“I agree,” Ibrahim replied. “Corrine and I, along with some other witches, will investigate the waters. I presume there are safer ways to reach the borders of this land than the cove?”
“I would suggest heading to the Seraq kingdom. The rest of the coves are surrounded by forest,” Tejus replied. “The palace is empty; I think her people have scattered. Take a few sentry guards with you to show you the way. The palace overlooks a cliff edge, down into the waters.”
Ibrahim thanked him.
“We’ll help secure the borders around the palace and then be on our way,” the warlock informed us.
“We also need to find a way to close the portal,” Sherus announced. “The entity and the shadow haven’t left that location—there must be a reason. Perhaps it’s the most convenient way for them to get to Earth? I don’t know—what I do know is that the portal is important to them. When I left the battlefield, the shadow was hovering over the portal. Whether it was more of the creatures coming in, or them leaving, I couldn’t be sure…but at the moment, we’re leaving Earth exposed to attack.”
The Impartial Ministers grumbled, no doubt more concerned with the fate of Nevertide than Earth. I really disliked those guys. Ignoring them, I turned to my father.
“I agree,” he replied. “But first we need to ensure that we’re safe here—then we’ll send out a group to see if we can close it.”
The fae king looked as if he was about to protest. I knew that he believed if the creatures could get to Earth, then they would also find a way to the In-Between.
My father silenced him with a raised hand. “Sherus, we lost many men today. We can’t send more down to the cove till they’ve had time to recuperate. Let’s hope that the entity is more intent on destroying us than anything else—so far that seems to be the case.”
Lidera, Sherus’s sister, placed a hand over her brother’s.
“I agree with Derek,” she replied quietly. “Let us deal with the immediate danger and wait until we hear back from the witches and warlock. The more we know, the better prepared we’ll be to defeat the entity. At the moment, we’re at a disadvantage. We were defeated today,” she reminded him.
Sherus didn’t say another word, but his face darkened. I felt compassion for the king—felt linked with him in a way that was hard to describe—and for his dimension. I worried about the fae kingdoms too. It was Sherus who had warned us of this threat, and I believed that the entity would come looking for the fae eventually—otherwise why would the king be the one to have experienced those omens? Still, Nevertide and the safety of GASP and the sentries had to be our priority. If we were defeated, then all hopes of Earth surviving an attack would be gone.
“We have one defense that appears to be able to halt the entity,” I said, moving the discussion on as I turned to Hazel and Tejus. My niece looked worried for a moment.
“I don’t know how we did it though, or even what it was,” she replied doubtfully. “I’m not entirely sure we’re going to be able to do it again.”
“We can try,” Tejus replied, looking at Hazel only. “When you’re ready.”
She nodded, her face still pale. I realized that her concern was the responsibility—if we all thought the barrier she and Tejus created was our only chance of survival, then a lot fell on their shoulders.
My sister and mother both instantly understood her reticence.
“Hazel, even if you can’t do it again, it’s fine. We’ll find other ways to protect ourselves. There’s usually more than one way to fight off a creature, no matter how powerful,” Rose said.
Hazel bit her lip. “It’s not just that though, is it?” she replied. “A barrier is one thing, but if we can find a way to harness that energy, it would also become our most effective weapon.”
I tried to hide a smile as a bubble of pride welled up inside of me. I caught Caleb’s eye. My niece was a born GASP member—a relatively short time spent in a supernatural dimension and she was already battle-strategizing like a pro.
“Exactly,” my father replied, smiling at his granddaughter.
The pressure on my niece and her boyfriend to deliver was back on.
Julian
We traveled through endless forest, seeing nothing but the gray and brown barks of huge, ancient trees and their leafy branches. I had started to wonder if we were making any progress at all. After the incident with the goblins, we hadn’t come across any other creatures, but a near-constant rustling in the undergrowth in the distance kept us all on edge.