“Each step leads to the next,” she says, her voice far calmer than mine. “Everything you have experienced in this life as well as those prior has prepared you for this moment. Each decision you made has landed you here. And while you have accomplished so much—there is much left to do. The journey is long and arduous—but the reward is too great to miss. There are many who await you—await you to release them. You are the only one who can do so. This is why you keep reincarnating, Ever. You have a destiny to fulfill.”

I squint, realizing with a start that’s the first time she’s ever used my real name, or at least my current real name. Usually she calls me Adelina, or just points as she sings that demented song of hers. And I can’t help but wonder what more I could possibly be expected to do after all that I’ve already been through. Surviving a past life I never realized I’d lived, nearly drowning in the River of Forgetfulness, nearly getting burned alive in the desert of two blazing suns, freeing the lost souls of the Shadowland and restoring it back to the splendor of Summerland.

After all that, I’m just not sure I’m up for any new challenges. Not when everything Damen and I have been striving for all this time is finally well within our reach. All we have to do is head back to the earth plane, collect the ingredients, whip up the antidote, give it a shake and a swig, and the happily ever after is ours.

“Only you can bring back the truth. Only you can find it,” Lotus says, the words spoken plainly, simply, bearing no signs of begging or pleading.

“Locate what exactly?” Damen asks, making no attempt to hide his exasperation.

But Lotus is immune to our outbursts. From what I can see, she cycles between two moods—veering from slightly forlorn, to calm and serene.

“The Tree of Life,” she says, her gaze directed at him. “Only Ever can find it. Only Ever can bring back its fruit. The tree is evergiving.

Its fruit provides enlightenment—the knowledge of true immortality—the soul’s immortality—to those who seek it—as well as reversing the false, physical immortality of those who’ve been fooled.”

“And if she doesn’t go? If she turns her back on you, on all of this, and returns to the earth plane, then what?” Damen’s brow rises in challenge.

“Then it’s a pity. Then I have misjudged her. Underestimated her. Then she will not realize her destiny and many will suffer. Yet it is her choice entirely. I can only ask, she has the free will to decide on her own.” Lotus faces me when she adds, “Do you still have that small pouch that I gave you?”

My eyes narrow, my lips part, I’d forgotten all about the little silk pouch she handed me at the beginning of the journey, and after all that I’ve been through, I doubt it’s still with me.

I snake my fingers into each of my pockets, eventually finding it wedged deep into the corner of the righthand back one, the last one I check. It’s crumpled, totally squashed and crinkly, but still I retrieve it and dangle it before me.

Her face lifting into a smile as she says, “Do you remember my words when I gave it to you?”

I squint, searching through the cluttered contents of my mind. “You said, ‘Everything you think you need is in here. You decide what that means.’ Or something like that.”

She nods. Grins. My attention claimed by the large gaps in her teeth when she says, “And so, with that in mind, what is the one thing you desire most—above everything else? Right now, at this very moment, what is it you want?”

I hesitate. Stare at a small patch of grass at my feet. Aware of Damen’s gaze weighing heavily upon me, wondering why I won’t say it, why the delay.

The same thing I wonder as well.

I wonder why the word won’t come—why it feels like such a struggle, when it’s the one thing, the only thing, we’ve sought all this time.

Lifting my gaze to meet Lotus’s, I fight to push the words past my tongue. My voice wooden, perfunctory, devoid of emotion, when I say, “The antidote. I—rather we, have the recipe, but we still need to collect the ingredients, attend to all the moon phases, and… whatnot…” I allow the words to trail off. My heart hammering, my stomach jumbled in knots, my fingers twitching wildly as Lotus’s eyes travel between Damen and me.

“And so it is.” She nods, as though it is done, and when the gesture is met with two skeptical stares, she adds, “Please. Look inside.

You will find it contains everything you need to make this antidote of yours. Including a very rare herb that will be difficult to find back on the earth plane. And yes, all of the moon phases have been accounted for.”

Content to leave it at that, she starts to shuffle away, stopping only when I call her back to me and say, “You’re joking, right?” I dangle the tiny pouch, knowing there’s no possible way it could ever contain all the items Roman included in that long grocery list of his. It’s too small. A list like that would require a completely stuffed duffle bag, or two.

Lotus stops, steeples her hands at her chest, and says, “Why don’t you empty the contents and see?”

I frown, kneel onto the grass, pulling the strings as I tilt the tiny bag on its side. Unable to do anything but gasp when a slew of herbs, crystals, and tiny glass vials of liquids tumble out. Having no idea where they could possibly be coming from—the bag contains far more items than it could ever logically hold.

“It is all there. Everything you need to proceed. Just follow Roman’s instructions and the life that you dream of is yours.” She stops, looking at me when she adds, “Or is it?”