The next world is a green savannah with waist-high grass.
Ariel catches up with me. “Am I the only one who thinks Necronia sounds like Narnia’s dead sister?”
“Hush,” Edith hisses. “Something’s coming.”
Everyone stops talking.
Thunder—or something like it—rumbles in the distance. The grass vibrates as the ground shakes.
“An earthquake?” Felix whispers.
“Run!” Chester yells and hoofs it to the gate.
I finally see the danger—a herd of mammoth-like creatures, only bigger and fiercer-looking. If they reach us, we’re all meat tortillas.
As one, we launch into a sprint. Edith, Ariel, and Fabian are soon in the lead. The herd is gaining on us. To my shock, Nina sits down on the ground in a lotus pose and closes her eyes, a serene expression appearing on her face.
What the—
Everyone, Nina included, floats up off the ground.
Ah. She’s using her powers again.
Floating like this is an eerie feeling that I’ve experienced once before and hoped never to feel again, but it beats the alternative.
The creatures stampede under us.
When they’re gone, Nina gently lowers us back down. “You guys might want to start pulling your own weight,” she says, jumping to her feet.
Ariel follows her into the gate, and the rest of us walk in after them.
“Is this your home world?” Chester asks Colton after I exit on the other side.
It takes me a second to figure out why he singled out the giant.
The primitive huts in the distance are the size of four-story buildings on Earth. Oh, and there are a dozen giants behind Chester. They’re coming toward us from the direction of the next gate we need to take.
All are big but one is especially so.
A giant giant.
Itzel gasps. “Look at their eyes!”
“Crap,” Felix mutters.
You can say that again.
That fire in the giants’ eyes means only one thing.
They’re also Overtaken.
Chapter Ten
Before anyone can blink, Ariel is already holding a gun in her hand. Aiming at the giant, she presses the trigger.
An empty click sounds.
Puck. A world where firearms don’t work. Isn’t Chester’s luck supposed to rub off on us?
But hey, that’s Earth technology. I yank out my Gomorran gun, set it to stun, and shoot the giant giant.
Nothing happens.
Heart racing, I switch the setting to lethal and shoot again.
Still nothing. I guess since giants aren’t allowed on Gomorrah, no one bothered to calibrate these guns to impact one.
One of the giants stoops to pick up a stone.
Puck.
He hurls it at me. I duck. Colton catches the stone and pelts it back at the bigger giant. The Overtaken giant stumbles but keeps on coming.
“Stay back!” Valerian jumps in front of me, as if he can somehow shield me from giants. Inspired by his example, Felix steps protectively in front of Dylan, who looks paler than Edith.
Edith herself, along with Chester, Stanislav, and Ariel, charges forward, and Colton follows, while Fabian strips off his clothes and morphs into his impressive wolf form before joining the fray as well. Kit, too, shifts into a copy of the giant giant and lumbers after everyone.
“Valerian, use your powers to hide us from them!” Dylan shouts.
He grimly shakes his head. “I can’t. I’d need to trick them all, but I can only handle one. Best I can do for you is make you not see the violence.”
“No, thanks,” Dylan says, but I can tell she’s tempted.
I’m tempted too, but I’d rather know what’s going on, so I can help.
Itzel, who’s stayed by my side, shoots the smallest of the Overtaken with a ball of her gnome lightning. It smashes into his forehead, and he drops to the ground.
Score.
Itzel tries doing it again, but her new target dodges the projectile.
To my right, Nina extends her hand and visibly concentrates.
The second-smallest giant lifts off the ground an inch, then plops back down, which causes him to stumble. The ground shakes as he crashes down, nearly squashing Fabian—who jumps away on hind paws with a grace I wouldn’t expect from an animal his size.
A rock smashes into Nina’s head, and she drops to her knees, blood trickling down her temple. “Seriously, start pulling your own weight, people.”
Ignoring her, Edith swings her ax at the giants, who try to grab her.
One loses an arm, another a finger. But her victory comes at a cost—the giant giant grabs Edith by her legs and yanks hard. Her ax drops to the ground as she curses and flails.
Ariel throws a dagger at the giant giant’s head.
Bullseye. Or rather, giant’s eye, as that’s exactly what the dagger pierces.
The Overtaken giant doesn’t react to the injury. He simply grabs Edith’s head with his free hand and pulls with a twisting motion.
Fearing for her, I leap out from behind Valerian and throw my own dagger at the giant’s other eye. Sadly, my aim isn’t as good as Ariel’s. I hit the wrong giant, and in his shoulder, not the eye.
Activating the gate sword, Chester slices at the giant giant’s leg.