"Faster, Tora. Faster!" Ross's voice snapped like a whip. "Come on!"

Grimacing, Tora focused her mind. Her hands trembled, held in front of her as though she were pushing against an invisible wall. She hated the stupid machine Ross commissioned Damien to make.

A large wooden board leant against the gym wall. A parallel metal track ran across it, twisting at regular intervals. It was an enlarged version of a children's toy where the player holds a metal rod and had to guide it between the tracks without the rod making contact with the metal on either side. Tora had spent the first ten minutes making the rod wobble down the first corner with telekinesis and her brain was about to explode.

"I think she's going to have a stroke."

"Shut up, Carlos," Tora said through gritted teeth. His voice grated on her nerves, which were fried already because of Ross.

"No, seriously. Look at that vein on her forehead."

"Come on, Tora," said Ross, clapping her hands. Tora squinted at the board. The metal rod had stopped after the second corner. The tip hovered between the metal tracks, its handle shaking. She tried to clear her mind. Breathe. Breathe.

"You think she'll—"

"Carlos, shut the f—"

Tora was interrupted when the light nearest to the stairs leading up to the main room started flashing. A continuous beeping emanated from upstairs. The rod fell, clanging against the metal tracks. Before the instrument hit the smooth stone ground, the three of them already pelted up the stairs.

Upstairs, another red light flashed beside the large television. The beeping muted. Damien typed furiously on his mega-computer, his breathing shallow and his face white. Markl leapt down the stairs and strode towards him, his hands curled into fists.

"What's going on?" he said. There was a trace of panic in his voice that made Tora's heart speed up. She hadn't heard such alarm in his voice in quite a long time and it never meant good news. "I thought the next break wasn't for at least two weeks?"

"I thought so, too." Damien's voice trembled. He brought up another screen, showing complicated data and trending graphs. He pointed with a shaking finger at a particular point on the graph.

Tora followed his hand, not making head nor tail of his fancy coding.

"The veil is actually very stable after the break a couple of days ago. It shouldn't be tearing for at least another week, but there's no mistaking it." He swallowed. "It's a break. Broad daylight, in the city park."

Despite the initial excitement, Tora's stomach dropped. Markl had gone the same shade of papery white as Damien, one hand gripping the back of the telepath's chair until the knuckles went white. Damien took a big breath and brought up another screen before touching his temple with two fingers, his brow furrowed.

"We need a plan," Ross said, stepping forward. She gave the difficult stuff on the monitors a sweeping glance and then turned to Tora. "You need to get us a strong, sturdy soundproof barrier. Think you can make it repel humans, too?"

"You're kidding." Tora's jaw dropped. The redhead returned a stony stare.

"If you're too weak, then we'll use Damien."

Tora's mouth snapped shut at the dismissive comment. Her hands curled into fists.

"I'm not—"

"Damien can repel humans perfectly fine, Ross." Markl's voice was tight. "We need a soundproof barrier from Tora and Damien can turn humans away. It'll be a tough fight – we didn't prep for this."

"And the break in the veil?"

"We'll shatter it."

"We'll shatter it?" Carlos repeated, his eyes round.

"But—" Ross looked aghast.

"I know. It may reassemble, but we can tidy up once we stem the influx of demons and kill all the ones that have come across. Damien can't do both. Neither can Tora."

Ross looked like she wanted to protest, but decided against it. Damien finished gathering the information his system presented and turned. Sweat was prominent on his brow

"I can't sense how strong they are." The words were unsteady. "The system isn't giving me any idea, either. Be careful. This lot could be strong."

Tora cracked her knuckles. It didn't matter how strong they could be or that the break wasn't anticipated. There would be a fight and she would enjoy it.

****

Tora flew about thirty metres before her back slammed against a tree. A crack tore into the air. She landed on the ground, bouncing once before curling into a ball, coughing to the point where she retched. Grass tickled her nose. Tears streamed from her eyes and spots danced in her vision. Pain radiated in small explosions from the small of her back, shooting down her legs and up her ribs.

The sea creature advanced. She wasn't sure what it was. A kraken? Octopus? Squid? It reminded Tora of the monster in that stupid pirate film Carlos watched a few months back, which sank ships and ate people live. Whatever this was, it was ugly and slimy, with numerous shiny black eyes and a thick sheen of mucus on its surface that absorbed the majority of her attacks, to her fury.

When sensation and power returned to her legs, she struggled to balance on wobbly feet, watching with wariness as the creature advanced. It had a deadly hunger in its many eyes. A few tentacles curled and uncurled in the air.

A tentacle launched itself at her. She leapt to her right. Rolling over her shoulder and landing back on her feet, she sprinted for the next landmark – a sign stating their area was the City Park. Her left foot barely left the ground when the grass rushed up to meet her. The world spun by ninety degrees. Her face made direct contact with the floor. Stars sprang into a world of black.

