“Good luck with your meeting,” I added.
He waved me off as if it were no big deal. “It’s in the bag. Consider Galadrias US citizens.”
That caused a grin to pull at my mouth. “I’ll hold you to that.”
I winked and he released me.
“Be safe.”
With a nod, I walked through the forest to the place I’d told my new comrades we would be entering the Dream War. It was my team and then another five of theirs, plus Dawn. They would drive in on Humvees and I’d walk in with Dawn and hold the gate open. The first ghoul we saw was getting chucked onto Earth and we were calling it a successful mission and returning back here.
I’d found out that Mrs. Tight Bun’s name was Lieutenant Chandler. I couldn’t help but think of Chandler Bing from Friends and wonder if that actor was still alive. If I stopped the Dream Wars, would Hollywood start making movies again? No more reruns? What a wild thought.
“We’re ready when you are,” Lieutenant Chandler told me.
I took a deep breath as Dawn sidled up next to me. My team was in one of the Humvees, with Brisk driving, while the army was in the other. People had come out of their tents now to see the show, including the president and her daughter. I felt like a freak.
As I looked over at Master Aki, who I’d asked to stay behind and watch over Jeremy, he nodded once.
I could do this.
This alliance could change everything. Placing my hazmat hood on firmly, I opened my palms and felt for the separation between our worlds. Even though my hands were gloved and I didn’t technically need them to open the portal, it was the act of holding them out that helped me envision how to open it.
I could tell the moment it started to open, because everyone gasped. My eyes flicked up and the portal began to open, wider and faster than ever before. It’s like every time I used this power, it gained in strength and ease.
“Lord, have mercy,” one of the army personnel breathed behind me.
There was no hiding what I was now, no way of trying to explain away my ability to mind speak or any of it like I had before. This was it. I’d fully exposed myself to the government. Now I was vulnerable if they wanted to do testing or something.
“Be in the now,” Master Aki chided me, and I nodded. He knew I had gone to that anxiety-ridden place where I made up scenarios that hadn’t even happened yet. All of my concentration needed to be in the now.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the portal wider, happy to see that it didn’t look to be raining. There weren’t any immediate ghouls around, which was good and bad. Good we didn’t have a fight on our hands before we could even get in, but bad that we’d have to go hunting for them just so I could prove that what I’d seen was correct. The government was all about proof. You had to show them something three times before it sank in.
The Humvee rolled through the opening, pulling left towards a pod tree forest, leaving enough space for the second Humvee to enter.
“Godspeed,” President Buckley said from behind me, and I nodded.
Putting one foot in front of the other, I headed into the Dream War with Dawn.
After I fully stepped in, I spun around to see a large crowd had gathered around to see us off. I looked right into Damien’s eyes before letting the portal snap closed.
Dawn and I walked over to the two Humvees. Both teams had stepped out and were going over a map when I felt it.
The distinct tingly creepy feeling of a breeder clawing at the edges of my mind.
‘Kit Steele…’ they taunted, and dizziness washed over me. I yanked off my helmet.
Nope. I wasn’t letting this happen again. I wouldn’t be controlled. Pulling on all my strength and training that Master Aki had taught me, I created a forcefield of psychic protection around me. I pulled the walls up over my mind, but before I did I felt something. Something bad.
“They’re coming,” I blurted aloud. Because for that split second I’d connected with the breeder hive mind, I’d seen it. A hundred of them were making their way here now. They’d slaughter us all.
Chandler snapped her head in my direction. “Who?”
My heart started to race. They were close. They’d been waiting for this. “The breeders. An army of them. I’m opening it back up. Abort mission.”
Everyone on the army team frowned as if they were disappointed I was about to abort the mission over a “feeling,” but my team gave me a solid nod. Ronnie, Maxine, Nox, and Brisk knew that when I aborted a mission it was because there was no other way.
Turning, I held my palms out, I began to feel for those edges. When I started to mentally tease them apart, something stopped me and bile rose in my throat as panic fully seized me.
I calmed my breathing, ignoring Ronnie’s question of what was wrong, and tried again. Instead of feeling like I was peeling a layer of gauze back, it felt like I was scratching steel.
The breeders had locked me in.
Fuck.
I spun. “We’re trapped. They are keeping me from opening it. We need to shelter in and prepare for an assault. Now.”
If I’d said that to civilians, there would be questions, there would be scrambling, and fumbling, and lots of “What do we do?” Not this team. The moment those words left my lips they exploded into perfect synchronization. Chandler’s team started pulling plasma bricks from the Humvee and setting the perimeter, while Nox ran about twenty feet out and started burying explosives. I’d said shelter in and they didn’t question me. They didn’t ask ”Why don’t we try to drive with the Humvee and outrun them?” I was a commander and they were taking my word as
