I fired again and again.

If I hit the globes I did no damage.

The little motes in their beams danced with the motes in the mist, troubled.

That was all.
"But up from the Pool like little bells, like tiny bursting bubbles of glass, swarmed the tinkling sounds--their pitch higher, all their sweetness lost, angry.
"And out from the Inexplicable swept a shining spiral.
"It caught me above the heart; wrapped itself around me.

There rushed through me a mingled ecstasy and horror.