Chapter Four

      Krysty woke screaming from a deep sleep, her dreams shattered by a lightning bolt of pain.

      Her eyes shot open, seeing predawn grayness all around. Dimly, she was aware of other bodies stirring on the ground nearby, snapped awake by the sound of her screams.

      Then another bolt slashed through her mind, throwing her into a mindless seizure of agony.

      As she writhed on the ground, she heard footsteps running toward her and familiar voices calling out—Ryan’s, J.B.’s, Mildred’s. But Krysty couldn’t sort out the words they were saying or attempt to respond to them. She was too consumed with pain and the crazed need to make it stop…and one other thing.

      Dread. An overwhelming feeling of dread at whatever phenomenon the pain might be signaling, just as it had signaled the earlier onslaught that had swept away Doc.

      Suddenly the pain abated, and Krysty slumped. Heaving for breath, she fought to clear the haze that had shrouded her senses and stolen her ability to function normally.

      “Krysty!” Ryan knelt at her left side, gazing worriedly down at her.

      Krysty felt him gripping her hand and suddenly realized he’d been holding it for a while, tight enough to give her pins and needles.

      “I’m okay, I’m okay.” She nodded weakly. “Just another one of those attacks.”

      “Easy does it, Krysty.” Mildred knelt at her right side, touching the back of a hand to Krysty’s forehead. “Deep, slow breaths, honey. In and out, in and out.”

      “What coming?” Jak’s voice rose up from somewhere nearby. “Last time fit, muties attack and rock wall appear.”

      “I don’t know.” Krysty closed her eyes and concentrated, focusing her mind the way she did when she called on the power of Gaia, the Earth Mother. Reaching out, she strained to find some thread of the force that had triggered her pain, some whisper of whatever had brought on the bolts of pain.

      But there was nothing. Just emptiness and stillness.

      Or was there something after all? As Krysty continued to strain, she felt what might have been a faint tension, pressing in the distance.

      Scowling, she struggled to tighten her focus even more, to home in on whatever was out there. At the same time, she tried to steel herself against the next bolt of pain that might come.

      “Look like find something,” Jak said.

      “Not sure yet.” Krysty gritted her teeth and cast her net as wide as she could. Was she tuning something in or feeling something that wasn’t there? She couldn’t tell.

      “Krysty.” Ryan leaned closer. “We should get you out of here. You said this place is killing you.”

      “No, wait.” Krysty sat up and raised a hand. The tension was definitely there, as if something were being pushed, or pulled…

      Or stretched.

      “Everybody!” Krysty snapped her eyes open and leaped to her feet. “Get out of here, now!”

      “You heard her!” Ryan shouted. “Move! Out the way we came in!”

      But it was already too late. Krysty knew it instantly, as the tension she’d felt building suddenly released, like the string of a bow.

      Or a fault line in earthquake country.

      Before anyone could start running, a familiar wave of force crashed into Krysty. She hung suspended for an instant, her whole body quivering, and then the force let go, whipping her around to slam into Ryan.

      As the two of them stumbled, barely holding each other erect, Krysty saw the ground in front of them flutter like a bedsheet. She heard a low hum, followed by a rumble that coursed up through her feet and shook every bone in her body.

      Then a flash of light erupted before her like a second sun blazing to life. As the light faded, between the blur of spots left pulsing in her eyes, Krysty saw the thing she’d dreaded, the latest phenomenon signaled by the pain.

      The ground was opening up.

      “Sinkhole!” As the word left Ryan’s lips, the hole expanded rapidly. In seconds, it was big enough to swallow up a good-size war wag, and still growing at breakneck speed.

      The companions were on the move, scattering fast, but not fast enough. Krysty could feel the ground dropping away, disintegrating hot on her heels as she sprinted alongside Ryan.

      Suddenly, the hole caught up with her. Like sand in an hourglass, the once-firm ground slid out from under her. Just like that, her feet had nothing solid beneath them, and she started to fall.

      Before she could plunge into the widening chasm, though, Ryan’s strong hands seized her arm and hauled her forward. It was all the help she needed. With firm footing restored—at least for the moment—Krysty was able to bolt out of reach of the hungry pit.

      Mildred wasn’t as lucky. She screamed in alarm, and Krysty flashed a look in her direction as she ran.

      Some twenty feet away, the predark physician was almost completely in the hole. Only her head and shoulders remained above the rim. She was holding on to a hump of rock, her body dangling into the pit as it continued to grow around her.

      Instantly, Krysty changed direction and raced toward her friend. She knew Ryan would follow, but she had to prepare as if she alone would mount this rescue.

      Dashing toward the dissolving rim of the hole, Krysty focused her thoughts on the familiar power she drew from in times of emergency. Gaia, the Earth Mother, the world itself, provided a wellspring of energy for the few who knew how to tap it, and Krysty counted herself among their number.

      Chanting her prayer quickly, she made contact with the power of Gaia, the potent force residing all around her. Embracing the power, she drew a portion of it into her, feeling it churn and crackle within her like a ball of lightning.

      Then, as she and the crumbling rim raced toward each other, she let the power explode and infuse every cell of her being.

      Leaping just as the rim collapsed in front of her, Krysty landed on the peak of the rock that Mildred clung to. Balancing on the balls of her feet on that peak, Krysty ducked and grabbed hold of Mildred’s upper arms. With one heave, as if she was lifting a child, she pulled Mildred up.

      As Mildred looped her arms tightly around Krysty’s neck, the redhead turned, part of her mind wondering if she’d made a fatal error. The bank, which was still dissolving, was nearly thirty feet away.

      It would be a long jump, even in her heightened, Gaia-empowered state, but it would only get longer with each second she hesitated. Her odds of survival would only get lower.

      So Krysty gathered the power within her and crouched, coiling her muscles for the leap. The bank continued to recede.

      Then she took a deep breath, focused the Gaia force and leaped.

      Even with the weight of Mildred on her back, Krysty felt light as she sailed through the air. Miraculously, she overtook the dissolving rim and