Page 43 of Nightshade

“Why?”

“There are a few reasons people end up in Nightshade. Some are curious, like you. Some long to escape this world for another. And some end up there involuntarily.”

“They’re dead.”

“Yes. There is no physical body to come back to, in their case. So, they remain trapped in the decaying body, with no means of escape, for eternity.”

“They’re conscious and aware? Stuck in a corpse?”

“Yes. But they cannot communicate. Cannot escape. It is the most horrible existence imaginable.”

The thought of that was awful.

“I promise. I will not bring anyone back with me.”

He held out his hand and flicked his fingers. “Your weapons please.”

At my frown, he smiled. “No weapon from this world can help you in that one. They will only injure you in the fall.”

“How do I protect myself?”

“You can’t. It’s the risk you take for knowledge. I’d be careful with the jewelry, as well. Particularly if they hold meaning to you.”

After reluctantly handing off my pocketknife, I mindlessly brushed my finger over the locket tucked beneath my shirt. “I can’t …. I never take it off.”

“Suit yourself.”

I blew out a shaky breath as I stared down at the tea that still swirled, still beckoning me to sip. Closing my eyes, I put the cup to my lips, breathing in the warm, inviting, cinnamon scent that reminded me of the tea my father would make for me when I couldn’t sleep at night. Cinnamon. It’d always remind me of him.

The first taste of the liquid hit my tongue on a burst of delicious flavor. Like Christmases when my mother was still alive, and we’d bake cookies and drink tea, and the world seemed right. So delicious, that I didn’t realize I’d guzzled it down, until my lips slurped the last of it.

“Mmm.”

“How do you feel?”

“I feel fi … fine.” The world seemed to spin in my periphery, the sounds in my ear, as if it were plugged, setting me off balance. “I actually … is it supposed to … my hearing is … strange.”

“Yes. You should be feeling sleepy?”

“I do. I feel … heavy.” An incredible pain blossomed across my jaw and extended up to my ear. Eyes squinting, I touched a finger to the throbbing ache there. “Ah.”

“The pain will subside. I want you to stand up on this ledge here.” Xhiphias pointed to what looked to be the first step to a staircase. I didn’t recall a staircase there, at all.

“Are you sure?”

“Are you sure you still want to fall?”

“Yeah?”

“Then, I’m sure you must step up here.”

“Okay.” I did as instructed, stepping up onto the platform.

“What do you see when you look down?”

The fog below me whorled around and gave way to waves crashing against a rock. On a shocked breath, my muscles locked up. Double-blinking failed to erase the image below. A deep, cramping nausea stirred in my gut as I watched the water ebb and flow. “I see water below.”

“Are you frightened of it?”