In the Depths of Porcelain (A Depths book) (book 1)

Chapter 12: Banshee

I feel dizzy.  Though I wish I had seen Nova fighting the tree-dude, I had been unconscious.  

     But where she stood now was remarkable to me, anyway.  Her claws were inches from the man's face.  He was gasping for breath, his face coated in blood.  

     "Where is he, then?" Nova questioned.  Her claws went in and out a few times.  Though she was just trying to be intimidating, the man screamed and backed up as far as he could.  

     "In a warehouse across the country.  It's a long walk, let me tell you, but if you got your claws on a car or truck or even an airplane it might only take a few hours," he said and smirked.  Nova scratched his arm at the awful claw joke.  He stopped laughing.  

     I walked up behind Nova.  She instantly scratched behind my ear.  Not hard or painful.  I dropped over on my side like a massive cat.  She smiled.  

     We look back and see that Meghan had been hit by something.  A large, red spot was on her clothes.  It was spreading, and we realized that she was bleeding.  Bleeding a lot.  We rushed over to her.  

     Someone came up behind us.  "Relax," she whispered.  "I'm a healer.  I won't hurt you.  I actually can't hurt you," said the woman and stepped over Meghan and some weird, blue magic wrapped around her.  It healed her, though the blood on her clothes was still there.  

     Her eyes flickered open.  Her eyes widened at the sight of me and she instantly leaped to her feet.  The healer soothed her.  Meghan looked at me again and recognition filled her expression.  

     I felt scared at the fact that she was afraid of me.  I mean, I did kill the detective.  But I had been angry.  I mean, not angry at the detective, but still angry.  

     The tree man was sitting in front of a mirror, looking at the damage.  He touched his cheek gently with a towel.  

     And of course I just noticed that Ruby was still in her diamond.  Still the red light was glowing.  I nudge Nova, and I gesture towards the diamond-thing.

     She nodded her head and back up with me silently.  She touched the surface of the diamond.  It exploded at her touch.  

     I wrapped my wings around her, and everyone else instantly took cover.  The tiny shards of crystal bounced of my skin.  Not many actually embedded themselves in my skin, but there was always those few.  

     There wasn't a person in that diamond.  There wasn't anything.  Just air.  I heard Nova break into sobs as she got away from my grasp.  She stepped into the space where no one would have been able to reach if the crystal hadn't exploded.  

     She vanished.  Disappeared.  With barely a sound.  A tear dripped from my eye.  

     Everyone else had been watching.  The healer's violet eyes widened and she stepped away from them to see what it was.  

     "That's a portal to another dimension!" yelled the tree man.  He got up and blocked our path. 

     "When will they escape?" I asked.  He looked at me curiously.  

     "Time isn't the same there as it is here.  If it takes them only a few seconds, we will be standing here for an hour or so," he replied.  I frowned.  

     "Can I go, too?" I asked.  

     "I wouldn't, if I were you.  See, I've been studying this portal.  It's my job.  I've been inside and it's extremely dangerous.  Strongly advise you don't go in there," he replied.  

     "First of all, I don't think that there is a job to study magical, second dimensions.  Second of all, why should we trust you?" Luna asked.  Her red, bladed heal was ready to stab someone in the face.  

     "You should trust me because I can turn into a tree.  Because I have information that you need to save Mark.  You should just trust me," he replied and smiled hopefully.  

     I leaped into the portal.