“What?”I ask.
“You seek your brother.”
My eyebrows rise, and I spin around.I’m not in the forest, and nothing around me makes sense.When I stop, a person is standing before me.
Vikrum!
My brother has his eyes closed, and he looks exactly how he did all those years ago.“Vik…Vik!”I say.
I reach for him, but he grabs my wrist.When he opens his eyes, they’re inky black, filled with demonic energy.
“What…what?”
“I hear the unheard,” the voice in the sky says.“Now, with my gauntlet, complete the ritual.”
My hand burns, and I fall to my knees.This demonic version of Vikrum says nothing as he instills pain into my body.“Your brother will return.Use my gauntlet.”
“What?!”My brother’s face is so close to mine.I need him back in my life, but not like this.
“Use…it…”
I look around for the voice, but I see nothing.The next thing I realize, Vik pushes my chest with his other hand.The supernatural force launches me back several feet, and my back is dragged across the stony ground.
After blinking, I open my eyes to see an ordinary sunset sky.The trees around me remind me I’m in Louisiana.“Taz!Taz!”Luther appears above me with a panicked look on his handsome face.
“Wha…what?”I look up at my hands.One of my wrists was burning two seconds ago.I saw Vikrum…
“Are you okay?”
I clear my throat.“I gotta stop ending up on my back in front of you, Lulu.”Luther grins, and I continue, “Well, maybe not all the time.”
“Well, Taz is back,” Cleo says in an unimpressed tone in my ear.Luther helps me up, and Cleo continues, “You were out cold for a minute.What happened?”
“Not sure.”I dust off my back.Yards away, the cultist’s body lies in his blood.“Shit.That guy…”
“Dead,” Luther says.
“The rift?”
“Gone.”
“And the monster?”
Luther pats his pocket.“Secure.But how are you?”
“I’m basically okay.”I glance at my palms again.“I think I just need to sleep it off.Mission accomplished?”
“Well, we lost the gauntlet,” Luther says.He holds me close as we walk back.
“I theorize the cultist teleported it away.I’ll send a clean-up crew,” Cleo says.
“And we’re getting you home to rest,” Luther says.His tone leaves little room for argument, but his concern for me is touching.He squeezes my shoulder as we walk, and I want to cuddle into him.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I say, limping along.What a weird dream that was…
That night, the day’s events replay in my mind as I try to sleep in the comfort of my own bed.Once I start dreaming, an inhuman voice echoes through my mind.“You…will be heard.”
I shift in my sheets, and my wrist burns.
