“Good morning, Helian.”

  As I stared up at the bright blue sky, a familiar voice made my blood run cold. I reached for the knife I kept under my pillow, but it wasn’t there. Neither was my pillow.

  I was lying flat on the grass in a small garden I couldn’t recognize, surrounded by trees with strange, rectangular leaves and fruit. To my left sat a small table with three chairs. Books were piled up on the table, and on the grass next to it – their owner would no doubt be furious to see this – and a kettle sat at its edge, with steam rising slowly from the spout.

  Crouched to my right was Duchess Coroban, now drinking slowly from her teacup and looking down at me with concern.

  “Coroban? What the hell are you doing here? And where have you taken me?”

  “Don’t be so alarmed, Helian. I haven’t taken you anywhere. Though I admit, you have been taken somewhere. I had nothing to do with it.”

  “What is this place? How did I get here?”

  She looked off into the distance for a few moments, deep in thought.

  “That’s a good question. It wouldn’t be wrong to call it a garden, but that’s only what it is on the surface. This is a sanctuary of sorts.”

  “A sanctuary for what?”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “For souls, perhaps? I’m not entirely certain. I was hoping you would know, to be honest. I’ve had a lot of time to come up with questions for you.”

  Time? “How long have you been here?”

  “I can’t easily track the passing of time, as you might imagine.” She then gestured towards the sky.

  It was bright enough to be midday, and there was not a cloud in the sky, but I couldn’t see the sun anywhere. “This isn’t real.”

  “Well, at the very least what we’re seeing isn’t real. Which has its advantages – I haven’t run out of tea yet, for example. And there are plenty of books.” She pointed towards a grove nearby.

  It was then that I noticed. The trees in this garden weren’t just strange, they were impossible. They bore books as fruit and pages as leaves.

  “I hope it doesn’t trouble you to know that the content of the books seems to come from your memories, Helian. I had a lot of time on my hands, and I got very bored, so I had no choice but to read.”

  “Why are my memories in these books? What’s going on here?”

  “Ah, I skipped over the most important part. This is your sanctuary, Helian. So, it’s only natural that the words inside it belong to you, isn’t it? Hopefully this also addresses your earlier question. In a manner of speaking, you’ve been here all along… though you only began to reside here quite recently, and you’ve been asleep until now. I thought it wise not to wake you too early.”

  “Why are you in my sanctuary? You’re dead!”

  She smiled, and her pitch-black eyes twinkled. “Part of me will always be by your side, remember? Though I didn’t really understand what that meant until recently.”

  No matter where I looked, I couldn’t see an exit. How could an outsider come into my sanctuary when it has no doors? I needed to find a way out, so I could go back.

  “You don’t need to panic, Helian. This place isn’t real, remember? You can’t get hurt here. Though I suppose some amount of concern is merited, since you shouldn’t really be in here, and should be outside instead. Everyone is waiting for you to return.”