The grass left her face without warning. Tora hung upside-down in the air, yelling, her limbs thrashing. The squid studied her, its two tentacles twisted tightly around her ankles. It was nauseatingly cold and viscous where its flesh made contact with hers, like she was ankle-deep in mushed jelly.

She kicked at it with her free foot, but couldn't generate enough power to do any damage. Her arms were too short to be of use. It was times like this she wished she had a weapon. A knife or something.

A second tentacle curled around her abdomen. Blood rushed to her head, building pressure behind her eyes and in her ears. A drum played within her skull, in rhythm with her heartbeat. A third tentacle sneaked around her waist. They tightened, intent on squeezing her organs through her mouth.

Tora shot out a hand, pointing at the large boulders lining the lake. One boulder elevated and then careered at the creature. Tora's eyes narrowed, focusing on the projectile. The squid threw her, breaking her concentration. Tora slammed onto the ground. The boulder followed suit.

She grunted on impact, her ribs shifting for the second time in minutes. The force reverberated through her body, shaking her brain against her skull. Blood sprayed from her mouth. The metallic taste filled the gaps in her teeth and bathed her tongue, making her nauseous.

"The rip, Tora!" Carlos yelled from somewhere invisible.

She checked the soundproof forcefield she'd thrown up. It was still intact. She could barely register relief before she had to roll out of the way onto all fours. A tentacle smashed onto the grass, sending bits of dirt flying into the air and leaving an indent behind. Every breath Tora took was agony to her cracked ribs. Despite that, she held her ground. The tentacle smashed down again. She threw up a smaller forcefield around herself. The thick limb bounced off, making her brain vibrate with the impact, as though she were hit by a drill. The shield, to her surprise, shattered. The air left her lungs in a gasp. Tora's knees buckled.

She could see the rip. A neat oval-shaped slit hovered at about waist-height, through which a glittering blackness could be seen – and, several metres beyond the rip, there were several demons waiting to move through. The edges of the portal was smooth and widened and shrank like the ebb and flow of the tide.

"We need to close it!"

"I'm a little busy right now!" she choked out, forcing herself to her feet. Razor sharp pain tore across her chest as she coughed. Another sweep of the tentacles launched her into the sky. Using the last of her concentration, Tora grabbed the fallen boulder with her mind. It lifted and shot forward precariously. The sound of splintering glass reached her ears. The portal shattered into a thousand small pieces, floating in the air like shards of crystal.

The trees below her continued to shrink for a brief moment before the ground rushed up to meet her. It was a mistake to choose to pick on the biggest demon. What an idiot she was. She braced for another concussion and likely more broken bones.

"Oof!"

She landed in tough arms and she yelped, flinching.

"Gotcha."

She looked up to see a bloodied Markl grinning down at her. He had a half-healed gash across the bottom half of his face. He'd swept back his dark hair, which was drenched in a mix of sweat and blood.

Sliding out of his arms with a groan, she said, "Damn, these asses are hard to kick."

"It's been a while since we fought demons this tough, eh?"

"It's been never since we've had no warning about how tough these ugly mugs were going to be!" Something struck her as Markl rolled his shoulders, clicking the joints in place. "I thought these were rips. That hole just now didn't look very rippy to me. It's too neat."

"I noticed." Markl sounded grim. "There's something off about this whole event, but we can discuss this later. Ross nearly lost an arm just now and Carlos is just recovering – his strength and invisibility is almost useless against these. I need to keep an eye on Damien – he's the most vulnerable right now."

"I can look after myself. You go."

It was a lie. That squid was tougher than nails and Tora likely wouldn't survive another close-combat hit without more broken bones. The fractures in her ribs and back were healing, but she realised, as she hobbled away from Markl, she wasn't going to have a chance at fighting the way she liked. Not if she wanted to retain all four limbs, seeing as she couldn't regenerate like Markl.

Keeping a wary distance away, Tora focused on the squid. One forcefield made it stay in place and then she closed the barrier. The slimy creature's soft body moulded into the shape of the invisible dome over its head. It struggled with growing desperation against the increasing pressure. Its eyes bulged. Its colour changed from a dark green to black, almost like it were reflecting its emotions.

Then it turned red, without warning. It pushed against Tora's forcefield and, even though she increased the pressure further, straining to the point where her headache felt like her brain was being smashed over and over with a hammer, she just about managed to force it even smaller until she couldn't feel it pressing against her forcefield any more.

With a relieved sigh, she released her mind. Liquid demon poured onto the grass in a smoking mess. Tora slid to the ground, breathing like she'd just run a marathon. Her mind ached, just like her exhausted muscles – but it wasn't over yet.

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