“It’s cavansite,” she says, studying me closely. “It enhances intuition and psychic healing. It also prompts deep reflection, inspires new ideas, helps rid oneself of faulty beliefs, and aids in inducing the memories of one’s prior lives.”

Our eyes meet and hold as she shoots me a meaningful look, and I can’t help but wish Damen were around to hear that.

I nod, slip the stone into my pocket, and turn toward Jude. Not because I’m expecting something from him, but because I can tell by the way his aura flares, the way his energy radiates, that he has something to tell me.

“I’m coming with,” he says.

I squint, unsure I heard him correctly.

“Seriously. That’s my gift. I’m making the journey with you. You shouldn’t have to go it alone. I don’t want you to go it alone.”

“But—you can’t,” I say, the words slipping out before I’ve even had a chance to stop and consider them. But for some reason, it seems like the right thing to say. If Damen can’t go, then Jude can’t either. Besides, there’s no need to involve him in this any more than I already have. “Trust me, I appreciate the sentiment. Really, I do. But Lotus’s instructions were clear—I need to do this alone. Without you, without Damen, with no one to rely on but myself. It’s my destiny, only I can make the journey.”

“But I thought our destinies were entwined? You said so yourself.”

I pause, unsure how to reply. Glancing from the twins, to Miles, and then over to Ava and back to Jude, about to reiterate what I just said, when I sense her.

Lotus.

She’s here.

I turn, my gaze instinctively finding hers, noticing how she looks even older than the last time I saw her, more delicate, frail, somewhat feeble even. Her movements slow but determined, her slim frame stooped slightly forward, her hair freed from the braid she normally wears, left to hang loose around her shoulders in long silvery wisps. The waves floaty, springy, providing the usual halo effect—its color blending into skin so pale it makes the blue of her eyes pop like two startling chunks of aquamarine dropped into a snowy-white landscape. And unlike the other times I saw her, this time she leans heavily onto an old carved wooden walking stick. Her fingers wrapped around the curved handle, arthritic knuckles blanching and bulging. Yet her face still lifts as she makes her approach, her rheumy old eyes taking me in as her lips curl in delight.

“Adelina.” She bows, stopping just a few feet shy of me, her gaze fixed on mine as though she’s yet to notice I have company. “You are ready? Ready to make the journey? Ready to release me?”

“Is that what I’m doing?” I study her closely, her words planting a seed of doubt that has me second-guessing my purpose all over again.

“We’ve been waiting for so long now. Only you can make the journey, only you can reveal the truth.”

“But why only me?” I ask. “Why can’t Damen come—or Jude?”

“Please,” she whispers, voice low and throaty, pressing her left palm to her heart as she bows toward me, a thin gold band she wears on her ring finger glinting in a way I can’t miss, and I wonder if she’s always worn it, and if so, why I failed to notice it until now. “You must choose to believe.”

For the first time since she arrived, I glance back toward my friends, seeing them looking upon her with such awe and reverence I can’t help but wonder if they see something I miss.

But when I turn to Lotus again, I see it as clearly as they do—the beautiful golden glow that emanates deep from within, growing and expanding until it glimmers all around her.

“You are ready then?” She looks at me, her face so luminous I just nod, unable to resist.

Lifting one gnarled old finger, she beckons for me to follow—to take the first step toward a destiny I can’t yet imagine.

I turn back to my friends, turn to wave good-bye, only to find Miles, Ava, and the twins waving back, and Jude standing right there behind me.

And just as I’m about to explain yet again why I need to go it alone, Lotus stops, glances over her shoulder, and takes him in as though seeing him for the very first time. Her eyes moving over him as though she somehow recognizes him, taking me by surprise when she waves him forward, inviting him to join us.

“This is your destiny too. The answers you seek are now within your reach,” she says, her voice both sage and true.

I glance between her and Jude, wondering what the heck that might’ve meant, but she’s already turned back, and from the look in his eyes, he’s just as confused as I am.

She leads us through the muck, through a forest of burnt-out trees with cruel barren branches bearing no trace of foliage despite the constant supply of rain. Her feet moving with surprising surety as I struggle to keep up. Keeping my eyes glued to the back of her head, not wanting to lose sight of her, aware of the slip-slop of Jude’s feet as he trudges behind me.

And even though I’m grateful for the company, I can’t help but think it should be Damen instead.

Damen should be making the journey alongside me. Damen, who wanted to come, wanted to keep me safe—despite the fact that he disagreed with my coming here in the first place.

Having Jude here feels wrong in every way.

We push on, following Lotus for what feels like miles, and I’m about to ask how much farther it is, when we reach it.

I know it the moment I see it.

The landscape is basically unchanged, the ground is still muddy, the rain still falls, and the surrounding area is as dreary and barren as ever—but still, there’s just no denying it. The air is different. Cooler. The temperature dropped so low I wish I’d worn something a little heavier than an old pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. But even more noticeable is the way the area just before us seems to glisten and glow—to glimmer and gleam. Looking less like the shimmering veil that marks the portal to Summerland, and more like a change in atmosphere. The space turned suddenly hazy, swirly, allowing for only a blur of shapes, a mere hint of what might lie beyond.