Chapter 34
Talula wasn’t sure if she was dead or dreaming.
Or both. She couldn’t feel her body, which was kind of strange.
But she felt no pain, which was nice. Talula felt empty.
Light, even. As though she floated in eddies of cool water.
Her vision filled with a familiar sparkling blue.
It smelled a little like gardenias and rain.
If this was death, it wasn’t so bad.
“Sorry to disappoint you.” A voice moved through Talula’s thoughts, airy as a cirrus cloud. “But you’re not dead yet.”
Talula looked (without eyes, which was also strange) for the source of the voice. Floating amongst the blue was her reflection, but it was wrong somehow. More watercolory. And serene.
“You can stay, but you don’t have to,” the reflection said.
Talula liked it here. It was so quiet, and peaceful. She wished Dahlia could see it.
Oh. Oh.
Dahlia.
“There it is.” The other Talula smiled.
How do I go back? Voiceless, Talula asked the question to her watercolor reflection.
“You think you gave yourself to the Volta,” the other Talula said. “But was the Volta ever really separate from you?”
Talula’s memory sparked.
“Like calls to like,” Talula and her watercolor self recited at the same time.
“Haven’t you learned anything from that cookbook?” The other Talula chuckled. “The world is only as separate from you as you want it to be.”
Talula searched for the power that tore her to pieces. She stopped thinking of herself as a twig in a wildfire. Instead, she let herself be flame.
The Volta’s power seeped into the cracks it had ripped apart, knitting her back together. Splintered molecules melded themselves whole with blue-tinged fire. Atoms cooled and kept on spinning, spurred on in a symphony of magic.
“Good job.” Talula felt a faint ruffle of her hair. “But now it’s time for you to leave.”
Talula felt herself being pulled out of the peaceful blue.
“I’ll see you soon,” her reflection murmured.
Then Talula woke up.