I awake floating in a void of white. A gust of wind slams into me, sending me spinning in I don’t know what direction. Minutes pass as I try to ground myself, but with no luck. What the heck is going on?

A warm breeze, smelling of freshly dug earth, blows past my face, and I start to slow down. It comes again, this time smelling like the air after a spring rain, and I stop spinning. I’m still floating backward, but at least I’m not spinning anymore. Lightly, something touches my back, halting me completely. It feels like a hand. I look over my shoulder and see nothing there, but feel another hand appear as they move around my sides. Thin but strong arms wrap around my chest, embracing me from behind. “Welcome, little one,” a voice as quiet as a whisper, but as powerful the gust of wind, says in my ear. It’s the voice from my dream.

A feeling of comfort washes over me, casting away my worries and doubt. The smell of wildflowers fills the air. If spring could give a hug, I’m sure this is what it would feel like.

“Where am I? What is this? Who are you?” I ask, my voice more curious than concerned.

It chuckles. “In this life, most are given only one chance to become who they are meant to be. By the grace of the Creator, you shall have another.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Good luck.” It releases me. My stomach does flips as I feel the weight of my body grow. The air is sucked from my lungs as I plummet into nothing.

I scrunch up into a ball, bracing myself. I land on something soft but firm, and it springs me back into the air. Then, of course, I fall back down. This time, I land flat on my back on the hard ground; the wind is knocked out of me on impact. Blotches of light cloud my vision as I fight for breath. Finally, my lungs give, allowing me to suck in some air.

I roll over onto my stomach, coughing. The lights fade away, and the back of my head and face begin to throb as pain sets in. I reach back to check for blood. There’s no gash, but there is a decent-sized knot starting to form. Must have hit it when I landed. With a deep breath, I push off the ground, slowly getting my feet under me. To my left is the endless void of white. To my right is the same void. All around me, the same. “Alrighty then.” I start to walk forward, out into the nothingness. If this is a dream, then maybe I’ll come across something that will wake me up. With just one step to the left, I slam face-first into something hard.

I step back, holding my nose. “What?” The oily print of my nose and forehead are there, hovering in the air ahead of me. I put my hands out and lightly touch… a wall? The oil dries and vanishes. With my hands on the wall, I follow along it. There are four walls, each of them close to six feet in length. I’m in a room, a cell of some kind. I sit back against the wall closest to me, crossing my arms. “Then how do I get out of here?”

I exhale, my breath visible on the air. The air grows cold, and a chill runs up my spine as the room starts to tremble. On either side of me, huge, bone-like claws jut out from the wall behind me. I try to scramble away, but they latch down on my arms and drag me back to the wall. “There is only one way,” a voice says in my ear.

With all my might, I pull myself away from the claws, and they give. Turning around, I find nothing but a bare, white wall. Something moves over the skin on my arms. I look down to the remnants of the claws absorbing into my skin. My hands begin to tremble as my skin starts to burn and my muscles chill.

“What is this?” My voice startles me; it sounds different: deeper, stronger and much more menacing.

There’s a deafening crack behind me. Out of nowhere, a torrent of wind drags me off my feet and toward the other side of the room. Just as fast as they began, the winds die out, releasing me. I scramble to my feet, practically running back to the wall. Huffing and puffing, I try to catch my breath. My mind is hazy, and my body is wild with fear, but I’m grounded enough to sense something huge behind me. I spin around, scared out of mind, to face whatever this thing is.

To my surprise, there’s nothing. No monster, no huge thing standing behind me, but I’m positive something was there. Even with the relief of being alone, I’m still afraid and on edge. It’s the room, I think. It’s off now, somehow.

I stare at the wall I was being dragged toward. The burning sensation in my arms intensifies, spreading up into my face. My eyes start to burn as well, and my vision blurs. Tears stream down my face, the perfect white of the wall melts away. Dirt and debris are all over the floor, even under my feet. A weight bears down on my shoulders as my eyes are drawn back up to the wall.

Now, there’s a huge crack in the wall, filled with darkness. A cold gust rushes through the opening, chilling me to my bones. “Into the darkness,” the voice says, radiating from the crack.

Tentatively, I walk over to the wall and examine it. The black is frightening, off-putting, but what other choice do I have? Reluctantly, I stretch a hand into the darkness. It’s warm, close to average body temperature, and thick like oil, but so dark that even the bright light of the room isn’t illuminating it. After a second, my hand goes numb. Not like I’ve been sitting on it for too long, but like it’s not there at all. Just part of the darkness. Quickly, I pull it back. It’s still there, thank goodness.

