When I come to be, I see several faces staring right back at me.

I do not know whose faces they are. I do not know where I am. I do not know why I’m telling you this. What is happening? Who am I?

I drift off again.
_________________________________

This time, I wake up for real.

Again, several faces are looking down at me. I recognize them. I know them. These are my friends, my family.

The copperhead nerd Bee. The wisecracking actor Aar. The lovely spirit Es. The dog who once talked and freaked me out, See. The betraying, lying, no-longer-an-Uncle-of-mine, Mr. Om.

‘Hi, Marry-wee-wee!’ Es says, a larger-than-life smile taped to her face. ‘You were calling me in your dreams, you know! I was feeling so squiggly-moo because of it, it was so balderdashily sweet and this new place, you don’t even know how - !’

I look at Aar, trying to zone out Es's talk. ‘I did that?’

He nods. ‘You said a lot of things in your sleep, pal.’

I nurse my head. ‘Yeah, like what?’

‘The key words were “blood,” “Mum,” “blood,” “Dad,” “blood,” “save,” “blood,” “Es,” “blood,” “coven,” “blood” and – well, you get the idea.' He smiles at me. He is twinkling and looking healthy. In fact, all of them are.

And me? Before I passed out, before our boat was swallowed by the vortex of death, I had been starving. And now I feel strong. I feel good.

‘Where . . . am I?’ I ask the most quintessential question of all.

Aar and Bee look at each other, their telepathic connection visibly twerking. ‘Come on,' they say together. ‘We’ll show you.’

Let me know if there's anything about the book you dislike. Like, anything. Constructive criticism can be the best sometimes.

And as always, thanks for reading!