“Wow.” Aspen shivered. “This is making me nervous.”
The sky darkened as they spoke and Dylan tensed behind her. The trees around them seemed to look more ominous as the air cooled down.
“Don’t worry, I’m right here for you,” he whispered.
The horses reacted first. The three white steeds lifted their forelegs and whinnied in surprise. Aspen shrieked and held on to the saddle horn for dear life.
Something rustled in the bushes up ahead, and suddenly a huge beast hurled itself at the group.
The horses danced backward and Dylan struggled to control Milky. Aspen looked over his shoulder and cried out again as a one-eyed monster snarled in front of them. The creature’s head was connected to its muscled chest with no sign of a neck, and its single yellow eye glared balefully at them over gaping jaws dripping with an unpleasant ooze. It was at least twice the size and height of any of them, and Aspen shrank back at the sight of it.
The creature loomed over them, striking out at the clan members with sharp claws. Ray clenched his fists and shot balls of fire at it. The fireballs were small and bright, but they struck the beast with deadly accuracy. The monster retreated and rolled its massive body on the ground to put out the flames, roaring in pain as the smell of singed flesh filled the air.
Without warning, Chancellors streamed into the clearing. Wearing their black outfits, they scuttled into view in great numbers and raced toward the Dream Walkers.
Sandy and Ginny threw bolts of electricity at them, and the Fire Walkers aimed balls of fire in their direction. Caden and Troy soaked the Chancellors with water, which was the perfect conductor for the electric blasts Sandy and Ginny had created, and gave them more power.
Nothing worked. The Chancellors must have been protected by a spell or an invisible force field, for they seemed unaffected by whatever was hurled at them.
Cole was thrown off his feet by two Chancellors, and Troy was restrained by three of them. A large Chancellor with inky eyes slammed a fist against Troy’s face, causing his nose to bleed. All around, Chancellors restrained Dream Walkers and savagely beat them.
“Stay on the horse and call the elders if we lose,” Dylan shouted to Aspen as he slid off the back of the stallion. She looked around in horror.
Smoke roiled above them, and screams and shouts filled the air as the battle waged on. The beast roared in fury.
“Kill the monster!” Dylan cried, and the Dream Walkers renewed their efforts to attack it.
A few Chancellors circled the great beast, facing outward, and pointed their hands toward the ground. Aspen gasped as a strong current flowed up from the earth, surrounding the Chancellors and the beast in a large transparent dome. Shocking pink and purple electric streaks arced around the inside of the dome.
At home, Miriam owned a Tesla coil lamp with violet streaks that arced around an invisible shell. Aspen had been fascinated by the lamp, but couldn’t come near it as the electricity would arc toward her even though she didn’t touch the glass.
The dome acted in the exact same manner. Violet and neon pink bolts of electricity inside its shell strained toward her, and a warm current surged through her body. Aspen stared at her hands. Electricity sparked from her fingers, and the tiny hairs on her forearms rose up from her skin.
“Kill the monster and the Chancellors will disappear,” Dylan shouted again.
The Dream Walkers focused their energy on the monster, but all their flames and energy blasts were deflected by the dome.
Ginny cried out as she was struck in the stomach by a vicious Chancellor, and this galvanized Aspen into action. Her eyes blazed and she dug her feet into the stirrups so she stood tall in the saddle.
“Don’t you dare touch my friends!” she shouted, and aimed her palms at the Chancellor who’d just hit Ginny.
A bolt of lightning flared from her hands. Hot, raw power shot from her fingertips and raced toward him. He disappeared in a boom of light and smoke, and a chasm opened up in the ground where he’d stood. The noise from the blast was deafening, and everyone stopped fighting for a moment, stunned and gaping at Aspen.
Dylan reacted first. “The monster, kill the monster!” he shouted.
Aspen turned in the saddle to face the monster and hurled as much energy as she could at the beast. The dome creaked and groaned, and tiny cracks appeared along its surface. Arcs of violet electricity surged through the cracks and shattered the shell as it tried to fuse with the bolts flung from her hands.
The entire dome erupted and the explosion was so powerful that everyone was thrown back against the surrounding trees. The monster and Chancellors disintegrated into a pile of ash, and within seconds, only Dream Walkers remained.
Aspen was drained. She sagged into the saddle and stared dumbly at the crater that was revealed as the smoke slowly cleared. The feeling of weakness was overwhelming.