Page 134 of Wings of Betrayal

The lost ones closest to it are immediately sucked through like a vacuum, and I take control of the others, ten at a time, and guide them to the portal using my ability. Once they are close enough, the portal takes over and sucks them through it.

I’ve got about half of them through it when I lose my control of it. The portal is closing, and before I can stop it, it sucks me right through it, into the Realm of Lost Souls.

With wide eyes, I scan my surroundings. There are lost ones everywhere, but they haven’t seen me yet. I hide behind a large boulder and watch as they all slowly drift back toward the city in the distance.

Gods above, this is bad.

I attempt to reopen a portal back into Galespo, but I can’t. It just won’t work. It feels as though my ability has been diminished. It’s still there, but I can’t seem to grasp it.

My attempts to connect with Finlay fail, just as they always have when I’ve ventured so far away from him. I can’t sense Kyle anymore, either.

My mind reels, playing through various scenarios, none of them good.

Please be okay. Please let them be okay.

I left them behind with a lot of lost ones to fight. I close my eyes and try to control my breathing. They can handle themselves. They were doing all right before I was sucked through the portal.

I step out from behind the boulder and look to the city in the distance. Knowing I have been here before gives me some hope. I do know my way around here, sort of. Maybe I will find another open portal to Earth, and I’ll be able to escape.

But what if there are no portals? my annoying subconscious chimes in.

Nope, I’m not even going to think about that.

I wander toward the city, without any other option, and sneak in through the broken gate. But as soon as I am inside the city boundary, lost ones spot me.

My heart skids to a stop. Oh no. I run through the streets to try to outsmart them. I know I’m fast, but surprisingly, they are faster. A lost one grabs hold of me, and I scream, waiting for it to slash me. But it doesn’t.

They surround me, all staring at me.

“Take her to the leader,” one of them instructs, and I rear back slightly in confusion.

Their leader? I didn’t realise they had one. Nor did I know they can talk. Two lost ones take my arms and force me through the streets toward the tall glass building in the centre, the one that I snuck into the last time I was in this Realm where I found the orb. We pass by some seriously disturbing creatures with multiple arms and legs, long necks and shark beaks, who watch me from the shadows, their growls pricking my skin.

Once we reach the building, they guide me through several doors to a large, open room. Near the back of the room is a raised section, and a lost one sits on what appears to be a throne.

Okay, not what I was expecting.

The two lost ones holding me lead me across the room and force me down on my knees before him.

I peek up at their leader, who is staring down at me, his eyes filled with disdain. He’s different from the other lost ones. Much bigger. His straggly white hair is pulled back into a bun, and his milky eyes focus on me.

“Why are you here?” he demands in an authoritative tone.

I look around the room at all the lost ones here, staring at me, and wonder how things work here. Did they vote for this leader? Or has he been ruling this realm forever?

“I didn’t mean to come here,” I admit. “I was sucked through a portal, and it was out of my control.”

He stands and slowly drifts down the steps toward me. “No. It was not out of your control. I have seen your kind before. You possess the gift to travel freely between the realms.”

I swallow hard. “Yes, but I am learning to control it. I did not mean to disturb you.”

He narrows his milky-white eyes at me, and I notice he’s holding some sort of black metal staff, and sitting atop it is a blue orb. One of the three orbs that comprises the weapon.

“We do not wish to be controlled by the gods. Pulled into a war that is not ours to fight,” he says.

Zalore and Amaros must somehow have him under their control. But how? What do they have on him? Is it simply that they are in control of the weapons?

“I can close the portals that have been opened,” I say. “I have the power to do it. I can stop all of this.”

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