He nodded again. “Yes, exactly like the school, and it’s also where Star gets her name.”
Our conversation dried up as the other Darkens approached us. They were all through the transporter now. Jero swept me up in a hug. “How was the trip across, angel face? Any turbulence?”
I smacked him on the arm. “Put me down, you weirdo.”
It was at that point my reality registered with me. Like actually registered. Despite myWizard of Ozthoughts before, I hadn’t quite comprehended the truth. Mostly because I was too busy focusing on Lexen. But I was not on Earth any longer.I was not on Earth…
As Jero set me on my feet, I spun around and sucked in a deep breath. The air was cool and crisp; my lungs seemed to expand more than I’d ever felt before; my head swam at the overload of oxygen. The platform they’d created for the transporter was high, almost like it was perched on a mountain, and stretched out below it, as far as I could see, was their world.
As I spun, more of Overworld came into focus. If I had to explain the layout, I’d call it segments, like gigantic slices of cake – three at least. A green, mountainous landscape was a segment to my right. It was the largest, taking up approximately twice as much space as the other two. It looked cold there, white topping many of the mountains.
The next segment was the smallest, but by no means was it actually small. The flat land was filled with billions of trees, spanning off into the distance, with almost no break at all in the forest. And the last was one continuous unbroken mass of water.
Marsil and Star stood on either side of me. “This is incredible,” I spluttered out. “But there are only three segments and four houses?”
A sneer from nearby drew all of our attention and I found myself staring at the Imperials, the same ones who had been in the hall that day. Jero had said they were from Laous’ side. “House of Imperial does not have to share their territory,” one of them said. “We have it all. We control you all.”
Say what? Where was their territory if they didn’t share?
Jero slung an arm around me, turning us away from them. No one bothered to reply and I could feel eyes burning into the back of my head.
“So where is their territory?” I whispered, unable to keep my curiosity any longer.
Jero leaned his head down. “Our transport should be here soon. We’ll talk more when we are back in our land.”
I stifled a sigh, forcing myself to simply enjoy this new experience. It was like I had stepped into one of my novels, the ones where the females who found themselves abducted by aliens usually fell for their captors and ended up with a happily-ever-after on some strange world.
I loved reading those stories, and so far living it was interesting, but I wasn’t sure I wanted the same ending. I was just hoping to find Sara and Michael and make it out alive.
More students from our school – everyone still in uniform – joined us as we moved toward the edge of the platform facing the mountains. I twisted my head, peeking out from under Jero’s arm. Looked like these were the House of Darken members. Kotar’s dark eyes flashed at me as our gazes met and I quickly looked away. At least fifty or more students were now through the portal, separated out, each standing in front of the territories. The Imperials were the only ones not moving, remaining right near the ball of light.
A swift breeze caught my attention, and since we were standing on the edge staring out into the stunning mountain world beyond, I had an uninterrupted view of what was coming for us.
Ohmyfreakinggods.Holy … sweet … baby … Jesus.
Two beasts rose into the air, their powerful wings sending gusts of air in our direction. Dragons. There were dragons here. Okay, most probably they called them another name, but they definitely resembled dragons.
I took a step back, followed by another and another, only halting when I slammed into a Daelighter who had been standing behind us. I spun to find an angry looking male, a few inches taller than me, with orange hair. Not ginger so much, but pumpkin orange.
“Watch where you’re going,grubber,” he growled.
A hand whipped out from over my head and smacked him in the face. I turned, expecting it to be Jero – Marsil was too gentle, and Lexen didn’t give a shit – but surprisingly enough it was Star.
“Don’t ever talk to her like that,” she snapped at him. “We’re no better than humans, just different.”
He sneered, reaching up to rub his jaw. I mentally gave her a high five. Nice work, girlfriend! There was a red print already forming across his cheek.
“She shouldn’t be here,” he tried again. “It’s bad enough we have to go to their world, but now we’re bringing grubbers back here. Where does it all end?”
Okay, sogrubberswas definitely some sort of mean slur for humans. Still, considering it was agrubberplanet which was keeping theirs alive, they could be a little more grateful.
“Enough.” That one word from Lexen finally shut orange-hair up.
His eyes shot daggers into me, but when he lifted them to the huge Darken there was nothing but blankness in his blue irises. “As you wish, Overlord.”
I blinked a few times, swinging my head up to Lexen, staring at him like he had two heads.Overlord?I had heard that before, when they were talking about their father.
I was distracted from this as another strong gust of wind slammed against me and I almost lost my footing. Marsil wrapped an arm around me, pulling me closer to him.
