When her bare foot touched the surface of the Locus, Lucero froze. Her knees buckled as a wave of electricity passed up through her until every nerve in her body exploded. She felt her consciousness sink into the stone, swallowed up by the geometric black hole. For a moment she thought she could sense the whole earth at once, a split second of perfect godlike awareness—she was part of a huge network of power, manalines and other Loci that spanned the planet.