The Bleed: Book 2: RAPTURE by David Moody (best selling autobiographies .txt) 📕

“What’s coming through the breach?” She wasn’t even sure why she’d asked the question. The wall had been made for one purpose only. She supposed she was stalling, thinking maybe if she kept the teacher distracted long enough, he would forget to assign homework over the weekend. Rarely worked, but every once in a while, the students got lucky.

“I am going to set a small charge, then you are going to do what you do.”

“What do I do?”

“That would be like me trying to explain ‘how do I love?’ It is unexplainable.”

“You know about love?”

“Yes, I know about love. That is not a uniquely human feeling. Of course, I feel it more when I’m referring to a great meal, but on occasion, I have loved those—of the living variety.”

“Had to add that last part, didn’t you.”

“I enjoy humor. I knew a human once; he opened that door for me, and for that I will be forever grateful.”

“Did you eat him?”

“Oh, I dared not. Besides being powerful in his own right, he had some allies that would have made the prospect daunting.”

“But you thought about eating him, right?”

“I think about eating almost everyone or thing I come across. It takes a lot of fuel to keep this running.” He smacked his chest hard. “And when I use power, even more so.”

Maddie gulped.

“Do not worry; I have found that red hair gives me indigestion.” He threw his head back and laughed hard at the joke. Maddie was not nearly as amused.

“Why are you really helping?” Maddie asked, unsure if she wanted to know.

“For the love of the game,” he responded without missing a beat.

“The game?”

“Yes, the game cannot be played without players.”

“This isn’t a game, Kalandar, this is life and death.”

“A game with the greatest stakes, but a game, nonetheless. Now, stay by my side.” Kalandar got down on one knee and placed his hand on the ground. He murmured a few words in a language Maddie didn’t understand, she felt a heavy thump under her feet, then a ripple that radiated outward, but instead of forming a circle, there was a pie-shaped wedge heading straight for the wall.

“What’s that going to do?”

“Not much. This is where you come in.”

“We’ve been over this; I don’t know what I did or what to do.”

“Hmm.” Kalandar placed a hand to his chin, they both watched as the earth tremor struck the wall. A few boulders were knocked loose and tumbled down the face but other than that, it held firm. “Perhaps we should make this personal.” He clasped a hand on each side and picked her up, ran a few yards away before depositing her and running back to where he’d been. “I’m going to do this again and I want you to remember my earlier words: expending power makes me hungry, and, also, now that you are in the direct path, this could be harmful to your health.”

“How harmful?”

“Did I say harmful? I meant hazardous.”

“Kalandar!” Maddie yelled just as he released another pulse. She had no time to act, only react. The ripple split as it approached her, then reformed and intensified as it passed her by. The ripple had become a series of waves, and as they got closer to the wall, they enlarged, looking much like those waves were breaking, though they were composed entirely of dirt and rocks. “Did I do that?” Maddie could only watch in awe.

“You should move!” Kalandar shouted over the din. “Fast!”

The wave did not crash against the wall but instead passed through.

“Nothing’s happening.”

“Run, small one,” Kalandar urged.

Maddie was about to ask why when the very top of the wall began to shake violently, the noise louder than anything she could ever remember hearing. Boulders larger than vehicles were being tossed over a hundred yards, some crashing entirely too close to her location. Now she understood the reason to move and did so with haste. It was difficult gaining traction, as more times than not, the ground was bouncing and she would lose footing or momentum to the beat. Kalandar, realizing she wasn’t going to make it, raced toward her. He picked her up and pulled her in close, a hard protective shell formed around them just as a boulder crashed into the top and shattered, tumbling down along the sides like a rockfall. Kalandar was breathing heavily as he moved away. When he felt they were at a safe distance, he went farther before nearly dropping Maddie, and he fell to the ground on his hands and knees. Maddie gathered herself and stood. The wall was crumbling—disintegrating might even be a better word. Billowing clouds of dust rose into the air and mushroomed into an expanding plume. A shock wave followed by a blast of cool air rippled through Maddie, but that wasn’t what chilled her to the bone. It was the hordes of bogalites scrambling towards them over the scree.

“Kalandar!” Maddie reached behind her to tap him on the shoulder.

He lifted his head. “I see them. It could not be helped.”

“Wait, what couldn’t be helped?”

“I thought you knew. The seal needed to be broken.”

“And the people?”

“Mostly expendable.”

“Mostly?”

“I’m a growing demon.”

“Kalandar!”

“Maddie, make no mistake, the room with the rings and the three of you operating it are the most important pieces to the puzzle on this moon. It was protected and would have been all right for a while, but the defenses would have eventually failed and your lives would have been in jeopardy.”

“We went through hell to save these people; we can’t just leave them to the fates now.”

“Can’t you? Who are you to bend fate?”

“Isn’t that exactly what you’re asking us to do?”

“Hmm. I do not like having my words logically used against me. Alright, yes, but some conflicts are worth fighting and some are not. This is the latter.”

“Not to the thousands of people about to be eaten.”

“Madeline.”

“I hate that name.”

“Maddie, your power appears to be the ability to manipulate and augment that of others. It is an incredible talent,