Finding Home - A

Several months later we were recalling the story.

“I was grateful not to end up in that prison, but it was only barely worth having to go through the startle that I endured when Sadier blasted through that window,” Priscilla said.

Everyone laughed but Saymi. “What was that?” she asked. She rose and walked away from our circle. “What was that?” she asked again looking all around. “Did you feel that? What was that?”

She turned to us and saw that we all wore perplexed faces.

“I think something just happened,” she said. “Back in Switcey…”

Finding Home - 5

The bus darted through the city taking an unpredictable path. Though at first it was beyond our view, Ejay helped us close in. Our tires screeched and burned as I drifted the car around corners. We started to catch a glimpse of the bus every time we rounded a corner, but the chase was speeding dangerously close to the inferno. Sadier leaned forward and clenched the door desperate for one more chance.

We came to a long straight away. I knew with our horsepower we would catch them here. But at the end of the straight away loomed the open gates of the inferno. Our MPH exceeded 100 as we closed in on the bus.

At this point a few options came to mind.

Option #1: Cut in front of the bus and push it away from the gates. We didn’t have quite enough road for that.

Option #2: Clip the bus and make it tumble. Even disregarding the fact that this would injure Saymi and Priscilla, the inferno guards who were posted at the gates would chase us away before we could jump in and rescue them.

Option #3: Follow the bus into the inferno courtyard and try to steal the girls away when they open the bus. The gate had a system that blocked every foreign object person, vehicle, etc. with a force-field wall. The inferno buses could pass through but our car would smash into it.

So with all of the sane options ruled out we were left with Option #4, a purely insane option. During the chase, Sadier and I had been frantically hashing through these options, but when we came to the straightaway we knew it was all up to Option #4.

Sadier thrust himself out the window and climbed onto the roof of the car as I drifted just slightly away from the bus. He clung to the roof through the ripping wind. I drifted our car back to the right as we came alongside the bus. Sadier launched from the roof with all his might and soared in the air towards the bus. The bus was lined with large glass windows on its side from front to back. Sadier crashed through one of the windows shoulder first and disappeared into the bus.

My car smashed into the Inferno gate forcefield. My head slammed into the air bag and I went unconscious.

Sadier tumbled to the floor of the bus, the passengers screaming in shock. He lay there momentarily before pushing himself. He crawled towards the front of the bush fighting through the writhing pain. The driver glanced back at him and threw a rocket at Sadier’s face. Sadier collapsed to the ground letting the rocket to sail over his head. He then lunged at the driver and pushed him against the door. The driver wrestled back but Sadier was able to reach the door handle. The bus driver fell out as the door swung open.

Sadier spun the wheel and turned the bus around 180 degrees. An inferno patrol vehicle smashed into the side of the bus forcing Sadier to react quickly to keep the bus from tipping. He floored the gas and sped the bus back through the gates and beyond into open space. The inferno guards chased after Sadier and the bus of prisoners in another patrol car. They began the chase too far behind and lost him in the city.

I awoke to the guards approaching my door. I popped the car into reverse - what was left of it anyway - and stomped on the gas to back away from the inferno.

Sadier eased the bus to a stop now miles from the inferno. He stumbled back into the bus where the passengers were still locked up. He practically fell at Priscilla’s feet and unlocked her first.

“I’ll get the others,” she said. “You go say hi to Saymi.”

Sadier scooted over to Saymi who was looking strangely at the section of night sky visible through one of the windows that Sadier had not shattered.

Her eyes met his when she realized that he was coming. They shared a long look trying to decide if the face they were seeing even looked familiar.

“Is this city what you thought it would be?” she asked.

“It’s not what anyone thinks it will be,” he replied.

She paused as if to ponder his reply and then asked, “So you defeated Alkador?”

“Yes,” he answered.

She paused again and suddenly smiled. “I missed you so much,” she said.

“I missed you too,” he replied. They embraced and cried.

When I drove up Priscilla was tending to Sadier’s wounds. She was annoyed that he wouldn’t hold still as she applied bandages to his shoulder and neck.

As I approached Sadier another man did too. I was concerned for a moment wondering if the man had ill intent but his body language seemed friendly.

“Who drove that bus out of the inferno?” the man asked.

“That would be him,” I answered, pointing at Sadier.

