When we finally arrived at my dads’, Mr. Carver, Ashley, and Esme were already standing outside. It looked like they had taken moms’ van. It upset me to see them using it, but it was the only way we would go. Sighing, I got out of the car and walked over to them.

“Good to see you again,” Esme said. She hugged me again without asking. I was starting to expect this.

“I hope everyone is ready. This is probably going to be one of the most dangerous things we have ever done.” Mr. Carver said. I could see the worry on his face. I wasn’t quite sure that he really knew what he was getting himself into.

Concentrating on my body, I shifted back into my wolf form. It had been a while since I had to take this form. I didn’t materialize my wings yet, as I didn’t want to try and fit them in the van with everyone else in it. I could feel the goddess’s presence more predominately now.

(You must be careful. The dark god may be there, or at least another one of his creatures) the goddess whispered. I wanted to shut her out, but I didn’t know a way to. Reluctantly I got into the passenger seat of the van. Instead, I would have flown, but that wouldn’t really work when I didn’t know where we were headed. Mr. Carver started the van and began driving.

When we finally stopped, we were parked in front of a large field in the middle of nowhere. Everyone got out.

“Just on the other side of those woods is the research facility. I’m sure that you can see the smoke rising. And see there, there are guards stationed around the woods. A little strange for someone to be guarding woods for no reason,” Mr. Carver pointed out.

“So first Esme and I take care of the guards around the woods? Then Angel and Taylor go in and takes care of the ones around the outside of the base?” Ashley asked. Mr. Carver nodded. I wondered briefly what he was going to be doing, considering he didn’t mention himself.

“What will you be doing, Mr. Carver?” I finally asked a bit annoyed that he orchestrated this and didn’t seem to have a part in it. He looked at me and grinned.

“I will be standing guard here, making sure that no reinforcements try to help out,” he said as his grin widened. I guess he had already anticipated that the Doc had others waiting in case something happened. “Alright, it’s time.”

Ashley and Esme started into the field. Ashley opened a rift, and for the first time, I got to see it from both ends. Although it was hard to see, I could see the rift on the other side of the field. They both jumped through, and we watched as the guards started towards them. The rift in front of us closed as she opened another. I had no idea where it led, but we watched as guards were thrown through it.

As most of the guards were disposed of, it was our turn. Grabbing Taylor, I materialized my wings and took off. Flying above the treeline, I could see the facility. It was massive. I didn’t know how we were supposed to escape a place like this but then realized that he had probably expected Ashley to rift us.

I landed us in front of the door, and in seconds we were surrounded by guards. Taylor activated her ESP ability and froze as many as she could. I materialized my bow and shot as many as I could, binding them with ropes of energy.

More men came filing out of the compound as they heard their comrades being subdued. We quickly stopped them as well. With everyone outside taken care of, we headed in. The facility was enormous. There were a few rooms and such, but otherwise, it was pretty open. Scientists were working at stations.

The scientists started running around as they realized that intruders had entered the building. A few of them grabbed guns and started firing at us.  I used my wings as a shield, only barely feeling their impact. Taylor used her telekinesis and riped the guns out of their hands. Esme and Ashley entered the facility and started wreaking havoc as well.

More guards started to pour in from somewhere in the back of the facility. I guess that there were two entrances. They began firing on us. I did my best to shield myself, but it made it hard to fight back, so I decided to go on the offensive. Pulling one of my feathers out, I began cutting through the bullets that flew by as I pushed towards the guards. When I was close enough, I ran and then slid behind them. I grabbed the nearest one from behind and took off. Using my energy, I bound him and then hung him in the rafters. It wouldn’t kill him, but he wouldn’t be fighting for a while.

As the gunfire continued, I saw something in the corner of my eye. Before I could turn to see what it was, I was hit. I could smell the scent of burning hair. Looking down, I realized that it was me. The pain shot through me like an arrow. I turned to look at my attacker to find a demon standing just outside of a door. His dark skin was marked with unusual tribal markings.

“Arron!” I heard Esme yell. I guess that this was her brother. She tried to run to him, but he raised his hand as fire built up in his palm.

“Please leave, I don’t want to hurt any of you, but if you don’t leave, I will have no choice,” he said, pain spread across his face. I guess that the Doc had threatened him into protecting him. This wasn’t going to go well if we had to hurt one of the people we were here to rescue. As I started to gather energy, another fireball was thrown at me. This time I dodged it. “Please, you don’t understand. If you don’t leave, he will kill you all.”

“We are not leaving you. You saved my sister, and I can’t let that debt go unpaid,” Ashley said. Before he could utter another word, she opened a rift underneath him. We watched as Arron fell through. At least this way, he would be safe. That just left Maddison.

As Esme finished up taking care of the other guards, the rest of us headed towards the door that Arron had been guarding. Opening the door, we were greeted by a strange hallway. There were symbols everywhere, like at the altar. If I had to guess, the Doc had made this hall, which meant that these symbols were meant for something. Slowly we proceeded down the hall.

The further down the hall we got, the hotter it got. It was like someone had cranked up the heat. Something about it was familiar, though I didn’t ever remember being inside an oven. We stopped just outside of another door. It was made of some type of metal. I guessed it was titanium.

“It is like walking into an oven. Are you sure that it is safe to go through that door?|” Taylor asked, wiping her brow. I didn’t really see Maddison anywhere else, so she had to be here. Which meant that we had to go through the door. Reluctantly I nodded.

Focusing all of my energy, I placed my hand against the door, forcing all of it into the door. There was a creaking sound, then the door shattered to dust.  As we walked in the door, we all stopped in our tracks. What we saw was something I never expected to see.