I was going to answer him, but was distracted by Anvard. "What's wrong with your leg?" Andy questioned me while kneeling down to check me out.

"It's twisted, my ankle. I don't think I can walk on it." Quickly, he swooped me up and started shimmying me up onto his right shoulder. "Hey, what are you doing!" I said nervously.

"I'm getting us out of here," he retorted flatly.

Lindle flipped -out over our rudeness. We did seem as if we were ignoring his presence. "What about the Tydrahn?" he asked again jumping up and down like a toddler having a tantrum.

"Yeah, there's one in the room with the Creative Window. It just blasted the force field Walker put up around us both. He tried to save me, but I didn't want to leave my uncle behind. Then Camil-" Both their facial expressions fell, "I mean Sena. Lilith conjured an Aurriculium board, and now a real Tydrahn is in there, right now!"

"What's a Tydrahn?" Anvard curiously asked. This time he was the one who was ignored.

"That's impossible, Corinth! They're not real, Corinth! They're just cards, Corinth!"

"Lindle, don't you think I thought that too, but after it blasted us-things got pretty real," I said, then started to feel woozy. All the blood rushed to my head because of the way Anvard was holding me over his shoulder. He was quick to notice. He pulled me down and cradled me in his arms. It felt weird, but I really didn't have any other options.

"RAH!!! RAH!!!!!!!!" came the earth shattering roars of the beast.

If they didn't believe me before, I'm sure they do now.

"What the what was that!" Anvard eyes bounced around the staircase franticly.

"I tried to tell you!" I sounded like an arrogant fool, but if we're going to die, I might as well try to feel superior one last time.

"What do we do?" Lindle was in pure shock.

"We run!" Anvard shouted back to him. We started down the twisted stairs, moving at a quick pace. Leaving Walker and my uncle behind felt like huge mistakes, but there weren't many options available to us. Then our worst nightmares got a little bit, I mean a lot... worse.

The stairwell started to cave in. The roars of the Tydrahn echoed in the background. Which instantly led me to believe that the monster was to blame for our current predicament. We had nothing to shield ourselves with. Magik couldn't be our savior this time around. Chunks of mildewed stones fell from above our heads. It was an outright disaster. Anvard tried to evade what came crashing down, but it was no use. The staircase was blocked off from moving forward. Rocks piled up on top of other larger rocks. We were afraid to go back the way we came, but it was the only option.

We tried, and found it was no use. Not enough s.p.a.ce to maneuver. If we moved an inch in the wrong direction, forward or back, we'd be smacked in the head by a bowling-ball size boulder. Soon we'd be buried alive, but more likely-buried dead. Here it comes, the big one. A huge sheet of rock dislodged above us. Lindle screamed and Anvard froze. He was stunned by our imminent fates. I could only imagine what was going through his head. I actually wished I still had the Nexus, so that I was still a psychic and I could read his thoughts.

"I wish he cared more."

I didn't hear it the way I did with the Nexus. I felt it, instead of thinking it. He couldn't be feeling such a silly emotion at a time like this, could he? I felt Anvard's feelings, like they were my own. Lindle too, he's so scared. As if that weren't already a given, but I could sense the way the fear took over his body. He was tensed beyond belief. The both of them were. It made my body tighten as well.

"No!" I cried in disbelief.

Anvard looked to me and smiled grimly. "At least we go together, to whatever is next," he tried to seem like he was okay with dying while his stiff body fell back against the wall, but I could feel the indifference in his bones as he hit the stone. The time around us went gray. Daunting how many thoughts can pa.s.s through a mind in just seconds.

Apparently, the Nexus isn't the reason I can hear people sifting through their thoughts, but more so their feelings. If not, then what the heck is the Nexus for? It occurred to me how little I know about psychics outside of my own experiences. Well, I'll never know now. The sheet of rock crumbled. The last of the splintering ceiling came dropping toward us. These -new falling chunks were too big to avoid, and both my friends seemed too stunned to move anyway. The end couldn't have felt worse inside of any beating heart near me... than that of Walker's. Wait! How does he even know what's going on?

"Corinth, where are you!" Walker's voice came from just around the last bend of the spiral stairway. We didn't get far from where his body laid unconscious a moment ago. But he definitely wasn't unconscious now.

The rocks, and I mean all the rocks, stopped just above Andy's head as he cringed with his back up against the wall and me in his tired arms. I kept my eyes open the entire time. It was too tragic not to stare on at it. He was the tallest, so it was just in the nick of time that Walker did, well, whatever he did.

