Chapter One Hundred and Four

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR

I fall into my sister’s spell, losing myself in the aromas of the incense and Layla’s magic. I find myself drifting through memories.

First, it’s the easy ones to access. The ones I’ve made since coming back to earth. I see Sarah, and her daughter Stella, the Crescent Child whose birth heralded the ending of my contract with the Moon Rabbit.

I remember being in the car with them, its engine rumbling beneath us, suddenly back in my true, earthly body, aware of my bare feet, the ends of my long hair.

I remember seeing Layla for the first time, the way she shrieked with joy and pulled me into a sisterly embrace.

¶“Go deeper,” Layla murmurs. She stands over me, waving her hands through the incense smoke, directing its shapes and curls with her magic. “Remember your time before this. Before here.”

I close my eyes. I have to go back. I have to remember what it was like, living in the celestial realm.