Shimmer

I was sure she was referring to the light, to paradise, the Here & Now, whatever you prefer to call it. It was an awesome sight, and once witnessed, the pull was nearly impossible to resist.

But I was wrong.

As it turns out, it was even better than that.

Rebecca wasn’t just referring to that awesome golden glow—she was referring to the truth she’d seen residing inside it.

A truth she’d resisted for so many years, centuries really, that was now projecting in a way that couldn’t be missed.

She saw the truth of her life—and that of Prince Kanta’s as well. But despite her horrible, selfish acts, she also saw it wasn’t the grim place of punishment she secretly feared.

It was a place of love and warmth and understanding of the deepest kind.

It was a place where she’d never again feel so alone as she had in her life.

She also saw the dim outline of her mother, waiting for her at the halfway mark.

And the next thing I knew, her entire world shattered.

Her globe broke.

Her bubble burst.

As a hail of glasslike shards flew about, hovering in the air for a moment in a way that resembled a shimmering blanket of stars, before softly falling to the ground where they landed at her feet and melted into the grass.

She moved toward the prince, and I couldn’t help but tense, but then Bodhi put his hand on my arm, Buttercup nudged up beside me, and I began to calm again. And just when I was sure she was going to curtsy before him in the way she’d done with me, she did something entirely different.

Something I wasn’t expecting.

She knelt all the way down to her knees and rested her head at his feet in the ultimate act of humility.

Refusing to rise again until the prince gently urged, “Child, please. It is not necessary.”

He reached for her hand and helped her to stand until she was once again facing him. Only this time her rage was all gone, having dissolved with the bubble, leaving a very sorry, very humbled young girl in its place.

“I am so very sorry,” she said, her voice faint, tremulous, “for what I’ve done to you—for what my father did to you…” She shook her head and winced at a memory she’d denied for centuries. Finally able to see the truth of everything—of every horrible act committed against him— and I knew at that moment that the old Rebecca had gone and a new one had taken her place. “I have no idea how I’ll ever make it up to you, but I promise I will. I’ll do whatever it takes, just tell me where to begin.”

Her eyes and cheeks glistened as a stream of crystalline tears spilled down her face. And I watched in amazement as the prince leaned forward, caught one of those tears on the tip of his finger, and turned it into a beautiful olive branch.

“There is no need.” He placed the branch into her outstretched hands. “I forgave you long ago. I was just waiting for you to rid yourself of your anger. Believe me when I say that the physical suffering I endured as a slave was nothing compared to the suffering of the bubble when I was tortured by my own mind, my own memories of the horrible things that’d been done to me, as well as the horrible things I had done to others.” He paused, making sure she understood, before he offered his arm and said, “So, what do you say? Shall we?”

She nodded softly and entwined her arm around his, the two of them stopping before us, as Rebecca looked at me and said, “I’m so sorry, I—”

But I just flashed my palm and stopped her right there. “No worries,” I told her. “Trust me, this is hardly good-bye. The Here & Now may be a pretty big place, but I’m sure I’ll see you again. I’ll just look for the girl with the bright yellow bow and the sparkly dress.”

She gazed down at herself, clearly embarrassed to wear such attire while the prince was in rags.

And so he immediately manifested a new tunic for himself, while she took the opportunity to change into something a little less gaudy, a little more drab.

Then after shaking hands and hugging, and saying what turned out to be a pretty tearful good-bye, I started to turn away, sure it was really, truly over, when they reached the foot of the bridge and the prince turned to say, “Miss Riley!”

I glanced over my shoulder, meeting his gaze, and, well, let’s just say that’s when I finally reached the second goal I had made.

Not only had I broken down that bubble and ushered all those lost souls toward their true intended destinies, but because of it, the prince had rewarded me with the most warm and wonderful full-on, white-toothed, dimple- inducing smile.

“What’s that about?” Bodhi asked, glancing between us.

But I just shrugged, smiling and waving good-bye to the prince as I said, “Trust me, you wouldn’t understand.”

24

The second they were gone, Bodhi looked at me and said, “So what now? You still want to finish your vacation? We never did check out the town.”

But I just shook my head. As far as I was concerned, my little vacay was o-v-e-r. No matter how cool that town was reputed to be, no way could it hold a candle to the places I’d been.

I’d just experienced the kind of amazing St. John adventure that could never be found in any brochure, which pretty much guaranteed that anything that followed would only pale in comparison.

“So what, then?” He crouched down to pet Buttercup, while still gazing at me. “You wanna go somewhere else? The Council’s not expecting us back any time soon, which means we can pretty much do whatever we want.”

I narrowed my gaze, drummed my fingers hard against my hips, and took a little time to analyze what he’d just said.

Why was he trying so hard to keep me at a party that was so clearly over?

Was he baiting me?

Trying to trick me by seeing if I’d choose lingering in St. John over heading back to the Here & Now and face the repercussions for taking on a job that hadn’t been assigned to me?

Or was he serious about continuing the vacation?

And if so, for what reason?

Was it so we could continue to get to know each other better?

Because, quite frankly, after experiencing what it was like to be him during that whole scene with Nicole, I was pretty much feeling like I knew him better than I ever wanted to, thankyouverymuch.

And, I have to say, the longer I pondered, the more of a conundrum I found myself in—one in which I was, yet again, torn between both the more rational and paranoid sides of me.

“Let’s go,” I said, nodding firmly so he’d know I was serious. “Let’s just make our way back.”

He looked at me, his eyes gone all squinty as he made some totally disgusting slurping sound with his straw.

“Seriously. I mean, we’re almost there anyway, so why delay any further?”

And the way he looked at me, well, let’s just say it was so revealing, I couldn’t help but realize that Bodhi wasn’t actually baiting me per se—it was more like he was baiting himself through me.

He was the one who didn’t want to return.

He was the one who was afraid to go before the Council.

After everything we’d just accomplished, which was pretty dang major if I do say so myself, he was feeling pretty insecure about how it might go over—doubting the Council would view it in his favor.

After all, his job was to guide me, and if you think about it in its most basic terms, it was pretty clear he’d