There has got to be another way out of here. With one more look around, I see the same pale emptiness of the room. I look back to the wall. “Man, I really don’t want to go there, but apparently, there’s only one way.” With a deep breath, I step through the fissure until I’m entirely enveloped by the thick, warm darkness.

I awake clutching my pillow. I look around the walls of my room to see posters of my favorite bands and movies. Nothing empty or white. I sigh with relief. “Just a dream.”

The clock on the nightstand reads 3:45 pm. I haven’t been asleep for more than an hour. I roll out of bed, fumble with the lock on my door and dazedly walk down the hall to the bathroom. Inside, I flick on the light. Bloodshot eyes stare at me from the mirror. Yikes. I get to the sink and splash warm water on my face. It calms me, but its warmth only makes me think of that darkness I stepped into just before waking up.

My head swims. I catch myself on the sink before I fall over into the tub. “I need to get back to sleep.” I open the door to the hall, almost forgetting to turn off the light. Reaching back in, I flip the switch. As the light in the bathroom goes out, so does the sunlight in the hallway. “What in the world?” It’s warm now and dark to the point that I can’t see my own hands extended in front of me. Turning around to go back into the bathroom, I find the room of white from my dream. “What’s going on?”

“Deeper,” says the menacing voice. To the right of the crack, I touch the wall. Huge marks riddle the area near the opening. It was like something clawed through it. A cold breeze hits me in the face. That way, I guess. Using the wall as a guide, I make my way deeper into the darkness.

I don’t know how long I’ve been walking through this darkness, but it feels like hours, and my skin won’t stop crawling. Something tells me I’m not alone here. My hand slides off the wall. The end of the corridor? Holding on to the wall, I edge my foot out to make sure there is a floor to step on. Finding it’s safe, I step farther out into the intersection and look in every direction, seeing nothing other than more darkness. Well then, time to go back to the room and find another way out. “Keep moving forward,” the voice says from all around me, with the force and power of a foghorn. I turn back into the intersection, searching for the source. “Move,” it says with even more force, making my ears ring.

Out of the darkness appear two brilliant, blue sapphire lights floating more than five feet above the ground. “What…” At the sound of my voice, the lights turn toward me.

“Kyle?” The voice changes, and now, it sounds like my Aunt. The lights come closer to me. Holy crap, they’re eyes. With my first step backward, the eyes vanish. I stop moving, waiting for something to happen. Nothing.

I let out a sigh of relief and laugh at how scared I am. “Man this is too cree—” Something slams into me, forcing me against the wall so hard that it knocks the wind from my lungs. Fight or flight kicks in, and without hesitation, I struggle against this thing’s grip. As if I were a child throwing a tantrum, it easily stops my retaliation, pushing me to the ground and pinning my hands close to my body.

Its knee pressed into my chest as it gets into my face, its blue eyes gazing into mine. “Kyle. Kyle, wake up!” the thing says. A hand crosses my cheek, and I see stars. The stars melt into the background, bringing light back to the world. I continue to struggle as the darkness melts away, revealing the upstairs hallway. My aunt’s deep-brown eyes stare into mine as she kneels on my chest. “Kyle!”

I stop fighting. “Serena? Why are you on me? What’s going on?”

She places her hand against my cheek. “Sweetie, it was just a dream. Now are you okay?”

“If you get off me, I will be,” I say, unable to take a breath.

She stands, wiping her pants off. She puts her hand out to help me to my feet. “Sorry, hun. I heard you moving around so I came to check on you. When I came up here, you were zoned out, holding on to the wall. When I got near, you freaked out and began fighting me.” She dusts me off and checks my eyes. “Are you okay?”

I push her hands away. “No, I’m not, I’m freaked out. I keep having this waking dream.”

Her eyes fill with worry, but she smiles. “Come on downstairs. I’ll fix you some of my special tea.” She pretty much drags me down to the kitchen. At the table, I lay my head down while she puts water on to boil. The coolness of the wood helps stave off the massive headache that’s starting to creep up. Why is this happening to me? I look at Serena. Am I awake or is this part of a dream?

The clank of the cup on the table breaks my thought. Serena strokes my head. “It’s okay, Kyle, and it’s just a dream. Don’t let it get to you. Now drink your tea before it gets cold; it’ll help you sleep better.”

I sip at the tea. My entire body tenses at the sour taste of it. Her teas are always horrid, but they do what they’re made for. The hot liquid running down my throat calms my nerves. She’s right. It’s just a dream; there’s nothing to fear. “Thanks, Aunty.”

