The cave... the whispers... the drumbeats are still smashing my poor head. As I floated above, I heard it all — the crazy names: Fire Eyes, Double Fangs, Little Carrot Top — they were like a secret warning meant just for me.

  When I saw Mom’s body lying next to me, the moment shook me. How could I be alive and yet somehow trapped between these different worlds?

  The khiva, the tribal prayers, the warnings, these things were damn real. And the dangers were real too.

  Shit, it's too much. The eerie helicopter, the lashing rain, the sharp stabs in my body — and suddenly I was in a strange place that felt scary. Was it a spaceship? I felt lost, but somehow I was still alive.