After a long day that ended with the disappointing news from Iarfhlaith, I wanted nothing more than to catch a good night of rest.

Sometimes you dream about real life. You think that you wake up and get out of bed to start your routine, but you’re actually still in bed.

Haunting notes reached into my ears. I dreamed that I sat bolt upright in bed. It was nighttime, 3 AM on the nose to be exact, and it was dark. I couldn’t stay put. Energy coursed through me.

Plus the song that awakened me enticed me. It was faint enough that I couldn’t quite grasp the melody, but I could hear it clearly enough to know that I needed to experience the song in its fullness.

Cautiously I moved so as to not wake my hobgoblin. I didn’t need him. Tain woke up whining but I told him to be quiet and go back to sleep. It was the perfect time for a midnight stroll all alone.

I threw on an Iron Maiden Fear of the Dark t-shirt and then threw my brown leather jacket on over that. I donned Fragarach and Jade because I never knew what could happen. After throwing on a loose pair of sturdy black jeans, I laced up my Chuck Taylor All-Stars, tying the knots extra tight.

I can’t stress how much it felt like a good night for a run in complete darkness. But to do that I was going to have to get outside and away from the city, where the invasive street lights shone no more.

The air smelled cleaner than a Febreeze commercial and everything looked more vivid, more real, even though I was dreaming. The itch, the need to leave and go somewhere other than here, pulled at my chest. The Mustang wasn’t necessary. The song grew the slightest bit clearer. It would guide me to where I need to go.

Clouds covered the moon and the stars. Perfect.

And then I saw him. The OtherSean, the me from the vacant Toys R Us store and behind the outlets in Vacaville.

He eyed me sideways and grinned as if he held some secret meant only for the two of us. Then he spun on his heels and dashed off down the street.

I split after him. Heart beating fast, blood pumping through my veins, I felt more alive than ever before. I worked from a slow jog into a good run. Faster. Faster. Faster. Wind rushed through my hair as I picked up speed. Magic coursed through me but I hadn’t tapped into my Good Luck. A different magic powered me. I wasn’t worried. It was only a dream after all.

Every few blocks I would lose sight of OtherSean as he passed around a corner or phased right through a physical obstacle, but the wind and I were one. I kept up with him no problemo, just fine.

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All the while the note of the far distant melody sung by some otherworldly voice danced in my ears and my ears alone, like a private acapella performance. I crossed streets and intersections with wild abandon, not caring if I had to cut off oncoming traffic or cause cars to screech to a halt. I ran over car hoods when needed, jumped fences, barreled through backyards, always running, sprinting in a straight line after OtherSean.

Somehow the faint song was everywhere around me, echoing through my mind, but it also felt like the direction I ran propelled me towards the singing, towards the voice, towards the calling.

In a few short minutes I reached the Napa River overpass, the small bridge that crossed the river and became Highway 37.

Skaggs Island crouched in the dark, the land that housed the former dolmen. In the back of my mind I knew that the dolmen was destroyed and that there was no way I could cross over to the Otherside, but on the other hand the voice reached me somehow, so there had to be a way over.

Ringing of chimes and the soft blare of low horns met my ears now accompanying the singing, and for all its dark melodic minor progression, it spoke to me and put my mind at ease.

OtherSean ran over the bridge into oncoming traffic and I pursued. Cars and trucks honked at me all the while. They seemed not to notice OtherSean. I could have stayed within the bounds of the emergency lane, but why bother? I was having too much fun in this dream.

Once at the bottom of the bridge I hopped over the center divider and ran out onto the marshland until my shoes met murky water. Across the water I saw OtherSean had already reached the opposite side somehow. He looked back at me and flashed a taunting smile. That smug jerk.

I didn’t have a boat so I would have to swim across to get to the remains of the dolmen. Or I could summon Enbarr the aquatic horse, but I realized that I didn’t need to. I had no fear of the water. Why had ever been afraid of it? As a baby I had been submerged in the water of my mother’s womb for months, and after birth I was required to drink water to live my whole life. Daily I showered in water. Water was nothing to be afraid of, especially the beautiful black body of liquid that stretched out before me.

I giggled at the fun I would have swimming across the mile or so required to get to the remains of the dolmen, and the risk of drowning thrilled me.

I got a running start and dove into the ice cold water.

Chills assaulted me but they only served to remind me that I was completely alive. Swimming for some time, my stamina never dwindled as the foreign magic coursing through me aided me in my cause, my need to get to follow the melody, and OtherSean, to the Otherside.

Soon enough I walked across muddy wetlands again. My shoes sank slightly with each step making squishing noises. I was nowhere near the dolmen but I was not worried.

The singing grew louder and it put me at ease, and it seemed my faith in the guiding song was rewarded by a mist rising from the ground. The fog swirled around me and I stepped forward into its all-encompassing depths.

I felt myself traverse through space and time.

I lost sense of direction.

Up, down, left, right? All meaningless. I need not know which direction was what. There was only the swaddling mist and the song tugging on my soul.

I walked for immeasurable time, for time was not. Every once in a while I saw glimpses of OtherSean moving, always just out of reach before me. The beautiful melody tickling my ears grew as I stepped out of the mist. I caught the shapes of dark objects solidifying and knew that I had come through to the Otherside.