She gives me a kiss on the cheek. “You’re welcome, sweetie. Now go back to sleep.”

I stand from the table and chug the rest of her tea, which makes me shake violently. I make my way back up the stairs to my room. Shutting the door behind me, I fall face-first into my pillow. Flipping over, I stare up at the ceiling, telling myself over and over again that there is nothing to fear. Finally, I relax and close my eyes.

I awake floating, again—this time high in the sky with the light of the moon and stars shining down upon me. I must have fallen asleep. For a few peaceful minutes, I drift, enjoying this simple dream—a nice change of pace from the white room and dark hallway. Then, I hit my head on something hard. Turning right side up, I find a white door before me. A torrent of wind and clouds rush past me, slamming into the door, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. The wind carries the pieces into the black void the door concealed. “No, no, no.” Quickly, I turn to fly away, but the open sky is now the white room.

“Why, why am I here again?” I ask, my voice echoing. I turn to the crack in the wall as my voice echoes back.

“Come,” the menacing voice says. I gulp. “Come to me,” it says again. There’s a tug on my chest, pulling me forward. “Come to me, Kyle Ross.”

The force pulls hard, dragging me off my feet and through the fissure into the darkness. I’m pulled right, toward the intersection, unable to do anything. I stop, still floating, and slowly turn until I see the blue eyes again, but this time I see the thing they belong to.

It leans against the wall, staring at the floor as if in deep thought, its body completely black...wait a minute, I can see? The hall is no longer an inconceivable black, but a dull gray. Like the lights are dimmed to the lowest setting instead of turned off. The invisible force on my chest vanishes, and I fall to the ground, landing on my hands and knees. Without a second thought, I turn to crawl away but am met by a pair of legs blocking my escape. “And where do you think you’re going?” the thing says.

“Away from you!” In one frantic motion, I turn, stand and take off in the opposite direction. Before I can get away, I slam into something and fall back to the ground.

I look to see the thing standing in front me. “Sorry, but we need to talk,” it says with its claw outstretched.

“What are you?”

It crosses its arms and tilts its head in a curious fashion. “A ghost, maybe?” Everything in me screams run, but my body won’t move. Why is a ghost in my dream? Am I possessed? “Calm yourself, Kyle, there’s no need to get all worked up.”

My breathing grows erratic, and my heart beats at the pace of a hummingbird’s—too fast. With deep breaths, I try calming myself, but it doesn’t help. My head starts to swim as I sway back and forth. “I don’t feel so goo—” Leaning forward, my stomach heaves all its contents onto the floor and I fall along with it.

In the darkness, images begin to flash by so fast I can barely make any of them out. I gain my bearings as a guy slides to a bloody halt at my feet, his chest ripped open. “This is familiar,” I whisper, gazing at him in confusion.

“Kross!” a trio of girls scream as they run to his side. Now I remember—this was that dream I had last night.

“It’s strange.” My heart just about stops when I hear the ghost’s voice beside me.

I catch my breath. “What is?” I ask, never taking my eye off the scene.

“To watch your own death from this point of view. It makes you think of what you could have done differently.”

I turn toward him in shock. “You’re Kross?”

His sapphire eyes never leave the scene as he chuckles. “Well, I used to be, before that.” He points. As the girls stand around him praying, I watch the life vanish from his eyes, leaving the girls to cry over his body. “Come on, Kyle, it’s time for us to talk.”

“But we are talking.”

“Not here, follow me.” He walks toward a huge door made of bones and opens it, allowing a blinding light to pour through, consuming the entire area. I squeeze my eyes shut against the bright light, opening them to Kross standing over me with his index and middle fingers lightly pressed to my forehead. “Are you good?” I nod in response. “Good, now get up.” He turns from me and walks down the hall.

Should I go with him? If a dead man wants to talk to you about something, then it must be important, right? And again, what choice do I have? Stumbling to my feet, I follow him down the corridor. “So, uh, Kross.”

“Kross is just the name I was given when I was alive at that point in time.” He looks back at me and sighs. I guess he sees the question mark written across my face and adds, “If you must call me something, I do like Shadow. Call me that.” He stops at a door no different from the others we’ve already gone by. “Through here.” The door opens by itself, and Shadow walks through, his body vanishing into a black void. I stand there looking in. I’ve had enough with dark places. I turn to leave, but my feet won’t move no matter how hard I try. A low hiss passes by my ear as a blue-eyed snake slithers around my neck, extending off my shoulder until it stares me straight in the face, its tongue flicking at the air. “I knew you would try and run,” Shadow’s voice says, coming from the snake. “Now come.” I’m swept off my feet once again and drawn inside.

