Judgment (The Alternate Earth Series, Book 3) by S.J. West Page B

the fireplace in the library and flicking her finger at it. I watch as a small ball of fire flies from her fingertip and lands on the pieces of wood there. “Almost forgot a crucial element.”
    “What’s the fire for?” I ask.
    “The sound usually helps us focus,” Zack answers.
    “Normally, we use a fire or the sound of the ocean at your beach home,” Rafe explains.
    “Ok. So I just need to concentrate on the sound of the fire and making an inner realm.”
    “Easy as pie,” Zack says to me with a wink. “We’ve done this so many times, it’ll probably come right back to you, Jess.”
    “We can hope so,” I reply uneasily, not nearly as confident as he is.
    Both Chandler and JoJo squeeze my hands to show their support and belief in me.
    “You can do this,” Chandler tells me quietly.
    I nod my head and close my eyes to concentrate on the pops and hisses coming from the fire. After about two minutes of trying to make this inner realm thing work, I peek through slit eyelids to see if anyone else is ready to give up.
    No one else has his or her eyes open, so I close mine again.
    I feel like an idiot.
    I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. I’m positive I’m the reason we can’t make the inner realm. Everyone else is probably just waiting on me to make the connection. I start to feel a panic attack threaten to take control of my body.
    Ok, ok, ok… they told me to concentrate on the sounds of the fire. Let’s try that again.
    I shut down each thought my mind is busy with, like you would close tabs in a browser window. Finally, only the sound of the fire is inside my mind. As I listen to this static noise, I feel as though I’m falling into a trance-like state. My breathing becomes more steady and my nerves less frazzled. I know exactly when we’re inside the inner realm, because I’m suddenly at peace.
    When I open my eyes, the other vessels are also just opening theirs. Standing behind each of my friends are people I don’t recognize from a memory, but I instinctively know that they are the archangels tethered to my friends’ souls.
    I let go of Chandler and JoJo’s hands. With a deep breath to steady my nerves, I slowly turn around to find out if Michael is standing behind me or not. I have my head bowed, so I end up seeing his black sneakers first. I quickly look up to meet his happy eyes.
    “Hey, Jess,” he says, smiling brightly.
    I immediately walk up to him and throw my arms around his neck. Tears of joy stream down my face, and I feel like I’ve just come home from a long trip after Michael wraps his arms around me.
    “I still don’t have any memories of you,” I whisper to him through my sobs, “but I remember you, if that makes sense.”
    “I’m a part of you, Jess,” Michael tells me. “Now a piece of you is back where it belongs.”
    I pull back and ask Michael, “What happened when Ravan tried to phase me to Heaven? How did that take my memories away and break our connection with one another?”
    “When she tried to phase us,” Michael begins to explain, “it was like she stretched our connection with one another to its very limits. I think I actually did see Heaven for a moment. It was during that split second of separation that our connection was damaged, but it was never completely broken. I was afraid it might be permanent, but thank God that isn’t the case.”
    In a whisper so low that only Michael can hear, I ask, “So you really think the whole ‘sex cure’ thing will work?”
    “I hope it will,” he whispers back. “It certainly won’t hurt anything.”
    “What if it doesn’t work? What if I’m stuck like this forever?”
    “I don’t think that’s your fate, Jess.”
    “But what if it is?” I ask desperately, on the verge of panic. “How can I be a good wife and mother to people I can’t even remember?”
    “Listen to me,” Michael grabs me by the shoulders, to make sure I’m looking at him. “No matter what happens, you are still the same