by Leia Stone
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 them sick.
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 in time.
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 open portal.
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 was evaporating.
“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 a minute.
“Oh my God,” Damien and I chorused.
“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 the floor.
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 the background.
“What’s that noise?” I asked. It reminded me of tornado sirens.
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 more pressing.
“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 an ambulance.
Damien shrugged. “We’re on Earth. That’s all that matters.”
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 looked up.
“No.” My knees went weak as Damien snaked a hand out to hold me steady.
The ships were back.
Had the ghouls sent for reinforcements? Or were they going home?
“I need to get to Jeremy!” Damien shouted, and pulled his phone out, running toward the road where a few cars were driving by. I ran after him, in total and complete shock and terror. I was an innocent kid when they’d landed. My dad was still alive, and I was looking forward to a boy asking me to the winter formal. Now they were back and I was toughened, but that same childhood fear had washed over me. I was terrified of what it meant.
Once we reached the road, we all just stood there, staring out at the dashed white line in the center, hoping it might hold some meaning.
Damien turned to me then.
“Are you okay? It’s going to be okay,” Damien said, and pulled me in for a hug.
I let him smoosh me to his chest because I needed it. I needed the touch to bring me back to my body, even if it killed my ribs.
“Jeremy?” I asked.
He nodded. “I sent the plane for them.”
I nodded, staring again at the white dotted line. It had me transfixed.
“What are we going to do?” I said to no one in particular.
My mentor stepped in front of me and bowed deeply. “We’re going to end the Dream Wars. Forever.”
Stay tuned…. The final installment in the Dream Wars Trilogy should be out in October 2018. Sign up for my newsletter for new release alerts! http://leiastone.com/newsletter/
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my amazing assistant Lela and beta reader Steven. I appreciate all you do. To the Matefinder pack and my release team, thank you for supporting me and making me laugh every day. To my editor at Hot Tree Editing and Stephany Wallace my proofer, it just wouldn’t be as pretty without you. Lastly, most importantly, thank you to my family for all of their love and support. I’m living my dream.