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It seemed all too soon before Time’s palace in the sky winked at me as the Meallán, after smoothly sailing through the stars, dropped us off at the large tree.
“It looks like it is time for me to leave,” St. Brendan said. His eyes were on a horizon of his choice, as though he was not just looking at the scene before him, but reading it like a book.
“Why?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Even the Celestial Kingdom has tides.”
I held out my hand, and when he grasped it I felt friendship and brotherhood come alive. “Thank you for everything.”
“I’ll look forward to seeing you again,” St. Brendan agreed. He turned to Aleia. “You’re sure you’ve a way back?”
She smiled. “Yes, we’ll be okay. We’re going the way of the Rabbit Hole.”
I watched as his lips pursed together at the name. “Have care, then,” he said, “for some of the unliving are around there.”
“The unliving?” I asked. “What’s that? Zombie stars?”
“Come on,” Elysian muttered. “Even I know zombies are the undead, not the unliving.”
“It’s just confusing,” I huffed back.
Aleia ignored me and Elysian. “You know that’s always a risk, St. Brendan,” she said. “We need not fear them.”
He nodded. “Aye, my lady. But take the warning just as well, for my sake.” St. Brendan turned and headed back up his ship. “All right! We’re pulling out!” he called up to his crew. The wings of his sails broadened as the anchor rolled up, and I could see the other crew members shuffling around as the Meallán once more headed out onto the celestial sea.
“St. Brendan!” Aleia called out. “Thanks for the ride.”
“You know well it’s no trouble for you, my lady,” he called back, tipping his head to her. “I’ll look for you when you have need of me again. Farewell!”
And then the ship darted across the night, like a flash of lightning.
“I liked him,” I said.
“St. Brendan is a favorite around these parts. He passes through every so often, and we are always glad to see him,” Aleia replied. “He has been a good ally, too, in keeping tabs on things for Alora.”
“So, how are we getting home?” I asked.
“The Rabbit Hole,” Aleia said. At my expression, she laughed. “I wasn’t making a joke earlier.”
“What’s the Rabbit Hole?” I asked.
“It’s my old home,” Aleia said. “It’s not too far; it’s located in the middle of this place.” She glanced around at the wide expanse of the tree, the enormous branches providing a unique umbrella-like protection. “If you follow the river, it flows right into the heart of my home. Elysian should be able to take us.”
“At your service,” Elysian muttered. He knelt down for us, and we climbed on.
“So, did you enjoy yourself?” Aleia asked me, as Elysian headed around the willowing branches of the space tree.
“Yeah, I guess so.” I shrugged. “Surfing was great. Alora’s time pool was pretty interesting.”
“It’s more of a symbolic thing,” Aleia assured me. “It’s a way for you to experience the things words don’t always explain.”
“I would have preferred the words,” I decided.
“You might enjoy my time pool better,” Aleia said with a laugh.
“Is that near the Rabbit Hole?” I asked, partway in jest.
“Yes.”
I should have known surprises were pretty common, given the time I spent with Aleia. But I soon learned even suspecting surprises was not enough. As Elysian flew, in his silent moping state, we passed around the spherical tree, viewing the surrounding galaxies and light-years of the universe’s grandest displays. Any of them could have been worthy of being Aleia’s old home.
The purity of the white water flowed down into the heart of the grand tree, setting in a pool of water that ran red. The Rabbit Hole turned out to be a small island in the middle of a blood-rippled river, where he finally stopped.
“This is it?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Alora’s pool was blue at first.”
“And mine is red,” Aleia replied. “Is it really unusual to you? Even in your own human body, blood is red when it carries oxygen and blue when it does not.”
“I don’t really want to think about blood,” I said. “I can handle it, but there’s a reason I want to be a lawyer like Cheryl, rather than a doctor like Mark.”
“Yeah, you prefer making people bleed rather than stitching them up. Get a grip,” Elysian grumbled.
I decided to ignore him as we landed. From under the humongous tree, I could see so many things. The tree stretched up from under the ground of my feet, and I couldn’t see the top. The waterfall was running down inside of the tree to one side, and on the other side there was what looked like a black hole tucked into the small heart of the island.
Something shiny and familiar caught my eye. “What are those?” I asked Aleia.
There were little bundles of bubble-like shapes, full of a pure water-like substance, bunched together. They came tumbling out of the heart of the tree and simmered throughout the water’s borders.
She was walking over to the edge of the water, trying to grab one. “These are memories,” she explained. “Each one is a small orb, similar to my own, that holds a moment in Time. You can hold them and see particular memories. I’m trying to get some so you’ll be able to see memories of your past.”
“Oh, well, grab as many as you can. Nothing more interesting to talk about than myself, you know.”
