Autumn regretfully put the guitar back on its stand. She had never experienced such a sense of connection in her life as when she was playing guitar. If she would have known it was so easy to learn, she would have started playing long ago. A part of her suspected that it wasn't so easy to learn without the presence of Heidi nearby. Whatever Heidi had done to her had left her clearer headed than she had ever been. It was like everything just made sense, and all of the hidden points of logic in a darkened room had been illuminated with a flashlight, making it simple to connect the dots.
"Is your mother home today?" Heidi asked as they prepared to leave.
"No, she's at Fort Bragg today," Autumn replied, waving to a watchful Miss Devons as they left the room.
"How about you come over to my house for dinner?" Heidi suggested thoughtfully.
"Okay," Autumn nodded with more confidence than she felt.
Heidi seemed lost in thought as she led the way to her house. Autumn felt a cold chill as Heidi led her through an old cemetery. She wasn't superstitious, but it felt weird to walk over the top of decades, or even centuries old corpses.
"What's the matter?" Heidi asked curiously, obviously noticing her discomfort.
Autumn met Heidi's penetrating gaze and shrugged awkwardly. "Doesn't it seem disrespectful to walk over the top of dead people?"
Heidi blinked, then looked around at the gravestones around them. "Oh. No, they don't mind. There aren't even echoes left here. It's too far from any grid lines."
"Grid lines?" Autumn repeated uncertainly.
"Lines of energy that bind the planet to three-dimensional space," Heidi explained calmly. "Without grid lines, the planet would snap back into two-dimensional space."
"Oh," Autumn thought for a moment. "Why not one-dimensional space?"
"Because there is no space in one dimension," Heidi replied with a tilt of her head, as if the answer should be obvious.
"Oh," Autumn said again, her cheeks reddening slightly. "So there are echoes of dead people near grid lines?"
Autumn was suddenly aware that she had Heidi's full attention, and it was not a comfortable experience. Heidi's soft brown eyes were flooded with an overpowering presence that made Autumn feel like an insect. This must be what it felt like to have a god look at you. There was so much power and wisdom in Heidi's eyes that Autumn wanted to find a rock to hide under, in case the vast presence accidentally squashed her with an errant thought.
"The force that powers human consciousness retains form after the host stops functioning," Heidi explained, her eyes almost glowing with life-force. "That form dissipates rapidly when a host is not near a grid line. A grid line acts as a gravitational depression that draws remnants of conscious form into the grid line stream. There, the former host's consciousness will remain anchored in its previous form as the planet's grid line reinforces it with nourishment."
"So it just stays there forever?" Autumn whispered in horror.
"Some do," Heidi nodded, frowning slightly. "In the past, most cultures knew that only trained initiates were to be interred near grid lines. Unfortunately, that knowledge was lost throughout the dark ages. Some of these unfortunate and ignorant souls go mad and manifest as haunted areas to the contemporary human. They don't know where they are or how to navigate the dark waters in which they find themselves. It's a myopic nightmare of incomprehensible sensation and confusion."
Autumn wanted to continue questioning her, but they had already reached Heidi's home. The superhuman presence left Heidi's eyes, replaced by a gaze that was merely unsettling.
"Let me introduce you to my parents," Heidi told her with a smile.
Autumn nodded, her palms suddenly covered in sweat.