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a different book. And there’s always a damnbook.”

I cup his chin in my hands and kiss his lipstenderly. I now understand his affliction. He has lived too manylives on Earth. Man’s greatest weakness has made him bitter.

“Hey,” he breathes with his lips so close tomine. “Will you ever have to go back to this place called Enu,and…” He pauses. “…be done with me?”

I sigh gravely and now it’s time for thetruth. “I have a choice,” I admit. “You’re not my bond, which meansthat you cannot enter the universe of my mother…” I hesitatebecause I’m not sure my words are true; after all, he was able toenter the portal. “But, I choose you, Chex,” I finally admit.

“I choose you too Ad’ru,” he earnestlydeclares.

And now I’m being lifted off my feet. TheSelell in him is carting me off back to the room with the bed init. I taste the ci’cha in his mouth. Its juices combined with hisjuices are sufficient enough to reinvigorate me.

***

Navi

The three Ugu Mags get out of the elevatorwith us. Mag Star stays a step ahead of me and they follow behindus as we walk through a gray tunnel with a line of recessedlighting streaking down the middle of the ceiling. I’m stillconcerned about what she last said to me. What does she think I’mhiding? How does she know that I’m hiding it? But what is agitatingmore than that is the fact that I don’t like being followed soclosely by strangers, especially since I have no idea what’s reallygoing on here.

“Is this a trap?” I blurt out when we get toanother door with one of those yellow glass strips next to it. Ifigure I’d ask and assess how she answers it. Yes, it was a stupidquestion. I’ve asked it before and no one has ever come out andverbally said, “Yes, it’s a trap!” But in a fragment of a second,if I watch very closely, I can see the truth right before theylie.

“It’s not a trap,” Mag Star says as she putstwo fingers on the glass.

I thumb over my shoulder. “Then why in thehell are they following us?”

“They’re simply going home, Navi.”

The steel door slides up and we all walkthrough and onto what resembles a white, sleek, block-shapedpolyurethane platform. This is a transport station of some sort.There are road rails to both sides of us with one razor thin trackrunning through the middle of them. This is certainly not a trainor bus station or an airport. And there’s no roof above us, onlybillions of kets and the vibrant moon of night.

“What is this?” I ask, taking it in with mymouth parted in awe.

“This is the transition liaison.”

“And where are we transitioning to…?”

The three humans in scrubs have alreadywalked past us. Mag Star directs my attention toward them as theystep into another elevator; but instead of the door closing, thecube whips around and just like that they’re gone.

“Where did they go?” I ask, flustered bytheir sudden disappearance.

I follow Mag Star’s answering gaze to thelanding strip to my left where one by one the humans of thisuniverse fly past us, completely naked and lying back down on topof a white mattress pad in an egg-shaped ball made of glass, whichglides past us on the single-blade track.

“Are we next?” I ask, amazed by the amountof fear that floods me. It’s the not knowing. The last time Iventured to the unknown, a tree ended up feeding on my blood. “Anddo I need to call Adore? I don’t want to be separated from her fortoo long.” My voice doesn’t mask how nervous I am.

“She’ll be able to use the portal in theHouse of Benel to arrive at where we’re going.” She turns to faceme and her expression is filled with sincerity. “Don’t be afraidNavi. I know what you’ve been through. I’m not deceiving you.” Shemakes sure we have eye contact and lowers her voice to say, “Whatyou have, you’ll need to use it for more than what you know.”

I feel my eyes blinking hard. “Themedallion?” I ask to test whether she really knows what I’ve beenhiding.

“The medallion,” she confirms.

I am dazed and can hardly hear when shetells me to prepare to descend.

The ground gives out beneath my feet and forthe third time since I arrived in Dag, the forces of gravity carryme downward. My heart pounds inside of my chest. I’m so disturbedat the thought of Mag Star having the emblem that I’m barely ableto process that there isn’t one light shining in the landscapebelow. What I can discern in the darkness is that it holds mostlyhills, woods, and lakes that are glistened by the lights of night.I make a gentle landing on my feet, at the knees of the loblollypine trees that grow here. This is certainly a forest and the airsmells sweet, like recent rainfall.

“This way,” Mag Star says.

We trek up a trail on an incline. I’m usedto walking in the dark; the dangers of doing it have sharpened myinstincts. In my experience, something grisly is always lurking inthe brush. But not here, not now.

“This is a big difference from where weleft,” I say to interrupt the sound of our footsteps.

“This is Candunk, the fragrant forest.”

“Ah,” I breathe now more enlightened. “Aconcoction of sassafras and rain. You grow Earth plants here.”

“Oh yes,” she says delightfully, “Ouruniverse is the spitting image of Earth. The only difference isthat we take special measures to preserve the sanctity of ourlands, seas, and skies.”

“But you’ve built cities in the sky - thatcan’t be too safe.”

“But the city is safe,” she replies to thecontrary. “The materials we build with are not manufactured. Theyare mended from natural resources. And our energy is lunar andsolar, and we only use it for what’s essential in life.”

“Is that how you came to know about mymedallion, by using your energies for the essentials of life?”

She glances over her shoulder to momentarilyset a cold glare on me. Well, that’s refreshing to know: the UguMag can feel anger.

The slope we’re climbing tables off. “Standthere,” Mag Star directs me, pointing to one of