“Alright, Kit, it’s time to try a portal. But first try to connect with Damien, ease into it,” the doctor told me.
I nodded. My body felt weak still from the blood loss, but my mind felt sharp. I was ready to go home.
Plopping down right where I stood, I got into position. Closing my eyes and taking in two deep and slow breaths, I let my mind slowly open.
Right away I felt the breeder consciousness hammering against the walls of my mind and I winced. Pushing up mental protections like Master Aki had taught me, I tried to focus on the consciousness that belonged to Damien, the one that was not in this world. It took longer than normal. Maybe I was tired, maybe my mind was weak, or the breeders were weighing on me, but I tried not to dwell on the negativity. The important thing was that I finally felt him. His energy was so dark and heavy I almost didn’t recognize it.
He was in a bad mental place and I felt so awful for waiting until now to contact him.
‘I’m okay,’ I sent, in case it was the only thing I’d be able to send before we got cut off.
His energy bristled and disbelief rippled through our mental link.
‘Oh Jesus, Kit! You’re alive!’
Tears streamed down my cheeks and the breeders beat harder at the walls in my mind. I needed to pull back and conserve my energy for the portal.
‘I’m alive. So is Ronnie and Maxine. We’re coming home. I love you.’ Then I pulled back and broke the connection, shutting up the walls to breeders or anyone else trying to come in.
“I got through. It was… a bit tougher than usual but I did it.”
Ronnie frowned. “Any headache?”
I shook my head.
She put a hand on her hip. “Anything else I should know?”
I chewed my lip. Ronnie had made a deal with all of us that as our doctor we needed to tell her if something might impact our health. I didn’t want to lie now, especially after pissing her off recently.
“Maybe. Umm, I can feel the breeders trying to get to my mind.”
Ronnie’s eyebrows hit her hairline.
“You what now?” Maxine asked.
I hadn’t really ever spoken this aloud and it sounded crazy.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “They… try to get in and control me or keep me from doing things, but I am holding them off.”
Okay, I needed therapy after speaking that out loud.
Ronnie looked perplexed. “Okay, well, let me know if anything hurts.”
Yeah, that was probably a good idea. The rest of the freaky stuff I would keep to myself or Master Aki.
“Dawn,” Ronnie instructed, “I want you to try flying ten feet up in the air with Kit on your back. Then Kit can practice opening a small two-inch portal. If everything goes well, we can go bigger.”
A rumbling shook Skyhome then, and all of our eyes collectively widened. The ground was pulled out from under my feet as the surface shook.
“Giants!” Maxine cried out and pointed to the edge of the island where it dropped off into the sky. A large hand was curled around the edge and shaking it with such force that it felt like a mega earthquake. This shit was straight out of a fantasy novel. Giant aliens were about to rip us from the sky.
“No time for practice! Let’s fly!” I shouted, and approached Dawn.
Dawn lowered her head and I very carefully climbed onto her back, trying to avoid where I knew the sore spot was on her shoulders.
‘This okay?’ I checked in with her as the ground shook again.
She nodded. ‘Open portal. Let’s go back to Earth.’
Oh yeah, this entire plan hinged on me being able to open a portal again.
Awesome.
“Breeder!” Ronnie shouted just as she’d finished getting Maxine unto Clyde. Dawn flew up and I spun to see a breeder climbing the giant’s hand like Jack and the Beanstalk.
“Kit! Portal!” Ronnie shouted.
Right. Shit.
“She’s packing, ya’ll!” Maxine drawled just as the sound of bullets cut through the air.
The breeder had a freaking automatic military-grade rifle. She must have picked it up somewhere. Everything happened so fast, I couldn’t focus on where to open the portal because the world spun. Dawn tore across the island and shot downward and over the ledge, into the sky. Clyde did the same. Maxine was returning the breeder’s fire with her shotgun, but we were now out of range.
Now that we were in the sky I could see what was going on. One giant was on another giant’s shoulders, and then another, and they were ripping Skyhome from its serene place. The giant on the ground teetered and swayed holding up the other ones.
I could feel Dawn’s agony as it seeped into our mental connection and I knew it was only a matter of time before the giants came for us.
“I can’t open a portal moving like this!” I shouted.
“Get to the ground!” Ronnie called back.
That was a decent idea. The breeder was still shooting over the edge trying to get us. With quick jerky movement, Dawn half flew, half fell to the ground, and I clung to her back for dear life. The moment we touched down, I thanked God there weren’t any ghouls waiting for us.
“Now!” Maxine urged me.
Taking a deep breath, I felt for that place between the two worlds and prayed the breeders couldn’t block me like last time. If I had limits to my mental strength, then maybe they would too.
Hopefully.
I knew Dawn was in pain; she was quivering while trying to hold steady so I could do my thing. I stayed on her back though, in case I needed to be airborne again.
Come on, baby. I need this to work.
Rather than try to go in slowly and do shit inch by inch like Ronnie would like, I just decided to go big or go home. It would take big power to push past the breeders’ block, which