“Don’t I know it,” Aleia said with a chuckle, catching my sarcasm.
“What would happen if I drink the water?” I asked, recalling Elysian’s story about his wayward brother.
Aleia sighed. “Drinking the bloodwater of the River of Life, without it being offered, only leads to suffering.” She looked over at me and Elysian and said, “You can gain immortal life, but as Draco, Elysian’s brother, discovered, it is more of a curse than anything else.”
“Does it let you make a wish?” I asked. “Or is it just immortality across the board?”
“Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it is just immortality,” Aleia said. Her voice went soft and her eyes darkened. “But without it offered, it is liquid damnation.” She cupped some of the water in her hands and let it drizzle back into the rippled waters. “Those who have drunk it against grace have been cursed in the worst sort of ways. They took it, thinking it would lead to their greatest wish, but immortality is only an attractive offer, shall we say, when it is coupled with mercy.”
“I can see that,” I agreed, again thinking of Elysian’s brother, trapped in some kind of human form while his snakeskin was being used to surround Time’s palace. Deciding to change the subject, I pointed to the wormhole behind Elysian. “Is that the Rabbit Hole?”
“Yes, that’s it. We only have to jump through it, and we’ll be able to go back down to Earth. We’ll land back in Apollo City, where I had used my power to halt the time on Earth while we were here.”
“Are there other portals throughout Time’s Realm?” I asked.
Aleia bit her lip. “Only one,” she confided. “And it is located where the hole in the space-time continuum occurred.”
“Alora mentioned that.”
“I know. She has been working to fix it ever since it was torn open.”
“Why can’t she fix it? Shouldn’t take that much work, should it?”
“There are complications with it,” Aleia said. “And that’s all I even know.”
“Oh.” I wondered what had happened. Surely it wasn’t that hard for Time to figure out? I shook my head. I wouldn’t have to worry about it, as long as I had the Sinisters and their leader to deal with. I turned my attention back to more current matters. “So, time travel is as easy as jumping into this hole? Could I get lost?” I asked.
“It’s unlikely. Around here, you end up where you need to be or where you should be quite easily. It’s very rare that someone will be where they are not meant to be.”
A scraggly voice called out to us. “You mean like me, Star Warrior?”
“Auck.” I jumped as what I’d assumed to be a dirty rock turned over and looked at me.
“What is that?” Elysian asked, a horrified expression no doubt similar to my own contorting his face.
A wicked smile formed into the wrinkles and scarred gashes.
Aleia pulled out her daggers. “I’d forgotten about you and your sister, Folly.”
“I see.” The rock-like lady laughed crudely. “We did not know you were coming, or we might have been better prepared.”
“Prepared? Prepared for what?” I asked.
“Company,” another voice, scraggly and low, piped up. “We’re usually the most welcoming of hosts.”
“This is not your home, even though you’d tried to make it yours,” Aleia snapped. She turned to me. “This is Folly, and her sister demon, Foolishness.”
“That’s an unfortunate pair of names,” I offered.
Aleia wrinkled her nose. “Unfortunate, but accurate.”
“Can they harm us?” Elysian asked. He shrunk down to his smaller size and scooted in closer to the fallen figures.
“No,” Aleia said. “They are bound to the island by my power. It would take a lot to break it.” She turned back to us and explained, “They came here shortly after your brother”—she glanced uneasily at Elysian—“tricked us. I bound them here with my blood, and they’ve been here ever since.”
“Why don’t they disappear, the way Krono did?”
“Because Earth is actually a hard place for the unliving to live without constant support,” Aleia explained. “Up here, however, surrounded by more of the supernatural, it is easier for them to fight against our powers.”
“Alora didn’t have any issues.”
“Alora has never fallen, either,” Aleia murmured, clearly unhappy with the turn of our conversation. “Please, let’s just get into the pool so we can return to Earth.”
She deftly jumped into the pool, beckoning Elysian and me to follow her.
“Well,” Elysian said, “I’ll see you back home.”
“Great. Don’t wait up for me,” I muttered back. Elysian had not been good company during this trip; I would not be sorry for a break from him.
“Fine.” He huffed out two long strands of smoke from his dragon nostrils and then, swirling around, dove into the wormhole portal.
I hurried to follow after him, when Folly spoke up. “So, you’re the Star of Mercy now, huh?”
I knew she was trying to bait me. Reluctantly, she succeeded. “How do you know me?” I asked.
Folly laughed. “You were the one Lady Justice sent to Earth along with her sisters. It was quite amusing, because you had been so very much in love with her at the time.”
My body stilled. Even my heart seemed to pause in its beating. “What?”
“You heard her,” Foolishness said. Much like her sister, she was a stone figure of a demon, lying in full-bodied form on the ground, crushed by the gravity of her crimes.
