I shrugged. “I understand how you all came to be so close, to mean so much to each other. You understand the others, because you each bear the burden of being a leader in your world. It’s a lonely job at the top. No one else could truly understand.”
Chase sighed, rubbing a hand across the shorter parts of his hair, moving the braids around so they clinked together. “I would have been lost without them. There is no denying it. I just wish we saw each other more.”
No doubt running different sections of Overworld kept them all busy. “At least you can sit together at school now.”
His smile was breathtaking. I had to blink a few times to clear my head. He was lethal to women everywhere, that was for sure. I also admired his strength and tranquil demeanor. But my heart was already spoken for, so he only rocked me a little. Whatever woman fell in love with him, she would probably forget her own name whenever he spoke.
With a bit of luck, I’d be around to see that.
A lot of Leights from this village were already seated. Apparently, it was food time for everyone. Just when we were about to drop into a spare corner of the rock area, a Leights ran up to Chase. He looked young, with very dark eyes and hair. He held out a hand and in it was a yellowed piece of parchment.
Chase took a moment to read it. My gaze immediately went to Emma. She was so still, staring at him, no doubt mentally urging him to hurry up. I switched my focus back to the Leights overlord, holding my breath as I waited to hear the news. Was this about Daniel and the others? Or completely unrelated news?
“Come on,” Star said with urgency. “Tell us, are they okay?”
Chase waited a few more beats, before he snapped to attention. “The network is hard to connect with here, but they got a message through. We need to head back to the central transporter. Lexen wants us to return there immediately.”
Emma leapt forward, clutching his arm tightly. “He’s okay, right? Tell me that he’s not hurt.”
Chase patted her shoulder and she shuddered like she was trying to keep herself together. “He seems fine. It sounds urgent, but not life-threatening.”
Emma sagged forward, and he caught her. I heard her murmuringThank Godover and over. I was just opening my mouth to ask about Daniel when Chase caught my eye. “According to this message, everyone appears to be okay at the moment, but we should move now.”
He straightened, wearing his calm warrior face. There was something so reassuring about him, just like Daniel. The four overlord minors were so confident that it felt like they could handle anything that was thrown at them.
“Are you sure?” Marsil didn’t seem quite as sure. “What if it’s a trap?”
Chase nodded. “We have to consider the possibility that it might be. We’ll be cautious. No one will leave the protective embrace of the Galinta until we know for sure this is a true message.”
We all agreed to this plan, and as excitement bubbled up inside of me, I had to acknowledge that it was seeing Daniel again that had me in this state.
“You’re a goner,” Emma said with a laugh. “I recognize that expression. And literally, the only reason you could get me to walk through the trees again today was if Lexen was waiting for me at the end. That’s love, my friend.”
We fist bumped it out, because the girl was so right. We were goners.
The journey back seemed faster.I got a good rhythm going with the branches, although I still had nothing on Chase. He was a ninja, silently moving through the trees. Star was fine; she didn’t even seem remotely tired. Marsil was practically carrying Emma by the time we reached the end, which was barred off by a bunch of leaves and branches. Through a few gaps I caught sight of the metal platform and the glowing transporter, but it was hard to see much else through the tiny spaces of the Galinta. It was getting late in the night as well, so it was only the light of the transporter illuminating the area.
Chase and Marsil were tall enough to see over the top of Emma and me, so we were all huddled closer together. Star stood back.
“I can’t see anyone,” I whispered, tilting my head to a new angle to see near the Royale area. Nothing there either.
Marsil shifted around. “I can connect better to the network here. Leights have very limited access. Let me see if there is anything obvious happening.”
He didn’t close his eyes, or touch anything, he just went very still and I could see that he was far away. His gaze unfocused … shifting off to the side of my head. After about two minutes of tense silence, he jolted minutely and then blinked. “I can’t see anything amiss. There are no signs of unauthorized travel. No other messages waiting for me.”
Chase squared his broad shoulders. “I’m going out to check the area. You all wait here.”
Marsil raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” he said. “We can go together.”
Chase shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He turned to us. “Are you okay with staying here? I don’t mean to treat you as weak or less. Women are warriors as well, but in this case Emma and Callie are very important, so more caution must be taken.”
I hugged him; he was good people. He returned my hug, a burst of warmth branding me before I pulled away.
“Thank you,” I said. “I can only speak for myself, but I’m okay with this. You know this world better than me.”
I might have powers now, but I was still a newbie in Overworld.
“Cool with me, too,” Emma said with a smile. “I’m deathly afraid of dying a gruesome death.”
