CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
I woke up in mud. I lay on my back in a flowing mess of brown. A sea of stars glittered above in the purple sky, and if I weren’t fighting for my life, I would have lain there longer, taking in the sudden beauty of the spirit world.
I sat up and gasped. The air here was so much cleaner than I was used to.
It was like the spirit world had died and went to heaven, and this quiet, peaceful place was the residue left behind.
The back of my gabardine was covered in mud. Mud was in my clothes too, on my body, and in places I didn’t know mud could go.
I stood even though the mud probably added ten extra pounds to my body.
I glanced around for my family, for Harris, for Natkaal. There was no one. Just an endless, shallow sea of mud under the twinkling stars.
I knew bett