The man walked the rest of the way to Sadier and shook his hand. “That was really insane,” he stated, shaking his head. “And I really thank you because I don’t know how I would have gotten her out,” he said, nodding at a girl who was sitting shyly against a house across the street. I remembered seeing her earlier because she had bright blue hair.

Finding Home - 4

Tires screeched as they shot down the road, now just minutes away from the destination. Sadier messaged Ali, a friend from the academy who Priscilla hadn’t seen since she passed away years ago.

Sadier eased off the gas and let the car coast for several blocks. He pulled up snug to a building and parked.

“We have to go right now,” someone said as Sadier and Priscilla climbed out of the car.

Startled, Priscilla held in a scream and turned to see who was talking.

“Oh, hi again,” I said. “Wait, is she coming in with us?”

“Priscilla, you remember Seth,” Sadier said, stepping out of the car.

“This is a really bad idea bringing her in,” I said. “A really really bad idea.”

“Well, let’s get on with it,” Sadier said.

We hurriedly crept towards the camp which was probably 12 stories tall and several blocks long. We dropped down into a dry gravel moat that was next to the camp. We traveled along the moat until we found a window. We opened the window and we were inside. You may be asking yourself why they left open windows. They have no choice. The windows are in the control of a governing body who keeps some of them open to give us a chance to do exactly what we were doing. They try to make the game fair.

The room was somewhat lit by moonlight but once we got into the hall it was pitch black. Our eyes adjusted after a moment as we sneaked around very cautiously. Camp guards could be anywhere.

A voice came through my radio at very low volume, “K, start climbing. Stairs to your right.”

“Who is that?” Priscilla asked startled again by an unexpected voice.

“It’s Ejay,” Sadier replied. “He’s helping us through this maze.”

We climbed up 6 flights of stairs. Sadier and I suddenly froze thinking we saw a figure in the shadows. Something purple raced through the air. It struck Priscilla on the hip and bounced up into the air. Sadier and I rushed towards it and caught it together with care. The guard who had thrown it went airborne momentarily and then collapsed to the ground. He would not be interfering with us anymore. That’s the rule.

“What was that?” Priscilla asked.

“That was a rocket,” Sadier replied. “You don’t want to get hit with these, but if you do you want to catch it before it hits the ground.

Ejay told us that Saymi was around the next corner, which made our hearts swell a little. This moment was a long time coming for me, and I can’t even imagine for Sadier. He was already reunited with his girlfriend and now the same could be true for his sister as well.

We inched down a hallway of doors; doors to cells, one of which Saymi would be in.

“That’s it,” Ejay said when we came to it.

Sadier walked to the cell door and put his hands on it. Her cell was the first after the corner in the hallway. I realized that there was no wall to one side. It was a balcony. I tell you this now because, unfortunately, it turned out to be relevant.

“Duck into that service room while I figure out how to tell you to unlock it,” Ejay said over the radio.

We obeyed venturing into a large room across the hall from Saymi’s door. We ducked under pipes and around cables locating a good hiding place.

“K, this is a tricky one but I’ll have it in a minute,” Ejay updated.

“Let me show you something,” Sadier turned to Priscilla. “Tap your thigh like this,” he said tapping his thigh. A faintly glowing purple ball appeared in his hand.

Priscilla tapped her thigh curiously but nothing happened. She tapped it again with more conviction and a purple ball bounced to the ground. Sadier picked it up and handed it to her.

“Now put it back,” he said demonstrating. He placed his rocket against his thigh so that it vanished.

She did the same.

“Everyone begins the night with one but you can pick them up from others,” Sadier explained. “I have two now because I picked up the guard’s.”

I was feeling good about our situation having picked up an extra rocket. Actually, Sadier wasn’t the only one with a second in his arsenal. I had picked up Ejay’s on the way to the camp hoping he wouldn’t need it to defend himself. We agreed I needed it more.

“I’ve figured out the key,” Ejay radioed. “A melting knock and three left swipes will get you in, but there’s a couple of guards down the hall right now.”

We waited a long time for the two guards to leave and started to worry that time was running out until they would come to take away Saymi.

“I could slip to the door without being seen and get in,” Sadier suggested.

“Then what?” I asked.

“Then she and I will find a way out of her cell from the inside,” Sadier replied. “Shouldn’t take but a minute to find if there is one.”

“Don’t you think she would have found it herself already,” I said.

