“Let’s find Rez. She shouldn’t be too far,” Chester suggests, and I nod, pulling out my phone. At least we decided to bring them just in case we lost each other. I open it only to find the service is out.
Well that wasn’t planned.
“Babe, the portal didn’t spit us out at the normal place,” I confess. He pushes up his glasses with his middle finger.
“Well, even though I hate the side effect, maybe we should go back through it and try again,” he says, turning to look at the portal.
I hate the idea but I have to agree with him. Rez wouldn’t have just left without us, so maybe we can try it agai—
I turn to find nothing behind us, no portal, no trees, no boulders, just blackness.
“Do you still see that silver mist?” Chester asks as his shoulders slightly curl in.
Shit Bubbles! I guess I should have done that in the first place.
I do a quick spin around and see nothing but four pairs of glowing eyes in the bushes behind Chester.
“Nothing but glowing eyes,” I tensely say, swallowing the lump in my throat. A growl sounds out as Chester slowly turns and grabs my hand.
“Remember that up a tree plan?” his voice comes out shaky.
“Yeah.”
“It’s time to activate it,” he says and flings me in the air where I fly, fumbling more like it, to the nearest tree. I can’t really fly in this type of weather, but once I hit a tree limb, I hold on for dear life and watch as Chester quickly strips, changing into his Lemur form right as a shadow separates from the bush.
“NO! Chester, run!” I scream, praying he can hear me over the storm.
The flash of lightning highlights pearlescent scales, shining a sickly green on the black shadows and my stomach drops. I don’t need to see the rest of the beast to know we’re screwed if Chester can’t get up the tree.
Fericrocs are here, and if they’re here, a Demon is close by. I never thought I’d see one in person. We learned about them in class, they’re a butt ugly cross between a Hellhound with their legs and tail, but their body is armored, like a crocodile’s body with their long snouts on a wolf’s head. Either way, the only way for us to survive is to stay away from them, and our ability to gain height is the only way to do it.
A growl rumbles out before one darts out of another bush and snaps at Chester’s back leg just as he leaps for the base of the tree. Emotions begin swirling around in my body as the pressure builds.
No, this isn’t the time to boom. I could hurt Chester, or throw him off and into one of the monsters.
My body shakes as I try to control the force and wrap my body around the tree limb tighter as my tail drapes around another limb for extra support and the rain continues to pound the woods. Chester’s claws find purchase along the trunk right as one of the Fericrocs jumps high enough to reach him and that’s all it takes for me to lose control.
My back arches as wave after wave of energy flies out of me on a scream that’s lost in the downpour and the monsters get thrown back into the shadows, but I suddenly find myself slipping off the limb, too weak to hold on. I watch as Chester’s eyes go wide as I start to fall from the tree. My flying Lemur jumps off the trunk, shifting in mid-flight to yell, “I got you, Moni.”
The last thing I feel is his body slamming into mine and him whispering, “I’m getting us home,” before it's lights out for me.
ChapterFifty-Three
THE HANGING DECÓR
Rez
Where the hell are Moni and Chester?
It’s not like them to just leave me hanging. Turning around, I poke my hand through the portal but as soon as I do, it disappears and I’m left seeing my hand as clear as the storm will let me.
Fuck!
I pull out my phone to find Moni’s number and realize there’s no signal.
Double Fuck Nuts. This is not my night. Knowing there’s nothing I can do about it except continue on, I pocket my phone and turn to find the silver mist again to follow it. One thing that will make this night better is if I can at least find Lynx. Hell, even if I can find where he’s at, I might be able to get help and send for the cavalry or something.
I must admit, I didn’t think this through, but like I told Knots, if we need help, we’ll ask for it and hopefully he can summon the guys or the council for us.
