Chapter 36

“Do you feel prepared?” Thunderbird asked Julie and Ryan.

It was morning, and the three of them were standing on the floor of clouds outside the back of Thunderbird’s home. The portal was there, calling Julie and Ryan to it, mesmerizing the two kids. They stared at the swirling light until they could see flashes of the world ahead – a dirt ground and stone walls and a stone ceiling covering all the land. Large boulders stood tall against the flat ground. They didn’t see the outlines of the phantom dogs or the Aswang, which comforted them a bit, but they were still terrified.

Julie and Ryan turned away from the portal to face Thunderbird. “Are you ready?” He asked them. He waited expectantly. “Did you practice some spells?”

“We worked on some spells together last night, and I worked on some more this morning,” Julie replied.

“We’re as ready as we’re going to ever