I nodded as I wandered around the room. I felt trapped again. Travis and Kait continued the discussion. As much as I object to them making decisions without including me, I just couldn’t focus on anything right then. A thought occurred to me.
“Kait. The earth and Shadoewynne are two separate dimensions, right? And so is the one with the magic? Could they be watching us from another dimension?”
Kait gave me a sharp look as he responded, “Yes, they could. That is why we need to make several gateway jumps. They can’t track where gateways go from another dimension. The plan is to jump to a location, move conventionally to a new location within that dimension, then jump again. That way, if they stumble upon one of our gateways, they won’t be able to track all of them. We will need to leave our cell phones and computers.”
“Shit! I guess I can’t even do coursework, then. Fine! I give up! You win!” I threw my hands up. “When are we going to leave, and can I at least go back upstairs to get my glasses and some other things that are not easy to replace?”
“In a few minutes, Princess. I want someone to go upstairs with you. Travis, do you agree with the plan?”
Travis nodded, but added, “I have to let Sarah know that we are going to be out of touch for a while. I won’t tell her where we are going.”
“Okay. Take Evalia upstairs to get what she needs. Do not be up there more than five minutes.”
“Kait. What about Cassy? We can’t leave her.” I was practically whining now, but I couldn’t help it.
“Princess, we have to for now. Once we are settled in, I will come let her know to go home, but none of us can open a gateway big enough for her, and it will give the illusion that we are still here if she is still guarding the place.”
I put my hands on my hips and just looked at him. He stared back.
“She will be fine, Princess. She is used to taking care of herself. That’s what Griffins do.”
I huffed. “Fine.” I started to walk toward the door.
“Princess.” I turned back to Kait. “Be careful.” I nodded. He added as the door swung closed behind Travis, “And only bring the essentials!”
Travis's hand rested on my back as we walked up the stairs quickly. I needed spare contacts, my glasses and some books. I was deciding which books I wanted when Travis pulled me into a dark room and put his finger over my lips. He leaned in close to whisper in my ear, “There’s a Lorgaire outside. I saw him through the window. Stay here. I’m going to go get your stuff so we can go back downstairs.”
I grabbed his arm, and whispered back fiercely, “No, you are going to stay with me. We can go back downstairs and wait for them to leave.”
“No, we need to get your stuff so we can leave.” Ugh, he had to make sense, didn’t he?
“Fine, we go together then. All I need to get is my glasses and the stuff for my contacts. They are all in my room, which is just up the hall.”
He glanced out into the hallway, then back at me. Eventually, he nodded. “Okay, but stay low. You need to crawl.” I stared at him for a second, attempting to tell if he was being serious. He just stared back until I shrugged. He glanced out at the hallway again. “Let’s go.”
He got on his hands and knees and quickly crawled down the hall. I followed him, thankful I was wearing thick jeans. When we reached my room, the blinds were open, and I saw that I had set my glasses on the window sill. I mentally facepalmed. Of all the stupid things to do. From the floor, I reached up on the desk where I had put my extra contacts, as well as the bottle of solution and the case, feeling around until I found them. I stuck it all in my hoodie pockets before crawling toward the window. Once there, I started to reach for the sill, when an odd whisper-yell from Travis stopped me.
I looked over, and his eyes were wide as he slowly shook his head at me. I heard fingernails on the glass, but I couldn’t look at the window without being seen. I shivered as I waited for Travis to tell me I could move. His face was white, and his eyes were huge. He looked frozen in place. After a minute, he suddenly jumped up.
“Grab your glasses, let’s go! He saw me! We need to get downstairs, fast!” I scooped up the glasses and sprinted for the door. Cassy shrieked outside as pounding began on the front door behind us. It sounded like the Lorgaire was attempting to bust the door down. Right as we reached the top of the steps, there was a huge crash, and smoking splinters of wood flew down the hallway. It sounded like there was a vicious battle outside. The Lorgaire was snarling as Cassy pulled it away from the gaping doorway. I stopped to watch, but Travis pulled on my arm to get me moving again.
“One Lorgaire is no match for Cassy, but we need to move!” I wasn’t happy, but I followed him down the stairs. The door to the safe room opened as we arrived at it. Kait pulled us inside and slammed the door. The gateway was already open and spinning. While this one was still a rainbow, the colors were predominately green and a dark blue.
Kait turned from the door, then pushed us toward the gateway. “David is already through. I’ve texted Janelle and told her not to come back. Go now! I need to be the last one!”
Travis took my arm again, holding me close as we
