Chapter 29
No time to meet Melissa in the glade, no time to concoct the perfect plan, no time, no time, no time. I tore through the forest towards Avanic, dodging trees, weaving around bushes, twigs snapping under my combat boots. And as I went I opened myself to the pain, ripping off my sunglasses, widening my eyes at the blinding light, welcoming the pounding in my head and the crawling, deepening shadows. Hadn’t Melissa said that CC gel could be activated in much the same way as an out-of-body experience, through fear and trauma and pain?
So let it be painful. I had no convenient cave to hide away in and meditate. This last, desperate hypothesis was the only hope I had left.
MELISSA, I cried, and the pain swelled. MELISSA. I tried to focus on the sound of the words, tried to ignore t
