I closed my eyes and dispelled the limiting beliefs. They didn’t serve me, and I would not hold on to them.
The responsibility sat heavy on my chest. It swirled in a ball of ice in my belly, and every breath wanted to shudder.
The mist waited at the edge of the camp. Pashim as sentry. Patient, as if we had all the time in the world. If only that was true.
Dharma hugged me tightly, her voice cracking when she spoke. “I might not be with you in body, but I’m with you in spirit.”
“We all are,” Joe said.
They surrounded me with the kind of warmth that injected conviction into my belly. Their belief fueled my conviction.
“We gots ta go, chickadee,” Blue said softly. “Gots ta get this done.”
I drank them all in and turned away, taking Araz’s hand.
Pashim’s gaze softened as we approached, his chest rising and falling on a heavy breath.
“Are you ready?” he asked me.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I don’t think being ready for something like this is possible. But I am. I’m ready.”
He nodded, his gaze flicking to Araz. “You’ll be with her.”
“I will,” Araz said. “I won’t allow any harm to come to her.”
Pashim’s lips curved in a smile. “We’ve come far, haven’t we, old friend?”
“We have indeed,” Araz said.
They clasped forearms in a greeting typical for their kind.
I looked between them, from Araz, the drohi who’d spurned me and pushed me away to begin with, to Pashim, the drohi who’d embraced me in friendship. Pashim’s care and love had shown Araz that there was another way to live with our bond. Pashim had brought us together, and now…now he was going to be instrumental in making sure we survived to continue our journey.
I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve such a friend, but I was damn grateful for it.
The mist churned, ice pricking my skin.
“It’s time,” Pashim said, his gaze falling to Blue. “Tuck in close to Leela for warmth, little one.”
Blue snuggled up to my neck, and Araz put his arm around me. Together we followed Pashim into the mist.
A howling wind circled us,whipping at my hair, tearing at my clothes, and pulling us into what reminded me of a vortex.
Jagged whispers filled my head. Words I didn’t recognize. The ground vanished from beneath my feet, and my stomach dipped as if I was falling, but I held fast to Araz, his strong arms tight around my body. His heat pulsed into me to ward off the aching chill that threatened to numb me to the bone.
Blue’s paws pinched my skin, grounding me, his body trembling against my neck, anchoring me as the world seemed to fracture. Some primal part of me recognized that I was inside death, and panic bloomed in my chest, a scream bubbling up my throat as my body attempted to flee a threat that made no sense. A threat that didn’t exist.
The howling intensified, the space around us vibrating as if from an outside assault. Needles of pain pushed into my head, and the vortex of mist and ice churned faster, moving inward as if to cage us.
Araz cupped the back of my head with one hand, gently urging me to bury my face in his chest. To not look.
“We’re passing through it now.” His voice rumbled against my chest. “Almost there.”
The howls morphed to screams that rang in my head, making it throb in agony. White-hot flashes of light filled my vision, and my belly churned.
I was going to be sick.
I clung to Araz, breathing fast and shallow to ward off the nausea, to breathe through the mounting pain in my head.
