Page 19

Elsie

D estruction and chaos meet me as I step on Kian’s heels through the portal he created.

Deep grooves scar the side of the mountain where rocks have torn through the soil.

The rockslide has swept away trees and everything else in its way.

Severed roots, mangled branches, and crushed trunks stick out between the rocks that cover half a village at the foot of the mountain, not a rooftop in sight.

On the untouched half, domed stone houses line circular streets.

From the vantage point of the high outcrop on which we’re standing, the layout looks like a snail shell coiling in circles from the center.

Disoriented, I look around me. People are screaming and running in all directions.

Shit.

How do we help them? A moment ago, it looked as if the sun was going to explode. I thought that was the end of all of us. Finished. Done. The life forms on Zerra weren’t going to be destroyed by an asteroid but by a supernova.

Miraculously, the sun returned to its original brightness, and things went back to normal. Until the mountain started shifting. Then, just as abruptly, it stopped.

I dressed hurriedly, grabbing the first gown and pair of shoes my hands fell on, and was just about to go check on our guests when Kian arrived.

Having sensed the distress in so many Alit minds, he came looking for Aruan.

When I told him Aruan was with the queen, he said there was no time to waste.

He sent a message straight to Gaia’s mind, since he said it was open to his instead of closed like Aruan’s, to alert Aruan and the rest of the family.

Then he took my hand and brought me here through a portal he opened.

He didn’t mention a natural disaster or how we were supposed to make ourselves useful.

I weigh a whopping ninety-two pounds. I won’t be able to lift a single one of those rocks, and even if I could, it would take ages to remove everything.

I look at Kian for a clue. His expression is grim as he takes in the horrific scene.

My voice is shaky. “Where’s Aruan? What’s taking him so long?”

Surely, with his powerful ability, he can fix this in no time.

“He’ll come as soon as he can,” Kian says. “Gaia already delivered the message. There are several villages affected in addition to this one.”

In the meantime, people here are trapped beneath the rocks. “What can I do to help?”

He closes his eyes without replying.

“What are you doing, Kian?” My anxiety climbs. “Now’s not the time for meditation.”

“Getting a headcount,” he mumbles. “If you’d let me concentrate.”

Portals open left, right, and center of us, letting guards through. They land on their feet running. The work has the queen’s name written all over it, which must mean Kian is right. Gaia did indeed deliver the message.

More guards arrive, but there’s no sign of Aruan. The only sentiments our bond reveals are urgency and diligence. What I wouldn’t give for cell phones right now.

One of the guards stops in the clearing, puffs out his chest, and starts calling out orders.

I jerk with surprise. The volume of his voice is so blaringly loud that my ears ring.

Did the guy swallow a megaphone? He sounds like a thousand-megawatt speaker.

Is that an Alit power, having a super-loud voice?

His words carry across the valley as he orders people to line up according to their talents, swiftly dividing them into groups of heavy lifters, runners, and caregivers.

Another guard is already hauling rocks twice his size from the pile while others are working in teams to move them. That guard is the man who flung the Phaelix through the air without even touching them when they attacked the palace. I recognize his face.

In no time, the villagers have joined in. Everything is so well coordinated and happens so fast it makes me think this isn’t the first time they’re facing a crisis of such a scale.

A blur moves in my peripheral vision. I look toward it. The blur of motion dashing across the field turns out to be a man running so fast he appears like nothing but a series of hologram flashes.

What the…? Where’s he going?

“To tell the other villages to bring food and blankets,” Kian says. “We may have injured people who’ll need care.”

Did I ask that out loud? Or is Kian in my head?

The guard with the megaphone voice jogs to Kian. Like the other guards, he wears a white tunic and dark pants tucked into long boots.

He stops at the bottom of the outcrop and bows his head. “Your Highnesses.”

His voice is like razorblades cutting into my brain. I resist the urge to cover my ears with my hands.

He raises his gaze to Kian, avoiding eye contact with me. When he speaks again, his voice is at a normal level. “How many people are trapped under the rocks?”

“Ten moon cycles.” At the widening of the man’s eyes, Kian adds, “It happened too fast. They didn’t have time to sound the alarm.”

