“Get us out of here, Kit!” Ronnie yelled behindme.
Snapping out of my trance, I pivoted and ran to where my best friend was holding the line. I peered out into the mass of grunts and saw Maxine screaming as she sliced into them with a large battlesword.
“She’s fearless,” I remarked. The grunts were creepy-looking. They didn’t have feet, so they sort of floated along the ground, their skin translucent and flapping in the wind. From the neck up they looked exactly like the sentries. The only good thing was that they didn’t wear armor and were easier tokill.
Ronnie shook her head, shooting another ghoul as it approached. “She’s crazy. Can you wake usup?”
I nodded. “Give me aminute.”
Santiago had just thrown a sticky bomb at a cluster of advancing ghouls. His men were out there with Maxine tearing shit up. “I’m going to wake us up! Are you guys at your house? I’ll call your house phone,” I screamed athim.
He nodded, giving me a thumbs-up without turning his attention from the war beforeus.
I backed into the safety of the pod orchard and found Josephine with her hands around Jeremey’s ears as he rocked back and forth. Damien and Mr. Hansen were standing over him, guns drawn, ready to defendhim.
“I’m going to wake us up,” I told them, and theynodded.
I sat down in lotus position and closed my eyes almost fully, allowing only the smallest amount of visual perception to be seen under my lashes. Taking in a deep breath, I expanded my awareness. I could feel Damien’s strong energy signature off to my right, then Brisk’s, Nox’s. Everyone’s energy had a vibration that I could read and interpret, but I needed to leave this world and send my awareness back home. Somewhere in Beverly Hills was my duplicate body, lying in a bed, and Tatum wasthere.
The spiritual fanatics said the ghouls had the ability to latch on to our astral bodies and use our cellular DNA to reconstruct our human form for feeding purposes. I didn’t really care how it worked, I just needed to follow that trail that brought me here to get back toTatum.
My breathing deepened as I completely let go and followed that vibrational energy signature that was unique only to myself. My vibration was a high buzzing, like a powerline, and when I thought about it, I always saw the color blue. I felt that unique frequency now and followed it like a trail through the universe until it brought me to my body. I filtered through the vibrations in the room until I found Tatum. Interestingly, Damien’s was thestrongest.
When I felt Tatum’s frantic electric high buzzing energy, I pushed a thought.‘Wake us up! We’re under attack!’I mentallyshouted.
I knew the moment she’d received the message because her energy burst out in a high arc and then shrank in with herfear.
My eyes snapped open and I screamed. “Emilia!”
A sentry was running right forher.
OhGod.
I stood to help when I felt the nausea roll into me. I was waking up. The ghouls didn’t want us to wake up, so whatever power they had over our consciousness, they held as tight as possible, especially in a situation like this. Tatum would have to work really hard to wake us up. The nausea worsened, and I thought I was going to throw up. By the looks on my friends’ faces, they were feeling thesame.
The sentry was almost to Emilia when my body began to disappear. It was like watching a human body deconstruct. Little droplets of blood and pixelated chunks of flesh started to separate and vanish, then my legs and then… I was nothing. Floating along the abyss in a weird half-asleep, half-awake state. This was the most terrifying part for me. I always feared I would be stuck this way forever, not awake on Earth but nonexistent here, just a conscious floating thought. It must’ve been what coma patients feltlike.
Suddenly I slammed into my body, a hard smack to my face making my cheeksting.
My eyelids flewopen.
“Emilia!” Iscreamed.
Please, universe, don’t let that sweet girl die on mywatch.
Chapter Five
Itoreoff the bed as Tatum reared back. Everyone was waking up around me. I still felt that nausea, but I had to get to myphone.
Rifling through my backpack, I pulled it out and dialedSantiago.
“Pick up, pick up,” I chanted as it rang. That freaking sentry was gunning for Emilia. He would try his hardest to hold them in the DreamWars.
It went to voicemail.
“Shit!” I screamed, hanging up and then dialingagain.
Damien leapt off the bed and grabbed his laptop. “What’s hisaddress?”
