Fingers snapped in front of my face. Blue fingers at that. I blinked rapidly to focus on where I was.

A hand repeatedly patted my cheek until I couldn't ignore it any longer.

"Wakey, wakey," a stranger said. The high-pitched tone bounced off the walls and inside the confines of my aching head.

"Huh? What?" I flinched, recoiling from the sight of the woman. Every part of her was blue. From the top of her poofy short hair to the tips of her long pointed fingernails. Her skin. Her teeth as she smiled. Even the sleeveless sheath dress she wore had a cobalt tinge.

"Ahh. There she is. Hello, Astra."

The moment I sat upright, she placed a pair of glasses on her face. Tinted dark, they kept me from reading her eyes. Probably for the best—for her.

I bolted from the chair to stand. Three of the four walls of the chilly room were pale pink floor to ceiling glass, all covered with some heavy brown draping on the outside. The floor, individual granite stones joined and pieced together like a puzzle, reverberated the loud tap of the woman's heels every time she stepped.

"Where am I? Why am I here?" More importantly, where were Idal and Killian?

The woman smirked and snapped her fingers again, twice. Two men, easily the size of trees stepped from the shadows and restrained me by the shoulders once I lunged, rather unsteadily toward the open doorway. Identical appearances of bleached skin, white robes, and shaved heads only meant one thing. They were Azeeds, part of the slave army in the Traon realm. That at least answered the where I was, but not the why.

"You're fine, dear. Safe as it is." The blue woman sidestepped and fanned her hand in a backward direction. Doing so allowed for another answer to a different question. "You've just had a rough go of it. Isn't that right, Killian?"

Both Killian and my mother had their arms and legs bound with some rope to a set of wooden chairs beside each other. Killian was at least conscious. He struggled and thrashed against his confines and the cloth shoved in his mouth that kept him from yelling. His angry dark green eyes locked with mine, and I concentrated on reading them to understand what all had happened when the woman blocked my view once again.

Did she know what I was attempting to do?

Before I lost my chance, my gaze cut to my mother. Her long blond hair curtained her head as it hung low to her chest. I was suddenly aware of her body shuddering and the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. She was alive. But not by much.

A wave of anger hit me. My hands fisted as every part of me wanted to fight. To hurt our captors the way they had hurt us. The rage compounded to the point that I swore steam emitted from my ears. Indeed, my reddening face served as a well enough warning and prompted the blue woman to react.

After a quick succession of four snaps, an equal number of Azeeds marched into the room. They split and flanked both Idal and Killian. One of the men holding me dug his nails into my bicep and shoved me back into the chair.

"Ow!" I winced and rubbed the throbbing pain away from my upper arm.

"Rozzo! No!" The woman stormed forward and splayed her open palm on the side of his head. "We do not hurt our guest here."

Apparently, that rule didn't apply to Idal or Killian.

With her constant touch, Rozzo's eyes, already a milky white with no visible iris whatsoever, morphed in colors. From a muted yellow to a blood red, violet to indigo then settling to a pitch black, the man's lifeless form dropped to the ground.

She'd drained him, completely.

"You're a healer." I intended to emit a certain confidence in my accusation. Only the wavering in my voice proved the opposite. How was this blue woman a Blood Healer from my home realm of Laumeier? It was impossible, right?

She thrust an open hand my way for me to shake. "No reason for code calling, Astra. My name is Melinah." When I didn't readily accept her invitation, she grabbed hold of my hand and shook it a few times anyway.

"Okay, Melinah." I paused to weigh my words. This was a game, and I had to play if any of us were going to make it out of here alive. "How did you do that?"

"That?" She pointed at the man lying dead at her sapphire heeled feet.

Breathing deep, it took everything not to display my repulsion at what she had done. Even though my mother had stolen other's lives and powers the same way dozens of times before, it was never an easy thing to watch. With a convincing smile still in place, I muttered a quick, "Yes."

"Ahhh. Well, you should know more than anyone how looks can be deceiving, dear." Melinah propped her dark glasses to the top of her head, revealing eyes with the whites the same coloring as her blue skin.

"I don't." I stalled and shook my head, unable to digest what she meant.

She clapped her hand once, and the five remaining Azeeds promptly exited the room. "Now, maybe this will help."

I could only stare at Melinah as she wiped a lone finger across the surface of her eye, removing the film coating it. An exposed hazel eye momentarily gazed into mine. It was long enough for me to ascertain her Blood Code. Indeed a Blood Healer. But she looked away before I could delve any deeper.

"What is all this, then?" I motioned toward her disguise. Pretending to be a Traonite at that. Since this was my first jump to this realm, I was a little ignorant to all of their customs. Although, I'd picked up a few things after listening to Killian's stories over the past couple of years.

The color of their skin symbolized their rank within Traon, and their technology driven society. Blue was the highest—the ruling class, the aristocrats. It faded in intensity per shade, ending at a sub-level of gold. Anyone with the coloring of an Azeed was either a criminal and had their pigment bleached, and their class stripped away from their skin as punishment. Or born into slavery.

Melinah was about to answer when Killian's grunting and groaning distracted her. She stomped to where he sat and lifted a shaky palm to his head. "Don't tempt me, Killian," she warned.

Killian's eyes grew large and found mine. He interjected a not so subtle Stop her! into my mind.

"Please don't." My voice trembled as I blurted the words, "Don't hurt him, please. He'll stay quiet. Right?"

Killian's head nodded his agreement as sweat dripped from his forehead. Again as he locked eyes with me he sent a quick, Be Careful.

"Very well," she sighed and leaned close to him. "You're lucky I've already had my fill because draining a reaper." A slight moan escaped before she licked her lips. "Is almost as good of a kick as if I drained her." Melinah sidestepped him to pat my mother on the shoulder before spinning to face me. "But let's avoid any more unpleasantries, shall we? I've had to deal with the three of you for two days already."

"Two days," I muttered under my breath. That was the longest I'd ever blacked out. But it was the first time I'd ever jumped two realms within the same day. Let alone minutes apart. I was probably lucky to be alive.

"Anyway, where were we before I was so rudely interrupted?" she asked before throwing Killian a snide glare over her shoulder.

He stiffened and stilled to avoid any more unwanted attention.

"Oh yes." Melinah beamed and forgot about Killian altogether. "This is what I want to show you." She closed her eyes and chanted while waving a hand over her body.

The Melinah with the cerulean skin faded from my view. Replacing her was a Melinah with normal skin, hazel eyes, and short spiky black hair.

I'd never seen that trick before. "Whoa. What did you do?"

"That's a glamor, Astra. It's how to keep ourselves hidden." Idal choked on the final words and raised her head. My stomach clenched as I took in the sight of the whole right side of her face. Black, blue and swollen, she couldn't open one of her eyes.

"Look who is awake, and not dead after all," Melinah said before settling into her disguise again. It wasn't even a few heartbeats later when she snapped her fingers at least a dozen times. "Too bad for you."

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