Across the Nile river from Memphis, on its western bank, was the necropolis: the city of the dead, containing the tombs and burial chambers of Egypt. It seems all cultures respect the awesome and mystical nature of a great river—how it can divide life from death, here from there, known from unknown.

No one has ever accused Memphis, Tennessee, of being the center of civilization, although it does have its moments. It, too, lies on a great dividing river—a gateway to the West. At least it’s a gateway in the living world. In Everlost, however, it is a city of relentless wind, and marks an inexplicable barrier to the West … which makes it interesting to note that Memphis, Egypt, was also known as Ineb-hedj or “the White Wall.”

To the living world, the kingdoms of Egypt are ancient history—because in the living world, even that which is considered permanent is always proven to be temporary. To the living, eternity is a concept, not a reality—and yet they know it exists.

The living do not see eternity, just as they don’t see Everlost, but they sense both in ways that they don’t even know. They don’t feel the Everlost barrier set across the Mississippi River, and yet no one had ever dared to draw city boundaries that straddle both sides of its waters. The living do not see Afterlights, and yet everyone has had times when they’ve felt a presence near them—sometimes comforting, sometimes not—but always strong enough to make one turn around and look over one’s shoulder.

Look behind you now.

Do you feel in your heart a slight hastening of its beat, and a powerful sense that something momentous is about to happen?

… Perhaps, then, this is the hour that Mary Hightower takes to the sky with a thousand Afterlights heading toward Memphis.

… Perhaps this is the moment that Nick, the Chocolate Ogre, arrives in that same city in search of Allie, only to find that he has no idea where to look.

… Perhaps this is the very instant that a monster called the McGill arrives there as well, aching to ease his pain by sharing his misery—not only with his new minions, but with anyone he can.

… And perhaps you can sense, in some small twisting loop of your gut, the convergence of the wrong, of the right, and of the woefully misguided. If you do, then pay sharp attention to the moment you wake, and the moment you fall asleep… . For maybe then you will know, without a shadow of a doubt, which is which.

CHAPTER 32
The Low Approach