CHAPTER 14

 

OUR WAIT FOR THE PORTAL to appear is a short one.

“Anomaly!” Radar shouts less than fifteen minutes after we arrived at the edge of the forest. She points to a spot about halfway up the hillside. “Up there.”

There’s no sign of any portal yet, but Radar is never wrong. We’re all ready to hurry up the slope, but my dad stops us.

“Not yet,” he says. “We stay here in the trees where it’s safe until we see it begin to open.”

Dad’s being smart and cautious to the end. Radar’s warnings sometimes come as much as ten minutes before an Anomaly actually occurs. There’s no need to expose ourselves just yet.

The wait now seems interminably long, but in reality it’s probably only three minutes or so before the air begins to shimmer right where Radar pointed.

“Okay,” Dad says. “Let’s go.”

We hurry up the ridge, being careful not to get too close to where the Anomaly is forming. All the Marines hold their weapons at the ready—there’s no guarantee this is the portal we’ve been waiting for. It’s possible something deadly could come through.

We watch, holding our breath as the black hole appears and begins to grow. It stops expanding when it’s barely taller than a man, just like the one on Alcatraz. The blackness seems less dense and not quite as well-formed this time. The surface of the dark sphere looks a bit ragged, too.

The familiar female voice echoes from the blackness. “Hurry,” she says. “Something is affecting my ability to open this doorway.” Her voice is fainter than the last time, and it sounds a bit uneven, too. “I’m not sure how long I can maintain the opening. Please…hurry.”

I wasn’t expecting to hear such urgency from her. I don’t really like the sound of it.

Kai glances toward my dad, then spins and steps into the sphere, disappearing immediately. Sergeant Moss and Jordy look at Dad, who nods. The sergeant hurries forward, followed by Jordy.

When they’re gone, Dad looks to us Miracles. “Don’t delay,” he says before vanishing into the portal.

I wait half a second and then step into the blackness right behind him. My body vibrates strangely for a moment, a sensation unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, and then I’m through. I look down at my arms and my body, which seem no worse for the wear.

Radar pops out of the black hole right behind me, followed by Rerun and Plush. The edges of the dark sphere seem to grow more ragged as Lights appears on our side. Suddenly, the portal vanishes. Doc and Sneak have not had time to cross through. The Miracles have been divided!

We’re all looking at each other with stunned expressions on our faces. I pray that neither of my friends was inside the Anomaly when it vanished. If they were, I can’t even imagine what might have happened to them.

An idea hits me. There’s no time to waste.

“Rerun!” I scream. “Use your Power.” I point to the space the portal occupied just moments before. “There! Turn back time there!”

Rerun’s eyes widen for a split second, but then he understands what I want. The familiar look of concentration tightens his features as he brings his Power to bear. I cross my fingers, hoping my idea is going to work. A moment later, the portal reappears.

My heart is pounding as we stare anxiously into the blackness, waiting. I’d cross my fingers if I thought it would help. Heck, I think I’ll cross them anyhow. It certainly can’t hurt.

A feminine hand appears out of the portal, followed by the rest of Doc. I breathe a sigh of relief as Sneak steps out from the blackness behind her. He’s barely through when the portal shimmers and vanishes again, but it doesn’t matter now. Everyone who was supposed to come through is now here, safe and sound.

Now that we’re all together again, I take a moment to scan our surroundings.

We’ve emerged onto the top of a barren, boulder-strewn ridge. Some of the stones and boulders sit atop the ground, while others are partially buried. They’re mostly shades of reddish-brown, but there are a few dark gray ones sprinkled in. The stones vary in size, ranging from the size of a human head to taller than a man, with surfaces that are more jagged than smooth. The only life I spot here on the hillside are a few stringy yellowish brown weeds poking up from the ground. All in all, it reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of the surface of mars—except for the weeds, of course.

The sky is not too dissimilar from the one we left behind, though I’d describe it more as a high, gray haze rather than a true cloud cover. The sun floats near its zenith, barely visible, like a candle behind a thick gauzy curtain. Kai told me the sun here is much weaker than our own, so I’m guessing the hazy atmosphere we’re seeing is the rule rather than the exception.

