Trial by Fire

“Darkness is good for our purpose,” he said, without answering her question. “Now. You need to lie down and relax.”


“That’s the best thing you could have possibly said to me right about now.” She felt her way across the straw covered floor until she found her bunk, then gratefully pulled herself onto it.

“Now, here’s the hard part, girl,” the shaman said seriously. “I need you to empty your mind.”

“Piece of cake,” Lily mumbled.

“No. Don’t fall asleep.” The shaman’s voice was urgent. “Your spirit is a weak force. Like gravity. It works over vast distances, but the much stronger forces of the body and mind overwhelm the spirit in the short run. You must make the choice to put the spirit first. Let your will direct your spirit, and you can travel vast distances.”

Lily let the shaman’s words hang above her like thought bubbles in a comic book. Each idea was something she could see, suspended above her in black and white, but she didn’t try to think about them too hard. She just accepted them. Her spirit was whisper thin, easily overwhelmed by the howling demands of her body and the hard machinery of her logical thoughts. But as thin as it was, her spirit reached out past the stars and into other worlds.

“Okay. I see it,” she whispered.

“Good,” the shaman breathed. “Now, what do you hear?”

Lily. Are you in pain? We’re trying to find you.

“My sister. She’s looking for me.”

“You must go past that.” The shaman sounded sad. “I know you love her, and the other versions of the people who you love will guide you like bright lights into the other worlds. But Juliet’s mindspeak keeps you tethered to this world. In order to spirit walk you must go up, Lily. Jump up.”

She jumped. For a moment, Lily felt suspended. She looked down and saw her body lying on a dirty mattress. Her torn dress hung off her in ragged threads. Her face was streaked with filth, and her elbows, hands, and knees were rubbed raw and bleeding. She wasn’t looking with eyes—there was no light to see anything in the dank, cramped prison her body was trapped in—but Lily could see perfectly. She flew out into the alcove and looked around.

The shaman glowed like a pillar of fire in the next cell. The light of a thousand strange suns illuminated his body. Each sun showed him as a slightly different man. Lily saw him as old, young, beautiful, and dying at once. His spirit held every stage of his life inside him and refracted them back to Lily’s new farseeing eyes as if through a prism. He was everyman.

“There you are, girl,” he whispered, looking up at her. “Welcome home.”

Lily! Where did you go? Your mind went silent. Don’t leave me!

The screams of her sister brought Lily slamming back into her body.

I’m here, Juliet. I’m back. I’m sorry.

Lily pulled in a shuddering breath. The demands of her body assaulted her immediately, and she regretted coming back to such a dismal state of being. Everything ached. Without her willstones, she was cut off from the world again. Sick. She heard the shaman sigh.

“I couldn’t ignore her,” Lily mumbled, realizing she’d done exactly what he’d told her not to do. “She thought I’d died.”

“Well. I guess it would be worse if you didn’t love anyone that much,” he said. His voice sounded old and tired. “Get some sleep. We’ll try again tomorrow.”