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Chapter 399
I catch his eye and we exchange smiles, but have no chance to talk before he’s off again.
We follow along behind him, but he’s moving at a fast jog and is soon lost to sight around a curve in the road. Once again, I find myself marveling at his physical conditioning. He doesn’t seem to ever get tired even though he’s traveling much faster than the rest of us, and by coming back and forth, he’s covering a whole lot more distance besides. None of the Marines show any signs of fatigue, either. As for me, I’m glad we seem to have left the steepest slopes behind us, though I’m certainly not going to sound like a wimp or a whiner by voicing that thought aloud. I bet my friends feel the same way. We’re all in good shape by now, but we’re for sure not Marines.
With the heavy gray cloud cover looming over us, darkness begins to descend early. December twenty-first is already the shortest day of the year, and we’re far
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 400
Dawn has barely broken when we’re up and preparing to be on our way. No one is tired or complaining, though—we’ve gotten used to going to bed early and waking up with or before the sun. We all down a quick, cold breakfast of energy bars and C-rations and then we’re ready to go.Kai is waiting outside for us. His long hair is damp and plastered against his head—whether from an overnight rain or a heavy mist I don’t know—but he looks completely rested and refreshed, even though I doubt he slept much, if at all.As soon as we step out the door, Kai comes directly over to my dad and me. I’m pretty sure I see excitement in his eyes. And why not? We’re all pretty sure we’re going to find the portal we are waiting for today. For most of us that means venturing into unknown dangers, but for Kai it means going home. So why wouldn’t he be looking forward to that?“Good morning, Leah,” he says before turning to my dad. I only have time to smile before he begins giving Dad his report.“Everything
Leesa's Advent Chapter 401
Our wait for the portal to appear is a short one.“Anomaly!” Radar shouts less than fifteen minutes after we arrived at the edge of the forest. She points to a spot about halfway up the hillside. “Up there.”There’s no sign of any portal yet, but Radar is never wrong. We’re all ready to hurry up the slope, but my dad stops us.“Not yet,” he says. “We stay here in the trees where it’s safe until we see it begin to open.”Dad’s being smart and cautious to the end. Radar’s warnings sometimes come as much as ten minutes before an Anomaly actually occurs. There’s no need to expose ourselves just yet.The wait now seems interminably long, but in reality it’s probably only three minutes or so before the air begins to shimmer right where Radar pointed.“Okay,” Dad says. “Let’s go.”We hurry up the ridge, being careful not to get too close to where the Anomaly is forming. All the Marines hold their weapons at the ready—there’s no guarantee this is the portal we’ve been waiting for. It’s possib
Leesa's Advent Chapter 402
There was nothing Leesa and Rave could do about their diminished powers, so they set back out on their trek along the magical path. Always ready and alert, Rave’s keen senses were now extra aware and heightened. He was still supernaturally strong and fast, and with his fire remaining hot inside him, he hoped if it became necessary he could still use it in the way he slew vampires—by using the fire from his mouth. He wasn’t sure if that would work against the kinds of monsters that seemed to dwell in this place, however.For her part, Leesa had never felt quite so anxious. In all the adventures she had survived in the past, Rave had always been beside her at full strength. Usually Dominic had also been there, and she had her own magic to rely on as well, even though her magical abilities were much weaker back in those early days. Now, in what was probably the most dangerous place she had ever found herself short of the Necromancer’s magic table, her mag
Leesa's Advent Chapter 403
Leesa felr so refreshed and reinvigorated that she almost forgot about the weakening of her magic—almost, but not quite. She still worried about their lack of magical protection, but so far the forest certainly did not seem out to harm them. Now if it would just turn out that it could help them with more than just her thirst, she would be one very happy girl.Despite her renewed energy and her optimism about these woods being friendly, she and Rave maintained a careful pace, not taking their safety for granted. They knew something dangerous could appear as abruptly and easily as the spring had.They had gone less than a mile from the spring when Rave stopped again.“What is it?” Leesa asked quietly.“I think I hear birds.”Leesa listened hard, but heard nothing. Her hearing was no match for Rave’s.“Are you sure?” she asked. Birds would be a hopeful sign, she thought.Rave shrugged. &ldq
Leesa's Advent Chapter 404
We trek down the hill from the portal, maintaining a moderate pace and following as direct a route as possible as we weave our way among the many boulders. Kai makes sure to give a wide birth to the dangerous gray ones. We stay bunched close together in the order he suggested, with one exception. To the surprise or concern of no one, Jordy has taken his usual place beside Radar, right behind Kai and me. Plush and Lights follow behind them, with Doc and Rerun coming next. Sneak walks by himself, with Dad and Sergeant Moss bringing up the rear. The two of them should provide enough protection to the back of our small column.As we hike down the slope, Kai’s head seems to be on a swivel, constantly moving back and forth, his keen eyes alert for any sign of danger on the ground or in the air above. Thankfully, we reach the cover of the woods without incident.Close up, the trees look even more gnarled than they did from atop the hill. Even the tallest of them rises n
Leesa's Advent Chapter 405
I’m surprised to hear that. I had imagined this entire world would be filled with dangerous creatures. I’m curious why these woods are not, especially with the abundance of delicious fruit hanging from the trees. I’m not about to question Kai about it, though, since Dad is obviously keen to be on our way. Maybe the poisonous vines are enough of a nuisance to keep most creatures away. Or more likely, perhaps the deadly beasts that inhabit this world prefer flesh to fruit. Whatever the reason, Kai will tell us everything we need to know, I have no doubt about that. It’s nice to learn we’re in a relatively safe part of his world, though.The conversation done, Kai leads us deeper into the forest. We travel in the same formation we used earlier, so I get to walk beside him again. I can tell that he’s still alert, but he seems less anxious than when we were exposed out on the hillside.The woods change little as we move silently through t
Leesa's Advent Chapter 406
We head out through the trees again, in the same formation as before. Raj drifts back behind our small column to serve as a one man rear guard. As I watch Doc’s eyes follow him, I smile. She’s probably feeling the same way I always feel when Kai disappears on one of his scouting forays. I want to warn her it will probably grow even worse if she gets to know him like I’ve gotten to know Kai, but that’s not my place. Besides, we’ll be leaving tomorrow, and Raj will just become a fading memory.We walk for maybe an hour before we’re forced to a halt by a thick wall of the poisonous vines that reaches almost down to the ground. I glance to the left and then to the right, but the tangled mass of vines stretches as far as I can see in both directions.I look at Kai. He doesn’t seem surprised or upset, but I don’t understand why he’s not. Our way is most definitely blocked.Raj joins us at the head of the colu
Leesa's Advent Chapter 407
Kai pulls back the skin covering the doorway so we can step into the hut. Dad ducks his head and enters first, and I follow. It’s quite dim inside. A narrow column of daylight streams in through a round hole in the center of the thatched roof. The only other light leaks in through countless tiny cracks in the stick walls.Kai was partly right about not expecting much, but what he should have said was not to expect anything. There’s absolutely nothing in here except two large, furry animal hides that cover half the dirt floor. From their size and the thick brown fur with its distinctive black speckles, I realize they’re werebear hides. Having seen Kai in action, I’m only a little surprised to see that his people hunt the fearsome beasts.Kai follows the rest of us inside.“I told you it wasn’t much,” he says, smiling. “But it will keep you dry if it happens to rain, and the werebear skins are quite comfortable to li
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