Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 179

                It’s at that moment that panic seizes me. How can I be alive? And here of all places. Thacker has that power. I know that both her and Teague can swap between the plains at ease. Is that what she’s done to me?

                But the way she was talking it was like she was experimenting. Seeing if I could travel to the next plain. If this is the Great Beyond, then I definitely don’t see the fuss.

                I consider my options. I can either stay here and slowly roast in the shade, or I can set off across the desert and take my chances under the full heat. There could be a town nearby, or an oasis. I fret for a second. I have no idea how to survive in the sun. I have no water and I’m already dying of thirst. It surely won’t take long for me to succumb to the heat.

                But would that be better? If I die out here will I regain all my ghostly abilities? I don’t think I could bring myself to do it knowingly. Dying in a car crash is something else altogether.  

                I make my mind up and decide that I have to chance the desert. Dying slumped at the base of this tree would feel like failure. After everything I’ve been through I decide to strike out and face this new horror.

                I clutch my stomach and trudge out into the sand. I can feel the heat through the base of my shoes.

                I watch the sun on my left, setting between two enormous dunes. The sky turns a deep bloody red and I relish the opportunity to stare into the sun’s orange flame.

                In an instant, it drops behind the sand and I feel the air drop a few degrees.

                Over to my right, I feel a tickling warmth. I turn and there’s the sun again. It blazes into existence, like staring into headlights.

                Before I can register what’s happened, our star rises in the sky and day replaces night once more.