“You’re proud of this?”
“I was till you took that tone.” Nick cleared his throat. “Xenia, crusher of ego, and slayer of Nick’s positive attitude.”
Before she could respond, a loud screech ripped through the air.
Nick ducked out of habit. “What the heck?”
“It’s the trees. They’re letting the others know that we’re invading.”
He wasn’t sure what to think about that. “How? How can they make that noise?”
“The wind moving through their leaves.”
Bubba glanced around. “Who are they reporting us to?”
“Most likely Grim.”
Xev screwed his face up. “I’m going to play Nick here for a moment and say that I don’t like the sounds ofmost likely. Who else could be around for them to summon?”
Xenia shrugged. “The dragon. Any number of demons. They could even be signaling Azura, Cyprian, or Noir. But most likely, it’s Grim.”
Nick stopped to stare at her. “You’re remarkably nonchalant. Should I ask why?”
“I prefer not to worry about things until they happen.”
“That’s crazy!” Nick couldn’t believe her laissez-faire attitude. “You need to prepare.”
“Why? If it doesn’t happen, I’ll have wasted all that time. And no matter how much I worry and plan, whatever happens will be something I never thought of. Haven’t you ever noticed? It’s always the thing you didn’t think of or see coming that hits you. Not the things you plan for.”
Nick opened his mouth to argue, then stopped.
Crap. She was right. It was always the weird thing he never thought of that brought him to his knees. Life never hit him with the things he worried about.
“Well … anyone else have anything they want to add?”
“We start cutting down trees so that they can’t tell on us?”
Nick laughed at Bubba’s suggestion. “I like where your head is, but I don’t think we have time for all that.”
“Pity.”
He agreed, but all they could do was head forward and hope for a miracle.
It seemed to take forever before they came up to a high stone wall. Like a sheer mountainside, it rose so high that Nick could barely see the top. Smooth as glass, there was no way to scale it.
“How to we get through this?”
Xenia touched the gray mortar. It shimmered.
What the …
“Remember, my grandfather wanted me to visit.” She tapped a square into the wall, then stepped through.
Kody went next, then Bubba and Xev. Nick followed and slammed against a solid surface.
Cursing, he rubbed his forehead that had hit the wall.
Before he could do anything else, an arm reached through the wall and yanked him through it.
