Read Online Yazen (Ponith) by Nicole Sloan - Free Book Online Page A

hair all around and the leaves from the ground are swirling around us. It’s time for us to go; the portal is activated and ready to go.
    “It’s time. Everyone needs to enter the portal now. Let’s go. We have to hurry because we only have 10 seconds,” I shout. I grab the gem and put it back in my pocket. I remember reading in the journal to make sure I grab it from the tree and bring it with me.
    Alex is the first one to go. He starts to walk to the portal and he puts his hand out first. Next thing I know he’s sucked into the portal, and he disappears. Jenn and Brad are holding hands going toward the portal. Jenn mimics Alex and puts her hand out first. The portal gradually pulls her in. Next thing I know, Brad lets go of Jenn’s hand, and I see Jenn turn her head around and begin to scream. Jenn is gone. Now it’s just Brad and I, and we only have a few seconds left.
    “Hurry, Brad, go before it closes,” I yell while running toward the portal.
    “I can’t do it, Zac. There’s no way I’m going in there. I’m sorry but I’m staying here. Please bring Jenn back here; we don’t even know what this portal is!” Brad yells with a scared look on his face. I didn’t realize how upset he really is. I don’t have time to coax him to go. I’m running out of time.
    “ We’ll be back, Brad. Make it home safe,” I yell while jumping into the portal. It’s the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster, the air rushing is so fast against my body. It almost feels like I’m free falling from a plane. I finally enter through the other side of the portal, being ejected into some grass next to Alex and Jenn.
    I try to stand up and everything is spinning. I sit for a second to catch my balance. Then I realize Alex and Jenn are still watching the portal, waiting for Brad.
    “He’s not coming. H e said he was didn’t want to go through. I couldn’t wait for him any longer otherwise I wouldn’t have made it. I’m sorry, Jenn,” I say, trying to be respectful.
    Jenn starts to tear up and she sits back down in shock. She looks back at the portal, waiting. I try to comfort her to let her know that everything will be okay and after a minute she begins to compose herself. Her make-up is running down her face ever so slightly.
    As I turn around I finally get to take in where we are. The stars above us are incredibly bright. Thousands if not millions of them, all around us. I get dizzy just staring upward as I take it all in. The ground here is rough, cut apart in places with the floor jutting up in places. We’re now on a half hollow asteroid called Ponith. I remember reading about this asteroid in the journal. This tiny asteroid holds all of the portals to each planet.
    We are encapsulated in brown walls, like a crater. A dome covers the top, almost crystal clear, taking me a while to notice it. When you look up, you can see space, the stars, and five bright planets. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. The planets look so detailed; standing so close to them, it makes me wish I had read more about them. There’s a walkway made of dirt that makes a circle around a small, white, wooden building in the middle of the asteroid. The walkway has individual paths to each portal. In between the dirt paths are patches of green grass and a few flowers spread out over the rocky plain.
    We begin to explore and walk over to the building, and it’s empty. There are long benches, neatly set in the middle of the building with no doors or windows. It reminds me of a baseball dugout.
    Each portal looks similar to the one that we just entered. There are old, brown wooden signs next to each portal with the name of the planet that portal goes to. All of the portals are turned off, except Yazen’s and Earth’s. They’re the only two that are active.
    Jenn starts to read all of the signs out loud, “Earth, Crendus, Yazen, Volux, Qysan, and Bredin.”
    “Which one do we go to? It looks