle might even be there now, since she is a councillor.”
    Billy nodded absently. “If this dream-traveling works the same as when you went to the heart lake, shouldn’t Elle be somewhere near?”
    “Maybe she just went somewhere else.”
    Billy shook his head. “I would have smelled it if she had been here.”
    “Maybe we can get the city to help us find her. After all, she’s helping Fork, so it must know where she is. Let’s try to do it together now.”
    “Do what?” Billy asked.
    “Imagine Elle,” Rage said impatiently.
    “I can think about the smell of her,” Billy offered hesitantly, and Rage remembered that it was unnatural for animals to imagine things. Billy might be a wonderful thinker, but he was still too much of a dog to be able to imagine things.
    It was up to her, then.
    A cold breeze began to blow. The mist shifted and coiled about them as Rage closed her eyes to concentrate. She thought of Elle as she had been before they had parted on the