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But my gut told me something was amiss.

Was he thinking of how he’d betrayed Leo, too?

The house was silent as I slipped into the hallway, just in time to hear the front door close softly.

He was going outside . . . in the rain.

I followed, sneaking out the way he went, the night sky dark, save for the tiniest bit of moonlight.

I could just make out his silhouette as he crossed the yard, heading past the coop, into the hills.

I remained at a distance, not wanting to expose myself. My heart hammering in my ears.

Maybe he was going to check on my father’s troops again. I hadn’t noticed where the nearest outpost was since I’d been here, too preoccupied with thoughts of my trials and spending time with my parents. But a late-night check-in with soldiers wasn’t unusual, right?

Wrong. That was completely unusual.

Adrian crossed over the top of a hill, descending the other side.

I paused, giving myself more distance, and considered turning around and going back to the manor. Whatever he was doing was none of my business.

But my lips had just been on his. If it wasn’t my business before, it was now. Or so I told myself as I walked up the hill, careful not to slip on the wet grass.

Reaching the top, I ducked down low, searching for Adrian in the valley below.

But what I saw next made me nearly pass out.

Adrian stood at the bottom of the hill, surrounded by the empty grasses. The rain falling steadily around him.

But in front of him, the countryside had been replaced with a wall of black, nearly five times larger than his body. And at its center, the colors of space blurred. A portal opening in the middle of the hills. No waterfall to be found.

Beyond the portal’s entrance, a world of jagged black rock and deep-purple skies grew larger as the portal connected to its destination.

Distant volcanoes erupted with molten lava of neon purple, the stench of rotting eggs carrying to me on the night wind.

This was the place the Decodons were coming from.

A different Earth than those composed of blues and greens, skies and land.

This was Earth Ten.

And it felt wrong.

Adrian stepped closer toward the toxic wasteland, and the night air writhed around him. His hands alighting with purple flame.

I jerked backward, a cry escaping me as my feet slipped out from under me, and I slammed into the wet ground.

Adrian turned the full force of his attention on me, a loud crack of magic emitting from him as the portal began to close. His glowing eyes that met mine were purple and full of rage.

I ran.

Like a demon set free from the gates of hell, I fucking ran.

I knew he chased me, and I ran harder, knowing I didn’t have a lot of time before he was on me.

Instinct had me fleeing in the direction I had taken with my mother, my feet slipping as I ran. But I kept pushing. I wouldn’t stop until I felt the magic of the rock formation.

I had to get there before he got to me.