“TIME IS A SIDE EFFECT OF THE POCKET OF SPACE WE INHABIT, THAT OF THREE DIMENSIONS. WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF DIMENSIONS?”

“N-not much.”

“DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY DIMENSIONS THERE ARE IN THIS UNIVERSE?”

“Three—the three dimensions of space. Four, if you include time as a dimension.” As she said this, Enola lifted more salt from the ground, and shaped it in the air between them into what looked like long, thin straws about two feet long. Two of the straws joined at their tips to form an L, and then another straw joined them at their edge to form a shape like the corner of a box.

“THREE PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS IN THE POCKET OF REALITY THAT WE INHABIT, BUT THAT IS NOT THE TOTALITY OF DIMENSIONS IN THE UNIVERSE. THERE ARE TEN.”

Cora looked at the salt box floating between them like he might pull the other seven dimensions out of it like a rabbit from a hat. “Where are they?”

“EVERYWHERE AND NOWHERE.”

The salt fell to the ground, and the air relaxed.

“NOUMENAL DIMENSIONS—WE CANNOT SENSE THEM, FOR WE ARE TRAPPED IN THIS FOUR-DIMENSIONAL POCKET OF SPACE-TIME, BUT THE UNIVERSE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT THEM. WE OBSERVE EVIDENCE OF NOUMENAL DIMENSIONS IN MANY FACETS OF SPACE-TIME. IT IS THE SOURCE OF GRAVITY ITSELF. IT IS THE BASIS OF OUR ABILITY TO FOLD SPACE. IT IS A PART OF THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE OF HOW CONSCIOUSNESS DEVELOPED. INDEED, FOR ALL OUR HISTORY, WE ONLY HAD ONE SAMPLE OF A NATURALLY EVOLVED SPECIES THAT DEVELOPED CONSCIOUSNESS—OUR ANCESTORS. BUT NOW, LITTLE COUSIN, WE HAVE DISCOVERED ANOTHER—YOU.”

Enola placed the tips of his fingers on her head like a crown of thorns, and she flinched. She resisted the urge to smack his hands away. “What isn’t he telling me? Why are we able to sense each other’s emotions like this?”

“I DO NOT KNOW.”

She pulled away from him, and his hand curled back under him in his neutral stance. “You said you’d tell me the truth.”

“I CAN ONLY GIVE YOU WHAT TRUTH I HAVE. I DO NOT KNOW WHY YOUR BOND IS UNIQUE. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WE MAY NEVER KNOW THE FULL NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CONSCIOUS AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS, WHERE FUSION BONDS ARE ROOTED, AND WHERE WE ARE BEST ABLE TO SENSE THE DIVINE. YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT, BECAUSE YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND IT.”

“Why?” She wiped some cold sweat from her upper lip. “Why can’t we understand it?”

He turned, his eyes catching some of the light from the rising sun, their nuclei glowing brighter. He took a few steps back from her, raising some salt crystals out of the earth as he did, and they started to glow. He was heating them, floating them in the air like dim stars. “THREE DIMENSIONS OF SPACE, REPRESENTED HERE IN TWO DIMENSIONS.”