Lindle cowered on the ground, and then poked his head out from underneath his own clutching grip around himself. He stuck a shaking hand out and tried touching one of the suspended, frozen in time, rocks above him. As soon as he put his hand to it, he got a little electric shock. He snapped back when it zapped his fingertips. "Ah!" He stuck his finger in his mouth to soothe the pain.

"Corinth!!!" We hadn't moved an inch after Walker's first call. We were mystified by the whole floating rocks and floating shards of gla.s.s that clogged up the air s.p.a.ce. At least the gla.s.s didn't actually interact with our bodies. It just pa.s.sed through us as every bit traversed the halls like little holograms. But after seeing what happened to Lindle, we wanted to make sure we didn't touch near a rock as we made our way back to Walker. He was still stretched out on the landing he fell down to earlier. His hand was reaching out above his b.l.o.o.d.y forehead. "I don't have long," he sounded weak. Broken.

"What can we do?" I asked from Anvard's arms.

"You," he pointed directly at me with a finger stemming from his elongated arm, "must get the Nexus back. It's the only way."

"The only way for what?"

"Please, Corinth. Too many questions. The Tydrahn is already on its way to destroy the school. It will break the force field and destroy the rest of Hyperborean too. Sebastian's trying to send a message to the other seven Worlds, and he'll succeed unless you reseal the window. And you can only do that with the Nexus. You're a powerful little psychic, but you're not that strong yet on your own. Though you're fated to be one day. But fates can be altered when overwhelmingly destructive things come to pa.s.s. This is one of those moments. If he destroys the school then I don't know what will happen next."

I didn't want to ask any more questions. He could barely speak, and I know he's using all his remaining energy to keep this stone staircase from collapsing on our heads. It's just that I don't know how we're going to stop two of the most powerful wielders I've ever seen without any magik of our own.

Walker tried choking out a few more words. "The Aurriculium board. Remember that I gave you the Tydrahn card when we met. Remember its stats. Use them against it. Buy some extra time for the Guard to emerge."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Just go, now!" He willed us forward forcefully.

Anvard looked back to Lindle. "Maybe you should stay here with Walker, make sure he stays breathing." Lindle looked relieved. I could sense that he didn't want to face any more challenges tonight.

"No!" Walker shouted out. "All of you go, now! Leave the tunnel." His face looked pained as blood stiffened on his tan skin.

That was all we needed. We walked up the stairs and entered the second room. I could see the Creative Window in the center of the other room, now in front of the altar I was strapped to not so long ago. But no Camil or Sebastian in sight. The ma.s.sive hole in the ceiling, and subsequent rubble on the damp floors, explained the Tydrahn's escaped from the Shattered Temple and the collapse of the winding staircase.

Then a sudden boom and dust cloud came from behind us. "No!!!" I shouted in heartbreak, because I knew exactly what happened. I couldn't feel Walker anymore. His essence was entirely gone from the temple. "Put me down!" I snapped at Anvard, but he resisted. "Put me down, right now!"

"He's gone, you have to square with that."

He wouldn't even look at me. Though I could read his face like a book. He wouldn't look because seeing me cry would bring him to tears. "Anvard, he might not be dead. We can search through the-"

"No!" he said in a commanding voice. "We need to find out what that board can do to help us."

I didn't feel like arguing anymore. I just wanted to go home.

"We already know what the board does, Anvard." Lindle announced. But I wasn't so certain about that. I mean, sure we know what a normal board does for the card game, but this is real.

"Well, then let's go," Anvard sounded anxious, so we pressed forward. They walked across the floor while Anvard still cradled me. We pa.s.sed through the purplish-blue gla.s.s shards seamlessly. Once we escaped the width of threshold above us that separated the two rooms, we saw a sort of welcoming sight. There truly was no one else in either room. But the door that the Squadron guys brought my uncle through was now wide open. With my uncle missing as well as the others.

We looked down at the ma.s.sive Aurriculium board that molded with the ground. It sprung out of the Creative Window when Camil and Sebastian were doing their ritual thing. I wonder if it works like a regular board? Lindle knelt down and reached out to touch it.

"Don't do that just yet!" Anvard yelled out to him.

He looked up from the ground like a precocious puppy that couldn't help but explore its surroundings, attempting to learn, without regard for safety. Very cute, but I'm with Andy on this one. We need to think first.

"Why?" Lindle asked with those big brown eyes looking as innocent as ever.

"Well, you got that shock from that rock, didn't you?" Lindle looked down in thought of what Andy said. "Maybe you ... I mean we," Anvard shook his head like an adult, "should be a little more careful."

