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“Not long now,” crowed Aleksandr, walking along the spiral, patting Wardens on their shoulders and bolstering the connections between them. He didn’t notice Grandma X and Jaide. Perhaps they were invisible to his eyes, Jaide thought. Or perhaps he only had eyes for the Project. “Ten seconds!”
Grandma X hurried her along the spiral to where Hector stood, chest heaving and long hair stuck in damp ribbons to his forehead. Jaide had never seen him looking like this, even after The Evil had first attacked them, almost a year ago. He was on the verge of collapse.
++Hector,++ she said.
His eyes flickered open.
“Mother,” he breathed. “Is Jack …?”
++We need a small amount of time,++ she told him. ++I will create the opportunity, if you can give me just a few seconds.++
He nodded wearily, and let himself fall.
Strange surges rippled through the tent. Aleksandr’s triumphant mood turned to alarm.
The chain was broken.
Grandma X tugged Jaide away. They moved through space once more, jumping to the lighthouse, then to the cactus garden, then to Mermaid Point. There they found Rennie, braced against the full fury of the storm. She was staring out to sea, not minding the icy rain, her teeth exposed in something that might have been a grin.
“I must ask for one last favor of you,” Grandma X told her, shouting over the howling wind. “The road home is closed. Jack needs a way through. Can you help us?”
“You are asking me to deliberately break the wards. I, the Living Ward of Portland.”
“Yes, just for a moment.”
“Has such a thing been done before?”
“Never, as far as is known.”
Rennie looked down at her feet, then up at the roiling sky.
“It is truly a night for miracles,” she said. “Miracles, or terrible mistakes.”
“Only time will reveal which is which.”
Rennie bared her teeth again, only this time it was definitely a grimace, and gazed once more out to sea.
“It is done.”
Jaide felt a fluttering in her chest, and suddenly they were back in the blue room. It was weird to be out of the elements and back in her body, especially as it was freshly dried and in fresh clothes after the soaking she had just received. Grandma X was dry, too. Jaide had never wondered what happened to Wardens’ spectral bodies in bad weather. Now she knew.
The fluttering continued. It had nothing to do with the return to her body. She had felt this twice before, when something had happened to the wards of Portland. They were faltering.
Grandma X’s fingers didn’t release her. The moonstone flashed once again, and the lodestone fragment flared. This time the cross-continuum conduit constructor began to bend space as it was supposed to. The floor, walls, and ceiling bulged out around it, while the corners of the room drew closer, creating a warped sphere. Everything in the blue room flattened and smeared into two-dimensional wallpaper. The only solid things left were Jaide and her grandmother, and the conduit constructor itself, now a spinning, golden circle.
“Seek him,” said Grandma X over a rising sound of rushing wind. “We must find him, and quickly!”
But Jaide didn’t need to. Even as the Bridge opened, Jack’s voice came clearly to her, out of the vortex.
++Jaide, can you hear me? We need your help. It’s an emergency!++
“Don’t reply,” said Grandma X sharply. “We don’t want to lead The Evil to us.”
“But he’s in trouble!”
“And getting ourselves killed won’t help him.” Grandma X indicated the vortex unfolding right in front of them. “Go through and explain in person. Just don’t let go of my hand, whatever you do.”
Jaide didn’t see how that was possible. Wouldn’t she be stretched between two worlds like spaghetti until she snapped?
“Trust me,” said Grandma X, nudging her toward the vortex. “And don’t let go!”
Jaide remained uncertain, but she knew better than to doubt her grandmother. It didn’t matter what people called her: the Warden of Portland, the Warden of Last Resort, the crazy old witch who lived on Watchward Lane. Grandma X was her father’s mother, and in a little less than a year, Jaide had learned to love her. If anyone could bring her back from the Evil Dimension, it would be Grandma X.
They would do it together.
