The Portal

by Brock Deskins

  “How do I explain the note I left?” Josh asked.

  Chase spoke up to supply the answer. “Tell them that the lunatic was demanding gold and gems from us and sent me to get them. I ran to your house and told you what was going on. We grabbed as much money as we could, since that’s what we thought he must have wanted, and ran back to the abandoned house. We didn’t go to the cops because we were afraid he would hurt the others. All he did was ramble about gold and gems and taking over the world.”

  “Why all the talk about gold and gems?” Drew asked.

  “Trust me, it’s going to come up,” Chase replied patting a distinct bulge in his leather coat.

  “You didn’t!” Drew whispered in surprise.

  “Are you kidding? How could I not?”

  “All the gold and stuff he brought to buy weapons and soldiers? When did you do that?” Drew begged to know.

  “As soon as he popped through the portal and was still a little dizzy. It was easy with everyone bumping into everyone else,” Chase told him, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

  “You still manage to amaze me sometimes, Chase.”

  “I am pretty amazing. I keep telling you all that, but you never listen.”

  EPILOGUE

  Drew could not help but smile as he thought about his friends and all they had gone through just for him. He saw the changes that even that short adventure had wrought in him and his friends.

  Some were obvious, like Gabe’s weight loss, but there was more, much more. He saw how Gabe had found courage and opened his mind to more than one truth.

  He saw how, despite his brother’s hostility, they were family. Josh had risked his life for his annoying little brother.

  That thought made him think of Chase. Chase had always displayed a deep loyalty to Drew, but it was not until now that he realized what that really meant. Drew looked over at his friend staring out of the car window, his typical mischievous grin plastered on his face, and saw that Chase viewed him as more than a friend. They were family, and practically the only one the troublesome young man really knew.

  Ted had shown great courage and found a strength in himself he never thought he could possess. It was his impressive intellect that got all his friends through the portal, and his strength of will that helped them rescue Drew.

  Thinking of the twins, Drew saw how important and strong the bond between family was, and how that bond could even reach out and support those friends that were truly close. He realized this misadventure might have created the opportunity for him to experience a similar bond with his own family.

  Even Chuck, that big lout who had only shown enough interest in Drew to give him an occasional wedgie, had come in support of his best friend. All of these things made Drew look at himself and gave him a new outlook on what was truly important in life. Not everything and everyone he disagreed with needed to be fought. There were greater evils in the world that he may one day need to face once more, and if he expended the energy doing battle with all those minor annoyances, he would be too exhausted to fight when the real battles came.

  Drew did not know if the others were having such profound realizations or not, but what he was sure of was that none of them were the same people today that they were just a couple of weeks ago.

  Well, except maybe Chase.

  A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

  I hope you enjoyed this tale and will try my other works. Feel free to look me up on Facebook! You can also check me out on my blog at http://brockdeskins.blogspot.com. I post release dates, answer questions, and occasionally release some new covers for my books!

  PLEASE REVIEW MY BOOKS (Especially if you liked it). Customer reviews are the primary means of enticing others to purchase them. I am dependent upon the sales of my books to earn a living that will allow me to continue writing stories that I hope bring you some measure of entertainment. Thank you for your support.

  The Sorcerer’s saga is an open-ended fantasy series.

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  Azerick must fight just to survive, but for him survival is not enough. A hunger to avenge the wrongs committed against him burns deep within. But that is not all that lies within the young man. There is a power waiting to be unleashed that may be the key to achieving the justice and security he seeks--if it does not destroy him first.

  The Sorcerer’s Torment: Azerick flees The Academy but quickly falls prey to powerful beings that use his skills and power for their own amusement. What these creatures do not understand is the power of the young sorcerer's will and the lengths he will go to for vengeance. Despite becoming a prisoner, Azerick finds his first true love, but can he keep it?

  The Sorcerer’s Legacy: Azerick has found himself a home and tries to settle down. He takes on an apprentice and tries to put all the death and desire for vengeance behind him. But when the Rook finds him, Azerick is once again pulled back into Ulric's schemes. Knowing that all he has worked toward and everyone close to him is in danger as long as these schemes are ongoing; Azerick decides to put an end to it, once and for all.

  The Sorcerer’s Vengeance: After narrowly avoiding being killed in his own bed by the land’s most feared assassin, Azerick leaves his school behind to find out who sent him and to put an end to the threat once and for all. Azerick’s search will take him to the very pits of the abyss and back to unleash hellish fury upon those that threaten him.

  The Sorcerer’s Scourge: With the siege broken and Ulric dead, Azerick can finally relax, study his magic, and run his school in peace. Unfortunately, Jarvin’s reign is far from uncontested and the true usurper decides to make his move. Jarvin escapes with help from an unlikely source—a vampire named Landrin who still clings tenaciously to his own humanity. While Azerick and a large force from North Haven race to save the King in exile, evil forces are preparing to unleash a nightmare upon the kingdom that may well destroy them all.

  The Sorcerer’s Abyss: Now the master of the Fifth Circle of the abyss, Azerick is challenged by another demon lord for supremacy. Azerick must face this threat as well as his innermost demons, all while searching for a way to escape his hellish prison.

  Ellyssa fears she is going insane as she plagued by nightmares of her capture and enslavement. Deciding the key to saving herself lies in the total destruction of the object of her fears, she embarks on a crusade to find and kill the slaver, Captain Jake, and eradicate the slave trade. Ellyssa's nightmares and battles spill out onto the streets of North Haven and gains the attention of The Academy. Fearing Azerick's school is turning out rogue wizards, The Academy decides to hunt down and destroy the rogue and place the school within their control.

  The Sorcerer’s Return: Azerick returns from the dead, much to the displeasure of many notable persons throughout the realm. Azerick battles to unite the humans, as well as the other races of Valeria, against the threat of the old gods’ return while struggling to keep his own family from falling apart.

  Shrouds of Darkness is a modern day vampire tale. Leo Malone has been a vampire for the better part of the twentieth century. Once a prominent Sherriff (vampire cop), he now earns his living as a private eye and occasional bodyguard for anyone that requires some serious protection. Leo is hired by the daughter of a mob accountant who has gone missing.

  The fact that her father is also a werewolf has Leo following a trail of grisly murders that will lead him through a web of intrigue and conspiracy involving his fellow vampires and the local werewolves that make New York their home, all the while trying to keep one particularly determined cop off his back and himself out of jail. Leo is not some pretty-boy vampire that all the girls ogle over, but a hard-eyed, remorseless killing machine who d
oes not take crap from anyone. IF YOU READ THIS, PLEASE REVIEW IT. I cannot endorse this book enough. It was an absolute joy to write and I still giggle when I read it. I challenge you not to laugh at many of Leo’s constant snide remarks and smart-assed comments.

  Thank you all for your patronage. Buying my books keeps me from living in a box under the overpass, which frankly, is not conducive to the creative process. If you received a copy without actually purchasing it then I hope you will have the decency to feel bad as you drive past me holding my cardboard sign that reads: “will write for food”.

  It gives me a great deal of satisfaction knowing that I have been able to provide something enjoyable to so many people.

  Thank you and good journeys.