"Yeah," Lindle started, "but we don't have time for that." He immediately rubbed his hand over the board. The shine in his eyes told me that he was beyond fascinated. He was downright obsessed with the sight before him. "If this works like a real Aurriculium board then I've got the perfect plan." I couldn't wait to hear this one. The kid who froze up time and time again during this horrible adventure has a plan. The -perfect plan, to be more exact.

"So spit it out then!" Anvard was still anxious. His body felt so tight up against mine. I wasn't sure if he'd have some sort of spastic attack. He'd end up sporadically throwing me clear across the room, into the wall with all the odd fixtures on it, because of some misguided reflex in those overly ripped muscles.

"Hey." I tapped on his head to get his attention. He still couldn't look me in the eye. "Can you put me down. I think I'm a little better now." To have felt his emotions when he thought we were going to die made me feel secure with him. But now the air between us is weird again. This time, he's growing more distant by the second. Things felt so strange as he put me down, allowing me to test my ankle before completely letting go of my waist. He didn't give me an ounce of eye contact. I would have asked what's wrong, but Lindle was ready to reveal his grand plan before I could get a word out.

"We use the board to summon our own Deaves. We use cards a lot more powerful than the Tydrahn, and we destroy it before it wrecks the school."

"Yeah, there's a few problems with that," I told him. "There aren't any cards more powerful than the Tydrahn in either of our decks. If I had pulled that card on you at the tournament, I would have won. And we don't even know if the Deaves will obey us. What if they just kill us after we summon them? If we can even summon them at all!" I summed up, a little overexcited.

He looked up from the ELD slots with an offended expression. "First off, you wouldn't have beaten me with that card." Anvard and I both rolled our eyes. This kid really is a geek. "Second, that's not how the game works. Your deck, your call."

"Yeah sure, but this isn't a game, Lindle," Anvard's accent kept creeping into his speech, though he tried to suppress it."That monster thing is going to be real. Didn't you hear that, Tidran, or whatever you two called it, screaming earlier. It's big and ferocious. We can't take this lightly!" Anvard seemed fully convinced of his own words.

"Look, I'm usually the one who's overly cautious, but you guys are talking about waiting to try to save people's lives." He had a great point. "Like you -said, that thingy is real, and if we don't do something, it's going to kill all our friends. Your sisters Anvard, they're there, probably asleep. A bunch of unsuspecting people are in store for a rude awakening if we don't take yet another risk tonight."

Lindle had me at thingy. He's right. We've got to try, even Walker said so. And I'd be dead already if it weren't for his sacrifice. I have no idea why he came for me, but I'm glad he did either way. He gave my friends and me a fighting chance.

"All right," Anvard said reluctantly, "let's do it."

Lindle pulled out a soggy stack of cards from his pocket. "Never leave my dorm without these puppies," he said while looking like the biggest geek alive.

He setup the ELD perfectly. Since the rules of the game didn't apply, he could just pick and chose as he willed. Like I suspected, he didn't have anything stronger than a Tydrahn. I myself had a Tydrahn card, but it would be of no use to us from my dorm in Olympia. During a regulation match, the game would be riddled with rules, but Lindle went into his deck and pulled out the most effective match up to place in each slot on the ELD. He randomly pulled out Destiny, Love, and Wind star Deaves cards. Normally, it would be nearly impossible to form a Trifecta from drawing per shift in a match. But he could bypa.s.s all that and simply destroy the Tydrahn without question. I guess he did have a plan.

After he placed the three cards down, he pressed the cast b.u.t.ton. Anvard visibly tensed up. He bit down on his bottom lip while standing next to me. I was just as nervous about the response the board would give us, but looking into his shiny pink eyes helped settle me.

I turned back to Lindle kneeling at the board, and saw a spectacle of lights. The three cards leaped off the board, but not in hologram form. They weren't transparent or anything. They blasted up toward the ceiling with dark red and purple lights. At first, they were in their separate forms, but when three star cards are cast on the ELD all at once, they weave themselves into an awesome Trifecta. The three cards combine into one mega Deaves creature. By rule, they could destroy your opponent's entire ELD. We only needed it to take out one card, the Tydrahn, so this should be a breeze.

The three star cards started filtering themselves into one another, combining to some grand final form. The dark red and purple lights obscured the figures. I could barely make out which creatures they were before they started the transformation, but I knew their categories. Wind, destiny, and love. They're always star cards. And they would certainly combine in the standard way from the look of things. They mixed together to finally reveal the form of a woman. She was cloaked in a dark red shawl that covered her personal parts. Across her stomach, the shawl was cut in the form of a star. Her hair was purple, just like Claudia's. Her skin, jet-black on one vertical half and white on the other. She looked super cool and ready to battle. Her steel sword had and engraving of a star on the s.p.a.ce between the handle and the blade.

