Caera sat down next to Tyler, who didn't move an inch. He didn't even look up from his book, but Caera hadn't expected him to. She searched in her mind for a familiar voice.
'Devlin?' she mentally asked. 'How is it going there?'
'Terrible.' the immediate answer sounded. 'I've been flying for hours and I can't see Allanah anywhere. My wings are getting tired, my nose is running and my toes are probably rolling around loose in my shoes.' Caera couldn't help but smile at his grumpy tone. 'What about you, are you doing okay?'
'I'm fine. Wiley and I already made it out. We're sitting with mister Yuri and Tyler and Kseniya now.' Caera reassured him.
'You stay away from that bitch, you hear me!' Devlin's voice sounded loudly in her head. Caera covered her ears with her hands but that didn't really do much good. 'Whatever she tells you, don't believe it! Not a word! She's a lying, scheming, not to be trusted bitch!'
Caera felt someone shaking her arm wildly. She dropped her hands from her ears.
'Caera!' Tyler shouted. 'Are you hearing that voice again? You can't listen to her, don't let her get to you. You have to be strong.' he started ranting. He was sitting on his knees next to her, his book upside down on the floor beside him.
'Calm down, Tyler. It wasn't the evil witch, I was just...' Caera saw Kseniya looking at her with piercing eyes. 'I was just hearing an annoying beeping sound and hoped it would stop if I covered my ears.' She decided it best that Kseniya didn't know of the connection between her and Devlin and that it still worked even though he was in another dimension. Somewhere she thought Devlin's accusations against the girl had to be completely overreacted, but just to be safe Caera didn't want all that extra information known. Besides, it was something between her, Devlin and Faolan. No one else needed to know.
Tyler had gone back to reading his book, his cheeks a little red from misinterpreting the situation.
In the main while, Devlin was still soaring through the sky, circling between pillars much like the one he was on when he first entered this world, keeping his eyes out to catch even a glimpse of Allanah. Mentally yelling at Caera had only exhausted him more. He decided to take a short break to catch his breath and to let his wings rest before taking back to the sky in search of Allanah. Only when he was standing on the ground, looking up towards the pillars did he realise how high he had been flying. No wonder it had been so cold and straining for him. Down below the temperature wasn't half bad. He guessed it to be about twenty degrees, maybe even a bit more. Up in the sky it had been freezing.
'How am I going to find that girl. I can't keep on flying around aimlessly hoping to get sight of her.' Realisation hit him hard. 'She's a ghost! There's no way I can see her. I might have even flown over her hours ago! I'm so stupid!'
'And ugly.' a weird voice spoke.
'And loud.' another sounded from his left.
'Is he edible?' more voices were speaking up from all around Devlin. Weird shaped rocks started rolling towards him and then stopped about 2 meters away, forming a perfect circle with Devlin as its centre.
'Too skinny.'
'It's a bird!'
'No it has no feathers.'
'Little flesh.'
'Can't eat.'
'Hungry!'
'Can try and taste.'
The voices were obviously coming from the rocks.
'What are you? Golems?' Devlin asked. 'You're a lot smaller than I thought you'd be.'
'It speaks our language!'
'It knows of us.'
'I'm not edible, I'm chewy and there's hardly any flesh on me. Speaking of not edible, have you, by any chance, seen a see-through girl?' Devlin asked.
The rocks rolled away, not answering his question, not speaking anymore at all. Devlin sighed. He hadn't expected a clear answer, but even the slightest hint would have been nice.
After resting for another fifteen minutes or so Devlin decided to get back to the sky. Only this time he wouldn't go completely above the tops. Even if Allanah would have been placed on a pillar like he had been, as a ghost, she was able to fly off it with ease, so she could be anywhere. Devlin sighed. He didn't know what to do and was starting to feel pretty desperate.
Just as he was about to spread his wings, the ground started shaking. Not continuously, but as if a giant was taking steps. No, Devlin thought, two giants.
A big roar resonated from between the pillars. Devlin hesitated. The sound and the shaking made him want to leave as quickly as possible, but flying would only make him more visible. If whatever was coming, whatever was roaring so loudly, was really as big as it seemed to be, Devlin's best choice was to make himself as small as possible and stay out of sight. The problem was, with all the pillars, he couldn't see where it was coming from and the echoes caused by the pillars made it just as impossible to determine the creatures' or creature's position.
