The next day, I dressed in my hiker boots, jeans, and a comfortable shirt. I brought a hoodie in case it was colder at the beach. I met Jonah there, with a hug from Mige and another hug plus a be careful from Juaquin, we walked along the edge, searching for anything out of the norm.

  Nothing.

  It was either further around the cliff face, facing north, or it was inside the water somewhere, which we were going to have to get wet. I remembered the sharks from six months ago and shivered. I was dreading that.

  That would have to wait until the summer, at least, when the weather was warmer. I walked over to Jonah, who was pressing his ear against the cliff face and sighing.

  “We’re going to have to climb,” he said.

  I pointed to a trail by the cliff. “That leads to the top. It’s flattened by vehicles, but it’ll take a few hours to reach it,” I said blocking the sun from my eyes, as I stared up at the cliff face.

  It was a tall, jagged, piece of land that stretched over the sea. The waves crashed upon its surface breaking high tide.

  It was about lunchtime.

  I led Jonah to a nice palm tree and unwrapped the sandwiches I made. He took his ham and cheese and mayonnaise...eww! I took my cheddar and parmesan.

  “So we follow the cliff face and see what’s up there?” he asked, biting into his sandwich.

  I nodded. “We can take lover’s lane and climb up its surface. It’s the fastest route to the cliff,” I said, and he blushed slightly, taking another bite of his sandwich.

  “We’re bound to attract rumors if we’re caught up there...together,” he muttered, swallowing.

  I scoffed. “They’ll only be rumors. We’ve dealt with those before,” I said, doing the same.

  “We’ve never been caught on lover’s lane before,” he said looking for a napkin, “Going to take a bit more to get rid of those rumors.” He summoned Ether power to his fingertips and burned the mayonnaise off his hands.

  “School is almost over anyway. A few more weeks and we graduate. Rumors don’t follow you into college,” I said, swallowing a big bite of my own sandwich and grabbing the last of the three I made for each of us.

  Jonah reached for his last too. “Yeah, but can you handle a month and a half of Katilia?”

  I grimaced, almost biting my tongue and choking. I reached for my water. “Good point. Let’s not get caught then,” I muttered and he nodded, swallowing the last of his sandwich. I took the last bite of mine and cleaned my hands of the butter. Standing, I took the small cooler and put it inside the dimensional space, which he chanted closed. It sucked not having any powers here on Earth.

  Lover’s Lane was the only path on the beach I had to watch out for brambles and spiny bushes. It's where a bunch of roses bloomed despite the season, and so it was a favorite make-out spot.

  We started our trek with the sun high in the sky. It was a quarter to one now on my watch. We’d end up at the top at about three if we kept the leisurely pace we were going at. I wanted to reach the top, but in this sun it was killer walking up the cliff face.

  I was in shape for once in my life and I was still feeling the brunt of the heat! Jonah didn’t look any better even being Kin and more resistant to some things. Apparently, the sun wasn’t one of those things.

  We climbed for an hour before having to rest in the shade of a large palm tree. I worried that we’d find nothing. Please let us find something up there!

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  Jonah turned to me. “This isn’t the only place with a portal My, only the closest one to us and the most likely to have one,” he said, squeezing my hand.

  I squeezed back and relaxed but I couldn’t stop the sense of urgency about me. Something was screaming at me to hurry up. Time was being wasted, and the more time I spent on Earth, the more time passed on Sapherine. Yet, we were only looking for today. We weren’t ready to leave.

  Who knew what the council was up to now? Whatever happened to Datha or Misty or everyone else? Heck, I never told Nero I forgave him for killing me! It was the God, Amel, who killed me. It wasn’t him.

  Jonah passed me the water bottle. He must have unpacked it from the runes on his silk piece.

  He never went anywhere without it. It was a piece of silk he tied around his waist like a makeshift belt. It was loaded with runes. Like mine, each rune held an object and simply meant the element of that object.

  I had one tied like a fashionable scarf, where I kept things like a tent and spare clothes, including Sapherine clothes and Earth like duds, bathing supplies to last six months, and cooking gear, including a matchbook, and a lighter. Some forks and spoons, a few knives, a large carving knife, a spatula, and some pans, plates, and reusable cups. Things that would come in handy in case we went to Sapherine unannounced. I took the water bottle and guzzled some water down. It was refreshingly cold.

  “Thanks,” I said, smiling and he smirked.

