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Halia closed her eyes and began to glow softly. The light flowed from her hands and seeped down into Xania’s skin and began to flow outwards until her entire body was suffused with light.

After a few minutes, Xania groaned. Her eyelids fluttered open and she tried to sit up. Alaryia gently pushed her back down.

“Stay put, girl. You’ve burned through your essence. We’re healing you but it will be several hours before you can shift too much and several days before you should even think about using your power again.” Read the rest of this entry »

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“How long?” Sonia asked as she continued holding Andrew’s hand.

“Not long,” Alaryia said. “I’m just about through with unpicking the defences and then we can get him out. She glanced at Andrew. “How are you doing, kid?”

Andrew nodded. “I’m okay, I think. No pains since that first one. B-but I think that he killed all of the dragons I sent to attack him. I can’t feel them anymore.” He swallowed back a sob as he admitted that. Read the rest of this entry »

Start | Chapter Eighteen Part One | Index | Chapter Nineteen Part One

David found it easier to track Anna when he closed his eyes. Meredith had managed to borrow a small minibus from somewhere and they were all squashed into it. Even Jason had insisted on coming along even though he couldn’t do anything. Not surprising since it was his sister in danger of course.

David’s reverie was broken as Anna’s presence in his mind floated to the left as the road curved gently right.

“We’re slipping off course,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

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The room beyond the shattered door didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the building. The farmhouse had not been near any cliffs yet this windowless room was practically a cave. It seemed to be hewn out of rock, as if it had backed onto one.

There were cracks all through the ceiling and the walls and floor were splattered with multi-hued bloodstains. Around the room were five collared dragons lying sprawled on the floor – whether dead or unconscious, Valeria couldn’t tell.

All of which made the island of calm at the centre stand out even more. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Hold on, something isn’t right here.” Lydia ground to a halt and stared at a distinctive V shape in the peeling paint on one of the doors. “This house isn’t very large and we’ve been walking in a straight line for a while and finding nothing. Unless this place is a TARDIS, that’s impossible. And I’m sure that we’ve passed this door before.”

Her father paused as well and also frowned. “Jayden’s not bad at Spatial but I’m not sure he’s as good as your mother.” He scowled thoughtfully. “Then again, he did make a pocket so he might be good enough to mess with the internal dimensions of the place. But you’re right; this does look a bit familiar and this hallway is suspiciously monotonous.” He pointed to a table. “I think we’ve passed that before. I think he may have done something else here.” His scowl deepened. “I never realised he was this good at Spatial Manipulation.” He turned to Xania who was standing behind Valeria. “Would you take a look, dear?” Read the rest of this entry »

Start | Chapter Seventeen Part Three | Index | Chapter Eighteen Part Two

The two people who answered Liam’s appeal for help were a father and daughter team who looked human, to David’s eyes, perhaps a little too human. There was something artfully studied about their mundanity. He wouldn’t have looked twice at them in the street. Even right there face to face with them he was finding it hard to retain the details of their appearance beyond an impression of mousy hair, hazel eyes and bland features. He had a definite feeling that he might not even remember them tomorrow, except Liam apparently did.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure you will,” the young woman extended her hand to him. “I’m Brenna, you can call me Bren if you want.” As she spoke it seemed that she grew several inches and her arms and legs became unnaturally thinner and longer, her hair darkened slightly while her eyes deepened to a rich brown and her features sharpened and developed an angular cast which while not conventionally pretty was striking. So this was the real face she’d been hiding beneath the veil of mundanity. Read the rest of this entry »

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Their jump landed them in the middle of a stand of woodland with no sign of any buildings. Lydia looked around and swore. “She lied to Naria!”

“No,” Sonia said. “She said a pocket, remember? There’s definitely a pocket here.” She nodded to herself and reached out towards the broken stumps. “There!” She twisted her hand and a blast of wind ripped out and tore a gap in the air. A derelict looking old farmhouse appeared between the stumps. “See!”

Lydia stared at the crumbling bricks forming the building. “Wow!” Read the rest of this entry »

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Andrew felt Naria turn her attention back to where she was. Just a minute more I think. He’s almost under.

Under? Andrew asked.

Yes, he’s putting himself into a trance to do this… it’ll make him slow to respond as well.

Indeed, he said.

Just waiting then, she said. She was as wired as he was he, realised. Read the rest of this entry »

Start | Chapter Seventeen Part Two | Index | Chapter Eighteen Part One

Anna awoke from a fitful doze to find a young woman with dark blonde hair kneeling beside her. She was wearing a brown linen dress which seemed more like an extra long wrap around skirt that had been pinned above each shoulder with amber brooches. Anna glanced over and saw that Caroline and Ragnar were both fast asleep, then realised that she could see the pattern on the bedspead dimly through the woman’s hand. She blinked once and pulled herself into a sitting position.

“Who are you?” she whispered. “And you’re a ghost aren’t you?”

The woman jumped and stared at her. “You can see me?” she asked. Anna nodded and the ghost woman frowned. “But I am not materialised, you shouldn’t be able to. So why… oh! Did you see anything strange during your fever?” Read the rest of this entry »

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“It’s ready! It’s really ready.” Jayden was incredibly cheerful when he bounced into the room the next morning, carrying a large breakfast on a tray. He put the tray down by Andrew and stretched his arms to the ceiling. “I’ve waited so long for this moment, Andrew. So very long.”

Andrew said nothing to that, though he did pick up the fork and start eating. He needed his strength, after all. He glanced towards the doorway and saw Laxmi loitering there with an anxious expression on her face. Her eyes as she met his were dark pits of worry.

He doesn’t suspect a thing, she told him. Make sure that you keep it that way. Read the rest of this entry »