This is too big for me to handle – a cosmos torn apart by warring spirits, and I’m so small and weak. I have my ‘why me?’ moment, flop down on my bed and cry hot, salty tears. Monday dawned and life went on – Mom left for another three-day work trip to Europe, Dad went back to supervise the construction project in Utah – but nothing was as normal. I wasn’t normal. I was a bridge, a channel for good or evil – whichever tried to claim me, a soul twinned with a baby who burned to death in a wildfire and with God knows how many souls before that. Of course, it hadn’t taken Maia to appear to me in a halo of soft, supernatural light. Actually, as I say, somewhere deep in my psyche I’d known this all along, ever since the day I was born. ‘Tania, you take care, OK?’ Mom was concerned as she stood in the hallway with her suitcase. ‘And remember, you can reach me by text or call me whenever you want.’ ‘Thanks, I’m cool.’ I attempted a smile but didn’t do a good job.
