Call Spirits in Your Past **Book Two**

Chapter 9 (Wednesday)

Ripple curled up, trying to stop her shaking in the dark. Ani...Ani had become co-conscious. With Bea. Right. Then Ripple went under. Back. Not in the body, but to the inner world.

"Hey? Ripple?"

Ripple lifted her head, squinting at the shimmering fairy in front of her. "Winnie?"

"Ripple? Here? What are you doing?" Winnie's glow dimmed slightly, her translucent wings hardly even fluttering to keep her hovering in the air.

"I don't know," she groaned. "Ani went up front and...I ended up here."

Winnie's wings slowly bled pink, like paint inking across a paper. "I didn't know you could access this part of the inner world. Odd. Strange."

"I don't like it here," Ripple said. She tucked her face back into her knees.

"Come. Carry. I'll take you up to the ski lodge," Winnie's charcoal gray face and soft pink teeth like bubblegum bobbed through the gap between Ripple's knees.

"Is it very far?" Ripple slowly climbed to her feet, the darkness making her shiver. It pressed against her skin, like a blanket that sucked heat away.

"It's not a long flight. Trip. Journey," Winnie took Ripple's hand with both of hers, and Ripple's feet floated from the ground.

"How do you do that?" Ripple asked. Winnie began ascending, wings fluttering rapidly.

Winnie smiled at her. "Fairy. Magical. That's how I make you lighter."

"Your magical is a lot more exciting than my magical," she muttered, keeping her gaze pinned to Winnie's hands so she couldn't look down.

"That's not true, you can feel the ripples in everything. Special. Magical."

The black heaviness faded to gray dimness, silhouettes becoming visible around them. Ripple shivered at the chains hung from the canyon walls, descending down and down and down... Ripple shut her eyes, trying not to get dizzy.

They slowed, and Ripple's bare feet touched cold, powdery fluff. She opened her eyes, blinking in the sunlight. The ski lodge loomed just a few steps ahead of her, surrounded by glittering snow. The building had a pointed roof, cream bricks dotted by tiny, square windows and a large white door. Snow and icicles hung from the eaves, glistening.

"Here. House. You'll have to go inside alone," Winnie fluttered back to the canyon edge. "I have to go back to the forest. Shade. Sunburn."

"Wait, Winnie?" Ripple asked, and Winnie paused. "This cliff's never been here before," she hesitated, but stepped closer, peering over the edge. The bare rock went down and down, chains sprouting from the side of the cliff face and swaying into the darkness. Ripple stepped away, dizzy.

Winnie fluttered closer. "The cliff and this canyon have been here always. Time. Forever," she rested a hand on Ripple's cheek. "Cliff. Canyon. Is just covered for some of us."

Ripple stared. "You mean..."

Winnie slowly nodded, her charcoal gray skin fading slightly red. "It's not covered for you anymore. Ever. Hidden."

***

Ripple sat in her bedroom, staring through the window. The snow glittered on the mountainside, rising to a cloudless sky, but the gaping, yawning hole in the corner kept dragging her attention back. If she leaned to the right, the hole disappeared. If she scooted her chair all the way to the left wall, chains embedded in the rocky canyon taunted her. She shivered, and moved her orange chair to the right. Just a pretty mountain. On the other side lay Winnie's forest, where Winnie talked about taking care of somebody, in the shade of trees with white stems.