And although the boy sensed this was a trick—that maybe it was somehow poisoned, or worse—he raised his fingers to his lips, and licked the chocolate off. The ogre was right—it was real and it was good.

The ogre pointed to his face. “The only good thing about it is that I get to share.”

“And it’s milk chocolate today,” said the kid with big hands. “You must be in a good mood.”

The Chocolate Ogre shrugged. “Any day I save someone from Mary is a good day.”

This monster was being far too friendly. The boy would have much preferred a fiery temper. At least then he would have known exactly where he stood.

“What are you going to do to me?” he asked.

“I’m not going to do anything. The question is, what are you going to do?” He folded his arms. “You crossed over with a coin. Do you remember what happened to it?”

The boy shrugged. “It was just a slug,” he said. “I threw it away.”

Then the Chocolate Ogre reached into a rusty gray bucket. “Hmm … looks like I found it.” He pulled a coin out of the bucket and held it out to the boy. “Take it.” And when he hesitated, the big-handed kid behind him nudged him again.

The boy took the coin. It did look much like the slug he had tossed when he first arrived.

“Tell me how it feels in your hand,” the ogre said.

“It feels warm.”

The ogre smiled. “Good. Very good. Now you have a choice. You can keep holding it in your hand … or you can put it into your pocket, and save it for another time.”

“What happens if I hold it?”

“I really don’t know. Maybe you can tell me.”

And although the boy had not been this frightened since his first days in Everlost, there was a certain comfort coming from the coin itself. It filled his hand with a relaxing warmth—a sense of peace that was already radiating from his hand to his arm, to his entire spirit. His afterglow—the faint aura of light that every Afterlight radiated—seemed to grow brighter.

Before he could change his mind, he closed his fist on the coin which grew ever warmer in his hand, and in a moment, space itself seemed to split before him, revealing a tunnel. Its walls were blacker than black, but at some impossible distance ahead was a light, as bright as the walls were dark. Why, this wasn’t a bottomless pit at all! He had seen this before! Yes! He had seen it the very moment he—

“—Jason!” he shouted joyfully. “My name is Jason!”

The ogre nodded. “Have a safe trip, Jason.”

He wanted to thank the Chocolate Ogre, but he found he was already too far away, shooting down the tunnel, finally on his way to where he was going.