“Maybe, but she probably hasn’t been learning like we have,” Sadier said. “She would likely not see it.”

Sadier rose and began to look restless as if he was going to rush out there.

“We could ambush them at the bus,” I suggested.

His body froze, his mind calculating. “We have the same odds taking them on right here when they come to take her,” he said.

“Not with those guards down the hall,” I protested.

We debated, weighing our options.

“I think he’s coming,” Ejay radioed. “A guard just started making his way up on the elevator system.”

Sadier stared at me with desperation in his eyes.

“Go,” I said, because I knew he wanted to.

Sadier crept to the threshold of our room and then dashed to Saymi’s door. He made the gestures on the door, but it didn’t open.

Ejay cursed and slapped his desk. “This one has a delay. It will open in 10 seconds.”

Sadier pressed against the door trying to peer down the hall towards the guards. There were dim lights facing Sadier so that he couldn’t see if the guards had seen him.

A purple rocket slapped quietly off his shoulder. He spun and tipped it up into the air giving him a chance to run it down. He hustled, lunged for it, bobbled it, but dropped it to the ground. He flew up into the air a few feet. I was about to run out and defend him but to our horror, rather than crashing to the ground like usual, he sailed right over the balcony and disappeared.

“They’ll find us here,” I said, “Come with me!” We ran deeper into the large service room and found an exit on the other side. I eased up just a bit right before we exited the room. I looked over my shoulder behind us and saw the door to Saymi’s cell swing open, the 10 seconds past. Inside I saw her sitting against the wall of her cell. Before I could even see her reaction I rounded the corner and lead Priscilla down a staircase.

We ran to where Sadier had fallen hoping that no guard had gotten to him yet. He was laying face down motionless. I rolled him onto his back. He yelled in pain and annoyance.

“Be careful,” Priscilla protested.

“Is it your leg?” I asked.

He just groaned.

“Is it your leg?!” I shouted not even worried about guards anymore.

“Of course it’s not my leg!” he retorted sitting up. “Don’t you think I know how to fall. It’s my shoulder.”

“You don’t need a shoulder to run,” I said. “Let’s intercept them at the bus.”

He was having trouble finding courage and needed a push.

“Get up! Let’s go!” I shouted. I grabbed his good arm and tried to pull him to his feet. He obliged at that point and started working with me.

When I got him to his feet, we started running, Ejay guiding us to the bus. We ran by guards a time or two but kept running hoping they wouldn’t catch us. We descended a staircase now and then and eventually the feeling under my feet told me we had reached the ground level. Ejay guided us to a metal door. I opened it cautiously not knowing what to expect on the other side. A large airplane hangar-like space was before us. There was a big gray bus running in the center of the hangar. We quickly ducked into a closet without being seen. The closet was small and there was much heavy breathing. We kept the door slightly open and watched for Saymi. I gave one of my rockets to Sadier since he had lost both his when he was hit.

“If this goes poorly for us, run for the exit when you’re sure no one is looking,” Sadier instructed Priscilla. “Don’t worry about us. Find Ali. Use your rocket to protect yourself if you need to.”

“But you may need it,” Priscilla protested. “Let me give it to you.”

“No,” Sadier said stronger. “Keep it.”

“If I have a chance to help you, I will,” she said.

We saw a few prisoners loaded into the bus, all girls. Then we saw Saymi being escorted by a guard.

“Let’s wait until he puts her in the bus,” I said.

Sadier heard me but was processing the sight of his sister for the first time in six years. When she disappeared into the bus there was fury in his eyes. We dashed out of the closet rockets in hand. In a panicked reflex the guard threw his rocket at me. I dodged it and in the same motion slung mine at him. It caught him on the hip and bounced to the ground. He went flying a few feet up into the air and came down.

We didn’t realize that another guard had been lingering on the other side until he popped around and landed a rocket on my thigh which I reached for but couldn’t corral. I went down.

Sadier returned fire with his rocket, but the guard reacted and managed to catch it in between his elbow and his side. If you catch someone’s rocket they suffer the effect of the rocket. Sadier flew up into the air and came down hard onto the garage floor. The guard had defeated us both, but maybe he hadn’t completely defeated us yet.

The guard radioed for assistance. He was going to lock Sadier and I up. We were going to miss our chance to free Saymi.

