Her face is blurred, but I can make out details of her Woozy costume. She doesn’t seem to hear me. Heat blankets my face and neck as I hurry forward. I don’t know if this is a trick or if it’s real, but I have to believe she’s really in there. And I have to do something.
“Arial!”
Suddenly, I’m pulled from behind. Maneshha slams me to the ground, raises a fist and attempts to pummel me but I roll to my side. Her hand drives into the rocky ground. Scrambling to my feet, I spy Gam and my heart lurches to my throat.
He’s gray. All the glorious whiteness of his smooth scales has turned a sickly shade of gray.
“Are you going to watch him die?”
Maneshha signals to someone behind her. Risking a glance, I see a line of men come from the darkness. They appear in rows, one, two, three… so many. And then I realize what’s happening.
The energy isn’t coming off me to support the portal. It’s my phone. As long as she has my phone, she can keep feeding it.
She’s going to raid Earth.
The aliens keep appearing. A hundred of them, maybe more. Christ, is it her entire tribe?
My gaze flies to Gam again. What did she mean, die?
“He’s too weak to support the portal. He’ll never survive to keep it open for us, but that doesn’t matter. This will do.”
She waves my phone again. “I don’t need him anymore. Say goodbye to Gam, oh, and your home world. Oh, and Gam, I still want my ship ready by the time I get back.”
The portal wavers. Gam falls onto one hip, his arms lowering. Despite his movements, the portal remains open. The beam from my phone still connected. She’s right. If she has my phone, the portal remains open.
His body trembles violently and somehow, I know the protective air around him has dissipated. Rushing to his side, I fall to my knees and take his shoulders. He’s so massive; I can’t properly sit him upright and he’s too weak to help me. The grayness slowly rolls up his body. The light at the ends of his hair dies and his bigger-than-life presence feels smaller.
“Gam, no. Why didn’t you tell me this would kill you?”
“Go. Home. Get in and I will close it. Hurry, Fern.” His voice is so low that I can barely hear him. “Go. Home. I will close it.”
“You must stop, or you’ll die. Stop this now.”
The energy still flows from his hands to the portal.
“I will die if it means you get home.”
“No! Stop, please, stop. I need you. The King and the baby need you. Don’t do this.”
Looking over my shoulder, I search for Arial. Her shape is still there, suspended inside the portal. Maneshha is moving closer while speaking to her men. They begin to line up in single file.
“I have to get my phone. Listen to me, Gam. Listen.”
His eyes fade to black. A weak, faded sprinkle of starlight comes to them. My tears fall on his chest.
“I must close it. Fern, go. I can’t hold it any longer.”
This is my chance to go home! I could rush inside with Arial and Gam will close it before Maneshha can get inside. It will take every piece of him to fight the energy from my phone to close it. He won’t survive. I know he said it, but I feel that it’s true. I feel it in every nerve in my body.
“I can’t go!”
“Fern, you are my hearts.”
I can’t. I can’t do this. Dipping my head to his shoulder, I try and pull myself together when I hear his barely audible voice.
“I will send Maneshha to the dark dimension. Get her inside.”
“There’s another human inside the portal. She must have followed me and got stuck. Send her back. Can you do both?”
