The feeling of falling was incredible.  Anni couldn't say if the feeling was because of whatever the Ghost Girl was doing to transport them or because of the tremendous rush of emotion and adrenaline as the train thundered toward and finally through her.  Either way, for one dizzying moment Anni felt like she was falling--through space, through time, maybe even through the veil that held the Earth away from the mystical.  Then her back was on solid ground.  Her head continued swimming for a few moments more, but that, too, cleared quickly.

Anni opened her eyes.

Bright colors--vivid, verdant, vivacious--flooded her vision.  Anni sat bolt upright, her eyes wide, and started turning her head each way--right, then left, then back again.  Everything--from the grass, to the trees, to the sky, and yes, even the dirt--seemed so [I]alive[/I].  It was the polar opposite of the grim, poorly lit station they had just left.  No, far from that place of fear and death, this place was filled with life.

A wonderful, bubbly feeling gathered in Anni's chest.  It flowed down through her legs and floated up into her head, until finally it burst out of her in a joyous, gleeful laugh.  The young lady couldn't have stifled it even if she tried.  Moments ago she was holding her skirts against a bleeding cop in the face of an oncoming train; now she was sitting in the promised world, very much not dead.  It was like an answer to prayer, a witness after her faith.

The Ghost Girl spoke the truth.  They were here.  They were in Irriss.

Anni's eyes moved from flower to flower, then from flower to tree, then tree to grass, and from the grass to--people.  Everyone was here.  Not everyone was smiling and laughing like a child, though.  Remembering the police officer, Anni spun around until she spotted him just a few strides away.  She pushed herself toward him, half crawling and half jumping to reach him as quickly as she could.  [color=ff4500]"Officer!"[/color] Anni called gently, kneeling at his side once again.  [color=ff4500]"Officer..."[/color] Anni paused trying to remember the name he had used.  She couldn't find it; too much was crowding her thoughts, and she struggled with people's names even without the swirling chaos.  [color=ff4500]"...Sir?"[/color] she finished, simply for the sake of having a finish.