Xander casually stepped up to the swirling mess and reached out a hand. As he was a living creature, he wouldn't be able to pass through the gateway unless it had been opened by something. So in order to test it out, he somehow thought it would be a perfectly fine idea to physically reach through and see what happened.
Of course that proved to be a very stupid move. Suddenly, the sound of raw electricity tore through the air, and a horrible surge of energy shot throughout Xander's entire body, lighting up his eyes as though he were a lightbulb. For a moment, Xander felt as though his heart might just explode from the rush, and he quickly retracted his hand. However, when he pulled away, he found that there was no hand to retract at all.
"What'd you do??" Yardley asked.