BooksBarbecue
Back Unleashed Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. Part Two
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. Part Three
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. Part Four
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. 33
  42. 34
  43. 35
  44. Part Five
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. Epilogue
  54. Acknowledgments
  55. About the Author
  56. Back Cover

But the snow here is so deep, I sink down almost to my knees as I try to take a step forward. I hear a snort of laughter from Kai, and I hate to think how comical I look trying to plow my way through the snow. He reaches out a strong arm to me, and I gratefully use it to lift myself back onto the path. Jinx is frustratingly out of reach.

>>You can make it through.

“I can’t! There’s no way.”

>>Send Oka and Aero through the trees, and tell them to keep their cameras on. Watch on Jupiter.

When I relay this command from Jinx, Kai and Tobias both look at me with skepticism. “Slick is the baku who should go through there. Oka is huge, he’s not going to fit through the trees.”

“I think we have to trust Jinx,” I say.

“Okay,” Tobias nods. “Aero, go meet Jinx.”

We all cringe as Aero obeys the command, expecting him to crash into the branches. His alerts are going wild, warning Tobias not to go in that direction. Yet, the bakus obey any order that their owner gives, so Aero behaves without questioning. I can’t bear to look, so I watch the feed stream from Jupiter’s back.

But there’s no crash. Aero swoops straight through the trees.

And the feed from his camera goes completely blank. We lose sight of the eagle baku completely.

“What’s happened?” says Tobias, panicking.

“Oka, go after him,” says Kai right away. The same thing happens—Oka runs at the line of trees but passes through them safely and disappears from view.

>>Now you’d better follow us, don’t you think?

There’s a tinge of amusement in his tone.

He doesn’t have to ask me twice. Feeling bolder than I have in months, I stride through the path I created in the snow, but then I keep going, walking through the trees. I close my eyes, expecting to end up with a face full of bark. But I don’t. I move swiftly through the other side.

I hear the clicking of bindings. Tobias, Kai, and Ashley are obviously desperate to follow.

And I can’t wait for them to arrive. Because what I’m looking at is almost unbelievable.

I’m staring at an enormous curved wall, as tall as the eye can see. It stretches on for miles on either side of us. How could we have not seen this, from the road, from the windows of Tobias’s house? I reach out, until my fingertips almost touch it, but they don’t, hovering just above the surface.

“Whoa,” says Tobias as he pulls up behind me.

It looks like we’ve found Lake Baku. There’s just one problem.

I place my palm down flat on the opaque wall. It’s solid.

There’s absolutely no way through.

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