Hermes laid on a small cot, staring up at the ceiling of the tiny room Rashad had given him. He held the Edict in his hands, idly turning it over now and again. I'm supposed to deliver this thing to a god?

He sighed, and turned his face into his pillow. He missed his family. He wondered if they had even noticed he was missing yet. It had only been a few hours, but he had the feeling he wasn't going to be getting home anytime soon.

And what did his grandfather have to do with things? There were still so many questions left unanswered. Hermes' grandfather had never mentioned anything about otherworldly travelers, but then, why would he have? Hermes knew he probably wouldn't say anything about this to anyone when he got home: no one would believe it, and they'd probably lock him up in some asylum somewhere.

That's assuming I actually get home, he thought. He pounded his fist into the pillow. I can't do this! I'm a nobody. Nobodies don't defeat gods. But I'll die if I don't. Hermes sighed again, and tugged at the bandana around his throat. It was an uncomfortably tight reminder of the Oathkeeper's dagger. So I might as well try.

Hermes decided there was one good thing about all this. Assuming he pulled it off, it'd be a bigger accomplishment than anything Paul had ever done. Hermes yawned into his fist. He knew it was a petty thought, considering there was a chance he'd never see his brother again, but it was a satisfying petty thought, and he decided he deserved it, given the day he'd been having.

A knock at the door jerked him awake. He fumbled into a sitting position, muttered something that he hoped sounded like "come in," and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. How long had he been asleep? He must have been more exhausted than he thought.

The door opened, and Autolycus entered.

"Sorry to wake you," he said.

"Whut time izit?" Hermes stifled another yawn.

"You've been asleep for a few hours," Autolycus said. "Rashad wanted me to come get you. We're entering Voidspace. You should probably see this."

Hermes nodded. He splashed some cold water on his face from the sink in his room, which didn't really make him feel all that more awake. He followed Autolycus up to the bridge. The others were already gathered. Iris sat at the pilot's seat, with Rashad standing slightly behind her, arms crossed. Narsil still loomed against the wall. Only Rumble wasn't there.

Looking out through the wide windows of the bridge, Hermes could see the curve of the horizon far out over the bow. To the west, the curve of a tiny orange sun was descending into a forest that looked no bigger than a smear of moss on the rocky earth. We must be really high up, he thought, but the air doesn't seem to be getting thinner. The cabin obviously wasn't sealed or pressurized; the air lacked the stale cabin feeling that Hermes hated anytime he had to fly across the country to visit his mother. He was about to ask why, when Autolycus suddenly answered his thoughts:

"The resonance generator creates a protective bubble around the ship, so we don't suffocate," Autolycus said. He leaned forward, and pointed out the window. "If you look closely, you can almost see it."

Hermes squinted a bit. He could see clearly for a short distance past the hull of the ship, but beyond that, everything distorted with a faint waviness. It reminded him of the shimmer of heat waves rising off asphalt on a hot day.

"The bubble is also what lets us escape one Node and pop into Voidspace," Autolycus continued. "We have to reach a high enough altitude so that none of the ground is caught in our bubble when we switch over. We're almost there."

"What's Voidspace like?" Hermes asked. He thought of sci-fi movies with spaceships soaring around in zero gravity: blackness sprinkled with countless stars, cloudy nebulae, comets and planets and the like.

No one answered him. Rashad leaned forward and glanced at a gauge on Iris' control panel. "Are we high enough?"

The girl made an affirmative grunt, but she didn't look away from her controls.

"It takes a lot of power to jump out of a Node," Autolycus said. "We'll be dead in the water for a few minutes. This ship is old, so sometimes the bubble flickers a bit—you might want to hold your breath."

Hermes blinked. Hold my breath? What if the bubble fails?

Iris eased a throttle on her control panel forward, and the thrum of the ship rose an octave. The bubble started to wave at a faster frequency. Hermes could almost see strange colors moving along its surface, but they were so faint, he could never catch them long enough to tell what colors they were.

"Everyone ready?" Iris said.

Rashad placed a hand on the back of Iris' chair. Hermes sucked in a breath.

"Do it," he said.

Iris pushed the throttle as far forward as it would go. There was a whining sound, a creak of metal and wood, and the bubble flashed a rainbow of colors: blues splashed into greens, yellow starbursts exploded across latticeworks of red lines. Hermes had to shut his eyes against the brightness.

There was a sudden jerk, and Hermes felt his stomach leap into his throat. His lungs burned against the strain of holding his breath, and just when he thought he couldn't hold it any longer, the whine dwindled into silence. There was a quiet moment, and Hermes cautiously opened his eyes.

He couldn't see.

His heart skipped a beat, and he reached out frantically for Autolycus, grabbed the man's arm. Why can't I see? Am I blind?

"Relax," Autolycus said. His voice seemed to echo a bit in the dark.

A scattering of tiny lights lit up across Iris' control panel. Someone lit a lantern, and hung it from a hook in the center of the room. Flickering yellow light spread through the bridge, but past it, Hermes couldn't see anything.

"Power's coming back up," Iris said. Hermes relaxed as the ship resumed its steady hum. It was strange how comforting that sound could be.

"Welcome to Voidspace, Hermes," Rashad said. "You may return to your bed now."

Hermes blinked at him dumbly, but nodded, and shuffled towards the stairwell. His head felt too full. He just wanted to close his eyes and forget everything, but as he left the bridge, Hermes overheard something that made him pause.

"The kid's too weak," he heard Narsil say. "Arcadias isn't the only danger out here, you know. You're sending that kid to his death. Better he pass the Edict on and be done with it."

There was a pause, then Rashad replied:

"He has no choice. Tomorrow, you will start training him with the Caduceus."