After being dragged across the ground, I hit something hard. The snake hisses at me and dissipates into black smoke. Sunlight radiates from over the horizon, giving birth to the land around me. There is nothing for miles in any direction, just open sky, rock-hard dirt, and this thing I’m leaning on. I look up. Petrified branches stretch out above me. It’s a tree—a fossil of a tree, but still a tree. I stand to get a better look at it. The trunk and some of its limbs are bent and twisted out of natural shape. Carelessly, I lean back on the tree. “Why am I here?”

“For a little enlightenment,” says a voice that sounds identical to mine.

Quickly I turn, looking for the source of the voice, but not before touching my own mouth. I hadn’t spoken, I’m sure of it. “Who’s there? Show yourself.”

“Hmmm, that’s going to be a tad bit difficult. Why don’t you come to me? I’m just on the other side of the tree,” my voice says. Walking around the tree, I find the source. It’s a boy growing out of the tree. It’s me… It seems crazy and impossible, but the boy in the tree is me.

The tree groans as he stretches. His forearms and hands are branches, pale white until they morph into brown arms near the elbow; the same goes for his lower half, which resembles a tree until his waist, above which he looks like… me. He moves his head to the side, flinging the long, unmanaged, curly black hair from out of his sunken face, and smiles. “How are you doing, Kyle?”

“Who or what are you?”

He looks at me with sleep-deprived deep-brown eyes, still smiling. “I am your knowledge, your wisdom, your cerebrum, to put it simply. I am your mind. All that you know and don’t know, past and present, I know.” What the… Some odd sounds come out of my mouth as I try to form words. He chuckles a little. “It’s okay, you need not say a word, just allow me to explain. Besides, I already know of what you wish to ask. You might want to take a seat.” I plop down onto the hard ground, ready to listen to what I, my mind, has to say. “First of all, you’re not asleep; you’re in a kind of trance.”

“But why, how?” I start to ask something else, but with the shift of his head, the words vanish from my train of thought.

“A being is comprised of three components: a mind, a body, and a soul. For those who are of the sentient variety, these three things are normally synchronized with one another, equal in both power and ability, but we were unfortunate enough to have one stronger than the others.” I hang on the words, but they don’t seem to stay within my mind. “Are you with me?”

I know my face is blank like my thoughts. “Sentient, what?”

He sighs with annoyance. “I didn’t think that this was going to work. Okay, putting it simply, I am your mind, you are the body, and Shadow is…”

A flash of smoke appears next to me. I shuffle to my feet and get into a fighting stance. When I see that it’s Shadow, I relax, then plop back onto the ground. “How is he coming?” Shadow asks.

“Not that well, I’m afraid. When the mind speaks to the body, the body cannot comprehend the information since the mind is acting independently of it.”

Shadow looks at me, and I get the sense that he’s smiling behind the shifting darkness of his mask. “Well then, I’ll take it from here.”

“Thank you, this encounter has been rather taxing,” my mind says, then his eyes shut, and his head slumps.

A switch goes off in my head, and I can think again. Every bit of information that I was just told simultaneously processes, leaving me dizzy. I look to Shadow as he stares at me. “Do you understand now?”

“Yeah, I think I get it. My body is in turmoil, and this is the convergence of the three parts of my being in order to fix it? Then there was something about sentient beings, but I don’t know. Now which of the three is strong…” I look at him, and he just cocks his head to the side. “Ah, gotcha, never mind. So, how are we supposed to do this?”

“The way you strengthen anything—through training. We shall make your mind as sharp as a blade and your body as strong as steel, then we will all be on par with one another. The question is: Are you willing to endure the training?” he asks, walking toward me.

I lean back a bit as he gets in my face. “If this is the only way out of this freaky situation, then I’m ready and willing to endure whatever.”

“Good, let’s get started then.” He snaps his fingers, and the sun that had just risen rushes across the sky to the west, where it sets, bringing the night. There’s no moon or stars to give light to the night, just calm and quiet darkness. I must have a thing for the dark, because this place never stays in the light for too long.

“First, I must teach you to have an open mind.”

“I like to think that I have an open mind.”

“Oh really? Then tell me, can you see in this darkness?”

