They moved through the final poses of class before finally flopping onto their backs into corpse pose. Well, Riley flopped. Everyone else activated their abs and rolled down with control. She would master that next time, she decided.
“You got this, Rye Bread,” her dad whispered next to her.
She gave his hand a squeeze and took a shaky breath. She did got this…er, have this. Probably. She wasn’tthatdistracted by Nick’s distance or exhausted from yet another night of poor sleep. She was fine. Totally, almost one hundred percent fine.
“Allow your eyes to drift closed,” Wander said softly.
Riley followed the rest of the class and shut her eyes.
“Now imagine your heart chakra opening, shining an emerald green like a beacon,” she told the rest of the class.
Riley ignored the prompts and instead sat up and dropped into her spirit guide world.
The cotton candy clouds were there. They definitely didn’t seem nearly as bright or as puffy, but she didn’t have time to worry about what that meant.
“Now move your attention to your third-eye chakra. Visualize it opening and glowing a deep purple,” Wander said from far away. “You are safe here. It’s okay to open yourself up.”
Riley took a breath and blew it out.“Okay, spirit guides. We’re going to give this another try with backup. Show me what you can about Sesame without making me feel like my head is on a revolving microwave plate.”
Instead of a swoopy full-color vision like they usually delivered, Riley felt something.
Loneliness.
It nudged at her gently but insistently, like Burt did when he wanted a treat.
Was Sesame sad? On the surface, she seemed so happy and bubbly. Where were her visions? Why couldn’t she see anything?
A warm steadiness stole over Riley, and she realized Gabe and her family were with her.
There were shadowy flickers coming through now. Nothing Riley could make out clearly. But there was a man, a kiss, a dazzling swoop of love. Memories, perhaps? Or was this something Sesame wanted and didn’t have?
Another feeling elbowed its way in. It felt…solidifying. Harder, sharper than hope. Determination.
Sesame was sad and willing it away with some sense of purpose.
Wow. Was this what motivation felt like?Riley had only experienced a focus and a drive this intense when her life or someone else’s was at stake.
Was this how other people got things done, like training for marathons or keeping noses to the grindstone through medical school?
The determination had completely eclipsed the loneliness now. Whatever Sesame’s purpose was, it was more important to her than wallowing in sadness. And Riley could see why. The sad had no energy to it. It was pasty and lethargic. But this determination felt like a rainbow infused with a triple shot of espresso.
Through the shadows, she began to catch more glimpses. Red velvet. Flashes of light. A floor-length gown. A man’s hand on a woman’s waist. Success. The kind that other people saw.
“Remember where you came from,” Wander instructed the class. “Think about what brought you here.”
Everything was rewinding into a blur of color and sensation. Her head started to spin slowly like a merry-go-round warming up. Immediately, she felt a reinforcement of energy coming at her from her mother, sister, and Gabe.
Then out of the shadows, she saw him.
A man, practically a boy. Cute. He was in a car, and someone was running toward him. Riley felt a giddy rush of joy. And a trickle of sweat. The sweat was definitely hers. But the joy belonged to someone else. Then it was gone like someone had snapped a finger. The man-boy was replaced with what looked like a sinister evil twin. He had a comical goatee and villain-like eyebrows. There was someone in his arms. Someone he was dragging backward. Someone who struggled against him.
Riley’s heart thundered in her chest, and the world spun faster and faster.
“Oh no. Here we go again,” she groaned.
“Hold on, sweetie,”Spirit Blossom called to her.
“Strengthen your screen door,”Spirit Gabe encouraged from somewhere beyond the clouds.