But suddenly a rocket struck the guard right in the center of the chest. Boy, I tell you Priscilla must have been a softball star or something because she certainly stepped up and delivered a bullet.

Priscilla rushed to Sadier hoping to free him, but the driver got to her first. He didn’t have a rocket, but he was a big man and he just scooped her up in his arms. He carried her to the bus and tied her in the back with the other girls.

Then he scurried to the driver’s seat and sped the bus out of the garage taking both Saymi and Priscilla with him.

Though Priscilla gave herself up, she had actually given us a chance. There is a rule to the game I haven’t told you about. Yes, if you overcome someone with a rocket you have power over them, but if the distance between you and them exceeds 100 feet they are freed. This is what happened when the driver sped off. There was no enemy within 100 feet of us and we were free.

There was no hesitation as to our next move. I fabricated a sportscar with my radio and we sped off after the bus.

Finding Home - 3

She sat crosslegged on the edge of the concrete slope that went to the river. Moments passed in silence as her mind raced with thoughts. Suddenly she jumped as he knelt at her side.

"I know you're processing a lot right now but I have to go," Sadier said.

"Where?" she replied surprised.

"I'm beyond sorry," he apologized. "I can put you in a safe place until I get back. Hopefully, I will be back soon."

"Where are you going?" she asked again.

"To help someone," he replied.

"I don’t understand,” Priscilla questioned. “I'm in shock right now trying to make sense of all this and you’re going to run off?"

"It's my sister!" Sadier retorted.

"Saymi?" Priscilla responded after a pause.

"It's been 9 months and I still haven't seen her," Sadier replied rising. "She's been in a secure laboratory camp that they call the inferno. It has been very hard for us to penetrate."

"All this time you haven't even seen her?" Priscilla reiterated.

"I will tonight," Sadier replied poking at his wrist radio automatically. "A few days ago she was taken temporarily to a less secure camp. This is the chance we've been waiting for, but in the next few hours as she is being bussed back to the inferno, our window of opportunity will expire. So it's time to move fast," he said opening the passenger door to a low riding supercar.

"Where did that come from?"

"You can fabricate lots of things with these radios," Saider explained casually. "Hop in. I'll drop you off at a safe place on my way to the camp."

Priscilla felt Sadier's urgency as he floored the accelerator and began cutting from road to road.

"It's my fault you're not getting to her sooner," Priscilla realized out loud.

"I was never going to leave you until you put things together," Saider replied. "Even if that meant missing this opportunity."

"So when I met you in the prison, you hadn't really been there for months, right?" she asked.

"No I had," he confirmed.

"So you somehow anticipated that I would end up there?" she asked.

"Yeah, there's a lot you can predict if you study closely," he replied. "When I realized that you would wind up in that camp I allowed myself to be captured by their traveling guards so they would take me inside. I started studying the prison so I could get you out as painlessly as possible when you arrived. I didn’t anticipate the reaction that kept you from recognizing me but I guess we figured out how to work with it."

She smiled feeling touched. "You definitely asked me some questions you already knew the answer to.”

"Yeah, I guess I wanted to know how well you were moving on from my death," he replied.

She was silent.

"Was that unfair?" he replied.

"Maybe a little," she admitted.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It was difficult for me when you didn't recognize me."

"I guess it probably was," she conceded. "I had been thinking my sleep was awfully strange the last couple of days," she said letting the previous topic go. "None of this has sunken in yet. It’s all so surreal. I'm going along with it because what else is there to do, but I feel like I'm going to wake up from a dream any second and be back at the academy missing you."

"Even after 9 months, it's still surreal for me," he said. "But you will learn to love this place like you can't even imagine. It pains me deeply to leave you right now, but I'm going to drop you off with a good friend who lives in an underground house right up ahead. You'll be safe with her until I return, which to be upfront with you could either be tonight or it could be days or weeks from now if things go poorly. And when I return, I may or may not be with Saymi. But I'll keep in touch with you over the radio. If I go silent you'll know things have gone poorly. Whatever happens, Ali will take good care of you," Sadier said, beginning to slow the car.

"I want to go with you," Priscilla said abruptly.

"Priscilla, the place I'm going tonight is far more intense than anything you’ve seen," Sadier said bringing the car to a stop.

"Will I slow you down?" she asked.

"Probably," Sadier said. "I've had months to learn the game that is played here."

