"You couldn't know," Mom said, as if reading my mind. "I'm sorry that we kept this all from you, but you needed to be a part of Second Earth. It was all about your being a normal person with the perspective and experiences of your territory. You were fighting for the people of Second Earth. In order to do that, you needed to believe you were one of them."

I looked up at the starry sky, watching the colorful, charged clouds flying by. It was beautiful. Though as spectacular as that sight was, the ground around us was a total contrast. It was dark. Bleak. Desolate.

"What is this place?" I continued. "I'm afraid you're going to tell me we're really little green aliens from the planet Nimrod or something."

When I looked down at my mom for her answer, I blinked. She stood in front of me, holding my hands, but I could see through her. Literally. I could see Shannon and Marley right through my mom.

"Mom?" I gasped.

"It's all right," she answered soothingly.

It wasn't all right. Mom was disappearing. Her hands no longer had substance. I quickly glanced to Dad and Shannon. They too were flickering, as if they were lights that were slowly running out of power. Dad walked toward us, wavering between solid and transparent.

"I told you that Solara wasn't always like this," he said soberly. Sadly. "This is what Saint Dane has wrought. His only hope of controlling Halla is by destroying all you see around you. Or at least destroying what it should be."

I heard a quick bark from Marley. When I looked to my dog, he was gone. Disappeared.

"What's happening?" I asked in a panic.

Dad said, "Our ability to exist as physical beings comes from all that surrounds us here. We are fed by the essence of Halla. It's that very essence that Saint Dane has been methodically destroying."

This was all getting a bit too cosmic for me. I needed answers, and it didn't look as if Mom and Dad were going to be around much longer to give them. Shannon jumped up, ran to me, and kissed me on the cheek. It felt like nothing more than a soft, sweet breeze. She was nearly gone.

"I miss you, Bibs," she said. "Don't worry about us. Kick some a.s.s, all right? We'll be watching."

She had called me Bibs since she was a baby and couldn't p.r.o.nounce Bobby. That had to have been real, right? I reached out for her, but too late. She'd disappeared. My sister was gone. Again. In the sky above me, I heard what sounded like rumbling thunder. I glanced up to see one of the dark clouds suddenly glow bright red.

"Mom?" I gasped in desperation.

My parents stood together. They were nearly gone.

"This is right, Bobby," Mom said rea.s.suringly. "You don't need us. We only came to see you again, and let you know that we're fine. That you're fine. You don't have to worry about us any longer."

"But a where are you going?"

"Nowhere," Dad answered. "And everywhere. Shannon is right. We'll be watching. Your job isn't done just yet."

"You can't go!" I cried. "I've got more questions now than before!"

"We love you, Bobby," Mom said. "We're proud of you, and maybe most important, we believe in you."

"I don't want to lose you again!" I screamed.

"Then make things right," Dad said.

A moment later they were gone. I had lost my family. Again. At least, I thought I had. In the dark sky above I saw two more dark clouds crackle with light. One flashed yellow, the other deep blue. What the heck was that about? I found myself standing alone on a shelf of gray rock on a desolate world that was supposedly my birthplace. Not at all how I thought the day would play out. But was I truly alone? As I said before, I felt the presence of life around me. It was more like a feeling of energy, or spirit, than anything physical. I know, that's weird. It felt weird to me, too. But I wasn't afraid. Not even when I caught glimpses of figures that could have been people who floated by. I kept turning, hoping to bring one into focus, but that didn't happen. Could one of them have been Shannon, or my mom or dad? Was that what they meant when they said they weren't going anywhere? Were they still right beside me, only in some kind of spectral form? Or had they flown up and become colorful clouds in the sky?

Solara. What was this place? Where the heck was this place? Okay, when was this place?

"Guys?" I called out. "You still here?"

I didn't expect an answer, but I got one.

"Who you talking to?" came a deep voice.

I spun to see Uncle Press standing a few yards from me, with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face.

"Uh, Mom and Dad. I think," I said, not really sure that that made sense.

"Try not to be upset with them," Uncle Press said. "For keeping the truth from you, I mean. For that matter, try not to hold it against me, either."

