"Haniel, you couldn't have fed her a little humble pie in all your training?" Shawn joked.
"She lacks humility, but speaks the truth," Haniel replied as the others broke into laughter again.
"Dude, you're losing your touch. You were much tougher on all of us when we were her age," Shawn complained.
"Your skills did not match hers," Haniel replied, missing the gist of Shawn's complaint, which made us laugh even harder.
Puzzled, Haniel turned to Krista for clarification of our laughter, but she just shrugged her shoulders, unsure how to explain it.
"He's just jealous," I told Haniel, smirking at Shawn.
"I hope she does meet a lion," I heard Shawn mutter to Sam as I laughed again.
"Are we ready?" Mark finally asked, getting down to business.
Haniel answered by grasping Robert's hand. Krista grabbed on to Sam's and Mark did the same to Shawn. Before we could even blink, they all disappeared in front of us.
"That trick never gets old," Lynn said as Haniel once again returned to the living room.
"Excited?" Lynn teased as I impatiently waited for my turn.
"Nah," I joked as Haniel reappeared.
"Rrright," she said, just before Haniel reached for her hand.
That left just me alone in the living room, full of nervous energy. I was in the middle of stretching when Haniel suddenly reappeared.
"Are you ready?" he asked with something akin to excitement.
"Wow, Haniel, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were excited," I teased as the living room around me disappeared.
It took my senses a moment to acclimate to the sudden climate difference as I squinted in the darkness, taking in my surroundings. A couple glow sticks lit up the ground at our feet where Krista and Mark were sitting, recovering from the journey. Lynn had told me once that when they first started traveling this way, it would take them hours to recover. With practice and discipline, they'd trained their bodies into recovering more swiftly.
"What time is it here?" I whispered, ignoring the tingling on the back of my neck.
"Just after six in the evening," Mark answered, climbing to his feet and helping Krista up.
"Where are the villagers?" I asked, finally able to make out the dark huts in front of us.
"They've moved to another camp, closer to the water. They have this false sense of security that they can use canoes to flee what they think are ghosts or spirits. The Daemons have been too busy preying on the sick and weak that were left behind to bother with the rest of the villagers yet. That's why we're here. It won't be long before they dispose of the last survivors and make their move on the villagers. The Guides will help their souls move on," Mark said, smiling at Sam and Lynn.
"Jordyn, can you tell me how many Daemons are here?" Haniel asked.
Taking his question seriously, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to focus on the tingling on the back of my neck. I couldn't tell you exactly how it worked, but Haniel and I had discovered that this was my mechanism, I guess you could say. By the way my neck was vibrating, I knew that at least a half-dozen Daemons were around. More than I had seen in one place before.
"Half-dozen, maybe more," I said gleefully.
I heard Sam gasp with dismay.
"We've handled that many before," Shawn reassured her.
"Yeah, but with the help of the other Bands," she said, mentioning the other Guides and Protectors that lived in various locations.
"Their assistance will not be needed tonight," Haniel reassured the group. "Jordyn will handle this. The Protectors will only intervene if need be."
"She can't take them all on by herself," Krista said, stepping in front of Haniel to glare at him.
"She can," Haniel answered, not intimidated in the slightest by my five-foot-nothing aunt.