Silence.
More silence.
Tons of awkward silence.
Jeremy stood. “Then we use Kit’s powers to tap into the entire ghoul hive mind and lure them all with the beacon before blowing them all up with a nuclear bomb. But that option will probably kill Kit.”
Damien’s voice was laced with mild anger. “That’s not an option, buddy.”
President Buckley nodded. “Agreed. Let’s hope plan A works.”
Ronnie stood and eyed President Buckley. “She needs to rest for twenty-four hours before we attempt anything.”
The president nodded. “This time tomorrow, we will commence with plan A. Let me know if you need anything. Until then, I will be fighting fires and having more soldiers shipped in.”
We all nodded.
Twenty-four hours. I had twenty-four hours to prepare for the end of the world…
Or the beginning.
* * *
I called my mom,Tatum, Santiago, anyone I could think of to say goodbye. I didn’t technically say goodbye, but I called to hear their voice one last time in case I didn’t make it through this. I’d lain around with Damien for a few hours, talking about future plans and dreaming of a life we might never have. Jeremy came and went, taking readings from the helmet he’d placed on my head.
But my last ten hours had been the most challenging. Those had been spent with Master Aki trying to talk and meditate my way through what I was going to do. We both agreed that I should not attempt anything mentally in practice. I should reserve all of my strength for the big moment, but that also made it hard for me to believe in myself, believe I would be able to do something I barely understood, when the time came.
The game changer would be killing off the breeders. Now that we knew that the Dream War was controlled and kept at bay by the breeders, we could expose a weakness. The only thing was I had no idea how many breeders the Dream War contained or how many were needed to keep it going. Now that the last of their ships had landed with their scouts, it was the perfect time to hit and end them.
The only thing left to do was have a talk with Dawn. She was my only source of inside information. I walked around the lake to where the Galadrias were being kept and smiled a little inside at the island idea. Damien had already found a suitable island and was sending his real estate agent there now. President Buckley had gone on live TV to announce our deal as well. If I died today, I knew that these gentle creatures would be taken care of, and that put my mind at ease. As I walked, I passed a horse type of trough filled with the green stuff and made my way over to my longtime friend.
Dawn stood.‘Kit is ready?’Her wings were still weak but she insisted on being there with me to the end. We still had about an hour before we were leaving, and I wanted to spend some of that time with her.
I nodded.‘Can Dawn tell Kit anything else about breeders? How many breeders does it take to create Dream War world?’
If I could learn anything else from her to help me understand how they worked, it might turn the tide in our favor. Dawn seemed to think about this and I knew she was accessing knowledge from her entire hive mind.‘Many. When we land on new planet, every Breeder uses power to tether the two worlds together.’
That was what I thought and was good news for our plan.‘Do you think if we kill enough breeders, the Dream War will fall?’
Dawn was silent.‘Dawn wants to tell Kit something, but Dawn doesn’t.’
My brow furrowed and I cocked my head to the side.‘I’m confused.’
Dawn shifted on her feet nervously.‘Dawn has information that can help Kit end Dream Wars but has been keeping it from Kit because… Dawn sees Kit die if she does.’
A stone sank in my stomach. Part of me didn’t want to press her for information, the selfish part of me that didn’t want to die. But then I thought of Tatum, Maxine, everyone else who would live on in peace if I could just end this thing.
‘Dawn, you have to tell me. No matter what.’I held her gaze and reached out to stroke her neck.
She was quiet for a while.
Finally she spoke:‘Not all breeders are the same. There is a special one, like humans would call a queen. Kill queen breeder and then Kit can destroy Dream War.’
Holy fuck. Did she just say they had a queen? The world tilted on its axis.‘Dawn, why didn’t you tell me this before?’
Anger laced my tone and she avoided my gaze.
‘Dawn see’s Kit’s future.’She nuzzled my belly.‘Every time Dawn tells Kit about Queen Breeder, someone dies. Usually Kit.’
