“Stop squirming,” Abby said.

Rowan was still in raven form. Abby held him with one hand on his feathery chest while cradling his burnt, broken body with the other.

Rowan let out a squawk and said, “Tickles!”

Abby was smiling down at him, but her words were stern. “I know you are ticklish, but you’re also pretty busted up. Stay still for like two seconds. If I mend the bones crooked, I’ll have to rebreak them, which will be more fun for me than you.”

Rowan stayed as still as he could manage. A gentle pulse of magic flowed over him, through him, and even into the astral, where he felt it touch his other forms. Moments passed, and he felt like he was drifting along in a river of warm, bubbly water while drinking a cool, fruity beverage. The feeling subsided, and he ached in the absence of its comfort.

“All done.” She set him down and waved her hand over the grassy area, cleaning away all evidence of his unpleasant landing.

Rowan drew in magic and shifted back to human. “Thank you so much! I seriously need to learn to heal.”

“If you weren’t such an idiot, you’d know that you’re a god and that your body is just a physical manifestation of—”

Rowan hugged her. “I’ve missed you so much!”

Abby smirked and returned his hug. “I’ve missed you, too.”

Rowan pulled away. “Oh! I have something from your girlfriend!” He held out the small, dark crystal.

Abby frowned as she took it. “What’s this?”

Rowan grinned. “Hold it up to about eye level and imagine Nadia’s face.”

“If this is a trick, you won’t be happy,” she said suspiciously. “I have more than the bird shit story saved up, you know. Nobody knows about the time you were stuck in the cafeteria’s fridge without—”

“It’s not a trick,” he said. “Imagine her face.”

Abby held up the stone and closed her eyes for a moment. A moment passed where nothing happened, and then a tendril of green lightning shot into the sky. There was an answering tendril of purple, and they wound together and formed a dancing bond before fading from view.

“What was that?” Abby asked.

“Pure magic,” Nadia said. She stood in front of Abby, holding her own crystal. They looked into each other’s eyes.

Abby tentatively reached out, and when her hand touched Nadia’s face, she began to cry. They stood there frozen, more than magic dancing between them.

“Uh, maybe I should leave you two—”

“Stay put,” Abby said to Rowan without taking her eyes off Nadia.

Abby leaned in and kissed Nadia. It was a soft, slow kiss, and both women had tears streaking their faces.

“I didn’t know if we’d ever see each other again,” Abby whispered.

“Nothing can keep us apart,” Nadia said.

Rowan cleared his throat. “Um. Maybe I can swing back here in a few years.”

Nadia looked annoyed, but Abby laughed and pulled back from Nadia. They held hands as if they were afraid to let go.

Using the hand that held the crystal, she waved at an open spot on the ground. A stone pedestal rose to chest height. On it was a delicate golden chain with a small tiger medallion.

“You shouldn’t have,” Rowan said as he moved closer and studied the pendant.

“It’s not for you,” Abby said, leaving off the implied ‘dolt.’ “It’s for Gretta.”

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Rowan picked it up and felt a jolt of magic. This wasn’t just jewelry; it was magic seamlessly woven into existence, much like the crystal artifacts Nadia had crafted.

“What does it do?” Rowan asked.

“For her to survive the trials I expect to come over the next few years, she’ll need more than gifts I could give her.”

Rowan could see the magic dancing in the medal. He recognized it. “This isn’t just magic. This is part of you.”

“That’s what an artifact is,” Nadia said. “Idiot.”

Rowan turned and looked back. “So that crystal—it’s part of you?”

Nadia nodded. “Giving up a little of what I am to be with Abby is worth all of me.”

“But you had me carry it… Marcus intercepted me. He could have taken it from me, and you’d have been weakened forever.”

“He didn’t,” Nadia said. “And you are the only one who can bring an artifact from a god’s domain to anywhere else, so I had to take that risk.”

Rowan held up the necklace. “Abby, you’re asking me to bring this to Earth? What will happen if somebody takes it from me or Gretta?”

“Once Gretta wears it, nobody will be able to take it from her,” Abby said. “Just don’t lose it before she can put it on.”

Rowan frowned. “What’s it do?”

“It’ll let her shift into the astral for brief periods, no matter what form she’s in, which will make her harder to contain and give her options to avoid getting shot.”

Rowan’s mouth fell open. “Wow! She’ll be able to slip into the astral at will?”

“Unlike you, she doesn’t have the strength to stay in the astral for long, but even a few seconds may be enough to save her life.”

“The only time I’ve been in the astral is when Marcus smashed me like a bug—literally! I was a spider.”

Abby growled. “Spiders are not bugs. Nor are they insects. Bugs are in the order Hemiptera!” Her expression hardened, as if daring him to argue.

Rowan grinned. “I’ve missed your lectures.”

Abby frowned. “I wouldn’t need to lecture if you read once in a while.”

Nadia cleared her throat. “Well, as a god, you can enter the astral at will, if you know how. I believe the astral is closer to the void than reality. While trying to find a way back to Abby, I researched the astral to see if I could traverse it, but even though I could feel the void, I couldn’t pass into it.”

Rowan blinked. “So, I could just stay in the astral all the time?”

Nadia shrugged. “If you chose to, but it’s like being a ghost. You can’t touch, smell, or taste anything, and nobody will see or touch you. As a god, it takes a fair amount of energy to untether yourself from reality, and a certain amount of belief that you should be untethered, but once there, the only thing that would bring you back is the belief you should be back.”

“So when Marcus smited me into the astral, I only came back because I thought I should?”

Abby shook her head. “Smote. Technically, he smote you.”

Nadia arched a brow. “And he’s your best friend?”

“Okay, after he smote me and I went into the astral, I felt like I was going to come back. That was all in my head?”

“What were you doing?” Nadia asked.

“I was trying to get out of his domain before his laser-eyed, Ellie angels stabbed me with lava spears.”

Abby looked confused. “Laser-eyed? Ellie angels?”

“Lava spears?” Nadia asked.

“Marcus’s whole dark-steel motif with fire and lava accents might have been cool—if he hadn’t been trying to kill me. He had a whole army of angels that looked like Ellie, and their spears were tipped with molten metal, and their eyes could shoot heat rays.”

“Men,” Abby and Nadia said in unison.

Rowan shrugged. “Anyway, I felt like I was forced out of the astral.”

Nadia nodded. “If you were trying to get out, maybe you were at the edge of his domain? The astral is thin as you reach the edge of a reality, and it may not be able to hold your full consciousness. And once you reached the void, there is no astral. It only exists within realities.”

“I’m feeling tired,” Abby said.

“It takes a lot of energy to sustain a connection,” Nadia said sadly. “We can rest and connect again soon. If you hold the stone, you will feel a tug on it when I’m calling. Simply imagine me, and the connection will complete.”

“I may never set it down again,” Abby said.

Nadia gave Abby a tender kiss, caressing her cheek, and then vanished.

Abby watched the spot where Nadia had been for a moment longer before turning to Rowan. She cleared her throat and wiped away her tears. “Thank you so much for bringing us back together.”

“You know that I’d do anything for you,” Rowan said.

Abby smiled sadly. “That is why I’m trusting you with the necklace for Gretta. When she became a disciple, there was only so much I could do to bless her. She is a powerful healer and shapeshifter, but bullets are the great equalizer among mortals.”

“They kill me, too,” Rowan said.

“That’s only because you let them,” Abby said.

Rowan was about to object when a pained look crossed Abby’s face.

Abby let out a grunt as she seemed to make a herculean effort. “Gretta needs help. I only have a little to give. You need to get to her.”

Rowan pocked the pendant. “I’m on my way.”