This particular world is a hostile one. Jax and Shannon are drawn there against their will by a deadly spell, created by the most evil magician they've encountered so far. In Controlling Magic, the fourth book in the series, there are no guarantees that Androva will survive Imbera's sinister intentions.
I'm still thinking a lot about Imbera, because of the fifth book! I'm not quite ready to say anything specific yet, just in case the writing takes me in an unexpected direction, but I plan to reveal the title and blurb next month ☺
Today I'm posting some images to show what Jax and Shannon see when they first step through the portal onto Imbera. I've had to include part of the book's cover, because I love it too much not to, but the other two images are new. I've included an extract from the book to put it into context.
"All of
his concentration was on fighting the books, and so he didn’t realise what she
was going to do until it was too late. The Communication Spell rushed into his
force field, and within seconds he was feeling exactly what Shannon was
feeling. The
compulsion was overwhelming and unbeatable. It crushed his resistance almost
immediately.
“I’m
sorry,” Shannon whispered. “But I can’t stop. And I can’t let you stop me
either.”
Jax
helped her to open the portal. They were about to step through the shimmering
doorway, when Revus and Penny burst into the room. Revus, torn from sleep and
with his hair standing up on one side, recognised the books immediately. Penny
still couldn’t see them, because of the joint Distraction and Protection Spells
that Revus had been applying every single day since the first meeting
with Karina and Gideon.
“No!”
bellowed Revus, charging forwards. But Jax and
Shannon were gone.
(intervening chapter not included here, because there would be too many spoilers)
Jax and
Shannon found themselves standing on a piece of uneven grey rock when they
stepped through the portal. They seemed to be at the very edge of a large
island. The rock stretched in front of them, narrow and deserted, for a hundred
metres or so before the landscape began to change.
As
Shannon lifted her gaze, she saw a city rising up from the rock. The buildings
were all shaped with perfectly straight edges, piled next to and on top of each
other to make the most of all the available space. Where the island met the
sea, the lower floors almost appeared to be sinking, and Shannon realised that
the buildings extended some way underwater.
But it
was the light that took her breath away. The city was suspended in a haze of
shimmering blues and greens, and lit up from within by pockets of silver and
gold.
A small
wave lapped over the edge of the rock, and onto her foot. She stepped sideways,
bumping into Jax, who was staring past her at the vast expanse of water.
It was
such a dark blue, it was almost indigo, and the horizon looked half a world
away. It was lighter there, as if a distant sun were too weak to brighten more
than half of the sky."
It would be pretty amazing to be able to open a portal and reach your destination in a single step. Obviously, I would hope not to be going to Imbera... but there are a lot of other places I can think of, both fictional and real. Where would you go if you had a portal at your disposal? Thank you for reading!
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