In one swift move, he chucked the sleeping bag to the side and picked up the sheet metal that Master Aki had been standing under. We ran side by side over to the youngling and tried to cover it best we could with the metal, while also keeping ourselves from getting hit too badly.
‘Galadria scared. Hurts,’he told me, and my heart pinched. I bent down, inspecting all the burned feathers and raw skin. Ronnie could fix this. Maybe…
‘I’m going to get you out of here. Can you fly?’Most of the younglings could hover at least.
He looked up at me sadly.‘Was born… broken. Can’t fly. Ever.’
That was enough to send me over the edge emotionally, but I tamped it down. This headache was rocking me hard, battering at the walls I was trying to erect.
“What’s going on with you?”
Damien must have noticed I was… off.
“Breeders…” was all I offered, then I crouched. “This Galadria can’t fly, so I’m going to open a portal and we are going to throw him on the piece of sheet metal, and then we jump through.”
Damien’s eye widened. “Jump through? And what?”
I didn’t tell him, but I’d tried to reach Dawn a few times since the portal closed, with no luck.
“And hope Dawn and friends are waiting to catch us.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “That’s a lot of trust you place in these creatures. I know you have known them a while but—”
“I’ve known Dawn since I was twelve years old, Damien. I’ve spoken into her mind, shared intimate things, for over a decade. You don’t know her like I do. She will be waiting for me.”
Dawn could be dying of blood loss right now, but I knew she’d still be airborne, waiting. I had to believe that. Nothing would pull her from making sure I was okay but her own death.
He sighed.
“Do you trust me, Damien? You don’t need to trust her, but do you trust me?” My calves were getting rained on and we needed to make a quick decision.
He didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely.”
I nodded. “Then let’s do this.”
The rain ramped up then, almost as if the breeders knew we were about to expose ourselves. Maybe they did, maybe she was in my head seeing what I was seeing. I wasn’t confident I‘d kept her out like I normally was. Taking a deep breath, I felt for those edges, the ones that tugged on my mind and signaled the parting of our two dimensions, then I ripped it wide, no longer caring to be slow or cautious. My fucking body was on fire and my head was going to explode. The second I saw the blue sky of Earth, I threw down the sheet metal and Damien and I started to heave the injured Galadria on top of it. Doing this, while in pain, while keeping the portal open, was hell, utter hell. My brain hurt, my body hurt, my soul hurt…
A wave of dizziness washed over me as Damien and I heaved the piece of sheet metal up, with the injured Galadria on it, and started to run.
Don’t pass out!I told myself. Not yet.
I just needed to get out of here and close the portal, then the breeders’ hold on my mind would be no more.
‘Kit comes back. Kit will die,’the breeders taunted.
I didn’t like threats.
‘When Kit comes back, you’re all going to die,’I promised, and then Damien and I jumped through an opening in the sky and started to fall.
‘Dawn! We’re falling!’I shouted.
I tried to hold on to the sheet metal and the Galadria, but it was no use; he slipped off and was on his own.
No!
‘I see Kit!’Dawn shouted as I looked down for the first time.
A sob formed in my throat.
