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I fought with ivethe warmth into my body

Hanna handed an to wash an to slide into a ht be able to use the Soul Symbiont ritual to contact Smoky, Morio, and Trillian To at least let them knoas still alive

I closed , steady strea myself deeper into the trance

Down, down, deep into the abyss Letand mist In a place of eternal snow And there, thereare sparkles Tracers Follow the h the mists A whirl of whispers, a flutter of sparks, anddown farther, deeper within, follow the path to the spark that makes up my inner core, thatAnd therea pinpoint of light, the core of the ic

Another breath, another whirl in the ht, follow the trailfollow the pathand then--oneon the astral, knee deep inlike a thousand electrical impulses Or, what passed for air--on the astral I really didn’t need to breathe, especially because I wasn’t there fully in body but only in spirit Pink, green, yellow, bluethe fluorescence reae flowed in on the tide

Not sure where I was, I turned, scattering a streanatures? I searched, focusing on their faces, holding thean to send out a call as I et through to the presence The astral made me feel safer--at least my spirit could escape, even if on And that proht now

Smoky, Morio, Trillian--I’m here! Can you hear me? Can you find your way to me? Help! I’m here! I’m alive! Smoky!

And then I heard a voice that I had never expected to hear It came up from behind me, welco around to see if it ho I really thought it ht in front of me, stood Chase

Chapter 11

"Chase! Oh Chase!" Overjoyed, I raced forward and threw h I was only on the astral in spirit, it still felt real and right now I needed a friendly facemy head on his shoulder

"Here nowit’s okay I’ed to findaround for a while" He slowly disengagedfor one for years, I hope?"

I shivered, slowly realizing that he had no clue as to as going on Of course he wouldn’t--he was off in his own private hell

"ChaseI’h I’ to contact Smoky or Morio or Trillian Listen--please, I may not have hta trap for Smoky If you somehow find your way off the astral before they knohere I amplease, tell theain, the orks hit and I burst into tears again Chase stared at me for a moment, then pulledmy back

"Sshit will be okay I’ll find my way out and we’ll come rescue you Has he hurt you? Are you" He stopped, then shook his head "You don’t have to answer that"

I hunghorrid in store for hed me up a bit so far But Chase--" My voice caet out of this one Not without e If at all Proet away, you will keep watch overa little better, I clearedht now "What about you? Where are you? We followed you up to aas on the other side Does the Bog Eater have you?"

He cocked his head, looking confused "The Bog Eater? I don’t like the sound of thatwhatever he is I’ with h the portal and raced off with ot un out and fired, but by then I was lost and had no clue as going on She caughth theI was tucked away in aun and your watch Delilah has therioing through "Just how ed "I don’t know, but at least five or six I was seriously afraid she was going to eat me, and I don’t mean a blow job by that I finally decided to try to use whatever powers I’ andwellI ended up here I’m not sure howI don’t even know ifout to trace the outline of his aura It was fired to propel himself onto the astral in body? How had he done that?

"Dude, I don’t kno to tell you this, but you’re here Fully In body Listen--you be careful There are a lot of nasty creatures out here on the astral, but if you’re cautious you et hoan to blur and I realized that I was phasing out Hanna o Pleasebe careful Be safe Find your way home" And then, without sothe washcloth away fro at her hands, trying to break the surface After another

"What the fuck are you doing? Trying to drownwater and looked for so

She handed ly soft weave and motioned for me to wipe my eyes "I asked you to wash your hair and you did not listen" After taking the towel back, she handed ain And be quick or I’ll do it for youit would be aattention, I rubbed the soap on runted, then motioned for me to stand up Reluctantly, I came out of the ater and the chill of the cavern struck me before she could wrapto stay ware of a fire pit and bade me sit on a bench