As Tess explained what had happened to her after she had crashed into Tobi in the clearing, Tobi struggled to understand its meaning. She strained her imagination in an attempt to picture Tess’s body in the strange liquid on some odd, howling planet that was prowled by a creature that Tess couldn’t name. It sounded worse than a nightmare. She simply couldn’t use Tess’s words to piece together the creature that had appeared to the girl. The girl’s description, what she was saying she saw, was unlike anything in this world that might lend itself to comparison. If only she had seen it herself.

As that thought came to her, she realized she was glad that it hadn’t been her on that planet… or in that plane, or wherever the hell Tess had found herself. Tess had stopped crying, her body continued to tremble. Tobi could almost swear she could hear the pounding of the other girl’s heart. Perhaps it was her own heart.

To be continued…