She rolls her eyes in disdain. “You’re a god in a human suit. You were never a child. You just pretended and let yourself forget who you really are. I needed help. Mymomneeded help, and you stood by and did nothing. You trapped us all!”
Tears sting my eyes. “I tried to get you out.”
“It was too late.” The bitterness in her words is biting. But she’s right. Her mother died, and I did nothing to stop it or to help. I didn’t think Icouldhelp.
But was that true?
I didn’t really try. I felt as trapped by my grandfather as she was. That was the story I told myself, anyway.
Is she right? In reality, was I the one trapping myself?
I open my mouth to say something, to defend myself or beg for forgiveness—I’m not sure which—when suddenly, the light beaming down from above cuts off, and Layden’s body shudders. His head lowers, and his whole body blurs in and out of focus as the spinning rings around us slow down.
“What’s happening?” I shout.
“Just wait!”
Layden continues to shimmer, and when the circles around us slow and finally stop orbiting, he’s covered in fine gold dust.
Sabra starts bouncing up and down, a hand across my chest as if holding me back. “Don’t move,” she whispers. “Don’t touch him.”
My emotions are all over the map after the fight with her and my fear about everything happening to Layden, but he’s finally blinking awake, and his body looks solid again.
“Layden! Are you okay? What happened?”
He looks around like he’s not sure where he is and then shakes his head, some of the gold dust sifting off.
“Wait, no!” Sabra says. “Don’t move!”
Layden nods, more gold dust sifting down.
“I said, don’t move,” Sabra barks, hurrying across the lines of the now still circle that has apparently become regular ground again.
Layden just looks at me, still blinking like he’s reorienting himself. All I want to do is throw my arms around him. I’m so glad he’s okay. Which makes my chest clench in all sorts of ways. God, is Sabra right? Am I in love with him?
Our eyes stay locked, neither of us saying anything until Sabra rushes back with a bag. She pulls out several little sample bottles, shoving a couple in her pockets and lifting one to Layden’s face along with a tiny brush.
Like an archeologist, she brushes the gold dust from his forehead and cheeks into the sample bottle.
“Can I talk now?” Layden asks, and I’m so fucking relieved to hear his voice.
“Yes,” Sabra says, forehead scrunched in concentration, “But otherwise don’t move. Stay as still as you can. We don’t want to lose a single particle.”
“What happened?” I ask again. It takes everything in me not to reach for him. “Are you okay?” I’m pissed that Sabra is more concerned with gathering particles than making sure he’s alright.
“Yes, I am okay,” he says, blinking. “I think.”
“Tell us everything,” Sabra demands as she gathers the gold dust from his shoulders.
He takes a breath, eyes widening a little in wonder. “One second, I was here, and then it was like I was lifted out of my body and tumbling over and over and over in space. At first it was dark, and then it was light. So, so bright. And beautiful.”
His eyes land on me again. “I wish you could have seen it.”
I smile, feeling awash in relief. I guess I was worried for nothing. Sabra was right; she did know what she was doing.
“Did it feel like a physical realm?” Sabra asks. “Was there land or beings who moved in a physical space?”
Layden nods. “Yes. Both.”