Jaide took one step and leaped into the vortex. She spun and tumbled, and the blue room vanished behind her, but she could still feel Grandma X’s fingers tightly gripping her. Her arm trailed behind her as though tied by rope. Was there a hint of a ghostly hand in hers, glowing faintly silver?
She didn’t have time to worry about that. The vortex was wild and fast, and she shrieked as she fell. It was like the most terrifying carnival ride she had ever been on, only much worse because there were no safety bars and she didn’t know how long it would last.
++Jaide, answer me! We really need you!++
She closed her eyes and concentrated on Jack’s voice. If she ever needed to be there for her brother, it was right now.
* * *
Jack stood with Kyle and Tara on the deck of Omega and watched helplessly as the Evil dragon flapped mightily toward their tunnel. The circle of visible sky was shrinking rapidly. Soon it would all be teeth and ripping claws. That those teeth and claws were made from dead bone and Evil bugs didn’t make any of them feel better. The end result would be the same.
++Jaide, if you can hear me, do something now!++
He felt as though his words were falling into a bottomless pit from which nothing seemed to emerge, not even echoes. What if Earth was already blocked by Project Thunderclap? He hadn’t seen any lightning. Maybe he had missed it, from inside the tunnel.
“It was a valiant try,” said Lottie. “Come here, children. We’ll wait together.”
They gathered around her sled and Lottie held out her hands. Tara took one and Kyle took the other. Cornelia nestled in Lottie’s neck, cooing softly. Jack stood opposite his great-aunt, between the best friends he had made in Portland. He tried not to notice the light getting dimmer or to think about what that meant. He ignored the sound of the Evil bugs and their many wings. He concentrated instead on the faded floral pattern on Lottie’s smock. It reminded him of one of Mr. Carver’s ties. If only they’d met.
If only lots of things. He didn’t want to think of those things because it would only make him angry. Tara was crying and Kyle’s face was blank with shock. It wasn’t fair that they hadn’t made it home.
The light went out. He could still see, thanks to his first Gift, but he was weak to the point of exhaustion, and it wasn’t a blessing. He could hear the swarm filling the tunnel. There was absolutely nowhere left to hide, and no hope of shadow-walking anyone to safety.
The terrible influence of The Evil began to creep over him, like a slow tide consuming a beach.
++Jaide!++ he shouted. ++This is absolutely your last chance! Don’t let The Evil be right and me be the one who falls!++
“No need to shout,” said a voice from behind them. “I’m not letting The Evil do anything to you.”
Jack spun around. Jaide was standing on the deck right behind him. She looked as though she’d been through a clothes dryer and there was something silver glowing in her right hand, but it was definitely her. He had never been so glad to see his sister before. He broke free of Tara and Kyle and hugged her before he could think twice about it. Two hugs in one week — a new record.
“Why is it so dark in here?” she said, hugging him back and then letting him go. “Wow, Tara, what happened to your eyes? No, wait, tell me later. Let’s get us all home, first.”
Jack agreed. Evil bugs were already buzzing around them. The dragon’s roar was deafening as it crashed into the side of the mountain.
++Two troubletwisters!++ crowed The Evil. ++You are welcome, most welcome!++
Jaide ignored the eerie voice in her head.
++Grandma, can you hear me? I’ve foun
d them.++
++I hear you,++ came the instant reply. ++Hold tight. I’ll bring you all back now.++
Jack felt the vortex take hold of him, and suddenly they were moving, spinning, and tumbling their way back to Earth. Cornelia took off with a piercing, triumphant cry and flapped around them, bright feathers flashing.
“Are we really going home?” asked Kyle.
“Looks like it,” said Tara, flicking an Evil bug out of his hair. “The ship, too. Is that going to work?”
Jack looked down at his feet, which were still planted on Omega’s wooden deck.
“Uh, Jaide?”
“What?” She was staring at a very old woman in an ancient hippieish dress who seemed to be sleeping through the whole thing. That couldn’t be Lottie, could it? She looked like Grandma X’s grandma.