“No way, it’s too dark.” I look around, but can’t see anything beyond my own nose. Shadow laughs, then goes silent. A pain shoots up my right arm as something digs deep into the muscle. I spin around. “What was that?” A little frantic, I look around, still unable to see. I’m hit two more times, this time in the chest. The force knocks me off my feet and onto the ground.

“Kyle, can you see me?”

“What type of question is that? No, I can’t see you. If I could, I would dodge your attacks, or at least try to.”

His voice is radiating from all around me, so pinpointing his location is useless. “Let me guess, all you can see is the darkness, not the tree to your left nor the rock at your right.” I reach out to the left and feel the root of the tree, then scoot my foot to the right and feel the rock. There is no way he can see in the dark. “To see where sight is not possible, you must look past the lie your eyes tell you.”

I stand, holding my arm and chest. “What type of craziness are you blabbering about, Shadow?”

I’m hit again, in the stomach. The air rushes from my lungs as I slowly sink back to the ground, unable to breath.

“All your life, you have been told that everything is impossible. That you cannot fly, breathe underwater, see in the dark, but those are lies that humans believe. If you are willing to truly open your mind, to believe that you can see in the dark as clearly as you can on a sunny day, then you shall. Just let go of that lie and see the truth.”

I finally suck in a breath. I get to my feet, this time more cautious of what could come. How can I just decide that seeing in the dark is possible? Something huge whips across my chin, and I stumble until I slam into the tree. So, believing is all that I have to do, huh? I’ll believe anything to avoid being hit again.

I stare into the night, repeating to myself over and over, “Sight in the dark is the same as in the light—clear and bright.” In the pit of my stomach, there’s this burning sensation as the chant takes hold of my body. My eyes start to burn and tear up. The black covering the area before me melts to gray. “Wow, I can see…slightly.”

Slowly, I gaze across the land, seeing the tree and the rock that are at my left and right. I move around the area to get an estimate of how far I can see. When I step three feet or so away from the tree and rock, they disappear from my sight. I stop and rub my eyes again. The tears won’t stop, because they keep doing this weird focusing thing. For a second, I see only darkness, then like a camera, they refocus, and the grayscale world returns.

During the refocusing, I catch sight of Shadow’s approach; he’s aiming a right hook at my face. I drop just under it and launch forward, putting my shoulder into his side. It’s like hitting a wall. He doesn’t budge an inch, and I fall back to the ground.

He stands over me, clapping. With my improved sight, Shadow is still black like the night, but his eyes are that ethereal sapphire-blue. “Well done. You must have an open mind to learn the dark sight so quickly.”

The sun rises behind me, illuminating the land. My eyes blur as they attempt to adjust to the light. “Does it always hurt this much during transitions?”

“It will for a short while, but you’ll get used to it.”

I fall back against the hard ground, mentally exhausted, staring up into the blue sky. My eyes hurt, as if I’ve been staring into a bright light hours instead of into the dark. It’s when they shut that I find relief for both my eyes and mind. ”So, I can see in the dark now?”

“You should be able to see past the natural veil. To see in true darkness is impossible.”

“Okay, whatever that means.” I sigh. “Why am I going through this? Why now?”

He sighs. “For every person, there is a point in time when they go through this. Some call it soul-searching, while others call it a midlife crisis. It can happen when you’re young and sometimes when you’re old. It’s not often that a person gets a second chance to do this though.”

“Wait…something, some being, said the same thing about another chance. When I first fell asleep.”

“So, there was another?” He chuckles. “I wonder if it was her that I felt.”

“Okay? So, when was the first time I tried did this?”

“It was over ten years ago, when your mind and body were at one of the peaks of learning, but we were interrupted and thrown even further out of balance.”

I open my eyes and stare at the morning sky. “My aunt did tell me that I became really sick when I was seven, but everyone thought it was from the trauma of—”

A crimson color takes over the sky. The ground beneath me softens, and I begin to sink into it like quicksand. I struggle, trying to get out, but half of my body is already buried in the muck. “Shadow, help me!” I look to him, but he just stares as the dirt slowly creeps up my face. I take a deep breath as it swallows me. Instead of black, all I see is red.

Then, the red haze melts away, and tears begin to stream down my face. Lights flicker to life above me, illuminating the blue and gray décor of the hall. This looks familiar. I look left, and etched into the wooden frame of the doorway I’m standing in are two words: “Safe Place.” Both are written in an elegant form of cursive. I’d know that phrase and handwriting anywhere. It’s Mom’s. She would always tell me that our house was a safe place. This is my old house.

