Page 82 of Soul of Shadow
“What the—” Abigail stepped away, watching in horror as he doubled over, yelling and clutching at his skull. It was awful to see. Charlie wondered if she’d looked the same way.
With one final yell, Mason fell silent and his body went slack.
This is it, thought Charlie.
After a breathless pause, her brother straightened up and opened his eyes.
For a moment, he stood stock-still, taking in the forest. Then, at a voice barely above a whisper, he said, “Whoa.”
“I told you,” said Charlie.
“This is…” Mason’s voice trailed off.
She knew what came now: the fear, the confusion, the complete disorientation…
“This is…” Her brother’s face spread into an ear-to-ear grin. “Awesome.”
“What?” Charlie and Abigail said at the same time.
“Seriously,” he said, gazing around the clearing. “Abigail, I’m telling you: you gotta try this. It’s better than any drug I’ve done.”
Abigail stared down at the purple fruit in her hand as if this news were the worst she’d received that night.
“You don’t have to do it,” Charlie told her, half hoping she would put it back into the box and swear off the entire mission… but knowing above all else that Abigail never backed down from a challenge. Especially not if Lou’s life was at stake. Abigail might act like all she cared about was getting into Columbia, but Charlie knew that she’d once stormed into the men’s locker room and verbally eviscerate three male swimmers twice her size, all because they’d made Lou feel uncomfortable at one of their swim meets. She was as loyal as they came—and she took no shit when it came to her best friends.
Abigail shut her eyes, inhaled once, and said, “For Lou.” Then she popped the berry into her mouth and chewed.
As Abigail twitched and trembled, Mason turned to Charlie, grin still pasted to his face.
Charlie raised her eyebrows. “You don’t seem fazed at all by this.”
He shook his head. “It feels almost… familiar,” he said. “All my life, I’ve had these strange memories that I could never piece together. Flashes of things—vines with white flowers, sparkling green grass, purple fireflies… I always assumed they were dreams. But the colors I can see now… the trees…” He swallowed dryly. “It’s a perfect match.”
Charlie stared at Mason, dumbstruck. “Are you telling me,” she said, the words feeling outrageous even as she spoke them aloud, “that you’ve seen Asgard before?”
“I think…” Mason blinked up at the iridescent owl peering out at them from between two tree branches. “I think I have.”
“But that’s impossible,” she said. “Humans can’t see Asgard unless they consume an eyaerberry. And once they do, they see forever.”
“I know. You told me.” He walked toward the closest oak tree and ran his fingers down the bark. Charlie knew how beautiful it must look to him now. The colors brighter. The textures richer. The hoot from the iridescent owl was like a beautiful high note on some ethereal instrument. “But I’m telling you: I’ve seen this before. Or something just like it.”
Charlie opened her mouth to respond but was quickly cut off by Abigail.
“What,” said her friend, who had clearly just recovered from the eyaerberry experience, “the hell”—she turned in a slow circle, eyes narrow as she took in the forest—“is going on?”
“I know.” Charlie took a step forward, placing a gentle hand on Abigail’s shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but—”
“I refuse.” Abigail crossed her arms, shaking her head vehemently. “I refuse to believe that what I’m seeing is real. This goes againsteverylaw of physics and biology that I’ve learned. The human eye sees color in one specific way: light filters through our rods and cones, then sends a signal to your brain via the optic nerve. That’s it. That’s how it works. There are no special work-arounds, no upgrades that enable you to see colors that shouldn’t even exist. I mean…” She stormed over to a nearby bush, furious now, and pointed at it. “What the hell is this? What color is that?”
Mason and Charlie tilted their heads, taking in the offending bush in question. Charlie understood why Abigail was confused; the leaves of the bush had this shiny, silvery blue-greenhue that she had never seen before. Her limited vocabulary could not accurately describe what color it was.
“Hmm?” Abigail pointed harder at the bush, awaiting an answer.
“Abs.” Charlie walked over to her friend and placed both hands on her shoulders. “I know that this goes against everything we were taught in school. I know that it seems outrageous—”
“Impossibleis more like it,” Abigail said.
“—but now is not the time for me to explain. Now is the time for us to figure out where the hell Elias has taken Lou. Now is the time to get her back.”
