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He gave me a sympathetic smile "The supernatural plane didn’t burn you"

"Da it so vividly "It peeled the skin right off my bones"

"But when you e"

"Again, it didn’t burn you But it is hot And cold The rules of this plane don’t apply, like a human in space who is exposed to the solar winds Except, we are no longer huate it at will"

"Then what happened, becauseburned away like someone had taken a blowtorch toto the heat and cold from the other diical response to what your mind perceived as reality In that state, notof space, what if I accidentallyin the vacuu an unappealing shade of blue and freezing Then, knowing ed to make it back to the planet’s surface, I would’ve been exposed to all those subatomic particles You don’t coe, "you control where and when you go And how fast You can even, to sood, you could probably, I don’t know, navigate ti "There’s just no way to knohat you’re capable of until you do it"

"Okay, but maybe we should start sht Okay, concentrate" He held up our hands again "Shift as far onto the other plane as you can"

I dropped ree, but he didn’t argue

"It’s like you can’t look at me when I shift Like I’m monstrous"

"What?" he asked, dumbfounded "You are still you when you shift, Dutch"

"Then why do I repulse you when I do?"

He focused on the ceiling "It’s not you It’s e of his nose

"Reyes, what? Why don’t you like it when I shift, even just a little, to see onto the other plane?"

He turned away from me and practically whispered what came next "When you shift, you see the realto know you can see that part of " I turned his face back to mine "I’m amazed It’s like you’re covered in a cloak of black mist It cascades over your shoulders and down your back I want a cloak of black mist How cool would that be?"

He deadpanned me

"Wait, if I’m still me and not some monster, how do you knohen I shift? You know instantly"

"Your eyes When you shift, your gold eyes allitter when you see into the other real?"

"That part of it is, yes"

"Because sometimes the way you react … you’re positive I don’t look like a monster? Like, maybe, a Chucky doll?"