I was shocked by the phrase. It was a human one, rooted in Catholicism, if my memory served mewell.
‘And with you,’Isaid.
Maybe good manners and well wishes crossed all worlds andlanguages.
It was a nicethought.
Eighteen
We flew for hours,which felt like days in the muggy and dark Dream Wars. We were out of water and food, and I really needed this portal thing to work. If I opened it when we landed and saw water, I was going to cry. We’d gone a little farther than we intended, because we’d seen a giant where we wanted to land. Now we were finally making our descent, and I was trying my hardest to calm my mind and not panic. Damien’s arm looked okay, but the edges of the staples were reddening. I’d feel better once we had him on antibiotics and some painkillers. He wasn’t complaining, but I knew he must’ve been in a ton ofpain.
‘That spot looks good.’I pointed to an open area for landing that was surrounded by pod trees. Damien’s tracker wasn’t on him, so we’d just have to wing it but from my vantage point, I couldn’t see any ghouls, atleast.
Our troop of Galadrias landed gracefully and we dismounted. I spent time saying goodbye to each one, thanking them for saving us, and for the long flight. Finally, I told Dawn that I would see her soon, and said goodbye to her aswell.
‘Small man has gift too,’Dawn said as her eyes flicked to MasterAki.
How does she know these things?‘Yeah… he can see things like you do, I guess.’I rubbed my arms uncomfortably. She nodded as if that now made perfect sense. I stroked the skin along her neck.‘Thank you for everything, Dawn. You’ve always been there for me, and I appreciateit.’
She nuzzled my arm, careful of my broken rib.‘Dawn lovesKit.’
Emotions tightened in my chest. It was the first time I’d ever heard the Galadrias even speak about love, and the first time Dawn had ever been so affectionate to me. Tears moistened my eyes.‘Kit loves Dawn as well, and all of theGaladrias.’
I patted her back and then stepped away from her as she lifted off to the skies with a smile. I was so deeply honored that she trusted me enough to bring me, and my friends, to her skyhome.
“Let’s get home,” Master Aki said from besideme.
Right.
Standing with my feet shoulder-width apart, I started taking deep breaths and focusing on the task before me. I was worried about Jeremy and Ronnie, and how the hell we were going to get Jeremy a pet lizard. But I cast all of those fears aside and focused on sensing the dimensions before me, feeling for that separation, that heaviness. Then I tucked my awareness aroundit.
‘Open,’I thought, and pushed the feeling of something opening, the visualization of it into the space before me. I grinned as a tiny peephole opened into a heavily wooded forest. “Look out!” Nox shouted, and I spun to see a breeder running through the pod trees, coming right for me. Panic gripped me. I did not want to be stuckthere.
Opening the portal wider behind me, I tried to remain calm and remembered the words Dawn once told me. She’d said something about the breeders’ inability to go into our world, that it made themsick.
I held my ground as she leaped for me. Damien and Nox were a blur in my peripherals, but I zoned them out. They wouldn’t make it intime.
When she was twelve inches from impacting with me, I threw myself backward and her body sailed over me. Once my back hit the ground, pain exploded in my ribs but I reacted instantly, kicking my strong legs up into her abdomen and launching her into the openportal.
She hissed, and then there was a thump as she hit the earth. Rolling on my side, I met her gaze, which was wide and terrified. She tried to stand, but something was happening to her skin—it was crackling and drying out. She was screeching like a dying cat, and then she started to shrivel, like all of the water in her body wasevaporating.
“Holy shit balls,” Brisk said as we watched her go from a plump sack of flesh, to a raisin creature, to a pile of crispy skin and ashes in under aminute.
“Oh my God,” Damien and Ichorused.
“Let’s go.” Master Aki grabbed my upper arm, and started hauling me through the opening. As the rest of the team walked in around me, all I could do was stare in wonder at the snakelike skin lying on thefloor.
They die when they’re exposed to our world.That was like a gold mine of information I didn’t yet know what to do with. I spun around, doing a quick head count, and then closed the portal. It was at that moment that I realized there were klaxons blaring in thebackground.
“What’s that noise?” I asked. It reminded me of tornadosirens.
We hiked through the sparse stretch of woods, passing no one on our way. Part of me wanted to take a picture of the breeder, to show others or just to stare at in wonder, but the sirens were morepressing.
“Where are we?” I asked, as they got louder. It was a long and low, sustained noise, not like the quick short-burst sirens of anambulance.
Damien shrugged. “We’re on Earth. That’s all thatmatters.”
As we broke through the tree line, a wide-open field came into view, and beyond that were rolling hills with houses dotting the landscape. When a large shadow passed over us and drew an oval on the floor, my heart stopped and I lookedup.