"Alright, I don't want to be a hindrance," Priscilla said opening the door.

"Wait!" Sadier interjected. "What the heck. I want you with me. I just didn't want to give you more than you can handle, but if you're absolutely positive you want to come..."

In response, Priscilla shut the passenger door and turned to him with a look that said “why aren’t you flooring the car?”

Finding Home - 2

She traveled eastward as the sun rose higher in the sky, but she didn’t make it far on so little sleep. She bedded down for a few hours on the forest floor.

She awoke with a start. Her heart raced a little as she propped herself up on her elbows. She felt as if something had awoken her, but as her eyes flashed over her surroundings she saw only the forest. It must be a few hours into the afternoon she thought, given the sun’s position. Wide awake now she decided to continue on into the forest. She hoped to come across a road that she might be able hitchhike. Recovering the ground that she had lost kidnapped in the van might take days to make up on foot.

Suddenly, she froze overcome with a chilly feeling. She whirled around to see who was following her. She backtracked just a little and searched around the bushes but didn’t find anyone. She hesitantly continued.

The forest turned to jungle. She wondered if she would have done better following along the river rather than simply taking off east. She regretted that her frustration had clouded her judgment.

Finally, as the sun was threatening to set, the jungle started to thin and her feet occasionally walked on what seemed to be an overgrown brick road. She tried to follow the road but kept losing it. It didn’t seem to matter. The brick started to appear all around her the further she walked. She spotted a house, two houses opposite each other actually. A whole street of houses, in fact, she realized upon traveling closer. She was certainly worried that the inhabitants of this town would be less than friendly to her but with any luck they would help her get home. She considered knocking on the door of the first house but instead started walking down the street in the fading sunlight. She started to frown realizing that not a single house on the street had a window lit. It was a ghost town. But then she saw someone in the distance sitting with his back against one of the houses. She approached cautiously. He was digging at some large fruit with a spoon, one knee bent and one straight.

“Excuse me,” Priscilla called but he didn’t raise his head from the fruit. “I’m trying to get to the Eastern Prairies. Do you have any advice?”

He looked up and the look on his face made Priscilla recoil a step. The man rose setting the shell of the fruit to this left. He wiped his hands on his pants and walked towards her.

Priscilla backpedaled. “What do you want?” she asked him. She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. She tried to whirl around but someone else seized her and the next thing she knew he and the man who had been eating the fruit were dragging her up several flights of stairs.

They brought her kicking and screaming into a room and threw her on the ground in front of a woman in a billowing blue dress. The room was dimly lit with an orange glow. They tied her arms and legs as the woman came close enough for Priscilla to see her face. The woman smiled at her and Priscilla relaxed a little until she realized that the woman was cutting into her forearm with something. Priscilla’s blood trickled to the floor. She screamed and cried out for help. The woman attached a tiny tube to Priscilla’s new wound that Priscilla traced back to a table which had containers of orange liquid on it. The orange liquid began flowing into Priscilla’s arm.

The woman moved to Priscilla’s other arm. There was a thud outside the room. At the time, only one of the men was in the room. The woman looked up at him in the room as if to say, “What in the world was that?” He responded by cautiously creeping over the threshold into the dark hallway. A figure jumped at him and spun the man around switching places with him. The intruder slammed the door in the man’s face and swiftly locked it. Startled, the woman gathered her big blue skirt and scurried into a large air duct that was exposed in the wall.

It was Paul. He untied Priscilla’s arms and legs. She saw his mouth moving but couldn’t understand what he was saying. She sat up slowly and felt very dizzy. He reached out his hand and touched her shoulder which caused a whirlwind of confusing sensations to rocket through her mind. Paul handed her a large bottle of water and motioned for her to drink which she did.

After a few moments she started to hear him speak. “I took one of them down and locked the other outside, but he’s going to pick the lock soon,” he said.

Priscilla felt her senses restarting. She was processing more clearly with every passing moment.

“We need to get out of this room,” Paul said.

“It’s you,” Priscilla whispered.

Paul walked over to the air vent and peered down it.

“How are you alive?” Priscilla asked.

“Come,” he beckoned. “There’s very little time.”

Priscilla rose and walked unsteadily. She extended her arms trying to balance. She knelt down and slid into the darkness of the metal air duct. Paul entered right behind her and they began scooting down the air duct, Paul encouraging her to move as fast as possible.

