I summon distant murmurs roaming,
To guide my spirit where his is known.”
I let out a breath as a sudden rush of power cracked through the air. My eyes blinked open in a hurry.
The tag shot up a beam of silvery light that pierced the rafters and illuminated the entire cottage.
My pulse skittered, and I tried to steady my breathing as Twobble and Stella gasped.
Keegan kept his steely gaze on mine as I focused on the ray of light.
“What’s happening?” Twobble whispered.
The rays curled and clung to me as a serpent of magic would.
A strange tug pulled at the center of my chest, and I reached for Keegan.
When I realized I was being drawn upward, I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing, waiting for the invisible string to break to let me rise above everything.
And then it happened.
I felt free.
My eyes flew open.
It wasn’t my cottage in view.
Everything was tinted in ghostly silver, shapes. It looked like I was gazing through a cloudy mirror and felt feathery.
The transient surroundings drifted in an otherworldly glimmer.
My mind spun with a dizzying sensation of both terror and wonder since I was no longer in my body.
I forced a breath and wasn’t sure if I physically inhaled anything at all.
Slowly, the silver haze resolved into faint outlines of trees, a spiraling vortex of night sky.
Dad.
The fear would not swallow me up.
In the distance, flickers of color danced. Green and blue ghostly echoes beckoned me forward like the Northern Lights pulsing with an unknown energy.
I was no longer in the circle at the cottage. Instead, I found myself suspended in a realm shaped by the magic we’d conjured, and took a step forward.
Shadows of trees and hills flickered around me, reminiscent of Stonewick’s outskirts but fainter. Was he hiding my dad here in Stonewick?
A tug yanked at my chest. I stumbled and nearly fell, crying out for my dad.
The silver drift parted and revealed a single bright thread of light that stretched into the dark horizon.
My dad.
Tears burned when I realized I didn’t know how to walk in this strange plane.
So, I just moved, letting the magic guide me.
Each step came more effortlessly than the last. My heart hammered as I recalled Keegan’s warning. If something went wrong, they’d break in.
