Aspen and the Dream Walkers by Caroline Swart Read Free Book Online Page B

shivered a little, anxious about
the whole situation, but she listened to Sandy carefully.
    “Relax, soldier.” Sandy stepped closer and
spoke next to her ear. “Switch the tap off now,” she ordered.
    Aspen pretended that a valve had been closed
in her mind. The tingling retreated from her limbs and before she
knew it, the flames were gone.
    “Fantastic.” Sandy hopped up and down. “I
told you she’d be good.”
    “That’s great, but can you do this?” Dylan
smiled broadly and winked. He stretched out his hands and shot at
two bottles on the table in front of them with such accuracy that
she gasped. The blue flames from his fingers hit the targets
instantly and melted the bottles to a crisp.
    With a frown of concentration, Sandy joined
him and pointed toward the table. A burst of energy shot from her
fingertips and the other bottle melted as well.
    The smell of burned plastic reached Aspen’s
nostrils and she wrinkled her nose, then noticed the light above
them seemed to fade. She glanced up at the sky.
    “Lemona is almost over,” Dylan said to Sandy.
“Maybe we should wait until Lavendula has passed before she tests
her strength.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous, she’s new. Her power
will be weak until she practices, and they won’t notice anything.
Come on, we have about two minutes left.” She spun around to Aspen.
“Give it your best shot.”
    Aspen grinned. “Watch this.” Aiming her hands
at the table, she concentrated hard.
    Suddenly the entire metal table exploded. It
was incinerated in a second, and Dylan grabbed both girls to
shelter them from shards of hot steel dropping from the air. A heat
wave expanded toward them and it singed her eyebrows.
    “Ouch!” she screamed. Sandy and Dylan
recovered before she did. They got up from the ground and stared at
the total devastation around them. Even the opening of the cave was
blackened from the blast. The vines had withered away and the trees
around them had been flattened.
    “Oh no!” Sandy cried. “It’s Lavendula.
Quickly, we’ve got to get out of here.”
    She grabbed Aspen and pulled her forward.
Dylan took her other arm and they ran together.
    “What happened?” Aspen shouted as they dashed
down the hillside.
    “The Chancellors will find us. You’ve
disturbed the fabric. They can sense where we are,” Sandy huffed
out as they ran.
    “Have I done something wrong?”
    “No, but you’re stronger than any of us ever
imagined, Aspen,” Dylan said through gritted teeth.
    They ran in silence after that. Sandy left
the path they’d used to climb the hill and ran through the
undergrowth instead. Tiny branches grabbed at Aspen’s clothing and
snagged pieces of material from her sleeves.
    Someone cried out behind her and she stole a
glance over her shoulder. Branches in the trees were moving, and
loud voices shouted in the distance.
    “Don’t look back, just run.” Dylan reached
out for her arm and dragged her forward. She ignored the warmth
that his touch always created in her body, and ran as fast as she
could.
    A strange, sweet smell clouded the air. Once,
a teacher had used ethanol in her physics class, and the odor
reminded her of its rich, sugary fragrance. The sky had changed
from lemon to the color of old bruises, and the air was cool around
them.
    “Run with her, Sandy, quickly. I’ll distract
them!” Dylan shouted. He loosened his grip and turned back. The
girls stared after him for a second.
    “Come on!” Sandy yelled. “We’ve got to hurry.
Run as fast as you can.”
    • • •
    Aspen woke up suddenly, completely out of breath. She
jackknifed out of bed and picked up the alarm clock. Ten minutes
before she had to get up for the morning. Her breathing was still
ragged, and she glanced down at her pajamas.
    “Oh my word,” she whispered.
    The pajamas she wore were slashed and ripped
at the sleeves, as though she’d actually run through the forest.
Jumping out of bed, she yanked the shirt off.
    Her pants weren’t