Broken (Disappeared #2)

Chapter Eighteen

After what seemed like hours, Xochitl finally appeared through the dense mist. Theodosia exhaled with relief to see Yoltzin holding her hand. She waved at them. They waved back and began to carefully pick their way forward. Theodosia held her breath as she watched them navigate the slippery ledges. Thankfully, the two of them seemed to be fleeter of foot than she was.

When the pair finally reached the end, Theodosia noticed that they were dirty and their clothes were torn. Xochitl's eyes bulged when she saw the wolves lying prone and Theodosia pinning Ahuil to the ground.

"So it came to this?" she said, hands on her hips. "Someone had to physically sit on you? Really, Ahuil." Her face changed as she took a closer look. "Oh dear, what did you do to yourself? You look horrible."

Yoltzin kneeled by him and stroked his forehead. "Ahee, you sick?" she said. Her brown and blue eyes watered. "You won't die like Daddy, will you?"

He took a deep breath. Theodosia let him get up and he gathered the little girl to him. "No, sweetheart. I'm fine, just a little tired."

She sobbed into his shoulder as he patted her back. Her mother looked daggers at him. "What happened?"

"He tried to use the sphere to get rid of the half-beings," Theodosia put in. "The Ahtle charged it for him. It was working. Except that meant..." She drew her finger over her neck when Yoltzin wasn't looking.

Xochitl swallowed hard, as if trying to contain her rage. She sat by Ahuil and hesitantly touched him. "You're not even really here. Must have almost done you in," she said to him flatly. "Yoltzin and I are going to England now. Did you know that?"

He nodded and dried the little girl's tears with his sleeve. "Do you want to go to England with Theodosia and Mommy?" he asked her.

She nodded, her eyes still glistening with tears. "The forest scares me. I don't want to be here anymore. Ahee, you're coming too, right?"

He cursed under his breath. "Do I have a choice? Theodosia says I'm coming whether I like it or not."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Xochitl said. She hauled him up with one arm. "Break my daughter's heart at your peril," she hissed under her breath. "Don't you think she's been through enough already?"

Ahuil looked at her through narrowed eyes. "Fine. Push me through if you have to."

Xochitl transferred him to Theodosia's shoulder and grabbed her daughter's hand.

"How is this supposed to work?" she asked.

Theodosia approached the last baobab, Ahuil still leaning on her, and put her hands on its rough trunk. "I'm not sure, honestly. I am hoping you all have some natural ability to pass through the portal. If not, I suppose I will have to try to push us through."

She could already feel the tree resisting her.

There was a scuffling and then shouting in the distance. She looked back to see a group of half-beings gathered on the other side of the gulf. One pointed at her and they began to charge forward.

"They must have followed us here," Xochitl said, her eyes wide. "We have to go. Now."

"Come on!" Theodosia said. "Hold onto me."

Xochitl linked one arm through hers, still holding Yoltzin's hand firmly. Theodosia pressed her hands more firmly against the bark. She could feel the old attraction between her and the portal and there was the slightest feeling of dissolving but that was it. She couldn't pass through with three other people attached to her. The tree was repelling them and she didn't have the strength to break through that barrier alone.

She pulled back for a moment, breathing heavily. The shouts from the half-beings were growing louder. Xochitl looked over, her eyes wide and terrified. Ahuil slipped out of her grasp and fell over. He started to flicker in and out of view.

Theodosia kneeled by him and buried her face in her hands. "What am I going to do?" she whispered.

There was a low, guttural howling nearby. She raised her eyes to see the disheveled, sick wolves dragging themselves towards them. Some of them were on their bellies and yet they pulled themselves forward, their ice blue eyes as keen as ever. The air wavered in front of them and then there was a sharp cracking noise in the air and a flash of light. The wolves dissipated, their urgent howls dissolving into silence.

The energy flew back and knocked down the half-beings that were almost upon them. Some of them screamed as they fell into the gorge.

Theodosia was so astounded she didn't notice at first that the resistance she had felt from the baobab had all but disappeared.

"Run!" she yelled. "I think the wolves opened up the portal!"

Hand in hand they charged right at the baobab. Theodosia put her hand on it and the massive tree immediately swallowed her up. She felt as if she was being split into a million pieces. She realized that she wasn't holding her friends' hands anymore and she grasped for them but she couldn't feel or see anything. Panic coursed through her body but she was completely helpless. The portal hurtled her through space, her future firmly in its grasp.

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