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Chapter 500
I quickly drift off to sleep. Not surprisingly, my sleep is filled with nightmares, each one more terrifying than the last. The visions are incredibly vivid: snarling werebears surround me in an ever-tightening circle; a giant roc ensnares me in its talons and carries me to its mountaintop nest; fearsomely ugly ogres tie me to a spit and begin roasting me over a blazing fire. The dreams all have the same thing in common—I’m about to meet some horrifying doom. I sure hope that my as yet unrevealed Power doesn’t turn out to be precognition!
I wake up in the middle of the ogre vision, my heart racing and my body covered in sweat. Opening my eyes to utter blackness only adds to my terror. For a few panic-filled moments, I have no idea where I am and why I can’t see anything. I only barely manage to catch myself before I let loose a scream for help.
I force myself to draw in slow, deep breaths of cold night air. They were only dreams, I remind myself
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 501
My heart sinks. From where I stand, it looks like there’s no way across the gap in the bridge. I turn my gaze inland. The fold in the topography is deep and cuts far back into the hillside. Climbing down the sheer sides of the ravine and then back up would be much too dangerous, which means I’d have to go around it. I can’t tell for certain, but it looks like I’d have to travel a mile or more out of my way, through the woods and up and over the hill, before turning back down to the road on the other side.That’s a detour I’d prefer not to take. I decide to make a closer examination of the broken section of road first. Maybe there’s a way across the break that I can’t see from here.Once again, I carefully check my surroundings before exposing myself to view out on the bridge. I don’t see anything moving anywhere, and the only sound I hear is the faint crashing of the ocean upon the rocks far below me to my left.
Leesa's Advent Chapter 502
MEANWHILERadar watched helplessly as the slimy tentacle pulled Plush and Lights down into the water. Jordy was firing his rifle into the ocean beneath them, keeping his aim low enough to avoid hitting their two friends but hoping to wound the invisible monster below so it would release them.It didn’t work. The two Miracles disappeared beneath the surface.“Nooooo!” Radar screamed, her heart breaking.Suddenly, the tentacle holding Plush and Lights broke through the water and shot back up toward the ship. For a moment, Radar didn’t understand—why would the creature be returning her friends to the boat? Then she realized she was seeing exactly the same thing she had just witnessed, only in reverse. She turned her head and saw Rerun beside her, his features etched tight with concentration. He was winding back time to rescue their friends!As soon as Plush and Lights were standing on the deck again, Rada
Leesa's Advent Chapter 503
Lieutenant Gregerson smiled. Not only had the cut disappeared completely, but he was no longer feeling dizzy. It was as if the injury had never happened.“Thank you,” he said.He looked toward the lifeboat, but the vessel was now out of sight over the edge of the ship. Four sailors still strained at the thick ropes that held the boat, so he knew it had not yet been lowered into the water. It had to be close, though.“C’mon,” he said to the Miracles. “I think our transportation is almost ready.”He led them across the deck. They reached the broken railing just in time to see the lifeboat land with a loud splash onto the surface of the ocean. The boat came dangerously close to capsizing when it hit the water, but it managed to stay afloat.Three of the sailors maintained their hold on the ropes, while the fourth draped a heavy net over the side of the ship and then used the netting to climb down into the life
Leesa's Advent Chapter 504
Thirteen pairs of eyes scanned the ocean as the lifeboat glided slowly eastward. Only the four men rowing the skiff did not peer intently across the gently rolling sea—they concentrated on dipping the oars into the water as smoothly and quietly as possible.No one looked harder than Radar. Searching the surface of the blue-green water desperately for some sign of her best friend, she wished that her Power enabled her to detect the other Miracles as easily as she detected the appearance of an Anomaly. Her eyes were no better than anyone else’s, though—heck, she hadn’t even seen Leah fall overboard. She silently cursed herself for her failure. Had she been more alert, she could have done something to try to rescue Leah.The tears that welled up in her eyes from time to time didn’t help, either. So far, she had managed to keep them from overflowing and running down her cheeks, but as her heart grew heavier with every passing minute, she didn&
Leesa's Advent Chapter 505
As Lieutenant Gregerson led his squad at a rapid walk to the north, the highway soon began climbing, and groves of trees started to fill in the land on the east side of the road just as Colonel Gallway had predicted,. The incline was gradual, and not exclusive by any means. There were plenty of places where the highway descended, but never for as long as the inclines. The result was a steady rise in the height of the cliffs above the ocean, as well as a hillier, more wooded landscape on the other side.The lieutenant was in a bit of a quandary. The supremely fit Marines were capable of moving at a much more rapid pace than the one he had settled on. He knew that the faster he and his squad travelled, the more quickly they would overtake Leah if she was somewhere ahead of them. And the sooner they overtook her, the sooner they’d be able to protect her from any danger. But if they moved too rapidly, they risked missing any trace that Leah—or anyone else—might
Leesa's Advent Chapter 506
MOVING ONClimbing the steep ridge above the destroyed bridge and pushing my way through the thick underbrush is slow and exhausting work. The foliage high above me is so dense that I can only see tiny patches of blue sky. I could easily get lost in these woods, but by keeping the chasm I’m trying to skirt to my left and continuing to move upward, it’s not too difficult to keep to the proper direction.I’ve ascended only two or three hundred feet in twenty minutes or so when I come across a narrow game path. I hope it’s been formed by deer or something equally harmless.The trail heads up the slope in the general direction I’ve been going, so this is indeed a nice break. The path is barely wide enough for a person, which is just fine with me, because that means it’s not used by monsters like the giant reptile thing I barely escaped. I suppose vampires or werewolves could use it, but I’m not sure what tho
Leesa's Advent Chapter 507
Suddenly, I realize what’s been bothering me about his appearance—it’s his age. He looks like he’s in his early twenties, but that’s impossible, of course. As far as I know, there’s no one in their early twenties in this world. I glance down at my machete through the corners of my eyes and draw my knees up in front of me.“Uh, Kai?” I ask softly, “where are you from?”He hesitates for just a moment. “I think you have probably guessed that by now,” he says.“You’re from There?” I ask, wanting to hear him say it. “From the other world?”He nods. “Yes. We saw you were in some trouble, so I was sent to help you.”My head feels like it’s spinning. The spit and the rabbit drop to my lap, but I scarcely notice. Kai’s simple statement has raised so many questions that I can’t wrap my brain around them all. Beings in the other
Leesa's Advent Chapter 508
Less than an hour later, Kai slips down off the log he’s been sitting on.“Your friends have arrived,” he tells me.I climb down from the same log, where I’d been sitting next to him. My descent is slightly less graceful. We can’t see the bridge from this far back in the trees, and I haven’t heard anything. I guess Kai did, though.“Really?” I say, as excited as I’ve been in a long time. “Awesome!”I hurry down out of the woods with Kai close behind me. Sure enough, when I step out of the trees, I see six Marines on the highway, maybe a hundred yards from the beginning of the bridge. I recognize Lieutenant Gregerson immediatelyI wave both my arms over my head. I didn’t really need to draw their attention, because at least one of the soldiers has already spotted me, but I’m so happy to see them I don’t care. The squad is now trotting toward me.Kai and I move out onto our section of the bridge. The Marines stop a few feet from their end of the broken span.“Leah, thank God you’re okay
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