Read The Space Within (The Book of Phoenix #3) for Free Online

Book’s not working for them at all, and they’ll never get here. We have to go, Hayden. Sooner, not later.”
    “Jacquelena’s our leader,” Brock said, his words surprising me. His eyes had focused beyond the fire, straight onto Hayden. “And you know she’s right. We need to go before we’re all taken by the Darkness. Including your Rebethannah.”
    We all watched Hayden expectantly. He stopped drawing in the dirt, but gave no response. Instead, he rose to his feet and took over Brock’s usual pacing, his hands on his hips.
    “We can leave in the morning,” Bex said when Hayden still didn’t concede. “That gives us another night of rest and food, and you and I can do that thing with our souls to make us stronger, Hayden. And then we need to make like a tree and leave.” He turned his head to look over his shoulder at her and opened his mouth, presumably to protest again, but she held up a hand and cocked a brow. “No arguin’ with me now. Just shut that trap of yours and listen. We don’t have a choice. I feel it, and I know you do, too. We’ve been through too much to get here only to lose each other all over again. Besides, Leni and Brock risked themselves—and Asia and Jeric, too—for us . We owe them, Hayden. We’re not gonna let them down. We all need this, and you know it.”
    When a Southern woman was as serious as she was, a smart man didn’t argue with her. Hayden may not know Southern, but he was obviously a smart man. Finally, we’d be on our way.
    We packed up and headed out at first light the next morning. We followed the pull of their souls in the direction of the Gate, moving slowly at first as Bex pushed through the ache of her healing wounds. After a while, she must have grown accustomed to the pain because she began to move faster. She was the only one not carrying a bag of supplies—Hayden carried hers for her. Mine was strapped to my back, over my raggedy sweater that was too tight across my boobs, and my knife hung from the belt that scrunched up the waist of the black pants that were too big for me. At least my boots fit fairly well, and their fit was more important than anything. We had a long walk ahead of us.
    I mentally snorted at myself. Barely more than a year ago, I’d been auditioning to be a ballerina in New York City. Only a few months ago, I was dancing on stage in Italy. And here I was now, trekking through some post-apocalyptic world, prepared to fight alien creatures so I could get home to a man whose soul I shared. Since meeting Jeric, life had become so weird, but I couldn’t imagine living without him. Well, I could since I was doing it now. But this wasn’t living. This was struggling to survive until we could be together again.
    We’d been traveling for what felt like a few hours over the gray, desert-like terrain when a forest appeared in the distance ahead of us.
    “We don’t want to go in there,” Hayden said. “We need to go around.”
    “How big is it?” I asked. “Won’t going around take longer?”
    “Yeah, but trust me, we don’t want to be in that for—ahhhh.”
    All three of my traveling companions screamed and clutched their heads as they fell to the ground around me. I spun in a circle, my stomach clenching with panic. Their faces twisted and their bodies thrashed as though they were in a great deal of pain, but I had no idea what caused it. I had no idea what to do.
    A woman’s laugh carried across the land. My head whipped in the direction it came from. Four figures emerged from the forest, quickly headed straight for us. My extra sharp eyesight gained from the Forging must have been fading—I could barely make them out from here. Three appeared to be huge monsters, and the other quite smaller, possibly human, but I couldn’t be sure. All of them seemed to be gliding rather than running.
    “Come on,” I said, tugging at Hayden. He yanked his arm out of my grip and rolled away, moaning. “Someone’s coming, Hayden! Please