Page 69 of Wicked and Wild

“Butif anything happens, you’ll have to get out right away and give us room to work,” she told them sternly.

Theypromised not to interfere and to leave at once if they were told to, and finally they were allowed to go back to the little girl’s room.

Justinside the doorHannasaw a heartbreaking sight.Awoman with short brown hair was standing at the foot of the hospital bed with tears rolling silently down her cheeks.Lyingin the center of the bed was a still, small form hooked up to tubes and wires and machines which were all that was keeping her alive.

“Oh,Luna—you came!” the woman who must beSummercried asAuntLunaentered the room.Shethrew her arms aroundHanna’saunt and sobbed as if her heart would break. “Iturned my head for just a minute—less than a minute—and littleLunawas gone!” she wailed, her words coming out muffled and heartbroken. “TomandIsearchedeverywherebut we never thought she could get over that fence to the neighbor’s yard.Bythe time we thought to look, she was already…already floating…face…face down…”

Atthat point her words dissolved into sobs and she clearly couldn’t say any more.AuntLunawas crying too—her heart clearly breaking for her friend’s tragedy.Shelooked overSummer’shead atHanna, her eyes filled with tears andHannaknew what she was asking.Butwhen she looked around the room, she didn’t see the little girl’s spirit hovering nearby.Infact, she didn’t see anything at all that would indicate she was still near.

Butthat doesn’t mean she’s completely gone,she thought and felt a stab of fear.Youknow what you have to do,Hanna—you have to look for her.Ifthere’s any chance she’s anywhere near, you have to find her and bring her back.

Itwas a terribly risky thing to do…but it was also theonlything to do.Shehadn’t come here just to stand around and cry—she had come to help andHannaknew she was the only one who could.

Takinga deep breath, she opened herself to the worldBeyondtheVeil—the place she’d been shying away from since she’d seen her first ghost, (a horrible old man who’d had a heart attack in the room that served as her nursery)—when she was only one or two.TheShadowLands—that was how she thought of the gray world between life and death—and she did her best to keep the door that led there closed.

Butnow, for the first time, instead of trying to hide from herGift,Hannaused it.Sheswung the door wide and stepped through.

20

HANNA

Inthe outside world of the hospital,Hanna’sbody quietly collapsed.Luckily,Bruinwas standing beside her and he was able to catch her as she fell.Hecalled frantically forLuna, but she shook her head.

“Hannahas gone hunting,” she told him, as he lifted her niece’s limp body in his arms. “Holdher for a moment—we have to give her time to search.”

Hannaheard them talking only dimly.Herspirit was in theShadowLands, the placeBeyondtheVeil, and she was searching in the gray dimness for any sign of the young life that had been torn too soon from its body.

“Luna?” she called softly, as she went. “LittleLuna?Areyou here?Canyou hear me?”

Butthere was no answer, soHannawent on.

Itfelt like she wandered forever, calling for the child in the half-light.Nothinggrew in theShadowLandsand no animals made their homes there—it was a sterile, lifeless, colorless place where nothing ever died and nothing was ever born.

Inthe distance she could see the dark shapes of mountains wreathed in shadows, but they never seemed to get any closer no matter how far she walked.Herfeet were on a path made of flat, gray paving stones surrounded by a vast, sandy desert.Thepath wound ahead of her endlessly and seemed to have no beginning point and, by the same token, no end.

Ifshe turned her head,Hannacould see the open door that led back to the hospital room where the little girl’s body lay.Butit was getting further and further off and the light of the door was growing dimmer.

Sheunderstood instinctively that if she got too far from that door, she wouldn’t be able to find her way back again.Ifshe lost sight of theLivingLands, she would exile herself in this cold, sterile, gray place forever.Butthe memory of that small body looking so shrunken in the too-large bed and the sobbing mother kept her going.

Justa little further,she told herself.Justa little bit further…

Andthen she heard it—a high, sweet voice singing softly, like a child singing to herself while she plays alone.

“MissMaryMac…Mac…Mac…

Alldressed in black…black…black…

Withsilver buttons…buttons…buttons…

Alldown her back…back…back…”

Hanna’sheart skipped a beat—she knew at once itmustbe the girl she was looking for!

“Luna!” she called again. “LittleLuna, is that you?”

Thesinging stopped at once andHannawas afraid that she must have scared the little spirit away.Butthen, after a few more steps, she saw her.

LittleLunawas crouched on the stone path just ahead of her.Shewas playing aimlessly with the sand that swept out from the path like a great, gray ocean.Herclothes were wet, clinging to her small body despite the arid environment around her, and her long blonde hair dripped water endlessly on the paving stones of the path—water which instantly evaporated as though it had never been.

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