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Nina often wondered if she’d like the Earth one hundred years from now.
There did not seem to be any kindness in the world beyond my childhood, and I could never return to the past.
They say the path to anywhere-you-please is not concerned with the rules of space or time. It slithers snakelike through forests—mostly in the world of spirits and monsters, but occasionally on Earth—fleeing from the people who want to catch it. That’s why no map leads to the path, just like no map can lead to a roaming pack of wolves. Guess that’s also why most people who walk the path do so unwittingly.
“There are different possibilities, but the one that rings true”—she tapped her chest, indicating her heart—“is that at the edge of memory, when humans became the most dangerous species on Earth, the false forms adapted.
The questions I’d accumulated over two months of independence seemed to evaporate under the heat of Reign’s undivided attention.
Were we in a transitional state, gradually transforming from an animal of the land to an animal of the water? Or would we always live with our tails in one home and our heads in the other?
“If Risk loves Zale, isn’t that a good thing?”
Some knowledge—like the story of the path to anywhere-you-please—is most powerful when it’s known by everybody. But other knowledge is best protected, held close.
All I could do was make the most of the time I had and hope that my actions mattered.
“I hope you succeed in reviving your friend,” the originator rumbled, “if only for a moment longer.”
I allowed myself to smile. Like that moment in the guest room, briefly, everything was fine. But time continued flowing.
The path to anywhere-you-please cannot be found, and I never expect it to find me again. That’s okay. I’ll always be grateful for our single encounter, and for its grace to guide me home. A place where the water binds two worlds; where coyotes confide in monsters; where hawks and mockingbirds discern revelations from ancient trees; where my best friend basks in the sun beside me; and where I can spend long days in the company of new family, as I search for the family I left behind. I don’t need the path anymore.
