Chapter 20

He was awash in a sea of darkness. Well, maybe more like an ocean of absolutely nothing. He seemed to be blind, because not a single refraction of light could be seen anywhere. Nor were there any points of reference. He just floated in a cold, numbing . . . nothing.

He just was.

There was no real way to describe it. All James knew was the alien-ness of . . . wherever he was and how the passage of time didn’t seem to matter. It could have been days or weeks or years even, but maybe only minutes had passed.

Whichever.

It wasn’t important; it’s not like he had any thoughts or memories of anything before this place, anyway.

Suddenly, just when he thought it couldn’t get any stranger, an indescribable warmth began to spread along his scalp. The feeling was such a relief to the cold in this absolute darkness that he shuddered with exhilaration. The warming sensation spread slowly down and after a while, his whole body tingled. He felt as if he was laying in direct sunlight