Every. Single. Galadria was still in the sky and waiting for us. Every single one. It was like they had made a promise not to land without us. A blur of pink flew right under me and I spread my arms and legs trying to slow my fall and maximize my ability to grab on to her. I crashed onto her back and she yelped but I hung on. Looking over, I saw Damien do the same to a blue Galadria that had gone for him. And a purple one had gone for our injured friend, spreading her wings wide so that she could catch him.
We made it. And by the looks of it, we were near a lake. There were trees for miles and miles and a huge blue lake. Mercifully, no big speedboats could be seen in it, but I thought I spotted a few smaller kayaks.
“Let’s get down into the water and rinse this shit off, stop it from causing more damage!” Ronnie shouted from her place on the Galadria.
‘Everyone lower into the clear blue. It’s… water… like birthing pool.’
I mean… it wasn’t as awesome and healing as the birthing pool, but I didn’t want them to fear it.
In unison, the hundreds of colored shapes lowered from the sky and settled over the lake of what I now recognized as the Pacific Northwest. I knew that was Mount Hood in the distance from a time we did a military drill there. We were in Oregon.
As we got closer to the surface of the lake, my human team leapt off the backs of the Galadrias and into the water. The two people in kayaks I’d seen earlier sat there, oars in hand, mouths gaping open.
“They’re friendly!” is all I could think to say before diving into the water after Damien. I knew just about every citizen was armed with guns in this day and age and I didn’t want an issue. Underwater, I rubbed at my skin and hissed as I felt the blisters.
“Don’t rub! Just tap lightly,” Ronnie shouted as I broke the surface. Jeremy mercifully seemed unharmed. He must have been inside a cave and then gotten out quickly, because he was standing on the shoreline rocking back and forth with Josephine before him. I submerged my hair and face, blotting lightly to get the acid diluted, wanting to weep in relief as the welts stopped burning. By the time I broke the surface, I saw that all the Galadrias were submerged too.
‘Dawn likes clear blue,’she told me,‘Dawn likes Earth. Is like big Skyhome.’She was right, Earth was like a giant Skyhome, and I swam over to inspect her wounds.
Tears rolled down my face.‘Thank you for waiting for me.’
‘Always,’she said into my mind, and nuzzled my chest lightly.
‘Kit…?’Her voice suddenly sounded worried.
I knew they didn’t have any food, and I was going to work on that.
‘I’ll see if I can get you guys some kind of food—’
‘Humans are mad,’was all she said, and I spun around to see a couple dozen campers at the edge of the lake, guns drawn.
Shit.
“Stop!” I shouted. “Don’t shoot!” Swimming like a madwoman, no matter how much it hurt, I paddled to the edge of the water where they stood.
“I’m a—” I couldn’t even get a word out when one of the men looked at me and gasped.
“It’s that freaky chick from the video! She’s friends with these monsters.”
Oh God. That freckle-faced little shit. I’d forgotten about him. Pulling myself up out of the water, I opened my palms.
“Yes. I am the one from the video. When the Dream Wars started… years ago… I obtained special… powers.”
Oh God, was I really doing this?
Master Aki popped up beside me and nodded.
I am.
They were watching me with cautious but curious gazes.
“I can speak into the minds of the Galadrias. They are gentle creatures and do not align with the ghouls.”
A man holding an assault rifle spat at my feet. “Bullshit. They’re aliens and now you’ve brought them to our world. Are you crazy?” He seemed to just now notice the blisters on my arms for the first time. His eyes roamed over them.
I pressed: “How many stories have you heard where these creatures have hurt anyone?”
Shame colored each and every one of their faces, because they knew I was right. A Galadria never hurt humans; they were always trying to help.
