That afternoon, Connie took Peter to the passage, and he watched while she went into her signaling trance. She walked to the spot that was pulling at her. When she got to the rockface, she let her arms disappear into the side before withdrawing them and quickly stepped back.

"Oh my god. I've never let myself get so close before. It was like - there was no barrier but a strange tingling sensation in my arms." She hugged her arms to her chest and stared at the now seamless rock.

Peter rubbed a hand across his forehead, "Not that I doubted you about the passage and all, but that was – unbelievable."

"To be honest, I still had some doubts." She looked at her hands. "But, okay, that was pretty clear. I have no more excuses. I wish I had listened more carefully when Pria described going through a passage and what to do."

"What did she say?"

"Peter, stop, no, you can't come with me. You'd be risking everything, including your life. Even if we get through all right, there's no guarantee we'll ever come back."

"You're risking everything too. I've made up my mind. Listen, you gave me the nerve to join the world again and now I can give you a little nerve when you need it most. Anyway," he said with a small smile, "you've told me too much about Dahria to leave me behind."

"But your home. Your life in Toronto."

"It would be a relief to walk away from my self-imposed prison and all of the sad memories it holds. I've been thinking about getting rid of the place for a while. And after this time in Ireland, I was all set to do that when we got back. Going with you to Dahria is even better, something this big and difficult and unknown. It's what I want."

It took until after supper, but finally Connie accepted Peter's decision to go with her.

"I'm worried that I was only pretending to sound all noble when I objected to you coming with me."

Peter teased her, "I know. But that's all right. Sometimes situations call for false nobility."

Connie felt they should wait until the Dahrian signaler returned to Earthside to avoid running into her coming back through the passage. They bought binoculars and found a spot across the river from the bluff where they could view the woods around the passage. For several mornings, they watched James arrive and leave alone after about an hour. On the fourth morning, he came out with a woman walking slowly, her hand on James' shoulder.

"That's her. Arden was moving like that when he first came through."

"We'll go through the passage after lunch this afternoon. Let's go pack."

Later, after Peter knocked and Connie opened the door to her room, he guffawed.

She frowned, "Why are you laughing at me?"

He pointed to the two tight pigtails she'd braided on either side of her head. "You look like you're twelve years old."

"It's not fair, you making fun of me at time like this. I'm worried what my hair might do in the passage."

"Oh, so sorry to offend, Pippi Longstocking. Are you ready to go?"

Connie shook her head, "You really have read everything, haven't you?"

"I used to have a lot of time to fill." Peter opened his backpack. "Here's what I packed. A few clothes. Took all my ID, credit cards, cellphone. Though we'll hardly need them where we're going. Swiss army knife – who knows, maybe we'll need a corkscrew!"

"Now there's wishful thinking. And you've told everyone that cockamamie story you came up with about us being off grid for a while?"

"Oh yeah. I fell in love with a Go player who invited us to his cottage on a remote island while we explore our relationship and you're going to start working on that book you've always wanted to write."

"I can't believe they'll buy it."

"No, no it's great. And maybe we'll make it come true when we get back."

"You're making this almost fun. Mainly I'm worried about Sonya. Wildfire season is starting off so bad again. I told her that she and Billy and whomever should come stay at my house. And she knows Angie and Nic. Anyway, who knows, the Dahrians may reject us as soon as we get there."

"Yes, for questionable hair styles."

They stored what they weren't taking in a locker at the bus station. Connie again parked the rental car in the lot of the roadside inn, leaving the key tucked above the sun visor and dropped a letter in the mail telling the rental agency where she'd left the car.

When they were near the passage, she said, "I couldn't have done this on my own. I would have run away by now. I'm shaking so badly, I can scarcely walk."

"Tell me again. What did Pria tell you about going through? Let's concentrate on that."

"The signaler goes first. Others hang onto the signaler to get through the opening. Because moving through the passage is difficult, she said they stay linked together, usually with a rope, in case someone faulters. Though it hasn't happened in a long time, she said that sometimes, in the past, people didn't make it through. It's important that you get all the way out before collapsing. Keep moving your feet toward the light. It may not feel like you're getting anyplace for a long time, but you are. There's a white pole at the end, once you grasp that, you're through and can relax. That's as much as I remember."

They looped a rope around their waists, with a short lead between them.

Peter smiled and nodded, "Let's go. I'll support you from behind."

Connie shifted until she found the pull of the signal. They moved forward slowly, their steps in sync, Peter behind Connie. Her arms came up, palms out. They walked steadily as Connie's arms dissolved into the rock, then her front, back, and Peter pressed closely behind her. Within seconds, jittery flashes of light surrounded them, and they felt enclosed in something viscous, as if they were moving through gelatin.

Connie panicked that she wouldn't be able to breathe. She desperately tried to recall everything Pria told her about the passage. Surely, she would have mentioned not being able to breathe! Gradually she calmed herself.

Peter had his hands on her waist and began gently rocking them back and forth with a steady forward movement. Connie released herself into the momentum of the rocking and slowed her breathing. Looking ahead through the flashing lights, she saw a light-filled opening. It seemed far away, but there it was. All they had to do is keep rocking back and forth through the gelatinous glop.

It felt like they were at it for a long time. Pria was right. The light-filled opening never seemed any closer. Connie was sure they'd been pushing through the passage for hours, but, who knew, maybe it was only minutes. She was so tired. Peter's hands slipped off her waist and the rope jerked her back. She turned around. At first, she didn't see him and then felt below her. He was on his knees. The rope around her waist jerked. The flashing lights didn't provide enough illumination to see what was happening.

Connie kneeled down and shouted, "What are you doing?" It sounded to her like she was talking into a pillow.

Faintly, she heard Peter's voice, "Leave me."

He was trying to unloosen the rope. Connie was furious. She pulled at him with everything she had and got him standing. Then bellowed in his ear, "No way."

Grabbing onto the belt of Peter's pants, Connie began forcefully stomping her way as much as their jelly world allowed, yanking him along. He stumbled frequently but tried his best to keep up with her.

She knew two things. One, that she couldn't keep this up for much longer. And two, she would never leave him behind. That he would even think she would, made her angry and upset. Deep breaths, she told herself. Deep breaths. She stared ahead and realized the lighted opening finally looked closer. But she knew it was not close enough. They'd never make it.

Peter seemed to regain a little. He grabbed her elbow, and they were now more of a team again. Yet it was still too far. They both collapsed at the same time and began crawling. Connie could no longer hang onto Peter but the rope between them held. She could feel it tighten and pull on her. He was no longer crawling.

She only managed a short distance farther before her body too gave out and she lay sprawled. She reached ahead along the ground hoping to find something to grasp onto and pull herself up. Her finger bumped against something stuck in the ground. She looked up. It was a white pole.

Connie had no idea how long she lay on the ground when strong hands grabbed her arms and roughly pulled her up. The light was glaring. She squinted her eyes and looked down and saw the rope around her waist was gone. Frantically, she tried looking around, "Peter! Peter!"

A woman and a man held her, their angry voices speaking words she couldn't understand. As her eyes became accustomed to the light, she turned to the woman and yelled, "Where's Peter?"

The woman pulled back and stared at Connie's eyes. "Norry," she barked.

The man jerked Connie around to look at her and repeated, "Norry" and something that surely was a swear word.

They began dragging her away. Connie kept looking around and saw the rope lying on the ground. She dug her feet into the ground and clenched up her body to try to stop them and ended up bringing all three of them down as she blacked out.