Dissident
Page 44
A vision of the powerful brilliant light encompassing her after she had syphoned the energy from all those beings in the market place flashed into her mind.
“We don’t need the gate, Ari,” Adam said to her, eyes glowing with power. “You’ve done it before.”
“I have…,” Ari said, trying to think past the brilliant flash of light, before there was nothing until waking up in that hospital.
“You don’t have much time, Ari. We have to get you to Absolem before it’s too late,” he warned. “Use the kodja, use me, use anything you have to, but it has to be now.”
Ari stood up, legs shaking. It’ll be like syphoning the Shades, she tried to convince herself. The kodja shouldn’t be here.
She nodded. “Okay. I can do this.”
“You can do this,” Adam echoed as he came up behind her.
“Hold on,” she instructed, “And don’t let go.”
He wrapped his arms around her, holding on and giving her strength.
“I have faith in you,” he whispered in her ear as she created a protective shield around him, before connecting to the kodja and pulling their life force into herself.
The familiar surge of ecstasy flowed through her body as she and Adam rose into the air with her increasing energy. The cave walls began breaking and crumbling with the force of it. This time there was no guilt holding her back. She was ridding the world of an alien invasive species. Pulling more and more of the kodja energy in, she took from everything within her reach, she needed all of it to make the intergalactic jump. When there was no more to take, she concentrated the energy and focused on opening a wormhole through space. Using everything she had, she called out to the Aethos, her mind only able to think of one destination.
Home.
Her world ignited in a brilliant blaze of light, burning through every atom until there was nothing left – only darkness.
Chapter 35
They were falling.
Adam curled around her unconscious body, as his eyes tried to adjust from the blinding light. Rain and fierce gusts of wind were buffeting them from every direction – tossing them like flotsam on the tide.
He managed to transform, slowing their descent with his massive wingspan, just before they hit the ground.
Sheltering Ari from the storm with his wings, he protected her for what seemed like hours, until the gale force winds finally died down and the rain stopped.
When he was sure the storm was over, Adam transformed back into a man and checked Ari for injuries. She was still unconscious from the colossal energy drain and heat seemed to radiate off her in waves. Her complexion was waxy and the skin under her eyes discolored with shadows. She looked so ill.
Checking for more manna, he found Mother Am’s pouch in her pocket. It was empty. They were all gone. She had eaten them all.
He had thought that she’d be strong enough for this, but she hadn’t taken from him as he’d told her too. She’d only taken from the inbred emaciated kodja, supplementing the rest with her own strength, and it had cost her dearly. Her body was breaking down too quickly. The last time she had made this kind of jump she’d ended up in a coma for five weeks. They didn’t have that kind of time. They needed to find Absolem now, before it was too late.
Looking at the windswept and overgrown ruins around them, Adam realized that they were at the bottom of a tiered pit, and he immediately knew that they hadn’t gone where they others had.
He felt his loss of strength from being so far from Earth – the seat of the human-Xjaamin’s power – like an ache in his core. He could still transform, which was good. But when he tried to make a portal, even a small one from one tier to another, nothing happened.
“C’mon, kid. I need you to wake up,” he urged her as worry roiled in his gut. “Where’d you take us? How do we get to Absolem?”
He tried reading her mind, but there was nothing, her body was in complete shutdown – trying to reserve what little vitality she had left.
With a wave of frustration, he cursed at the sky. I can’t lose her! I can’t fail at this!
Deciding to scout the area, Adam gently cradled Ari in his arms and stood up. But before he could take a step, a bone-chilling hiss sounded from the highest tier. He looked up to see a huge dragon-like lizard standing on its hind legs, stretching out to its full height and breadth, and gnashing its sharp teeth.
A low, female voice sounded right behind him as something sharp poked at his kidney. His body flinched as he internally berated himself for not realizing anyone was there, let alone that close.
Though he could not understand the actual words she was saying to him, his ability to read her thoughts and intent made her message perfectly clear: Give me the girl or die.