Something pulses in my hand and it makes me hyper aware of my surroundings and myself. I gasp, like I’ve been holding my breath the whole time. My heart races a mile a minute, while my skin burns and my muscles freeze. I look down. There’s blood—a lot of it—pooling on the floor and all over me.

The thing in my hand pulses again, and without even thinking about it, I squeeze it until it oozes like paste through my fingers. That’s when I notice a mangled form not far from me. It had been reaching toward me, but dropped dead, just inches away.

Something crashes to the floor in the room down the hall. My parents’ room. I rush past the body in a mad dash, careful not to slip on the blood. The moment I enter the room, the smell of rotting flesh and blood assaults me. As I run in, the whole scene blurs.

I wake up coughing, gagging. Rolling over onto my side, and puke whatever is left in my stomach. I look at my hands. There’s no blood and no mud. “What was that?”

“The memory of that night.”

“I don’t remember any of that.”

“Trauma will do that. Look at what it has done to your mind. To your inner world.” I feel myself shaking. Shadow places his hand on my back. “I am sorry for bringing up such a terrible memory.”

“Can you tell me who killed my parents, and how I survived?”

“I overtook you, directing my power through you, but at the same time straining your body and throwing us even further out of sync. The murderers were, I don’t know...some kind of demons that I’d never seen before.”

I sit back on my knees and look at Shadow in confusion. “Demons? You mean like you? Why would demons want to kill my parents?”

“Kyle, now is not the time for that.”

I try to stand, but my legs give out. So instead I hit his claw away from my shoulder. “What do you mean now is not the time? I haven’t thought about their deaths in years, and now I get these memories back, and you say there’s no time. Now is a perfect time for it. So, tell me, why?”

He shakes his head. “Kyle, I don’t know. I don’t know who your parents were or what they had gotten themselves into. All I was doing was protecting you.”

I try standing again. “What about my family? They needed to be protected too.” This time, my whole body shuts down, and I fall to my side. “Why…why can’t I stand?” I scream through an angered sob.

“Your mind has been through a lot, and it has put a strain on your body. You need to rest.” I roll to my back. The tears are coming in full force now. “I shall wake you when it’s time to start again.” He places his claw over my eyes. “Now sleep.”

My body, the ground beneath me and his claw all vanish. Just me and my thoughts are all that remain. I want to know the truth. Could Shadow be lying? What reason would he have to lie?

A light appears over me. I open my eyes to the blinding light of the sun shining down on me. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I turn over. To my surprise, I’m floating high in the sky just above the clouds. As nice as this is, my chest and stomach hurt from the beating I took turn my dark sight training. My eyes water up. “I need to be happy right now. I wonder how the girls are doing?”

I stop dead in the air and fall to the earth like a rock. I attempt a scream, but it’s difficult to breathe correctly as the wind flies up my nose. The ground approaches fast. I close my eyes and curl into a ball to brace for impact. With a jolt, I stop. Peeking out from behind my hands, I see that I’m no longer falling, but hovering fifteen feet in the air. Thank goodness.

I hear someone groan and look over to see that I’m just outside of the second-story window of some house. The window is open, and a girl rests on the sill, looking out into the neighborhood, her hazel eyes glistening in the sunlight. Wait, I know those eyes.

“Airca?!” She doesn’t react at all to the sight of me or to the sound of my voice. I wave my hand in her face—nothing. “You can’t see me, can you?” If she could, knowing her, she would have been freaking out right now. Her face is blank, meaning she’s in deep thought. I float closer. Her eyes are kind of puffy, like she’s been crying.

“Hey, Airca, are you okay over there? You haven’t said a word since we got here.” I look past her to see Rica sitting on the bed, picking at a bowl of popcorn with Page. I push back from the window and get a good look at the house. It’s Rica’s place.

“I’m fine,” she says, rubbing her nose—her tell. I don’t like seeing her this down. I float to her and place my hands on her cheeks. “Kyle, I wish you were here,” she whispers to herself.

Something takes hold of my wrists, latching on like shackles. My hands are absorbed into her face. I try to pull away, but I’m sucked right in. Reality blurs until I’m no longer floating outside of the window looking in, but on the windowsill, looking out to the neighborhood.

What’s going on? A weird sound leaves my mouth, and it’s not my voice.

“Airca, are you okay?” Page asks from behind me.

My gaze shifts from the window to Page, who is on the bed looking up from a magazine. “I’m—I’m fine, I just got this really weird feeling.”

But I’m not fine at all. I think I’m in Airca… I try to move but nothing happens. How did I get myself into this?