SO SHE HADN’T BEEN LOST in the Rift after all? The tiger said something more, but Duncan watched the slight figure of the girl as she moved rapidly down the hillside. She had tucked the center of her skirt into her waistband so that it looked as if she were wearing a pair of very baggy shorts. Her long brown legs leaped over rocks and across small, glinting streams. Duncan looked around in wonder. The island was hollow, secret. No one looking at it from the sea could ever guess what was inside. There was a small lake or lagoon at the bottom that looked perfect for swimming, and beyond it, another waterfall, splashing down through lush green. The island changed as he looked higher. Two-thirds of the way up the slope were blue-green pines that stood tall, like stiff arrows pointing to the sun. Still higher, the bones of the island showed through in jutting rock. The princess had crossed the lowest part of the island, a narrow valley mostly filled with lagoon, and started up the far slope.