We all backed away, while she just floated there, hovering above the board. She was a giant. Not as ma.s.sive as the Tydrahn, but I'm sure she'll hold her own against the beast. "Lindle, you casted it, do something." I inched forward and hit him on the shoulder.

"Oh! Right ... okay," he said nervously. After that whole speech he gave us, he has the audacity to be scared of this chick. He really is a piece of work.

"Just do it! The Tydrahn probably made it there already."

"But how? She's not going to listen to me," Lindle shot back at me. When he said that, the Deaves Trifecta lady suddenly looked down to us with a not so happy expression. "Ah!!!" Lindle ran behind Anvard shouting.

I had no idea what to do. I didn't know if the card would listen to me or not, but I figured something had to be done. I edged closer to her with a limp. I wasn't really hurting anymore, but she scared me so, that I felt like the pain in my ankle had suddenly returned. "Use your most powerful attack on the Tydrahn, now!" She kept looking, but she didn't budge. "Hey!" I shouted out to her, waving my hands wildly. "Hey! Listen at me!" that came out wrong, because I got mad really fast. We finally have some firepower behind us and this thing won't make a move. "Look, we need your help, please!" I didn't know if she could feel emotion or not, but I figured it was worth a shot.

From behind Anvard's back, Lindle told me the secret to get her going. "You've got to name one of her attacks. Look at the card," he said.

"Don't you know any of the attacks, it is your card after all?" Anvard announced with a frown.

"Oh yeah," he smiled like a buffoon. "Use ... Stealth Charger, now!" he commanded, oh so forcefully, from behind the back of a giant of our own, Anvard. But once again, nothing happened.

"Looks like we'll be needing a new plan," Anvard said flatly.

Lindle looked perplexed. His brain was working underneath those long curls. He snapped his fingers, "I got it!" he chirped. "Press the cast b.u.t.ton." My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe that was his epiphany. I pressed the b.u.t.ton without hesitation, and the black & white star card sprang up through the ceiling and flew away at near supersonic speed, I'd bet.

An image of her appeared on the adluncinatio portion of the Aurriculium board. The hologram imagery popped up, showing her breezing through the sky, not too far ahead of her we saw the havoc the Tydrahn had begun wreaking on the school grounds. It already reached the Northern Coaster station. The whole area was in flames and the fire tore down what little was left of the track. It blew up trees and pillars on the grounds, headed directly for the Delphi dorm. I have no idea if the ministrants can fend off something so powerful. But if they don't try, our card may be too late to rescue them. We watched helplessly as the dragon-like tiger creature opened its mouth wide and an orb of white light filled the s.p.a.ce between its fangs.

"Oh no!" cried Lindle. "It's getting ready to attack the dorm."

Anvard and I were speechless. I couldn't have possibly imagined all this really happening this way. My best guess is that Walker's dead, and now the whole town is about to be destroyed. All because I couldn't help but stay away from this place. It truly is my fault. If only I still had the Nexus, I could end this the way I did the attack on the Pavilion. Well, I'm sure the Nexus did most of the heavy lifting on that one, but I helped.

I wondered if Sebastian had already gone to pick up the pieces of the World he sought to bring to its knees. I just can't understand people's l.u.s.t for power. There's so much more to enjoy. That thought prompted me to grab Anvard's hand. I don't care if he's mad at me or not. I just want him to know how I feel. As I locked my fingers in his, he finally turned to me and gave a little eye contact.

"Don't worry," he said with his accent sounding a little thicker than usual, "it will work out, I can feel it." He was lying. He didn't seem remotely sure of it, and he shouldn't have been. The Tydrahn released the orb of light from its mouth just like in my dream. Most of the scenarios in my recurring dream had played out already. In different sequences, but still they occurred. All but one. The figure made of pure blazing light that tried to save me from having my face melted off never showed. Neither had my face been melted off, so I wasn't exactly sure how to interpret all that.

Our lady was close, but still too far away. The lightning flashed out of the Tydrahn's mouth, headed right at Delphi. I grabbed hold of Anvard. I didn't want to look, so I tucked my head into the side of his chest. "Oh, my goodness!" Lindle shouted, but in a jovial tone, which was something very unexpected.

I turned back to the hologram screen to see the lightning of the Tydrahn being countered by a large force of multicolored energies. The ministrants weren't going down without a fight. Even some students joined in. Ma.s.sive force waves pulsated from both wands and llaves alike. They were fighting back, but just barely. The Tydrahn's lightning started pushing them hard. Stray sparks flew out of its mouth, electrocuting some of the other teachers and students running around the grounds in horror. They were flung around in every direction as the green-scaled animal, with the face of a tiger, roared impossibly loud.

