Chapter Twenty-Four: Dream

Kaeden dreamed of Gray Bridge. The street name had come back. His mother called his childhood name from the bridge.

Of the three days lost in the accident, the Unblemished Thought hadn’t returned all of them. Just the last ten minutes of the first day. He stood on the bridge. Behind him: blue light. Before him: the figure he’d seen after the accident, the one he didn’t recognize. Now he could see clearly. Not a stranger. Himself. Years later.

He woke. Pillow wet. Tears warm. Couldn’t feel the temperature of crying. Pure state had worn certain channels thin. The connection between emotion and body, growing translucent.

Outside the window, the Rift’s blue light lit Calderis’s midnight fog. Not a threat. Waiting.