"I don't," I said sincerely. "I really don't. But I'm a little numb right now."

"It would be strange if you weren't," he said. "After all, your frame of reference is based on your life on Second Earth. That was the whole point. For all intents and purposes, you are from Second Earth. Right now all the Travelers are learning the truth about their real lives, just as you are."

"So, they all came from herea"wherever here is?"

Uncle Press nodded and gazed off into the distance. I saw sadness in his eyes. "I never thought it would come to this," he said softly.

"Is it my fault?" I asked in a small voice.

Uncle Press shot me a look. "No. We may not have been as successful as I'd hoped, but it was not your fault. Nor was it the fault of any of the Travelers. This was brought on by Saint Dane."

"Are you going to tell me who he is?" I asked. I am.

"Are you going to tell me what this world of rock is?" "I am."

"One more questiona""

"Only one?" he asked playfully.

"Okay, lots more questions. But one that matters more than any other." "Go for it."

"Do we really have a shot at stopping him?"

Uncle Press glanced around at this strange world once again. An odd feeling came over me. I sensed that I wasn't the only one who wanted that answer. Whatever forces were at play here, whatever beings inhabited this lonely rock, they all wanted to know what the future held.

"I'm afraid there's only one person who can answer that, and it isn't me," he finally said.

"Then who?"

"That would be you, Bobby."

Chapter 4.

My heart raced.

This was it. I was going to learn the truth. The whole truth. About my existence. About Halla. About Saint Dane. As I stood with Uncle Press in that stark, dark place called Solara, I realized that I was finally going to learn it all.

"Just tell me right off," I said. "You're not going to give some mysterious half answer that's going to drive me nuts, and say something like: *Don't worry. You'll learn it all in time,' and then disappear again, are you? Because that would really p.i.s.s me off."

Uncle Press laughed. It seemed odd under the circ.u.mstances. Then again it was so perfectly Uncle Press. At least that part felt right. I needed to hang on to anything familiar when it happened by. Those little things were my lifeline to sanity.

"No, it's time you knew it all," he answered.

Phew. Great. Except that's when my heart really started racing. I guess I wasn't so sure I was ready to know it all. I liked being Bobby Pendragon from Stony Brook, Connecticut. I liked my old life. The hope of getting it back kept me going for years. Now it seemed the biggest illusion of all was that I actually had a shot at returning to normal. Or at least what I thought was normal. I had to hope that the new "normal" was going to be something I could learn to accept. Not that I had a choice.

"Let's walk," Uncle Press said, and led me across the surface of the mysterious, dark world. We walked casually, as we had done so many times together at home. Or rather, on Second Earth. Every so often I glanced up at the dazzling, colorful clouds that careened across the sky. It was a constant reminder that this was nothing like home.

"Solara is the essence of Halla," Uncle Press began, gesturing.

"Yeah, that's what Dad said," I replied quickly. "Gotta tell you, not impressed so far. Though the whole cloud-light-show thing is kind of cool."

Uncle Press smiled and continued, "I guess you could say we are on the outer edges of existence. But not in the physical sense. The fact is, Solara is everywhere. Or at least, everywhere that intelligent life exists. We are as old as humanity, and we will exist for as long as humanity exists."

I didn't comment. I figured it would be better to just let him roll it all out.

"Solara was created from the energy that is mankind. All mankind on all the worlds of Halla. Solara is their spirit. It is the sum total of all intelligent life that ever was."

He fell silent, letting that sink in.

"Oh?" I responded nonchalantly. "Is that it? Wow, I thought it was something more complicated than that. I thought maybe we were aliens or superheroes or something else that was, oh, I don't know, tricky to understand. Phew."

Uncle Press gave me a sour look.

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?" I snapped. "Created from energy? What is that supposed to mean? If that's your whole explanation, I'd just as soon you didn't bother."

He smiled. My tirade didn't throw him. I guess it's hard to throw anybody who represents the sum total of all intelligent life that ever was. Whatever that means. Sheesh.