“Don’t tell me they didn’t tell you everything at Lady Time’s place,” Folly added.
“Then again, they never tell anyone the full story,” Foolishness said.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Lady Time and all her allies, even the Prince, are just using you,” Folly explained. “You will never be free of them.”
“You will never be your own person, so long as they tell you who you are and what you need to do.” Foolishness shook her rocky head. “They blame us for their troubles.”
“They are the real power-hungry ones,” Folly added. “Why else would they want to punish us for speaking up?”
“They’re on the side of good,” I said, my tone too weak for my own taste.
“Good?” Folly laughed. “Then why didn’t they tell you the truth? That Lady Justice was the one who sent you flying down to Earth, along with Orpheus and the Sinisters?”
“I deserved to fall,” I declared, ashamed to admit it, but seeing no other choice. “It was only right.”
“Oh, you poor, poor soul,” Foolishness murmured delicately. “It sounds like they’ve indoctrinated you already.”
Folly laughed as my fists clenched.
There was no good that would come of them, I thought. Their very names were indicative of their natures. I could not believe anything they had to say.
They had probably been expecting that from me. I shook my head and turned toward the portal. There was nothing to gain, and I was getting tired. I did want to go home.
“If you don’t believe us,” Folly began, “all you have to do is check the memory.”
I hesitated. After a moment of indecision, I turned around. “What are you talking about?”
“The memories of this realm and the one encompassing it are all available to you here,” Foolishness said. “All you have to do is summon your power and put your hands in the stream. It will come to you, once it recognizes your power.”
Once more, I faltered. Then I decided to do it. After all, if it wasn’t true that Starry Knight had sent me to Earth, then Alora and Aleia hadn’t withheld any information from me. And if it was true ... I was going to have some difficult conversations with Aleia when I arrived back on Earth.
Moving further away from Folly and Foolishness’ rocky figures, I called forth my power. Energy drippled out slowly into my palm before I dipped my hands into the water. For a moment, I allowed myself to close my eyes and settle in, cradling the comforting stream; the river’s water was cool and fresh, stimulating me, even as I realized it was brimming with the essence of life.
“This is amazing,” I whispered to myself. The water ran purely translucent, in shades and stripes of pure water and pure blood. It was distinctive enough from blood that I did not wince.
But before I could give into my childish urge to splash around and play, or fall victim to an inner desire to drink the water, a crystal-like bubble slid into my hands. I plucked it out and looked into it.
Nothing happened. Maybe I needed Aleia to read it? I wondered. Recalling I had my own power, I pressed into the aura encircling the small bauble.
Instantly, a new world opened up. “Hey,” I called out, suddenly wondering if had been a trick.
I saw my daydream world, where I could see nothing but the Celestial Kingdom. I heard the music of Starry Knight, and I allowed myself to relax.
Heading toward the music, anticipation tickled through me. Maybe I would get to see her, hear her. Maybe hold her, or have her reach out for me.
It had happened before, I rationalized.
Her star was close, close to my own. I was surprised to realize it, but I turned to see my own star had been burning just as brightly as hers. I’d never seen it before.
“Wow,” I murmured. “I wonder—”
The music stopped.
I could hear shouting and weeping. I could feel pain singeing into my flesh and bones. Fire erupted inside of me. My wings beat against the tides of the universal ocean.
And then silence. Silence as the star before me, home to my love, crumpled, leaving gravity’s shadowed rainbow to bend around and choke it. I felt myself being pulled in, unable to avoid it.
I cried out words I could not hear as I felt drawn into the implosion.
Like my baptism earlier, death was choking me and darkness was surrounding me before even it left. And then I was hollow—more hollow than I had ever felt or been. Pain slashed through my heart, and my body, though crushed and squashed and pushed down, resisted as nothingness settled inside of me and surrounded me.
Sharp, bright blackness cut through me, collided with me, and suddenly, with the rage of a supernova, I was cast down even harder against the rock bottom of my life. I was pushed again, and again, and again.
Only to find the rock bottom breaking.
I whoosed through, breaking into a new ocean of stars and people and souls.
Not knowing when it would end, I finally closed my eyes.
Only to find myself back on the riverbank, my fist clenched around the marbled memory.
“Augh!” I gasped and took deep breaths. “What ... what was that!?” I cried, my voice hoarse.
Folly and Foolishness laughed. “You see? Your Lady Justice was the one who sent you to Earth. She wooed you, and then destroyed you, as was her duty as the Star of Justice. You didn’t fall of your own accord. They lied to you.”
My eyelids fluttered as I shot up. I was weak, and lonely, and defeated.
I barely realized it as I dropped the crystal and stumbled back, tripping and falling headfirst down into the Rabbit Hole.
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