Page 181 of A Courage of the Chosen

I am no one.

I am nothing.

But I was someone.

I was something.

We’re enticed closer, the nothingness around us shifting into a tangible entity that pushes awareness into me. A tiny prick of light ahead that both me and the other fixate on. The air turns warm, pleasant, and the scent of grass and fresh water trickles through my senses.

Answers, that’s what we’ll find there. And peace.

Peace sounds nice.

For some reason, I ache. I’m tired. The body that I was once tethered to is long gone, but my soul is weary, shackled down by pain and rage that I don’t remember, but feel viscerally.

The unspoken agreement passes between me and the other, and we move toward the light. Closer we float, and the static becomes a crushing wall that’s been erected between us and the sanctuary waiting beyond the speck that taunts us the more we hover.

“Do not go there. This way, child.” A voice. A woman. Old and young and happy and sad.

I know that voice.

A strong breeze pushes us in a different direction, and a brighter light explodes in a giant orb that sucks us in.

Air expands in lungs that didn’t exist a second ago, and we’re no longer floating. We plummet down toward a sea of green and gray that blurs as I tumble.

I tense as I prepare for impact. But there’s no jolt, and no pain lancing through my bones that should come with falling from the sky. There’s just soft grass between my fingers, cushioning my knees.

The pants of another next to me. Milk-chocolate hair covering her face, olive skin prickled with goosebumps.

I am not no one.

I am not nothing.

And the other is someone I’ve known, and loved, for a long time. My memories come careening back.

“Rachel?”

Her head juts in my direction.

I . . . did it? She’s completely her. No dark ring around her irises. No shadow magic trying to do me harm. Just the best friend, who’s stood by me even when I didn’t deserve it.

“Elsie?”

Then we’re on our feet, smothering each other in an embrace.

“That was you?” she asks breathlessly. “You were in that too?”

“Yes.”

Rach pulls away from me. “You did something stupid again, didn’t you?”

With a smirk, I shrug. “I might have.”

She strangles me with her arms again. “You ridiculous, reckless woman.” Rach’s voice wavers, and I can’t place my finger on why.

We did it.

“You really shouldn’t have.” Her words have my senses prickling but I beat them down. She’s here and safe, and we did it.