I squeeze my eyes shut again, but this time, I’m not blocking my vision of the physical world. This time, that world is just…gone.

The split-pea lockers disappear. The black scuff on the walls, created from a generation of skateboarders, fades. Even the solid linoleum tiles that hold up my feet melt away, so I’m left floating in space.

Kinda. If I don’t think about it too hard.

I let my mind drift…and there she is! This is really happening!

Her consciousness shimmers on top of mine, calling me like a beacon even if I can’t technically see her. But once I sense her, it’s as easy as pulling a zipper to fit our jagged edges together.

Click.

I feel in my teeth our consciousnesses snapping together. And then I’m hurtling forward through the blank nothingness of time.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I shoot through a black void, floating in ether, my limbs weighing nothing. No, that’s not right. I have no limbs. I have no body. I have no head or mouth or lips. I’m just a consciousness, existing in the realm between times.

Panic scrambles my mind, making my thoughts both sharp and fuzzy. But underneath the shock and fear is an overwhelming sense of wonder. I’m here. This is real. This whole new dimension exists, has probably always existed, and I’m just now discovering it.

A bright line wavers in front of me. At least, I think it’s in front. There’s no direction here. No up or down, no left or right, no front or back. There’s only the meaning my mind supplies to make sense of the nonsensical.

And so I think the line is in front. I think I’m moving along it. I think it’s connecting the present and the future? I’m not sure.

All I know is that I’m drifting, drifting, drifting in a space that shouldn’t be. A realm outside my comprehension. A dimension unlike any I’ve encountered before…

…

I come back to myself as though I am waking from a long sleep. Disoriented, foggy. I blink as I get used to my new surroundings—a black underground cave, its walls slick with water. Bandit couldn’t have been more wrong. Wherever I am in the future, it’s definitely not a beach in Ko Samui.

Except—that’s not me blinking. That’s not me splaying my hand against the cool cavern walls, soaking up the wetness. That’s not me inhaling the mossy, dank scent of my new location.

Instead, it’s the older Alice performing these actions. I can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch everything she does, but only she has the power to control her body—our body. I’m just along for the ride.