My father went to him and explained the plan, while the rest of us equipped ourselves with backpacks filled with guns and ammunition, along with water and other supplies.
I kept monitoring how I was feeling. Still steady. And by the time we had finished gathering everything, I could say with confidence to my father, “I’ll come.”
Although my parents looked reluctant, they didn’t try to dissuade me further. This was the world in which they had raised me. A world in which everyone was encouraged to be a hero, to push themselves to the limit, rather than hide away and opt for the easier path. It felt only natural to me to go with them, even as I worried about what might happen to us in that strange, new world that lay in wait for us on the other side.
Grace
“Do you think the tracker will still work on the other side?” Vivienne asked Corrine as we gathered around the portal with our supplies.
Of course. I had forgotten about that. Each of our uniforms had trackers sewn beneath our badges, a technology created by the witches. The tracking device communicated with a receiver—a handheld screen—which then became a compass for locating a person.
Xavier pulled out the receiver from his pocket. “I already checked to see if she was showing up. There’s nothing. No signal from her whatsoever.”
“We designed the system to work on Earth,” Ibrahim said. “I don’t know if she will show up once we arrive in the supernatural realm.”
“Well, one way or another, we’ll locate her,” my grandfather said. “Even if it means storming every single room in their buildings.” His focus turned on the gate. “Now. We should not leave too much of a gap in between our jumps. As much as possible, we should try to travel through and arrive at the same time.”
Everyone exchanged glances.
“Well,” my father said, “are we all ready?”
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” my mother muttered.
She gripped my hand tightly as we piled into the portal. My second time traveling through it was just as unpleasant as the first. The first time, I’d suffered the fear of not knowing what was on the other end, and now, I had the fear of knowing. I just prayed that all the mutants would not still be huddled by the gate.
As we reached the end of the swirling, translucent tunnel, we hurtled out and landed on the damp ground. We rose to our feet immediately and gazed around the now fluorescent-streaked compound. Extra strip lights had been turned on and were illuminating the area.
“These are The Woodlands,” Micah whispered. We all gaped at him. “I don’t need to see beyond this compound to recognize the air of my homeland,” he added in an undertone.
The Woodlands. Why is the IBSI setting up here?
I glanced down at the receiver over Xavier’s shoulder as he knelt on the soil, trying to bring the device to life. Still no signal from Victoria.
“Over there.” Heath pointed to two groups of hunters patrolling the boundaries with leashed mutants. It was only a matter of time before they spotted us. A matter of seconds.
The witches worked together to quickly form a protective barrier around us, and then we all moved forward together with Xavier, my father and my grandfather fearlessly leading us forward.
The hunters raised their guns and moved forward, too, until there were barely six feet between us. The mutants screeched and threw their heads back. But no fire was unleashed. I guessed they were waiting for the hunters’ orders.
“You have my niece.” Derek spoke up, his voice booming around the enclosure. “What are you doing here? What is this?”
“You are trespassing on highly sensitive property,” the foremost hunter replied with a glare. “You must retreat through the portal.”
“In case you are blind,” Derek replied, clutching the badge on his uniform and flashing it to the hunters, “we are TSL. We have special permission—”
“Not permission to trespass, vampire.”
“You have taken my niece, who is also a member,” Derek seethed. “Give her up now.”
“I must repeat, sir,” the hunter replied through gritted teeth. “You must leave the vicinity now, or we will be forced to take measures to remove you. Orders are—”
“Your orders are of no consequence to us,” my father shot back. “I’m sure you have noticed that we are quite capable of defending ourselves from your mutants and whatever other weapons you have stashed away here. You have one of our people. A human girl. Where is she?”
At this, the hunter shifted on his feet. They had technology beyond imagination, but when it came to our very close-knit group, they could not penetrate the power of our five witches holding up a spell around us. It seemed that they sensed this, and their glares relented a little. The hunter my father had been speaking with exchanged an uncomfortable glance with his colleagues before muttering, “We don’t have the human girl.”
“You really are full of—”
The hunter cut Xavier off. “We have CCTV footage.” He nodded in the direction of the buildings. “I can show it to you.”