Page 38 of Gates of Rapture
Despite the pain, she kept her focus.She opened her eyes and became fixed on Marguerite.“Check the future streams.Now.I think one of the other hidden colonies is in trouble, but I don’t know which one.”
Marguerite nodded then turned to Thorne.“I can feel it as well.I need to drop into the future streams and find out what’s going on.But this feels big and it feels really bad.Come support me?”
“You got it.”He moved to stand beside her, an arm around her waist.
Fiona moved in close as well, Jean-Pierre behind her.“Yes, it feels very big,” Fiona said.“My obsidian power is vibrating like crazy.”
Thorne addressed Leto.“Get Diallo and Endelle over here.Now.”
Choosing the courageous path,
Even while trapped in fear,
Honors the Creator.
—Collected Proverbs,Beatrice of Fourth
CHAPTER 6
As Grace stood in the middle of the event grounds, she swore the very air among the small group took on a tactile quality that could actually be touched.
Leto took command.
He whipped his phone from the deep pocket of his kilt and punched a couple of times.“Hey, Diallo, sorry to intrude, there’s a problem and we need you.Can you fold to the landing platforms?We’ll meet you there.”He nodded as though Diallo could see him.“Good.”
He then changed phones, whipping his warrior phone from the top slit in his flight battle kilt.He called Jeannie and issued the order to get Endelle to the colony immediately.“To my position.”He then contacted the colony’s Militia Warrior HQ.He authorized Madame Endelle’s fold, then added, “I want all the Pacific Northwest warriors on alert.Let the Section Leaders know.We’ll be assembling teams at the landing platforms ASAP.”
Grace held her power steady, uncertain what she was doing, but she went with her instincts.Something big was happening, something dangerous, that much she could sense.The problem was, her head was really starting to hurt.She took deep breaths.
She fixed her gaze on Marguerite and continued to hold her palms up.Thorne turned to Marguerite.“Are you ready to do this?”
She nodded, then closed her eyes.A second later her body jerked, but Thorne kept her steady so that she didn’t fall.Her eyes moved rapidly beneath her eyelids, back and forth, as though she was reading something.Her body jerked again and her hand went to her stomach as she opened her eyes.
She looked at Grace then at Thorne.“We have maybe ten minutes, but I don’t know where this is.It’s an attack on one of the hidden colonies.The top of the mossy-mist dome just like this one”—she pointed up—“looked as though it had been burned off and was still burning.Death vampires, maybe two hundred of them, were flying into the colony from all directions.”
Leto nodded.“Okay,” he said quietly.He held his warrior phone and issued orders.
Grace glanced in the direction of the landing platforms.It was amazing to watch all the Militia Warriors, dozens of them, start gathering in squadrons, off to the left of the platforms as though by long habit.Leto’s drilling, no doubt.
Leto addressed the group.“I’m sounding the alarm.”He spoke into the phone; the next moment a series of tones hit the air in groups of three.The colonists and the foreign contestants all stopped what they were doing.The contest grounds fell completely silent.
To Grace’s complete shock, everyone began moving in prearranged directions away from the grounds.Within seconds, only Militia Warriors remained, and all of them were assembling with amazing speed by the landing platforms.
“Leto,” Jean-Pierre murmured.“You have worked miracles here.”
Leto nodded, but he set his gaze on Thorne.
Thorne was the man in charge, the one who was building Endelle’s army and working with dozens of Militia Warrior Section Leaders to formulate battle plans.He said, “It’s clear we’re looking at trouble with a hidden colony here on Mortal Earth, so I’m deferring to Leto on this.He’s set up the global defense system for this dimension.”
Leto glanced toward the landing platforms.“My men know what to do.What we need is the location of the attack.”
A moment later, Endelle folded right next to Thorne, adjusting a strange necklace of pinecones and butterflies.She twisted her neck and gave the necklace one more turn.“Just got the call from Jeannie that we have some deep shit going on here.”She caught sight of Grace.“And why does our latest obsidian flame look like a goddam glowing Smurf?”
A few nervous barks of laughter followed.
Grace couldn’t help herself.She laughed as well, then sobered instantly.Dear Creator, her head really hurt.
“We’ve got trouble.”Leto said.He glanced at Marguerite then back.“Future streams just told us one of the colonies will be under attack in a few minutes.”