  “No prob. Let’s keep going. We still have half of this thing to climb,” he said, and I nodded, standing back from under the shade and into the sun. Jonah picked me up.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, facing him and blushing.

  He too was flushed but smirking. “Hold on. We’re going up undetected...don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.”

  We shimmered from view and into the void of darkness. Inky cold fingers wrapped my skin like velvet as we sank into the shadows. Sounds became muted here as if through a pane of water, and yet I could hear Jonah’s accelerated heartbeat in my ears. Jonah’s unique smell of Sapherine forests, spring breezes and Ozone plus something cool and dark suffused my nose.

  Jonah used his wind to glide past, seeming to streak past the cars and couples. We reached the top fifteen minutes later. We shimmered into view and took in the sea breeze. Up here, the sea sparkled like a jewel, and you could hear the crashing waves below, like crashing cymbals. I got closer to the edge and looked down.

  There, between two sharp rocks, was a piece of sky that looked as if a pair of scissors were taken to it. It was ripped in two, with one end being the color of our sky, and the other end a swirling violet color.

  I bent closer.

  Even this far up I could make out the suctioning noise of the void. I smiled and turned to Jonah and hugged him. He was used to my hugs, what he wasn’t used to was the soft kiss I laid upon his cheek in thanks.

  He looked up blushing and I could see that strange glint in his eyes again as if he was battling with himself deep within. He drew me closer.

  He managed to stutter my name out. “M–Myra…”

  The ground shook. Metal whined and groaned as some cars shifted and Jonah grabbed me, holding me tightly to him, as he floated slightly off the ground. The suctioning noises became stronger in my ears as a low whooshing from the wind started to tug us into the portal.

  Setting us back down, Jonah grabbed my hand and began to run along with the couples that were there. The wind became stronger around us.

  “What’s happening!” I yelled, to be heard over the whooshing of the wind.

  “I don’t know!” he shouted back, starting down the road.” We should get out of here!”

  Another shake of the Earth. This time strong enough to knock us on our knees as debris went flying.

  Some giant hacksaw grinding against the rock was heard, and a large crack, as if the earth was opening up to swallow us, opened up. People stood frozen, while others screamed for their partners.

  I lifted my eyes and watched as the whole side of the cliff was breaking off.

  “The people! They’ll be stuck with us!” I cried.

  “There’s nothing we can do for them!” Jonah screamed as the wind picked up more. “We are stuck as we are, Myra!”

  Maryanne: Help them!

  Strength: Yeah! We gotta help!

  Mark: How! We have no power here!

  Jack: For a smart guy you ain’t so smart. Runes bro Runes!

  “Jonah, we can use runes! We can make them work with magic so strong due to the portal!”

  “You do know it's those same powers that will suck us into the portal and that you aren’t ready, right?”

  I nodded. Jonah glanced at me, before unsealing the brush and ink. With deft movements, he began to create a rune for a bridge but I took the brush away, and with a small change I made them into something stronger.

  The wind picked up now, a howling storm that caught my attention. To my horror the portal was immense and then the ground cracked completely.

  Jonah slammed a magenta glowing hand into the rune array and then the ground shook dislodging several lovers from their vigils. The ground made a baleful sound as it ripped open, and sturdy metal roots coiled and twisted themselves around the other half of the cliff forming a sturdy bridge. A regular bridge would have crumbled, but one bolstered by three elements plus being a sort of linchpin would hold up for now. As it was, the cliff teetered on its axis.

  Jonah signaled with a big ball of Ether above us exploding, the noise and colors catching everyone’s attention.

  I signaled to the bridge. “Calmly cross the bridge.”

  The crowd, as small as it was, fought for who went first.

  Maryanne: If we humans are so bad no wonder the Kin think they are better.

  Strength: Seriously both species are power-hungry.

  Mark: Survival at its worst.

  Jack: Not when it’s at our expense! Watch out, Myra!

  I was helping a young preteen climb, when we were shoved aside by none other than the queen bee herself, Katilia. She scrambled across. The girl was dragged from me, and I was shoved off the cliff face, when violet light poured from the portal and encapsulated me in a shield as I hit the water.

  There were more splashes and then I felt the shield give way as Jonah placed his sticker-made runes array on the shield and blew a hole within it using his Ether. It was momentary, but enough so that he was let into the shield. My eyes met his as we were pulled into the portal like magnets.