Anxiety spiked within me. "What is it, Colin? It's not attacking."
"It's not, but something's wrong with it," Colin insisted. Jones twisted his face in disbelief as Colin came sprinting over. The beast gave a labored breath. I hesitated, but Colin would only break position for something important. He was exceptionally good with animals, especially with redbills. He had a gift for dealing with them.
"Talk," I told him. "Quickly, before this thing decides to scoop us up." I angled the device at the Ghost, and it crouched with a low, warning growl. We had formed a circle around it. Colin's brow furrowed worriedly as he looked at me, his cheeks pink from the sprinting.
"Look at it," he insisted. "Really look at it, Captain. It's suffering."
I paused. Colin had a big heart, which could sometimes go too far. He wanted the Ghost to stop hurting, but it was a threat. Still, I studied the creature, as he’d asked. When I looked closely, the limbs that were now visible thanks to the device were thin and worn-looking. I frowned as the monster snapped its teeth together. We had no idea how this device had affected it.
"Can we just tie it up?" Jessie suggested. We’d brought ropes, chains, and nets with us, but I had hoped the device would do most of the work. If we couldn’t use it again, that changed things.
How could we restrain this thing without letting it make a portal, or killing it? A sudden cold chill came over me. The wind hit, but it wasn't just the weather.
"Roxy," Kane said. Oh no, not now. I'm busy. Give me a few minutes.
A ragged breath came from Kane. My pulse suddenly spiked with dread.
"Are you there?" he asked, and his voice was strained. It was never strained. "Things are getting bad here."
29
Dorian
My senses fell away from me as we leapt through the portal, but this time I was ready for the uncomfortable sensation. We landed on the familiar soft ground, back in the Pocket Space.
Cam shook himself, a shade green from the portal-jumping. It was hard to get used to, especially if one wasn't accustomed to gate-jumping with a vampire. Lyra seemed okay. She looked around the area, her hands tracing a small trail on the wall. Everything looked similar, but everything in this forsaken bubble network looked the same.
"I'm not sure if this is where we landed last time," she muttered. "Maybe the Ghost always comes back to the same starting point, if it follows the same path?"
Sike sighed. "Negative. The scanner is working now, but this is a new area. I can see the old map we made on our last trip, but we appear to be on the other side of this dome place, judging from the distance of the old map and our current position."
I frowned. Bad news, but it shows that the Ghost definitely has some logic to it. Since our vampire senses weren't as good here, we would have to rely on the technology until it stopped working, like last time. "Any signatures coming up on the scanner?"
Sike glanced down and nodded. "Not an aura, but I can see the pocket we were in last time is next to us. I think if we go left, we should hit that inside place with the buildings… but then the scanner might stop working. That place seems to make the screen freak out."
It was a risk we would have to take. We followed Sike's directions and quickly found the spot where we’d stumbled across Joseph and the monster's lair. In the distance, I saw the ruins of the Ghost's lair. It was oddly quiet. I hoped Roxy and her team had been able to capture the creature after we left.
"We need to be on the lookout for children," Lyra reminded us, "in addition to the others. I think Joseph was pretty lucid when he told us about that, plus Sike and I heard them." Sike nodded enthusiastically and then groaned when he looked down at the scanner. Sure enough, our lovely piece of technology had gone dark.
I focused on our surroundings, attempting to sense anything out of the ordinary. Auras came as an itch… and I felt absolutely nothing. I scowled, feeling frustrated. Chandry and Sike wore similar expressions. Lyra studied us.
"Your senses are still fried?" she asked.
"Unfortunately," I said. "I don’t sense Dan, Jessica, or Arlonne.”
Chandry sighed. "Me neither. I thought we might at least find Arlonne, since she's a fellow vampire, but I can't pick up on anything. There's some kind of dark energy… some kind of signature… but it’s like the air is scrambling everything."
"Exactly," I agreed, feeling a surge of irritation. How could we move forward like this? Bryce crossed his arms and surveyed the area, clearly worried for Arlonne. At least I could still hear his nervous heartbeat, something rare for Bryce except in the thick of battle.
My senses are wrecked. There appears to be no trail. I thought Arlonne might leave something for us to find. I paused. Perhaps she’d fled with Jessica from the dome, if she thought the Ghost might return to its lair and attack them.
Chandry put her hands on her hips. "Wait a minute. If there are children here, then how did they survive in all this if Joseph, a grown man with a brilliant mind, almost died?"
"Great question," Lyra muttered. "I also don't know many children that are capable of severing a man’s limb to save his life."
We had more mysteries than answers, at this point.
Chandry smacked her fist into her palm. "Wait a minute," she exclaimed. "There's something I noticed about the material last time." She hurried over to the dome wall nearest to us and placed her hand on it.
"Don't tell us you've lost it," Sike said. She grinned back over her shoulder. Our new addition was quite the character.
"Not at all," she fired back. "Come here. For