They heard the door unlock in the room behind them. Someone else entered the air duct and began chasing them. Paul guided her right or left through the air duct system. The hands and knees pursuit was a loud clamoring. She heard rainfall begin outside. They came to a section that was sloped and started traveling without intending to. Soon they found themselves sliding helplessly down a wide slide. Their velocity increased. The slide had a fork it in. Priscilla and Paul were separated. Priscilla screamed a little as she rocketed down the air duct on her back. Eventually, the slide leveled out. She came to a stop. There was moonlight at the end of the tunnel. She hurried to the end of the tunnel hearing their pursuer’s body sliding towards the landing. Paul had gone down the fork to the right but their enemy had evidently followed Priscilla down the left. Priscilla reached the opening and ran wasting no time. She hoped to locate a hiding place before the man behind her emerged from the tunnel. She darted behind a house but right before she did she looked over her shoulder towards the opening of the air duct. She saw him see her as he struggled to his feet. She fled past one house and around another still not fully cognitive. He gained on her rapidly and reached out his hand.

She mentally braced herself for his grasp but instead heard the wall smash behind her. Paul had intercepted the chaser and checked him through a wall. But in the darkness, Priscilla’s momentum carried her body right over a guardrail. She tumbled down steep concrete and splashed into a body of water at the bottom.

Paul’s arms were around her. He pulled her to the opposite bank. “Put your arms around my neck,” he said. They shifted about until she was on his back. In a strong motion he raised his foot onto the concrete bank and began walking up the incline laboring under her weight.

He swung her around in front of him and leaned her against one of the houses. When he tried to rise she clung to his neck and kissed him. “Sadier. How did I not recognize you all this time?” she asked. “I must have been under a reaction, a very powerful spell. I didn’t even know your face. But why didn’t you tell me it was you?”

“I did,” he replied. “I told you so many times it was me, but your ears were not allowed to perceive it.”

“How is this possible that you are alive?” she asked. “You were dead. We buried you.”

“I’m not able to tell you,” he said sitting down on her right with his back to the house.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because you’re not completely out from the reaction yet,” he replied.

“However this is possible, it’s you,” she said. She threw herself into his arms and wept. Tears sprouted in his eyes too.

“Where have you been the last year? Why haven't you reached out to us?” she asked.

“I’ve tried so many times to tell you the answer but you apparently haven’t been allowed to hear it,” he replied beginning to wrap her bleeding forearm in a bandage. “You have to realize it on your own.”

“How could I come up with an explanation for this?” she asked. “Your body was cold. You were not breathing and you did not have a pulse. Rhonda tried to restart your heart just to make us feel like we had done everything we could. How could you have possibly lived?”

He was silent.

“I should have known all along it was you by the way I felt about you,” she said. “And somehow, I knew you would come for me. I felt something in me I have never felt before and I don’t even know if it was okay for me to feel it but there was a very small part of me that was glad they were hurting me because I wanted you to rescue me.”

Suddenly, she stood up and walked forward trembling. The reaction lifted from her eyes, ears and mind. She looked up at the sky and said, “You did indeed pass into the next life, Sadier. And so have I.”

"How did this happen?" she whispered.

"You said the last thing you remember before the prison was being kidnapped and put into the back of a van," Sadier stated. "They let a vapor into the back of the van to put you and the boys asleep. It was meant to knock you out for a few hours while they transported you, but when they tried to wake you they couldn't."

"I’m in the afterlife," she said her eyes scanning the dark town with new wonder. “This is not what I expected.” Then her eyes fell to the bandage on her elbow. “There is fear here," she said. When he didn't say anything, she whirled around and faced him.

"Did you think we would just sit around?" he said.

"Well, I don't know," she shrugged.

He was silent.

"I know you have more to say," she urged. "Don't leave me in suspense."

"You explained it yourself," he said. "And that's why the reaction lifted from your eyes. This place is designed to make us come alive in all the ways we were designed for. You said that there was a part of you that wanted to be captured because you wanted to be rescued. In the previous life we think that all we want is peace but when you get here you find pretty fast that peace is not everything you want. We were made to go deep into where it is not safe, where it is unpredictable. Adventuring together, sacrificing for each other, it’s the way we connect the deepest. Fear, passion, pain, comfort, sadness, it's all part of what it means to be alive.”