previous part: https://jordynsaelor.com/2026/02/06/hala/
all parts: https://jordynsaelor.com/cant-catch-me-now/
***
In the mountain
all rains fall the same,
to the water
every stream builds into rivers,
so they showed me
if I slipped into one
I could slip into them all
and I squeezed myself
into a thread of liquid
phasing through memories of moons
sliding past a sea god’s sight
into a raindrop,
and I
fell down
a pressure crushing me
in the dark
and froze
into something solid,
thrashed
to make sure I was real
then I swam
by old memories
marred into my bones
up to the surface.
I spluttered
in a cold lake,
wiped my eyes
under a sky hued green,
and shouted
just to make sure
the truth spell had no hold
away from the Dust Seas,
“It’s hot in here!
“It’s so boiling hot I might cook!”
And I laughed
at dumb Percy
and Mrflfip
and cried
at the voice in the water
who let me leave
but also,
under the crystal ripples
I knew my feet
weren’t quite feet anymore–
a price I’d agreed to pay
to leave
since I knew nothing about portals.
But at least
it hadn’t been a demon
asking me to eat them
for who knows what gain.
Slowly,
I paddled toward the plant-covered shore
and I’d never seen so much green before,
it spread like a carpet
into the treeline,
it shot up like arms from the ground,
it hung
off branches
and floated on the water
and I pushed through the algae and floating pillow shapes
so I could sprawl in the mud,
waves lapping the backs of my knees.
~~(to be continued)~~
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Jordyn Saelor 