“The book?”I mumbled.
But she didn’t have a chance to answer.
Red light snapped on and flooded the room, a klaxon shattering the air.
“Breach!”Elmer’s voice echoed down the hallway.“We’ve been breached.”
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Someone had killed the klaxon, but the control room was still flooded with red light.
I’d thrown on a shirt, pants, and shoes, as had Lula.Everyone was gathered in the smaller room with the security screens, scanning for the danger.
“Can you tell which ward was tripped?”Card asked.He had pulled on a hoodie that smothered the tattoos on his skin, though the stone and wood amulet hanging from a cord around his neck glowed a deep green.
“East,” Elmer pointed at a screen which showed nothing but sand, rocks, and black sky.
“Did you see what tripped it?”Lula asked.
Pamela sat at the desk below the screens.She tapped keys and one of the screens went blank, then snapped back to life.
“This is right before the alarm went off.”
I leaned forward trying to make out anything on the screen.
But there was nothing.No movement whatsoever.
“I don’t—” I started.
The screen flashed white, then crackled with static and went dead.
“Well, shit,” Elmer said.“Power, not form.”
“Power?”I asked.“God power?”
Card shook his head, then stopped.“Maybe.I’ll go out and see.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Josie said.“This here,” she pointed at our feet.“Secure.Out there you’d just get picked off or used as a hostage.We stay in the fortress to defend the fortress and everyone in it.Understand?No heroes.”
“All right,” Card said.“Then how do we find out what’s out there?”
“Maybe we don’t?”Abbi said.“If we’re quiet, maybe it will just leave?”
I put my hand on her shoulder, and she leaned into my leg.She was a powerful deity and very brave, but she was also the first to choose flight or hiding as a survival tactic.
“We sent a scout,” Elmer said.
“What happened to stay in the fortress to defend the fortress?”Card asked.
“Scout was already out there,” Pamela said.“We should be hearing from it soon.”
Lu shifted her stance, hands falling on the hilts of her daggers.Lorde stood next to her, panting and silent, her furry ears pricked up into triangles.
Even Hado had shifted from his little kitten form into the shape of a large black panther silently pacing the room behind us.
Time ticked by while we watched the screens.
Pamela pointed.“All right.Scout’s coming this way.”
