Page 155 of Magical Mission

“Anything we should know?” I asked quietly.

Lady Limora looked past me for a moment, toward the sky. “You will not come back the same.”

“That’s the idea,” I said.

Then Keegan turned to her, more serious now. “If she’s gone too long—”

“She won’t be lost,” Limora said. “The path doesn’t keep what doesn’t belong. It merely reveals.”

Opal added, “We’ll be here. The whole time.”

I nodded and turned back to the path as we began.

It was narrow at first, threaded between tall, dew-drenched grasses, lined with wildflowers that hadn’t bloomed yesterday. The shimmer hovered just above it like fog and light braided together, pulsing gently like a heartbeat. There was no door, archway, or declaration.

Just…beginning.

Keegan looked at me. “Last chance to back out.”

I gave him a look. “You first.”

He offered his arm.

I took it.

And together, we stepped forward.

The moment our feet crossed the threshold, the world changed.

The garden didn’t vanish, but it quieted as if someone had drawn a veil between us and the waking world. The sound of birds gossiping dulled.

The warmth of the sun turned cooler, gentler. The scent of the earth became richer, like old forests and rain-washed stones.

We walked side by side in silence, the grass growing longer with every step as if it were planning on enveloping us with each unknown step.

The path wasn’t a tunnel, but the world seemed to narrow with softer edges and richer colors as the sky overhead deepened into a shade of blue I’d never seen before.

Keegan said nothing.

Neither did I.

Words didn’t feel useful here.

The path curved slightly, winding through a field I didn’t recognize, though it felt familiar. Wildflowers grew in patches, their colors impossibly vivid. Petals curled as we passed, opening to us. A dragonfly buzzed past and then vanished into thin air like it had never existed at all.

Everythingknewwe were here.

Every leaf, every blade of grass.

Then came the first flicker.

A shape, like a shadow, but soft and reflective, flashed. For a second, I thought it was someone walking ahead of us. But when I blinked, it was gone.

I inhaled sharply.

Keegan looked over, and I felt his fingers tighten around my hand without grabbing, only anchoring.

I gave him a quick nod. “I saw something.”