Despite his earlier words, he must also feel guilty about his role in Dylan’s fate.
Felix clears his throat. “If something happens to me, I want to go on record saying that I do not wish to be brought back like this. Maybe as a helper, if you really need one.”
“Why would we need such a puny one?” Ariel retorts, and he sticks his tongue out at her.
Rowan glares at Valerian. “I’m not doing that again anyway. Not even with a gun to my head.”
“Doing what?” Dylan asks.
No one replies, and Rowan sullenly collects her zombies.
“We’d better go,” Valerian says and strides toward the next gate.
No one speaks, and nothing attacks us for the next two worlds.
When we get to the third hub, all seems quiet there as well. However, when we’re halfway to the gate we need, the Overtaken leap out of the surrounding gates.
Puck.
Here we go again.
A cleaver flies at my shoulder.
I sidestep it and shoot the Overtaken responsible.
A wok careens at Valerian.
Double puck.
Valerian isn’t dodging, nor am I going to be able to push him aside in time.
Smack. The wok hits one of Rowan’s helpers in the head.
Whew. She must’ve made it jump in front of Valerian.
An Overtaken leaps at Fabian, an ax in his hands. Fabian dodges the weapon, then knocks his attacker out without bothering to shift into wolf form.
Ariel is attacked next. A blur of movement later, she has her opponent in a chokehold.
“Why don’t I tell you about an interesting nightmare,” says one of the Overtaken. “It all started—”
I shoot the speaker. “Don’t listen to that,” I tell the others urgently. “He’s trying to plant the Overtaken nightmare into your subconscious.”
“Bailey’s right.” Valerian’s voice booms in my ears as though it’s coming from the center of the universe. “I’ll use my powers to block his future attempts, but if I forget or get knocked out, sing loudly or shove something into your ears.”
“We can just shout hoorah,” Ariel says, and does so as she leaps at an Overtaken, knocking him out with a blow to the head.
“My turn,” Rowan says and sics her entire undead army on our attackers.
I dodge a few more hits, but before long, our zombies triumph over the Overtaken, and we stun them again with our Gomorran guns.
Felix looks over the battlefield, then glances at the gates the Overtaken came from. “Did Phobetor take them over in each of those worlds?”
“Doubt it,” Ariel says. “I bet they’re local, and he had them exit through those gates to create an ambush. That’s what I would’ve done.”
“Right,” Itzel mutters. “Let’s hope he never overtakes you.”
Amen to that.
Valerian’s jaw tenses. “Either way you look at it, Collywobbles’s vile influence is spreading.”
I reach over and squeeze his forearm gently.
The tension drains out of his body as he looks at me, a now-familiar heat kindling in his gaze.
My breathing speeds up. This is so not the time for this.
As if to emphasize that, Dylan asks tonelessly, “Was it a dream, or did I eat a brain on the other world?”
Yep, that’s a definite mood killer.
“You did,” Fabian tells her softly. “But that’s okay. In wolf form, I eat all the organs.”
Dylan stares at him uncomprehendingly.
“You know what happened to you, right?” Fabian asks. “You know that Rowan—”
“I was dead, and now I’m not,” Dylan says, sounding less robotic. “I think it’s starting to sink in.”
Valerian and I exchange a meaningful glance.
“The more you become your old self, the better,” I say. Hopefully that also leads to fewer eaten brains, but I keep that to myself.
“Right,” Dylan says distantly. “But who or what was my old self?”
Shooting Rowan a death glare, Fabian grabs Dylan’s hand and drags her toward the next gate.
“Hold up,” I say before they cross over. “The next world is the one where the Overtaken giants attacked us. Can we handle it if they do it again?”
They stop as Rowan scratches the jet-black side of her hairdo. “You killed them the last time, right?” she asks.
“We had no choice.” Ariel glances at our current batch of unconscious attackers. “The guns don’t stun giants.”
“Not judging. In some situations, you don’t have a choice.” Rowan darts Fabian a dirty look. “I was just thinking that I might be able to recruit the bodies of your kills.”
“They were mostly in pieces,” Valerian says. “Besides, I’m sure their friends and family have buried their remains by now—and probably not by the gate.”
Rowan takes out Frank and strokes his matted fur. “That’s not good. Giants are powerful.”
Valerian examines the knocked-out Overtaken in front of us. “We could make some more zombies for you.”
“Dude,” Felix says. “That’s cold.”
Ariel activates her gate sword. “I can take on a giant.”
“Me too,” Fabian growls.
“I have a better idea,” I say and tell them what it is.
“It could work,” Rowan says. “I can’t help but notice that I’ll be assuming all the risk, though.”