“The latter.”
“Is that part of your Seer magic?” I asked. “I’ve never really found out what sort of magic you have. Or really anything about your history.”
“And you don’t think that’s on purpose?”
His question dodged mine, but I didn’t pry. Seer Goddard, I’d learned, doled out information as it was needed. It had worked for us so far, and I didn’t doubt every move he made was calculated.
“I have a natural inclination to the spirit world due to my Seer nature,” he eventually explained. “But it took many, many years of difficult training to become a dreamwalker. I am unlike Liza. Such a small child with such immense, natural powers pertaining to the spirit world. She will be greater than I could ever dream of becoming in my lifetime.”
I’d always known Liza was special on multiple levels, but to hear praise like this from Seer Goddard especially—he wasn’t exactly the type to wax poetic about a person for no reason at all.
“I believe that Liza and I, together, can guide your spirit into the underworld,” Seer Goddard said. “What you do there, we have no control over.”
“I want to convince the spirits there to come through the same sort of portal I opened for the Procession of Spirits. Give them the opportunity to escape from the Darkest Lord’s clutches in return for peace.” I paused. “Do you think it will work?”
He studied me closely. “Do you?”
“I think I need to try.... but there’s one hold-up when it comes to my plan. Something I hope you can give me some insight on.”
“What is it?”
“These souls in the underworld, I’ve heard they’re lost souls. By releasing them, am I setting loose something dangerous into a peaceful environment?” I asked. “I don’t understand the different spirit worlds, what they mean, how they work, if there’s a hierarchy.”
“Ah.”
“I just helped a bunch of souls in the Procession of Spirits. If I release these spirits from the underworld, am I unleashing something dangerous in the process?”
Seer Goddard considered me thoughtfully. “The souls in the underworld are neither good nor bad, they just are. Most of them have been collected by the Darkest Lord himself, nothing to do with how they’ve lived their life here on earth. Some have been held hostage there for years or centuries through no fault of their own. Here on earth, on The Isle, on the mainland, isn’t it a sliding scale between good and evil?”
“Sure.”
“It’s no different in the underworld.” Seer Goddard squinted into the horizon, then continued. “In fact, the underworld itself isn’t a badplace by nature. It’s merely a spirit realm that’s been under the control of the Darkest Lord for so long that it’s become synonymous with evil.”
“Why has no one taken control of it from him, then?”
“The Darkest Lord is a formidable opponent. Moreover, it is difficult for someone with a beating heart to enter the spirit realms safely, as you’ve been warned many times. It’s the length of his rule, the way he’s drained that place of any sense of humanity or joy, that’s made it the dismal, awful place of legends. He’s rarely challenged at this point, and the challengers he’s had, he has obliterated.”
“I see. But theoretically, under different rule…?”
“Under different rule, it could be a very different place.” Seer Goddard met my gaze. “And to answer your original question,no, you wouldn’t be doing anyone a disservice by releasing the souls trapped under the Darkest Lord’s rule. Giving those lost spirits a chance to find peace and contentment in a different realm would be a welcome escape.”
“In that case,” I said, nerves rattling my voice, “how do I need to enter the spirit realm?”
“You need a guide, which must be Liza. And you will need me to coach you through the dreamwalker’s experience.”
“No.” I shook my head vehemently. “I don’t want Liza involved any more than she’s already involved.”
“She’s fully invested.”
“She’s just a child.”
“In age, yes. In skills, in wisdom, in spirit... Does she seem like a child to you?”
I sat soundless before him. The answer was an obvious, a resounding no. But that fact didn’t displace the way I’d felt as she’d slipped a shaky hand in mine. “It’s my job to protect her.”
“Is it your job to make choices for her?”
“Yes. Because she’s a child.”
