Crais(13)

You’d have to be blind not to notice how dramatically it set off his icy blue eyes and the golden brown of his skin. His white-blond hair was as reflective as the suit. The girls acknowledged him warmly; they seemed to like his clumsy flirting. I was the only one on which it eternally grated.

“You certainly look very handsome, Lucas,” Talina said, her lips tipping in one of her rare smiles.

She had a reserved and introverted personality, but don’t get her riled up: her water powers were immensely powerful.

“I don’t know, all that shiny whiteness, including your hair and teeth, is kind of giving me a headache.” Lucy pretended to shield her eyes.

Lucas winked at her before turning to me.

“Doesn’t look very inviting down there, does it?” He gestured along the tunnel.

“Why don’t you head down first and let us know what it’s like.” I smiled sweetly.

As usual he didn’t react to my bitchy comment.

We all spun around when Josian and Lallielle stepped into the room.

“All ready to leave, I see?” Josian’s bronze eyes twinkled. “Don’t drop you guard at any point, trust no one but each other and get back here as soon as possible.”

My parents engulfed me in their usual bear hugs. And for a brief instant I could just close my eyes and drift in the love surrounding me, a momentary relief from the ache.

“I love you, daughter, please be careful.” Lallielle’s voice was low as she whispered soothingly into my ear, the lilting First-World accent still beyond lovely.

I nodded my compliance.

“You know I can’t contact you easily, baby girl. Your protections are just too strong now, but try and open your mind to me as often as you can.”

I pulled back from Josian as he spoke. “But won’t that leave me vulnerable?” I was particularly protective of my mind.

He nodded. “Yes, so just keep it as brief as possible. I’ll stay as attuned to you as I can, so when I sense the breach we can quickly confer and then back to your shield.”

I stood on my toes and, at almost seven feet tall, Josian still had to lower his head so I could plant a kiss on his smooth glowing cheeks. For a brief moment our dark blood-red hair mingled.

“Okay, I love you both and I’ll see you soon.”

They let me go. And even though they hid it well I could feel their concern and reluctance. Lallielle quickly hugged the girls before stepping back to Josian’s side.

“Remember, you have to be all inside the shield before you step free of the doorway. The suns will incinerate you instantly. There will be no time on the other side.”

“Yes, Dad, I remember you drilling it in to me over and over this morning.”

He almost looked like he was going to roll his eyes. But his thousands of years of maturity kicked in and he refrained.

“And one more thing,” he said, reaching into his large jacket pocket, “Grantham believes you will need these to be able to see in the harsh light.”

He handed us each a set of what looked like heavy-duty sunglasses with large wrap-around sides. As I put them on they cut out almost all of the light in the cave system. Josian waved us forward.

“Alright then, what are you waiting for?” His voice went a little gruff.

My face softened as I blew my parents one last kiss. I was so torn between wanting to escape and hating to leave them.

I could barely see through the dark lenses as I groped to pick up my pack from the ground. We each had a small shoulder bag with basic essentials and a few days’ food supply which we hoped we wouldn’t need. Moving closer to the doorway, we linked hands and without looking back stepped through.

Since I had come into my Walker powers I’d never felt uncomfortable in the vacuum that was a doorway linking the worlds. And because Talina and I were both half-Walkers, it was in our nature to walk between the worlds. She helped me balance the other two, who weren’t very stable in the vacuum.

It took awhile to travel the distance. Josian’s planet and Crais were many galaxies apart. But eventually we reached the junction of the red land. I closed my eyes, sending my consciousness inside to my centre of power. The limitless well of energy responded to me immediately.

I gathered this energy, and then, as I had been perfecting for the last few days, sent it free from my body to form a bubble of protection around the four of us. The complicated part was making sure that it was completely smooth and there were no gaps or tears. And it had to be large enough that no one accidentally penetrated it while moving. Any body part that left the protection would be incinerated.

The others turned to me. I gave the shield one last cursory glance, allowing an extra portion of energy to run along, checking it for faults. It was perfect. I nodded once, our signal that it was fine to step free from the doorway. Then, as we had practiced, moving as one, we exited the doorway.