Far off in the distance, I spot a quartet of volcanic peaks. Dark, heavy smoke billows up from two of them, and the sky above them glows orange, testament to the volcanic activity going on inside the mountains. I hope we won’t be heading in that direction—despite my new Power, I have no desire to face any more lava dragons.

Below us, in the opposite direction from the volcanoes, lies a forest. Even from here, I can see it’s nowhere near as magnificent as the redwood forest we’ve recently left behind. The trees all look gnarled and stunted.

None of this is really important at the moment, though. What’s important is what’s missing—there’s no sign of the woman who brought us here. We’re completely alone here on the hill. Before any of us can ask about it, Kai speaks.

“Follow me, quickly,” he says. “We need to get out of the open.”

He leads us over to an immense boulder just a few paces away and gathers us in front of it. The sheer size of the thing provides us with as much cover as we’re going to get on this barren hillside. Kai squats, and the rest of us do likewise, further reducing our outlines from any approaching threats.

“This is not where I expected to emerge,” Kai says once we’re huddled under the protection of the rock. “We can discuss what it might mean later, after we get ourselves off this ridge.”

Dad nods, though I’m sure he’s also wondering what happened to our host.

“You’re in charge here,” he acknowledges. “Which way do we go?”

Kai points down the slope, toward the forest in the distance. I’m relieved to see he’s not pointing to the volcanoes.

“That way,” Kai replies. “Once we’re in the shelter of the trees, we can talk more. Remember everyone, stay very close to me. Walk where I walk, and nowhere else. And especially, stay away from the gray rocks.”

“Why?” Sneak asks. “What’s so special about the gray ones?”

In answer, Kai pulls his bow from his shoulder and moves silently across to the nearest dark stone, a thick, oblong boulder that stands slightly more than waist high. He jabs the rock with the end of his bow and then leaps quickly backward.

The stone immediately surges forward two or three feet, moving almost as fast as Kai. How it manages to move without visible legs I have no idea, but it does. At the same time, great gaping jaws open in the center and then snap shut with a resounding crack. Flesh and bone would stand no chance if they were caught in that maw—they would be pulverized to jelly in an instant.

“Yikes!” Sneak exclaims, taking an involuntary step back even though he’s well out of reach.

“Rock troll,” Kai explains. “Its mobility is extremely limited, but if you venture too near…” He leaves the rest unsaid. There’s really no need to say anything more, not after we saw how fast the thing moved. We all get the picture.

Sneak is still staring at the now immobile stone. “You could have just told me,” he says to Kai.

Kai grins. “I thought a demonstration might be more effective—for everyone. Not everything in my world is what it appears to be.”

I take note of the serious expressions on my friends’ faces. Kai’s demonstration was definitely effective, for sure. I vow to myself to be extra careful, and I’m certain everyone else is doing the same. I’m pretty sure even Sneak has gotten the message, and he’s not always easy to get through to.

Sneak is now glancing around nervously, his eyes moving from one to another of the dozen or so gray rocks within easy view.

“Are they all rock trolls?” he asks. “All the gray ones, I mean?”

Kai shakes his head. “No. Most are just ordinary stones. It’s very difficult to tell which are which, though. Best not to take any chances.”

“Note to self,” Sneak says, smiling now. “Avoid all gray rocks.”

“Now that you’ve all seen the kind of dangers we might face,” Kai says, “it’s time to go.” He turns to my dad. “We’ll travel in double file. Leah should stay close to me—she’ll be safest there. Then the rest of the Miracles. You and your men can protect our rear. Remember, everyone follows directly behind where Leah and I walk.”

I struggle to suppress a smile. I get to walk with Kai! This might be almost as good as it was back in California, before the rest of the company caught up with us, before Kai started spending most of his time scouting. A selfish part of me hopes our new journey will be a long one.

I push the thought down. With all the dangers in this world, the shorter distance we have to go, the better. Still, there’s no reason I can’t try to enjoy whatever time I’m going to have with him.