"The Moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it."
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Acacia Yung-Cooper is a disgruntled, divorced 41-year-old woman whose life was turned upside down fourteen years ago by the loss of her daughter. That's when Odys...
When at last my mind drifted back into my body (What fantastic dreams this place evoked in me! Real enough to touch and smell and feel loss over once they were gone) I felt immediately the full brunt of the ache from the journey. It pulled me in every direction like a taffy stretcher, each muscle twitching when I tensed it. I felt shaky from head to toe, could feel my limbs buzzing against the sand with agitation.
But then, just beyond that, there was something rather pleasanter than the way I'd fallen asleep. I tried to identify it, taking inventory of every bit of my body until I came to my torso and began to realize that the feeling was warmth.
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I cracked my eyes open with effort, dragging the lids apart. My body felt leaden, hesitant to respond to my thoughts. As I blinked at the open space around me, I couldn't make out a single shape. Cool wind tousled my hair like a stranger's hand, sending a chill down my spine, and I hugged the coat closer to my body.
Ah, I thought, fingers closing around the edges of the cloth. That was the warmth -- a strange new coat covering me from neck to thigh. The fur Odysseus had caught for me had long since grown damp and molten, shed into the ocean unceremoniously on one particularly helpless night. The new jacket felt like a warm cocoon, swaddling me gently as a blanket around a baby. I shivered and pulled my knees to my chest.
My muscles rejoiced in the repose of the beloved solid ground. The scent of salt on the wind brought me a hint that I'd reached my target, the beach around Neverland. Sand on my cheek felt soft and unreal.
Only then did I think to question the coat wrapped around me. I ignored the moans of my aching muscles and pushed onto my elbows. "Odysseus?" I whispered. It sounded like a hiss against the gently lapping waves. "Are you there?"
"Odysseus? You wouldn't want to be mixed up with that lot, trust me, darling."
My body jerked away from the voice, chilled from head to toe. In the swallowing, convulsing darkness, it seemed to come straight from the void, a bodiless entity like God. He spoke with an accent I couldn't decide on, one that gave me a quick buzz of pleasure anyway. I felt pulled and pushed at once, both from inside, wanting to hear more and sprint away with equal fervor.
I tried to force my eyes to focus on something. "Who's there?" I asked. "Who are you?" I clutched the large buttons along the lining of the coat and tucked my knees inside of it, feet complaining of the cold outside.
"Nothing to fear," said the voice, mildly, almost. "I have no intention to hurt you."
Shivering, I closed my eyes again and tried to gauge how far away the stranger was. Four feet, maybe, two yards. So close. "I -- well, I didn't think so," I told him. "Is this your coat?"
"Yes, ma'am."
I felt the fear becoming less sharp, sort of a dull buzz climbing around in my bloodstream. "Sir," I said. "Can you see anything at all? It's so dark here."
