Beginning of Volume 3: Rain's Return   Smoke burned her lungs, and every muscle of her body was on fire, but Rain wasn’t going to quit. She had ten more reps to do to complete her training for the day, and even though the last thing on earth she wanted to do was start the obstacle course over, she knew she had to run through it ten more times if she ever wanted to go back to her room, take a shower, and collapse on the bed. Lt. Gordon Laurant was a nice fellow when one was sitting across from him in the parlor at dinner, but on the training field, he was a savage, demanding more of them than Rain could’ve ever thought possible. Yet, as she took off again, making another loop through large tractor tires, a muddy swamp, over spinning logs, and across a ropes course that had left her hands burned and full of rope splinters, she knew no one could train her to take on the Mothers like this

Riding in the back of a large military transport vehicle wasn’t new to Adam. He’d ridden in one to different training facilities several times before. It jostled them along the road so that their teeth were chattering, but all of the soldiers on board didn’t even notice as their minds were on other things. They were shipping out. At least three dozen uniformed soldiers, wearing the black and olive green of the Quebecian Army, sat shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip on benches in the back of every vehicle, and the convoy stretched on for miles both in front and behind him, as far as he could see. They were on their way to the military airport where they would all board transport flyers where they would take a four hour flight to the territory now occupied by what was called the Unity, which consisted mostly of forces from Quebec and Seth’s home country of Oklasaw to the north of Michaelanburg and Spanish-Amer

Setting up camp this close to the front was jarring to Rain. She helped her team assemble the tent quickly, but after that, there wasn't much to do except for to await orders. The commanders were all being hush hush about when they might actually be moving in. The sound of gunfire and an occasional explosion in the distance had all of them on edge, waiting to see if the battle would loom closer or if their forces were making enough headway to push the Mothers back. Gretchintown was only a few miles from where she was standing. These woods were connected to the area where she and Mist had found the book in the cellar of an old, falling down house. She wondered if any more fighting had taken place there. The images of the Mothers shooting construction workers who were hiding there came to mind so that when someones’ hand came down on her shoulder unexpectedly, she jumped.

Crouching down in the woods had become uncomfortable, but Rain tried not to think about the pain in her legs. They’d been in the same position for almost two hours now as the battle raged in front of them, not so far away. The sound of explosions, of gunfire, and screams were close enough that Rain could imagine they were just on the other side of the trees in front of them, though she knew exactly where they were hunkered down and that Gretchintown proper was still about a hundred yards in front of them, on the other side of the woods.The scent of smoke had begun to hit her lungs about an hour into their wait. Not only were the bombs they were using capable of creating great plumes of smoke, she had a feeling that several structures were on fire. She couldn’t see any flames, but she smelled wood burning. At least she couldn’t smell burning flesh, even though she had an idea that there w

The moment Josie had given the order to infiltrate the building, Rain and the others had moved forward, completely prepared to knock through the door in front of them. It came as quite a shock when they realized the door was unlocked. It made absolutely no sense to Rain. Why would the Mothers want to let them into such an important building? Unless… this was a trap.The soldiers took up positions in the hall near the door, waiting for everyone to make it inside of the building before they moved any further. They had been given orders not to speak so that they wouldn’t be heard, so all Rain could do was catch Adam’s eyes. She could tell by his expression that he was also concerned about how easy that was. Josie was the last one in, so there was no time to catch her attention before they were all sitting ducks in the hallway.