"The best we can do is bring our GASP people back, for the time being," Derek said. "With a little bit of luck, we'll only have to formulate an apology to the civilians we left behind, later—"
"Oh, rest assured, they'll understand," Xavier replied. "If this whole ritual insanity happened here, and In-Betweeners and Supernaturals had to take their soldiers out of here and leave us behind… well, it would be a hard pill to swallow, but I wouldn't hold it against them. The odds are stacked against every civilian in the Hermessi's radius, I'm afraid. And they know it."
"This is the best we can do, I know," I murmured. "It still sucks."
"It will never stop being terrible, Mom," Rose said. "But in times like these…"
I nodded slowly, well aware of what she was going to say. I'd told myself the same thing a million times over by now. It didn't make me feel any better. Then again, the truth rarely had that effect on people.
"Thank you for being here," I said to Tebir. I meant it, too. "Your support is priceless."
The green fire figure bowed with reverence. "It is the least we could do. I imagine Brendel and her cohorts are too busy hunting Taeral and Thieron to bother with this portal, but, nevertheless, it's better if we're here to make sure they don't tamper with this evacuation."
"The last thing we need is a hostile Hermessi infiltrating The Shade again," Ibrahim said, disgust skewing his lips. He'd taken Brendel's intervention against Sherus quite personally—not that I could blame him. We'd all felt the same.
As it stood, time was running out on us. There were dozens of planets in peril in the Supernatural Dimension and the In-Between, as the Hermessi's ritual drew closer to the end. We couldn't save everyone, as much as we wanted to, but we could at least pull our officers back and use them to defend The Shade and Earth, as a whole, in case the Hermessi completed their objective.
That didn't mean we'd have a sure chance of survival, going forward, but we had to try.
"We need to optimize this process," Corrine said, frowning at the portal. "Streamline the officer transfer, somehow. Otherwise, it'll take too long to get everyone here. We all saw how long it took for the first batch of Neraka's squad to come through."
The witch was right. With only hours left on the clock, we'd barely welcomed back about one third of GASP’s forces spread across the federation. We needed to do better, faster.
Ibrahim placed a hand on the stone portal, its mist dark gray and shimmering quietly. "We can modify the portal to link to all the others at once," he said. "We need to get at least one witch or warlock on the other side of each entry point to power up the portals, while we do the same to ours."
"That is going to drain us." Corrine sighed, but eventually nodded her agreement. "Let's do it."
They positioned themselves on the portal's sides, each touching the stone frame with one hand and their hearts with the other. Rose called out to all the witches and warlocks waiting by their respective portals and notified them of what was about to happen—Kailani and Arwen included, among many others.
"They're ready," Rose said.
Corrine’s and Ibrahim's lips moved slowly as they closed their eyes, blending learned swamp witch magic with their natural skills, until the tips of their fingers lit up green.
My breath stopped for a moment, watching the process unfold. The more intense the green glow in their fingers, the brighter the mist's sparkle became, until the gray faded, replaced by a powerful cloud of white. That was it, I realized. The moment in which all the portals the witches had opened before were simultaneously connected to this one. My skin tickled with a faint sense of excitement, as I'd never seen something like this before. The operation was too complex for them to do it more frequently. As Corrine had said earlier, it was going to drain them, both physically and mentally.
"Whatever happens next, Sofia, remember… we're in this together," Derek whispered to me. "We still have friends and loved ones in this world. River was right to suggest this course of action."
And I didn't even want to know what pain wrestled in her chest for this. She'd chosen to leave her husband, my son, and their family in the sanctuary, and come back here to fight for The Shade. I'd cried enough about this already.
"It's a good plan. The best, given the situation, anyway," I replied.
Yelena and Benedict came out from the redwood path, both of them paler than usual. They joined us in front of the portal, but their expressions gave me pause. "What's wrong?" I asked them.
"Fiona asked us to be here," Yelena said. "Something in her voice made me worry, but she wouldn't tell me anything more. She only wanted Benedict and me to be here."
A pang in the pit of my stomach troubled me. I wasn't sure why, but, then again, a mother's instinct tended to resonate with others.
"It's done," Ibrahim announced. "All the portals are simultaneously connected to this one."
"Expect an influx," Corrine warned us.
Unsurprisingly now, GASP agents started pouring in from all corners of the Supernatural Dimension and the In-Between. First came the Fire Star officers, accompanied by Aisha and Horatio.
"Welcome back," Derek said to them. "I'm sorry we have to reunite in such circumstances."
"Where's Nuriya?" Aisha asked.
"She's at the extension glass house, with Sherus," I replied.
"Gah… I hate having to do this," Horatio muttered. "Not telling anyone, either."
Had they told the Fire Star fae that they were leaving, it would've caused an uproar and most certainly a stampede, as well. We couldn't risk that, so we'd advised all the GASP officers returning to The Shade to tell no one. No wonder this felt so awful. Secrecy was the one thing we'd done our best to avoid, from the moment we'd founded the agency.
The Calliope squad came next. To my surprise, Draven had joined Serena, along with Kailani, Hunter, Jovi, Anjani, and even Hansa and Jax. I would've expected the Eritopian GASP officers to stay back, like others in their ranks, but, at the same time, I allowed myself a faint smile, glad to see them here, with us.
Draven, however, looked terrible, burdened by guilt and anger as he held Serena's hand. I couldn't help but hug him, hoping I'd at least manage to comfort him for a little while. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry you have to go through this, Draven."
"I'm not sure how I'll sleep again," he replied, his gaze lowered.
"We're doing the right thing," Serena told him. "Hopefully, we'll both go back when this is all over."
"We were useless out there," Jax chimed in. "I don't like this any more than you, Druid. But The Shade can still be protected."
None of this was easy, that much had become painfully obvious. And the individual decisions of our officers had to be respected, regardless of what they chose. If Draven, Bijarki, Hansa, Jax, and Anjani, for example, decided to leave their home planet behind and focus on defending The Shade, all we could do was welcome them with arms wide open and grieve with them if the Hermessi got their way.
But if they'd chosen to stay on Calliope, we would've had to accept that, as well. Of course, it would've made it all the more difficult for Serena and Jovi, among others, who were Shadians and intrinsically connected to us. Maybe they would've stuck with their spouses, too. It would've broken my heart, but, alas, they'd all come back to us, albeit riddled with the kind of guilt and shame that would take years to get over.
"Here comes the last group from Neraka," Corrine said.