They looked to be out of resistance juice when the creature suddenly stopped attacking them. The orb of light disconnected from its host, and the large beast flapped its wings sporadically in their direction, blowing person after person away. But the beast wasn't attempting to attack them with the wind force of its wings. It was trying to turn around. Somehow, it got wind of our approaching Trifecta star card. She moved at such a faster rate than the dreaded Tydrahn that she caught up with it quickly.

She didn't waste a second either. As the beast tried to turn its large body to face her, she struck it in the side with her ample sword. The pained screams were higher pitched than the screeching battle cries it howled when it busted out of the temple earlier. The beast started to falter as she withdrew her sword. But instead of tumbling to the ground, it shot up into the moonlit sky, crying loudly like the wounded animal it was. We cheered, hopping that our girl had changed the game. She did, and now we needed her to finish the job. But instead of doing that, she just hovered there over the Delphi building. She stared out into s.p.a.ce as aimlessly as when she was with us in the temple. That's when it dawned on me.

"Put in another attack! Now Lindle!" He was closest to the board. He kept inching forward, from behind Anvard's back, as we watched the Trifecta closing in on the Tydrahn a minute ago. He and I rushed over to the ELD. We pressed the same attack again and hit cast. Hopefully, she'd respond immediately. We don't want the beast recovering from the blow she got in already. Not one bit.

Or all the way! Which it appeared to have already done, recovered fully. A lonely beam of white lightning descended from the skies above our darling Trifecta card. She never knew what hit her. She immediately exploded to pieces, sending little fire b.a.l.l.s spitting toward the Diamond Atrium and the surrounding areas of Delphi.

We three were speechless as the screen went blank and disappeared. Leaving us in the pretty dark room, only illuminated by the glowing shards of gla.s.s that pa.s.sed back and forth by our heads, down to our feet, and all about the high ceilings of the temple.

"I don't get it," Lindle announced. "Why does the Tydrahn move like it's got a will of its own, but we have to make each move like we're playing the real game?"

He didn't get it, but I knew exactly why. "That's only one of many reasons why Sebastian so desperately wanted the Nexus. He's controlling the Tydrahn." They both looked overwhelmed by my a.s.sertion. And I could feel the sensation of grief that flooded Anvard's heart. He couldn't imagine life without his annoying little sisters. They were two of his greatest friends.

"Where is he?" Anvard barked abrasively at me.

"Where's who?" Lindle asked.

"I'm not talking to you, Curly, so just shut it!" Anvard was off his rocker. "This is your fault!" He turned back to me with tears in his eyes. He normally resembled a delightful puppy, but now he looked more like a pit-bull. He had it out for me. I could feel it in his heart and his mind. He put his fist to his head and knocked on his own skull vigorously. "What!? You don't think I can feel you poking around up here. I'm not stupid, Corinth. I know all about your abilities. I probably know more about them than you do!" His hands suddenly shot toward the ceiling. He paced back and forth in front of me like a madman. "You're a selfish little b.a.s.t.a.r.d. And I'll take you down myself if you don't tell me where Sebastian is. Right now!"

This was a new gear for him. Everything he did up until this point was to protect me. Now he threatened my life. And I have no known way of providing him with the information he wanted. I guess I found that flaw I was looking for behind the glowing pink eyes of the thought to be perfect fourteen-year-old boy? But no one's perfect. Not one of us. "Andy, I don't have any idea how to do that," I said quietly.

But he wasn't trying to hear it. "LIAR!" he shouted, charging toward me and gripping me up by my neck, lifting me clear off my feet.

"Anvard! Stop, it's Corinth!" Lindle looked more than shocked... as his attempt to settle Anvard's temper... was blatantly ignored.

He looked me dead in eyes as tears continued pouring down his face. But he wasn't sad in appearance. Just mad. "Did you really think you were going to get off on this one that easy? You just destroyed a whole towns worth of people-my sisters!" his voice cracked as he choked back more tears. He started wiping them away dramatically, trying to stay tough and intimidating.

Just then, Lindle slammed a fixture from the wall behind the floating Creative Window over his head. He dropped like a stone, and I stumbled backwards, hitting the damp ground. "I didn't want to hurt him but . . ."

"No, I understand. Thanks." He simply nodded in my direction.

"What do we do now?" he asked me, rubbing his shoulder, purposefully looking away from Anvard's unconscious form sprawled out on the ground.

"Remember Senor -Huntzmen's speech... what Walker just told us too?" He nodded again."The light figure in my dream too?" More nods."I'm thinking there's a connection. We have to find the Shattered Temple's Guardian."