“So…” Derek slowly raised his shirt to show Neal the grey marks on his torso. “Getting stabbed by a spear. Will that come back to haunt me?”

Neal winced. “It’s this realm's way of warning you that the two worlds are colliding, and the new one is getting more powerful. There’s a chance it might go away. It might not. Depends on how successful we are in getting rid of the creatures. As much as you can, try not to interact with the other world. It will only speed up the process if the two worlds are interacting.” Neal pointed at Tyler. “Take the promptings seriously. I know Chaos might seem evil to the core, but life can’t exist without chaos. Same with Order. Don’t automatically expect her to be all good. These beings are above good and evil, as strange as that sounds to our mortal ears. They do their thing, and as long as we respect them, they give us balance. And in that balance between pure chaos and pure order… we survive.”

There was a beat of silence as they took this in. Evelyn touched her own stomach with the gray marks.

“I will—” Tyler swallowed, glancing at Neal. “Keep in touch, then.”

Neal tried to smile, but it didn’t last long. “I know this isn’t comforting in the slightest. And I’m… sorry.”

Evelyn’s phone chirped, causing her to jump. She mumbled an apology as she took out her phone, seeing it was from Lydia.

“My mom will be here soon to drive me back,” Evelyn said.

Neal covered one eye, looking at her. “Good god you’re all too young.” He’d said that so much that Evelyn wasn’t sure if she should reply. “Keep in touch.”

Neal slipped away, and Evelyn gathered his things.

“We’ll walk you out of the conference center,” Tyler said.

“Thanks,” Evelyn said.

They walked out of the room and down the stairs. The three of them were silent as Evelyn kept her book tightly against her chest. She stared at the ground, unaware of time or of Derek and Tyler. No one spoke. There wasn’t much to say, yet everything to say. Their impossible mission was clear. Kill all the monsters that entered the portal before they could interact with earth. Teach Clarissa how to live here. Without her brother.

They had to kill all two thousand creatures before August. On top of everything else, they had to figure out how to work together. Somehow.

“Well, it’s better we know,” Tyler said, pulling out his phone and programming Neal’s contact information into his phone. “This is hard. It’s a bit painful, but at least we know everything. Not only about the CCNC characters, but…” Tyler sighed, shooting an apologetic look at Evelyn. “It’s better that all secrets are out.”

“Um…” Derek said, rubbing his upper arm.

Tyler’s eyes bounced toward Derek. “Um what?” Derek glanced at Tyler, almost apologetically. “You tell me right now. I cannot handle the worst-case scenario my mind just went to.”

“It’s… my dad might get another job here in Phoenix. That’s all.” Derek cleared his throat, looking at his shoes. “We might move at the beginning of the summer.”

Tyler stared at him. Evelyn’s gaze, too, bounced between the two of them. “When were you planning on telling us?” Tyler asked as they walked out of the main door.

“My parents said it might not happen. But… there are search histories of houses in Phoenix. It’s definitely going to happen.”

“Again, Derek, when were you planning on telling us?” Tyler asked, more panic in his voice.

Derek shrugged, his palms pointed toward the ceiling. “Okay, I’ll be perfectly honest. On the list of potentially traumatic secrets we’re all clinging to, mine was not exactly fighting for the top of the list. It seemed… insensitive. To bring it up. Because… Evelyn had it worse.”

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She winced, then glanced at her book. Tyler groaned, rubbing his forehead as they opened the door and filed out. “It’s fine. Fine. More than fine. It’s easier to work with things once they’re out in the open. Fine. Everything is…. We can do this. During the summer you can come to Elmwood a lot to finish killing the monsters. Because this is going to work. We’ll get all the monsters taken care of before next August.”

They walked outside, going down the steps, when they heard a loud shriek. The three of them glanced up, and Evelyn froze. It was something she couldn’t quite understand, except for she’d been living it the past two months. An adult desert dragon was perched on top of a skyscraper, hanging on by a leathery wing. Its sandy colored scales shone in the desert sun.

