The sacred animals had honored us. I just hoped that in the end we were worthy.
“So what are you doing back here, Supes?” Fury drew my attention again, and I was grateful to be able to step away from the reptilian guide.
Sass was amazeballs, but probably the scariest thing I’d ever seen.
“Shouldn’t you be off finding the Earth half?”
I resisted the urge to flip her off; she was just being Fury.
“I’m on my way there. I just wanted to check in with you all first. Make sure there wasn’t some epic battle we were missing out on.”
Delane cleared her throat. Her black wings were sitting securely against her back, but still dramatically towering above her head. Lina lingered close by, and at random moments the Nephilius half would reach out and run her hands along her flank. Like she needed to touch her.
“We’ve been keeping abreast of the situation. I confer with the war council leaders, and so far just small pockets of skirmish. Nothing to worry about.”
That didn’t sit right with me. “What are the Seventine or their creatures waiting for?” I asked no one in particular. “Are they gathering more darkness, or are they simply too busy trying to find enough free energy to break the last of their brothers free?”
No one had an answer, and I hated that more than anything. I didn’t like surprises, especially not when they came in the form of energy-severing assholes hell bent on destroying seven worlds.
“I’ll contact you if anything changes,” Delane said, her expression and tone as serious as always. “But you need to go now and find the Earth half. We must build on our power base. We must be as strong as possible before the apocalypse hits.”
An angel-like creature talking about the apocalypse. Who’d have thought I’d ever see that. And she had a point, as usual. It was time for us to hit the road.
“Stay safe, Abby,” Sapha said.
Somehow I managed to stop my jaw from hitting the floor. That was about the nicest thing she’d ever said to me. She even patted my shoulder as she passed me by.
“I’m going to find Jedi now. He is teaching me about our heritage. I like him.” She spoke with such innocence.
But, and this might be my imagination, there appeared to be a certain animation to her features when she mentioned the very handsome and charming leader of the Gai Walker clan. Those two had been chummy from the start, and I had my suspicions that on his part, at least, there was more than friendship in the feelings. I wasn’t sure if Sapha had quite grasped the concept of mated relationships. I didn’t know what they did on her world. But she definitely felt something.
As Sapha’s thin form disappeared, her eye-catching fire-bird trailing behind, I had a sudden thought.
“Have you been back to Crais?” I asked Fury.
Her white hair flew everywhere when she jerked her head up. She’d been on the ground giving Crete a belly-rub.
“He had a prickle in his fur,” she snapped.
I forced myself not to grin. Of course, it didn’t help that Lucy had just fallen into Colton, her shoulders shaking as laughter rocked her.
Fury ignored this for once. “Dune is back home right now,” she said. “There’s definitely some chaos. The world is struggling with the adjustment. The loss of sun has caused some of the nomads to weaken, their bodies trying to compensate for the change in energy levels.”
“Has anyone died?” A sense of unease washed over me.
Had we made things worse on that world? The Seventine had tried to sever the sun to take the energy. I’d managed to absorb it myself and used to it bring life back to Dronish. But the guilt of what might become of both worlds gnawed at me. And the fact was I didn’t have time right then to go to either planet and check in on them. If I didn’t stop the Seventine, there would be no worlds at all. Priorities.
Fury shook her head, her features creasing. “No, no deaths yet. The dragoonas are fine. They’re hardier than the humanoids.”
I was so relieved, especially about Cleo, Dune’s dragoona friend.
Fury hugged me, hard and sudden, and I returned the gesture.
“Thank you for caring,” she said, her voice muffled in my shoulder. “But now you have to focus. We’ll have time after we destroy the Seventine to pick up the pieces of our worlds, but for now, you have to find the last half.”
She was right. I’d delayed long enough.
I pulled away. Talina and Ria also hugged me. Delane was content with a hand on my shoulder.
“Stay safe, Abbs, we’ll see you again very soon,” Talina said, her warm brown eyes capturing my attention.
She had been quiet, but then she often got lost in all of the large and loud personalities in our group. Apollo stuck close to her, and it was clear that she enjoyed resting her hands against the water dragon.
“Was everything okay on Spurn?” I asked her quickly.