His words sank into her brain. Without thinking, she’d been about to deliver a killer shot, but he was right. She had to stop.
Leeman was the leader of their clan and his power was stronger than hers. Luckily he was experienced and knew what he was doing. He raised the Gimler from his waist and a stream of current zinged between each end of the weapon as he aimed it at Ginny and her captors. A line of power arced from the middle of the Gimler and blasted toward the bubble with an ear-splitting crack. The bubble disintegrated and Ginny stumbled forward. The three Chancellors behind her dropped down into the tunnel as soon as she was freed.
A Power Walker grabbed her just before she collapsed and pulled her against his chest. Leeman stepped forward and split the rope around her arms in half with a tiny current from his hands.
Sandy rushed to her sister’s side. “Ginny! Ginny, are you all right?”
The sky was already yellow, but Aspen was too hyped up to realize that the Chancellors had left.
Dylan’s voice penetrated her brain distantly. “Princess, it’s all right, you can come back down now. They’ve gone.”
When she looked down, she was shocked to see that the ground was still a good five inches from her feet. With a sigh, she fell down to the earth.
Once she was able to walk again, she rushed toward Ginny. Her friend had red rope marks around the tender skin of her lower arms, and her face was tearstained and dirty.
“Ginny, I’m so glad we found you!” she cried, and hugged her friend. The small Dream Walker held on to Aspen for a while until Leeman separated them.
“We need to leave, it’s not safe here.”
Ginny drew back and nodded at him. “Thank you for saving my life.” Her voice was scratchy as though she’d screamed it away.
“I found your dream catcher,” Aspen said, and extracted the threaded disk from her shirt pocket.
Ginny grasped at the charm and held it close to her chest. The raw wounds around her arms faded as soon as her fingers touched the dream catcher, and a glow of light encircled her until she’d healed completely.
Dylan swung onto his horse and reached down with an outstretched hand. “Come on, Ginny. Let’s get you home.” With both hands clasped firmly, he pulled her up onto the white steed’s broad back.
The members of the Power clan mounted their horses in a hurry, and a lone horseman cantered away in the opposite direction to tell the others that Ginny had been found.
Aspen’s heart swelled with pride. She smiled, happy to have been able to help save her friend’s life, and turned her horse to trot behind the rest of the riders toward the village.
Chapter 15
First Move
The next afternoon, Aspen dropped her bag on the kitchen table. Miriam hadn’t come home from school yet, and Stephan’s bike wasn’t in the garage. With a sigh of relief, she lowered her tired body onto a kitchen chair. There was no sound from upstairs, and she wondered where her mother was.
Pulling her hair free from the band, she massaged her scalp with her fingers and rubbed the nape of her neck as she yawned. Demothi had made a new string for her dream catcher, and the charm felt warm around her neck. School had been boring, and tonight’s visit to Lanta would be good for her soul.
Ray was sweet, but he was more like a big brother to her and she didn’t want to give him false hope. The feelings that she had for him were nowhere near as intense as the excitement she felt around Dylan, and she constantly made excuses not to sit with Ray at lunch.
Dylan had been missing since they’d found Sandy two days ago. If he didn’t show up soon, she might have to call him. She wondered if she were brave enough to do that yet. Maybe she would build up the courage to ask Sandy when she got to Lanta later on.
A soft sob reached her ears, and she sat back in the chair to listen for the source. No, she wasn’t mistaken. Someone was sniffling, and the sound was coming from the next room.
Aspen jumped up and raced to the living room. “Mom!” she cried.
Her mother was huddled in a chair. Her body was slumped and her shoulders shook as she wept.
Gently, she reached out to hold her mother’s hands.
“I’m s-s-sorry,” Norma said with a sob. “I didn’t mean for you to s-see me like this.”
“Mom, what’s wrong? Wait—I’ll get you some water. I’ll be right back.”
Once she’d left her mother’s side, she ran into the kitchen and poured a glass of water. The water spilled on her sleeve as she grabbed a bunch of paper towels on her way back into the living room. Norma sniffed, and she handed the towels to her to wipe her face.
“What happened?”
Her mother took a long gulp of water and wiped her nose. “I’m sorry, baby. Stephan and I got into a shouting match, and we both said some nasty things to each other.”
Aspen rubbed her mom’s back in small circles. “Was he ugly to you again?”
“Uh-huh.”