I nod, because yes. Yes, of course. The land beneath my body is rich with voices, so close to the surface, blood in the soil, lives spent in whole here, from birth to death. I sag when the light spreads from me, inviting me to respond.

“Yes, please,” I whisper, placing my hand against the barrier. I look over my shoulder at Alice, William, and Sel. “They’re with me. They are here to help me.”

The barrier shudders, and an opening spreads from my fingers outward, growing into a circle wide enough for them to walk through. I step through and wait beside Mariah.

Once the circle is wide enough, William and Sel walk through together. I can see on their faces that they are paying attention to the sensation, looking for differences. Finding what is similar.

“This is the biggest construct I’ve ever seen. I… I didn’t know aether could be used like this. Cast by the dead.” William’s wonder is infectious.

“That’s because it’s not aether,” Mariah says with a smile. “It’s root.”

Alice stumbles through after William and Sel, landing in my arms. “Bree…,” she whispers, eyes wide behind her glasses. “I can see it.”

“You can?”

“Feel it too.” She laughs dazedly. “It hurt, and then it didn’t.”

As the barrier closes behind us, Mariah turns. With hands spread wide and the rolling hill of the reclaimed plantation behind her, she smiles.

“Welcome to Volition. Where our will be done.”

PART FOUR VOLITION

46

“WILL THE BARRIER go down?” I ask. We walk the rest of the way on foot. Behind us, the barrier remains high, sparkling in the midday sky.

Mariah shakes her head. “No, never. Just gets more visible or less. The ancestors are awake now. You’re a new Medium on the grounds. It’ll probably stay lit up like that for a few hours.”

Sel looks overhead, holding his hand up to the sky even though the barrier is at least half a mile up. His fingers play against the air. “It is… strong.”

“Don’t, Kingsmage,” Mariah warns. “You can’t use root without permission here.”

I expect Sel to argue, especially after being so restricted by the cyffion, but to my surprise he doesn’t. His hand drops. “Understood.”