Everything was so artificial, so neat, so sterile. Even the air tasted strangely stale. Amy didn’t have a clue what to make of it. Why were they here? Had her mother created this as somewhere they could meet, or had Amy traveled to her and this was what heaven looked like?

“Come, sweetheart. We’ll have more time if we leave now.”

Amy stared back. “And go where? What is this place?”

“I’ll explain once we get going, but right now we have to get off this beach.” She nodded to the boat, which had two oars balanced across its gunwales. “Hop in.”

Amy followed apprehensively. Barefoot already, her mother waded out to the boat and pulled it in by its bow.

“Slip off your shoes,” she said.

Amy did as she was asked and climbed into the shaky little boat. She sat on the front seat and held on to the sides, trying to keep the vessel, and her nerves, steady.

“Mom, I’m not sure I can do this.”

“You can, Amy. You’re going to be fine.” She gave the boat a push and hopped in, positioning herself in the middle and taking the oars in her hands.

Amy began trembling. “I’m scared, Mom.”

“Just breathe. You have nothing to be afraid of.” She pulled on both oars and the boat began moving. Next, she removed her hands from the ends of the oars, and with a twirl of a finger made them come to life. The blades slid into the ocean and began slicing through the water like magic.

Twilight turned to dusk as Amy watched the shoreline recede, then dusk became night, all in a matter of seconds. A bright moon appeared from nowhere and hung above them like a giant porcelain plate, casting an ivory glow across the surface of the sea. A chill raced up Amy’s spine.

“Mom, will you tell me where we are? I don’t like it here. This place feels . . . wrong.”

“We’re in another snow globe. Except this one’s different—this one is yours.”

“Mine?”

“Your spirit made one so that we’d have a way to see each other.” Her mother fell silent for a moment as she threw a wary glance up at the sky. “You weren’t ready to go home, but with Ryan gone there was nowhere left for you to stay, so your spirit had to create this place instead.”

Amy looked out across the water, stunned. “Wait, so you knew this would happen? Back in the lighthouse, when I said I wanted to see you one last time, you knew the same thing that happened to Ryan would happen to me? You knew I’d get stuck in my own snow globe?”