down to the life-ending rocks and boiling water below. On either side of me, the cliff stretched for miles; its stone face watching over the rolling sea. It was an amazing and captivating scene that was hard to look away from. I breathed in the smell of sea salt as I plopped down with my feet hanging over the edge. Despite being in the relative safety of a reverie, my pulse quickened at the height.
Come to think of it, this was the first unprompted reverie I’d had in a while and something about it was incredibly peaceful and serene. I felt as much a part of the cliff as the agave rosettes dotting the landscape behind me. I leaned back on my arms and faced the moon above; closing my eyes and allowing my senses to disperse and wander effortlessly. The pale moonlight on my skin seemed to seep into my pores and revive my tired soul. I grinned up at it as I sensed a pull from below. I opened my eyes and peered down into the water. The longer I hesitated, the more powerful the pull became.
Somehow I knew I was still in Cyprus, just farther up the coast. My inner compass had sharpened since completing my essence. It was an odd, but very freeing feeling. Scientists marveled at the ability of sea turtles to find their way back to the beaches where they were born in order to give birth themselves, but I completely understood it now. Not that I could explain it, but I understood it.
I peered down at the water once again and smiled as the pull tugged at me again. I took a breath, stilled my nerves and pushed myself off the cliff. Being lighter than air, I floated down slowly toward the waves below and awaited the all consuming feeling of the ocean as it opened its arms to me.
I swam for what could have been hours. The silky water gliding over my skin was therapeutic and energizing. The fish I passed appeared to awaken at my presence and happily follow me around, darting back and forth. Schools of rainbow fish, parrot fish, and goby kept me company as I swam. I felt so alive, so complete. A couple of minutes later, a familiar presence halted my forward motion and I looked around with anticipation.
She appeared to fly up from the depths as she approached me silently. Her age and wisdom surrounded me with peace and I smiled as I held out my hand. She nudged it with her head and I lovingly rubbed my hand over her shell as one of her fins brushed my side. Dwarfing my slight frame with her size, the sea turtle gazed up at me with large, steady eyes. I froze as images flashed across my vision: sunning on a flat rock as the ocean sprayed over her warm shell, nibbling on sea grass with the rays of the sun filtering through the water. Image after image was shared with me until she broke my gaze and circled me. I reached out and curled my fingers around the edge of her shell, hoping to go for a brief ride.
Reading my mind, she propelled us towards the shore. We glided effortlessly along the rocky bottom of the shallow coastline. I patted her head gently when I let go and she swam away; fading into the black of night. That’s when I felt the unmistakable warmth of darkness.
My eyes scanned the inky water carefully, anticipating that someone or something would emerge from the endless space surrounding me. When no one materialized, I concentrated instead on where the darkness was coming from. I made my way past a bed of rocks, drawn to a depression in the sand just past it. It seemed innocent enough, but the intensifying darkness that swirled around it intrigued me. What was a random spot of darkness doing off the shore of Cyprus?
I circled the indention of sand to make sure that it was the source of what I was sensing. As the moonlight danced through the water, the sand took on a metallic sheen and appeared to shimmer beneath me. I inched closer to get a better look. It reminded me of the bronze and gold tones of the Underworld. I tentatively reached out a hand and ran my fingers along the fine grains of sand. They glittered even brighter and I smiled at their beauty and the warmth that ran up my arm. It touched a part within me that was still young, still new. The part of my soul that had absorbed the darkness from the pomegranate rejoiced and I had to stop myself from rolling around in it like a dog in the grass. As I reached out to touch the sand again, I was surprised when it reached back.
Climbing up my wrist and around my forearm, I froze with fascination, which quickly changed to horror when the sand collapsed in on itself. The sand around my arm refused to release its hold and I shook my arm as it began to pull me down into the sandy abyss. If this was anything like quicksand, I wanted nothing to do with it. Suffocating in a sandy grave was not my idea of a good time.
The darkness within me was calling out to me, urging me to stop resisting. But the rational side of me took over and I fought with all of my strength to wrench myself free. The movement only created another sudden collapse and soon the sand was up to my shoulder. As I lost my balance and the sand pulled me the rest of the way under I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut. The sand surrounded my body and shifted back and forth against my skin. I knew I was dropping quickly, but to where was a mystery. Drowning in sand would not have been my first guess as to how I would die, but then everything just….stopped. Until I fell several feet and landed hard on my stomach.
As I listened to the sound of water rushing nearby, I took a quick inventory. Breathing..check.
Ability to move…check. Lying on the ground…check. Clothes now completely dry…check. Terror inching up my spine…check. I took a deep breath and peeked out of one eye while I tried to figure out how I could be completely dry when only seconds before I had been underwater. Did the sand dry me off? Those thoughts were erased as my open eye soaked up my surroundings. Silver grass. Bronze dirt. A shiny rock near my left arm. Was I…in the Underworld?
I tried to roll over and shrieked in surprise when I helplessly made another unexpected rotation and hit water. Panic shot through me and my muscles automatically took action; pushing me back to the surface with lightning speed. Spotting a bank in front of me, I pulled myself back up. So much for being dry. I recognized the marsh before me without pause. It was Charon’s marsh. I was definitely in the Underworld! How a patch of quicksand took me here I had no idea, but those thoughts leapt out of my mind as another, more urgent thought broke through -- Finn.
Hushed voices sent a shot of adrenaline through my veins and I scampered into a thicket of bushes nearby. I watched between two branches as three women dressed in odd looking robes leisurely strolled by, smiling and laughing as they passed. I held my breath until I was sure they were out of ear shot. I had to move fast.
All this time I had tried to find him solely in the Living realm. Not once did I consider the possibility of continuing a reverie into the Underworld. But, then again I wouldn’t have known how to get there if I’d tried. I would have to rely on my reverie ability to find him as it had so many times before. I relaxed my muscles, took a deep breath and allowed my mind to pull up his handsome face, the feel of his strong arms, and the startling blue of his eyes. I remembered his crooked smile and how it lit up my world. I thought of the way he gently kissed me and held me close. His smell, his darkness, the sound of his voice. Finally, I began to feel movement. I let go completely and allowed my ability to take me.
The temperature suddenly decreased and everything stopped abruptly. I opened my eyes at the deafening sound of rushing water right above my head. I looked up toward the sound and gasped in surprise. I was…beneath a river? How was that possible? And why could I see the water rushing over the rocks and boulders above? The silver moon high in the sky sent just enough light through the water to allow sight. It was awe- inspiring. As I spun in a slow circle, I realized I was in some kind of underground cavern. The walls were smooth and continuous, with no entrance or exit visible.
A low moan to my left put me on the defensive and I crouched down instinctively. As a familiar darkness, tinged with power and innocence flowed over and around me, I let out a desperate cry and ran to the slumped over form that was still moaning. I carefully dropped to my knees and reached out to touch his leg. That same leg jerked and he stiffened.
“Finn!” I moved closer and placed my hands on either side of his face in an attempt to wake