The guard’s expression is cautious. “Casualties?”

“Not yet,” Kian says with a tight jaw. “The stone structures are holding under the weight of the rocks. They still have air to breathe.”

The big fat “but” he doesn’t say hangs in the air between us.

“The rocks dragged the underlaying soil with them. We have to dig.” Kian points at the foot of the mountain. “Get all the tools at your disposal and start the guards on the east side. The villagers can work from the west.”

Adrenaline floods my body. The rush is like a kick-start to my brain. I scan the environment, taking in the absence of dinosaurs and insects. As animals often do, they must’ve sensed the danger and fled.

Instead of relying on my sight, I tap into that part of my power that revealed itself earlier when I sensed the animals in and around the palace. Back then, the feeling was faint, but now, it’s pronounced.

A warm glow starts in the pit of my stomach. The heat expands until it fills every part of me. My skin begins to hum with a strange buzz. And then it all implodes from my brain outward, dunking me into a world of black.

I’m standing in the center of a dark sky, the whole planet a canvas of night dotted with stars. Each of those stars is a source of life—a dinosaur, reptile, or insect. I know exactly where and what they are, the whole of Zerra’s animal life revealed to me in a blink.

The map embeds in my brain. I can’t explain how or why it happens. I only know it’s as natural and comforting as pulling on a favorite sweater. Cozy. Familiar.

As soon as the picture has formed, the daylight returns, and I’m back on the outcrop with Kian.

The rest happens automatically, like an inborn instinct awakening from a long slumber. I don’t have to think about what to do. I simply act, focusing on a parade of pangolins that were hunting for termites on the border of the forest before the landslide hit. They took refuge in their deep burrows.

A mere thought makes them surface. Another sends them rushing to the site. They’re powerful diggers, capable of excavating circular chambers large enough for an Alit to crawl inside and stand up. Together, they can do so in record time.

Kian shoots me a questioning look as the pangolins, normally solitary animals, arrive in hordes.

With their cute armor of scales, they look almost exactly like the species on Earth, except that their scales don’t cover their tails and legs.

On Earth, they’ve been around for eighty million years, and now, sadly, they’re endangered due to poaching.

Instead of waiting for the Alit to clear the rocks, they start digging from the border of the enormous pile, creating underground tunnels to the houses buried beneath the rubble.

Something like surprise and approval flashes in Kian’s eyes as he glances at me.

I don’t get the same looks from the people who’re digging as fast as they can.

Rather than being relieved to have help, they appear frightened of the pangolins.

Or maybe the fearful looks they throw over their shoulders are aimed at me.

One of the guards is splitting rocks, chopping them into smaller pieces with his bare hands like an axe falling on wood. Another Alit power? Some of the people are lifting the pieces into carts while others, who must be as strong as oxen, are pulling the carts away.

I tap into my energy source again and bring a few quetzalcoatluses around. They’re powerful enough to hook their claws into the broken tree trunks and carry them off before dumping them on the flat stretch of land next to the village to make the diggers’ work easier.

My heart leaps when Betty appears in the sky. She sweeps down low, circling over me before joining the others. They fasten their claws around the rocks and fly them away at an astounding speed, working much faster than the men on the ground.

Even little Pip and a host of his friends show up for support. Aside from cheering on the quetzalcoatluses, the anurognathuses aren’t much help, but it warms my heart that they’ve come unsummoned. Just as Pip saved me from drinking the poison all on his own.

Does that mean they feel the special bond we share? The connection between the animals and me is so much more than mind manipulation. They’re like my family.

I hold my breath as the pangolins finish the first tunnel, and the parents and children trapped in their house are brought through it to safety. Immediately, the pangolins move on to extend the tunnel to the next house.

A circle of lights appears on my right. Gaia rushes through the portal, holding Vitai’s hand. A beat later, the queen steps through a portal with her husband. Aruan arrives on his own, answering my question about his ability to create a portal.

Finally.

Thank fuck.

A host of nobles and royals, still dressed in their smart tunics and gowns, follow through portals that the queen and Gaia open, but I only have eyes for Aruan.