Gateway — Patti Larsen

A Haunting Nightmare I weep, even as the ground below me splits wider, the roots of the oak tree pulling me underground, jerking me into the moist depths, smothering me with the cool pressure of earth. I smell fabric softener and feel the touch of soft cotton even as voices cry out to me, voices I know as well as my own. Who are they? The fiery one, the one of the earth with the heart of green. The cool, white one with the logical mind… they fade away as a single, crisp voice breaks through, though not the one I was expecting. Not Liam's. Syd. Her desperation is obvious, clear and poignant. I open my eyes and find Alison Morgan, my dead best friend, hovering before me. Go home. I gape at her, heart pounding. I can't. I just can't. I've left it all behind -- SYD. She flies backward, voice a wail as the dark swallows her. GO HOME. Syd's time with the drach has given her the respite she needed, the peace she's craved for so long. But, frustrated by her inability to locate further pieces of Creator, she is driven back to the plane of her origin. Can she retain the calm she's fought so hard for, given up her past to achieve, or will she be drawn once again into the turmoil of her old life?