“Holy sh—”

The dragon roared, cutting Derek off. The thing that struck Evelyn as the oddest was that no one else reacted. Derek, Tyler, and Evelyn ducked like that thing was about to hit them with electricity, judging by the charges moving up its body. There should be mass chaos in the streets, apocalyptic levels of screaming and shouting. Weaving of cars and crumbling buildings. But it was as calm as any other Saturday in Phoenix. Evelyn rose, looking at the dragon as it blasted electricity from its mouth. The beam moved past the building like it wasn’t even there. The dragon shrieked again and took off, flapping its wings as it took to the sky.

Evelyn stood frozen on the spot, her heart pounding. She was so glad she didn’t bring Clarissa. But the apocalypse that dragon could start was a mere eleven months away if they didn’t kill it before then. Along with the two thousand other monsters scattered around the world. She slowly straightened, Derek and Tyler following her lead.

“Okay, right,” Tyler said, staring at the asphalt. “It’s…. We… have a plan.”

“Do we?” Derek asked, about an octave higher than his regular voice.

Evelyn’s phone went off. She cleared her throat before answering it. “Hey mom.” She sounded like a robot.

“I see you, but I can’t get any closer. Just walk toward the north, and I’ll be there!”

“Okay.” She lowered her phone, glancing up again. At the dragon flying through the Arizona sky. “I’ll… see you guys later.”

“Yeah.” Derek said, still staring at the dragon.

Tyler tore his gaze from the dragon to look at her. “I’ll stop by tomorrow. Once I get more information.” He glanced at the sky again before back at her. “As much as this sucks, we can now start a plan. It’s like we’ve all dumped the puzzle pieces out, and now we can start organizing.” He tried to smile, but Evelyn again found little comfort in it. “All secrets are out now.”

***

Alejandra opened her window. It was a warm evening, and Rafael was in his room, with Ezekiel and Hraktar trying to sleep in the living room. She slid out of the open window and landed softly on the ground. It was eleven-thirty, and she was anxious. Tyler had called, but he said there was too much to tell, so he’d be dropping by tomorrow to talk to them both. Which meant she was already prepared to get little sleep tonight. No doubt Rafael felt the same.

She hugged herself as she walked down the street in her sandals. It was still relatively warm, but by this time next month, the nights would get cooler.

Her feet stumbled down the small hill before she knelt near the path. Her fingers brushed away the dirt from the sandy colored egg. It was still warm. She wasn’t sure what that meant, and there were only so many questions she could ask Ezekiel and Hraktar before they started having questions of their own. She lifted the egg in her two hands. The drake fight was at the beginning of this month, but still recent enough.

This was a ridiculous endeavor. What had she hoped to gain from this? The drakes were dead, and Ezekiel’s religion already had a way to give her peace. This feeling of guilt didn’t need to exist. And yet it remained. They had senselessly killed this poor baby’s parents.

She eased the egg to the side before focusing on the hole, digging deeper into the dirt to hide the egg better. “I have to go back home now.” She picked up the egg and was about to place it back in the hole when it shook. Alejandra’s gaze shot to the egg, her heart skittering. She might have imagined it. After all, it was late, and she was exhausted.

Until a crack appeared in the egg. With a gasp, she dropped it, scrambling away. Did she just kill it?

The egg shook again, and another crack formed. Then another. Alejandra forgot how to breathe. She took out her phone, turning on the flashlight and held it toward the egg. There were crisscrossed marks all across the egg before a piece fell away. Alejandra leaned in closer. Scales of a dark blue, almost black creature revealed itself inside. Her mouth dropped open. The egg gave another rock as the top came off. It looked like a dark blue dinosaur, its eyes yellow like a dragon’s. It hid away in the shell from the bright light before coming back again. Another part of the shell broke away, showing sharp claws. The baby drake saw her, opened its toothless mouth, and chittered.

End of Volume Two