“Sorry.” He stepped closer and gave her a hug. “We’ll figure it out, okay? Maybe we can talk them into coming with us. Helga needs us for whatever she has planned, and we definitely could use all the help we can get to find our way back to the Hallowed Ravine. And there’s no way I’m doing it without you.”

She sighed. “It was easier when we were in the Sleep, or—” She stopped herself, and Michael knew exactly what she’d been about to say. It had been easier when her parents were kidnapped, being held against their will, and unable to stop her from doing anything.

“Come on,” he said. “First things first. Let’s go see what Helga wants to show us, and then we’ll try again. I’m not leaving without you.”

She pulled him into a fierce hug and kissed him on the cheek. Her lips were as moist as her tears.

“This all confuses me so much,” she whispered. “Your life as a Tangent, your life in this body, all the weird crap that’s going on. I honestly don’t know what you are, but I know who you are. And I love you, Michael. I really do. Roll your eyes all you want, but whatever you are”—she grabbed both sides of his face and shook him gently—“I’m in love with him.”

Michael’s feelings swam a million miles above the ground, leaving him completely speechless. He just nodded and kissed her, kissed her all the way, with everything he had, something he’d never done before. His heart swelled and the world spun.

She pulled back and looked at him, fresh tears brightening her eyes, but this time she looked happy.

“I’m not letting you leave without me,” she said. “Come on, let’s go inside before my mom catches us and has a hissy fit.”

3

A half hour later, still buzzing from that kiss, Michael Sank into the Sleep with his friends, Helga as their guide. When he opened his eyes, the four of them stood on a flat plane of crystal-clear glass that stretched as far as he could see in every direction. The sky above was a crisp midnight-blue, and it felt to Michael as if they were right below the highest reaches of the atmosphere. Beneath their feet, geometric shapes of white light spun and shrank and grew, bouncing off each other against a dark background. Michael stared, mesmerized—it was like standing inside an enormous kaleidoscope.

“Welcome to the wild blue yonder,” Helga said, stretching out her arms proudly. “My own little bit of heaven.”

“It’s real inviting,” Bryson muttered sarcastically as he looked around for somewhere to sit.