And as they continued their march, the bridge swaying and dipping but still strong enough to hold them all, making their way past the heavily fogged and shrouded halfway mark, this particular part of Summerland, an area that was always wet and misty and shrouded in haze, became as bright and warm as any spring day back home on the earth plane.
It actually began to glow.
I turned to the prince, seeing him hesitate, gazing at Rebecca with great concern as she continued to scream and rant and rave. And what bothered me most about seeing her carrying on like that was I knew it made the prince feel like he’d failed.
“This is not good,” I whispered to Bodhi. “I really thought she might come around once she saw this place, but, apparently, she’s more far gone than I thought.”
But Bodhi just looked at me, straw bobbing up and down in his mouth as he mumbled, “Maybe.”
I squinted, having no idea what that was supposed to mean.
“It means, we’ll see.” He shrugged, clearly taking advantage of the fact that his thoughts were completely unavailable to me.
I focused back on the former slaves, and as soon as the last one had crossed, I watched in complete and total astonishment as Bodhi reached toward the former Snarly Yow/Black Shuck/Phantom Dog/Galleytrot/Shug Monkey/Hateful Thing/Hell Beast-turned-tiny-yippy-breed-of-indeterminate-mix, grabbed the ball that lay at his feet, and aimed it straight toward the bridge. Smiling in triumph as it pierced through the haze that obscured the middle and little Shucky went yapping and yipping, and chasing right after it.
“Hey! That’s cheating!” I cried, gaping at him in complete disbelief. “I can’t believe you did that—I can’t believe you forced him like that.”
But Bodhi just looked at me, shaking his head as he said, “No one forced anyone. That dog acted upon his own free will. He chose to go after that ball, just like you chose to exercise your free will when you chose to go after him.” He bobbed his straw at me. “Free will is a powerful thing, Riley. Sometimes it’s the only way to realize your true destiny, though it does require a fair bit of trust—in yourself, in the universe—as I’m sure you now know.”
I nodded, carefully collecting his words and storing them away for later. Knowing I’d want to go over them, review them, but at that moment, all of my attention was claimed by Rebecca.
Claimed by the way her jaw dropped, the way her eyes went impossibly wide, the way her face wore an expression of both outrage and surprise as she watched her dog happily sprint to the other side.
“Where’d he go?” she asked, her anger edged out by wonder.
“He went home,” I said quietly, looking right at her. “And you’re welcome to join him if you want. The choice is yours.”
She glanced between us, and the way she looked at that moment, well, all I can say is I was filled with hope for her for the first time that day.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, she still looked a little red around the cheeks, a little grim around the lips, but still, it was pretty clear that the fight was beginning to leak right out of her.
She stood facing us, locked inside a world she’d already spent far too much time in. Her fingers beginning to unclench, her hands to uncurl, as she stared into the glowing golden promise of light and whispered, “Oh my goodness … It’s all true!”
I admit, I totally misread that at first.
I was sure she was referring to the light, to paradise, the Here & Now, whatever you prefer to call it. It was an awesome sight, and once witnessed, the pull was nearly impossible to resist.
But I was wrong.
As it turns out, it was even better than that.
Rebecca wasn’t just referring to that awesome golden glow—she was referring to the truth she’d seen residing inside it.
A truth she’d resisted for so many years, centuries really, that was now projecting in a way that couldn’t be missed.
She saw the truth of her life—and that of Prince Kanta’s as well. But despite her horrible, selfish acts, she also saw it wasn’t the grim place of punishment she secretly feared.
It was a place of love and warmth and understanding of the deepest kind.
It was a place where she’d never again feel so alone as she had in her life.
She also saw the dim outline of her mother, waiting for her at the halfway mark.
And the next thing I knew, her entire world shattered.
Her globe broke.
Her bubble burst.