"Give me a chance," he said, cajoling. "I know this is hard to understand."

"You have no idea."

He continued, "Each life that exists in Halla is unique. Everyone is different, no matter what world they are from. Everyone chooses their own course. One person could be a criminal, while someone else becomes a judge. One person cares for others, while others only care for themselves. One individual might have the talent to create a painting that stirs emotions, while someone else can't draw a straight line. But the person who can't draw a straight line might have an apt.i.tude for mathematics that would make the artist's head spin. Some of that is inherited. Some of that is learned. There are so many paths to travel. So many choices to make. What drives it all is the spirit inside each individual that makes him or her unique. To understand Solara, Bobby, you have to know that that spirit, the force that makes an individual who they are, is so powerful it cannot die. Even after a person's physical body gives out, the spirit that made them who they are lives on a and becomes part of Solara."

"You're telling me this is a heaven?"

"No," Uncle Press said quickly. "This is not a reward. This just a is."

"Good," I replied with a chuckle. "Because it looks more like h.e.l.l." I was trying to be glib. I think it was a defense mechanism, because what I was hearing was kind of freaky. Uncle Press didn't laugh with me. He was suddenly all business. I gave up on glib.

"We exist because mankind exists," Uncle Press explained. "The sum of energy that animates and informs mankind is such a powerful force that, once released from its physical sh.e.l.l, it creates its own reality."

"Solara."

"Yes. Solara isn't governed by time or by s.p.a.ce. It is pure intellect. It is not just a reflection of life, it is life. All life. The world you see here exists on the outer edges of physical reality. This rock is the foundation of all that is. It is the most elemental form of life. It is the beginning, but not the end, because there is no end. Halla is always expanding, therefore, so is Solara. From here we can observe every time. Every place. Every thing that has ever existed. Like I said, it is the spirit of all there is. Solara is the essence of Halla."

I stopped walking and stared at my uncle. How else was I supposed to react?

He gave me a sympathetic shrug and said, "I know it's hard to fathom because you're looking at things from the perspective of someone from one of those worlds. From Earth. This isn't exactly something that's taught in school."

"Yeah, I must have missed that cla.s.s," I replied. "But I'm from Second Earth, right?"

"There is only one Earth, Bobby. The territories existed in different times because of the turning points Saint Dane targeted. But let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"No, wouldn't want to do that," I shot back. "So you're telling me that every person's life force leaves his or her body when they die and becomes part of this greater ent.i.ty? Solara?"

"That's exactly it."

"And when you say *mankind/ you mean everyone in Halla? The klee and the gar from Eelong, too?"

"Absolutely. From all worlds. When I say *mankind/ I'm referring to all intelligent life."

"So, what are you? A ghost?"

"You feel the energy that surrounds us, don't you?"

I nodded. "I see things, but not really. But I know something is there."

"More than something. You're sensing the life forces that make up Solara. They're all around us. They don't have physical form, at least not the way beings exist throughout Halla. But they are just as real."

"And you?"

"I'm one of them, Bobby. I'm part of Solara."

Somehow, in spite of all that I had seen, hearing that Uncle Press was a spirit was difficult to accept. That's not the kind of thing you hear every day. Then again, he was dead. I saw him killed in the flume on Cloral. But here he was, alive and kicking. As was Kasha. And Alder. And Patrick. And Osa. And a and a and a They had all died, but none were gone. It explained a lot. Sort of.

"So you're not my uncle. You're a spirit who floats around with all these other spirits at the edge of the universe? Is that what you're saying? This is all one big haunted hunk of rock?"

Uncle Press chuckled. "That's one way of putting it. But this isn't a ghost story. It is very much about life. I've been around almost as long as there has been intelligent life in Halla."

I whistled. "Wow, you look good for somebody who's, what, a couple million years old? Nice."

"Thank you, but of course this physical body isn't that old."

"No, of course not. How could it be? That wouldn't make sense. Any idea when I'm going to wake up from this dream?"

Uncle Press gave me a friendly shove.

"You're doing fine," he said warmly, sounding every bit like my uncle Press and not some ancient spirit.