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“What is it doing?” I ask, turning my head sideways as if that will help me figure it out any better. It sort of looks like the whale creature is just sitting on top of a building. Except now, instead of being translucent, it’s lit up from the inside like it’s got a hundred thousand lightbulbs inside its belly.
“Eating,” Layden laughs, sounding punch-drunk. He snatches the phone back, flips through something else, and turns it back to us, where another whale is doing something similar on a very different-looking building. And another, and another.
“They’re everywhere,” he says, still giddy.
“He’s right,” Sabra says. She sounds disbelieving. “The news is picking it up now. Unknown entities seen attacking nuclear sites in Russia, China, US, Europe,” she reads off, her thumb scrolling constantly. “Some countries actually launched missiles, but they were swallowed by the creatures midair. I mean, no one realizes that’s what’s happening. They’re just saying averted missile launches. Oh my god, I can’t believe it actually worked.” And then a few moments later, she breathes out, “Damn, they’re fast, too. They must’ve been really hungry.”
“Great,” Hannah says, clutching her crying daughter to her chest. “So where is Abaddon, and why isn’t he back yet?”
Kharon looks at her sympathetically. “He will want to ensure you are safe even if it means lingering in the sky and stopping any missiles headed your way himself.”
Hannah stomps impatiently, then starts pacing down the hall, bouncing their daughter on her hip and hushing her. “Everything’s going to be okay, baby. Daddy will be back any moment.”
“Come on,” Sabra calls, following after Hannah. “There’s a TV in here. I’ll put it on the BBC.”
We all head after her. It feels strange to just be watching the news with my big monster beau, but I’m glad that he’s by my side for once and not out in action.
Sabra turns on the gigantic TV and flicks through the channels until she finds one in English. I’m not sure if it’s the BBC, but British newscasters sit behind a desk. “Reports continue to flood in from all corners of the globe of the strange creatures. Initial reports indicate they are not attacking but rather somehow feeding off of nuclear material. No attempts to speak with the creatures have yielded any response. One attempt to fire on the creature only resulted in an explosion of the nuclear facility that should have been catastrophic, but no injuries were reported. . . You have to see it to believe it.”
The newscast desk is replaced with footage like we saw on Layden’s phone of a creature surrounding what I assumed was some sort of nuclear facility. You can see the light of a missile fired at the creature, but instead of hitting it or any sort of explosion, it’s just sort of. . . absorbed by the Devourer, who glows brighter and brighter.
“Governments are urging citizens to shelter in place at this time until we know more.”
We sit glued to the TV for the next half hour, with Layden occasionally adding more commentary when the news starts repeating itself and showing the same clips over and over.
About ten minutes in, Sabra starts asking the questions no one wants to hear. “This is great and all, but what about when they’ve finished with the nuclear energy? These things go for the most nutrient-rich sources of power first, but then they move on. Fossil fuels will be next. We’ve got to figure out how the hell we’re going to get rid of them.”
“Get Phoenix,” Kharon says. “She brought them. She can send them home.”
Sabra looks back at him. “She can’t, actually. We can’t use the same kind of summoning circle to send them as we used to bring them.”
“Why not?” Kharon asks stubbornly.
“Because it’s not built for that. Well, it was, until Grandpa Vlad went off script and used your blood to supercharge her.”
Kharon glowers at her. “What difference does that make?”
“All the difference, actually,” Sabra says, standing up and getting in Kharon’s face even though she’s only literally half as tall as him. “You’re the planes-crosser. Can’t you take them back to where they came from?”
Kharon’s mouth drops open like Sabra is from an alien planet. Maybe he’s shocked that she knows what he is? I get it. I feel absolutely lost here with everything happening so quickly around me.
“It doesn’t work like that,” Kharon shouts. “I can only cross to the deathly plane.”
But Sabra just shakes her head. “I doubt it. Have you even tried going to other planes?”
Kharon scoffs in disbelief and what sounds like anger, too. “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do. What do you know of me? My father explained my role to me—”
“So just because your dad said you could only go to the human death plane that’s the only place you ever tried?” Sabra doesn’t sound impressed. “I’ve never heard of a planes-crosser who can only cross to a single plane. It’s far more likely that was just the first plane you crossed to, and then you stopped looking because you thought that was all there was.”
Kharon opens his mouth to disagree, but Sabra holds up a hand. “The fact that Vlad drinking your blood helped boost Phoenix’s power to bring the Devourers over is more proof. If your daughter has inherited any of your powers, I bet she’ll be able to travel to more than just the one plane you regularly go to.”
Kharon and Ksenia exchange a look. Uh, yeah, cause everyone on the helicopter when we escaped Russia saw that newborn baby Luna was definitely able to travel to other planes of existence. I try to control my shudder and don’t quite manage it.
“Fine,” Kharon says through gritted teeth. “But if I can’t access that power, it still doesn’t help us, does it?”
Sabra breathes out, looking around. “We need Phoenix. Since she’s reached out there once with her mind at least to call the creatures here, maybe she’ll be able to help you, I don’t know, connect with it? Maybe together, the two of you can figure out how to cross to the plane to get them back once they’re done eating up all the nuclear power on this planet and before they move on to all the other energy sources we have left on Earth.”
“I don’t think Earth is the immediate problem.” Ksenia’s voice comes from the couch where she’s breastfeeding her daughter.
