Aerenden: The Child Returns (Ærenden) by Kristen Taber

home.”

CHAPTER SIX
    A NTICIPATION GREW , building within her
until it hardened her muscles with tension. It overwhelmed both the excitement
and nervous energy that preceded—preceded what exactly? Meaghan did not
know. She also did not know the source for the sudden rush of emotions. She
reacted to them. Her muscles trembled. Her nerves tingled. Her breath came
short and shallow. Her mind felt the flush of adrenaline and stood on guard for
whatever came next, but the reaction did not belong to her. At first, she
thought it stemmed from a dream, but when she opened her eyes and excitement
remained, she realized the danger in it.
    The
fire flickered in front of her, casting shadows across the barn walls. Though
the flames had dwindled, their presence told her she had not been sleeping
long. The foreign emotions intensified, hammering through her mind like
overlapping percussions, and she felt her own fear rise in response. She rolled
onto her side to wake Nick, surprised to find he no longer lay next to her. She
sat up, scanned the room, and discovered him by the barn door holding a bucket.
He brought the bucket to the fire and set it down.
    “Can
you feel them?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
    She
threw off the blanket and stood. “I can feel their emotions. Anxiety, tension,
and excitement, mostly. Who do they belong to?”
    “The
police. I’m guessing they found the car.” He walked over to her, then picked up
the blanket, and folded it. “Do you have your mother’s necklace?”
    She
brought a hand to her throat. Finding the thin silver chain, she traced her
fingers down to the amulet and nodded. “It’s safe.”
    “Good.
Keep it on for now. We need to open the portal.”
    “I
thought you said we had to travel more.” He did not respond and she studied his
face, trying to gauge how he felt. “How far away are we from where we need to
be?”
    “I’m
not sure. I left a pulse stone at the portal location where I landed when I
first came to Earth. It emits a magical beacon.” He located the backpack on the
ground, and tucked the blanket inside. “We’re at least five miles away.”
    “Can
we sneak out of here without the police seeing us?”
    Nick
shook his head. “I’m sensing people from every direction. What about you? Can
you focus enough to tell where the emotions are coming from?”
    She
frowned. “I’m afraid not. It’s all a big jumble. They’re confident, though, and
the anticipation is mounting. That’s not a good sign.”
    “No,
it’s not.”
    “They’re
coming,” she added, focusing her attention toward the door. “The emotions are
getting closer.”
    “I
know. Are you ready to cross over?”
    “How?”
Meaghan turned her head to stare at him. “If we’re five miles away—”
     “Portals
can be opened anywhere. It would’ve been more convenient to reach the pulse
stone before we opened one, but we have no other options. Not unless we want to
try opening one from jail.” Nick handed her the backpack and picked up the
bucket again. “It’s time.”
    She
slung the backpack over one shoulder. “What do you mean by ‘more convenient’? What
aren’t you telling me?”
    “Nothing
that can’t wait.” He tipped the bucket. Water rushed out, turning the fire into
hissing embers. Only moonlight remained to cut the darkness, filtering through
the roof in faint streams.
    The
door burst open. Four men in black clothing and bulletproof vests ran into the
room, their guns and flashlights drawn and pointed at Nick.
    “Freeze,” one man yelled.
“You’re under—”
    Nick
grabbed her hand and the barn dissolved into white.
    §
    S HE EXPECTED to feel
weightless, like she drifted on air, or to feel compressed and torn as her new
world ripped her from her old one. At the least, she expected nausea to
accompany her journey. She had read enough science fiction novels and had
watched more than her fair share of space-themed television shows to know crossing
from one world to