Page 4

Chapter four

A Shadowstep Forward

I t wasn’t my rift. But pointing that out to Lark and his companion, whom I still did not know the name of, seemed futile.

I told them of the travel plans that the Dean had forwarded to me. Written upon a government form letter from the DAA was my flight plan, my accommodations at the local mountainside inn, a complete itinerary regarding my expectations of performance for the following week, and a list of contacts both within the DAA and outside of it. Wyn’s name was at the top of the list. I tried not to show my disgust as I read the email aloud to the Fae who were busy exchanging looks of pure confusion.

“Can I see that?” Lark asked once I’d reached the section of my itinerary dedicated to potential research opportunities in the area. He leaned forward, holding out his hand, palm up.

“Sure,” I muttered, flipping my phone and holding it out to him.

But he grabbed my wrist instead.

Suddenly, it felt like my chest was caving in on itself. I opened my eyes and wondered if I even had. Nothing but swirling blackness, warped darkness, surrounded us. I gasped but found no air. That’s when I panicked. My lungs contracted, my vision swam and then spotted as blinding white light filled the world and I fell to the ground, wheezing.

“First time is always hard,” Lark’s companion spoke for the first time. His tone was sympathetic as he reached down a hand to help me up.

I would have taken it, grateful for the kindness, but I realized in that moment how cold my hands were and I looked down to find them buried in a thick blanket of snow. I lifted one, letting the flakes cascade through my fingers, the bitter cold already numbing my fingertips. I scrambled to my feet and whirled, eyes darting around in dazed fascination.

We were here. On the same snow-blasted mountainside I had traveled to before. The rift loomed high above us, churning and whirring as always. It seemed to contain something similar to lightning now. It sparked occasionally, a crack of white light streaking across it before disappearing within its own inky black.

The DAA was back in full force. Scientists were scrambling to retrieve their equipment from the snowbanks. Those were significantly higher now than they had been before courtesy of the avalanche which I had narrowly escaped with my life. They dusted off the gauges and blew the powdery snow from the smaller instruments, casting glances toward the top of the mountain from time to time, fearful of another snow slide. Soldiers patrolled the area in which the minotaur had fallen, keeping their eyes on the skies and their guns at the ready. The sight gave me pause, a bolt of terror shooting through me at the thought of another mythical beast falling from that open hole in the sky. This time, it might be even worse than a minotaur.

“I would say it gets easier,” the friend spoke again as he came up beside me and looked out at the camp as well, “but I still hate it myself.”

I looked his way then, examining him truly for the first time. He was smiling broadly, clearly amused by my struggle.

“What was that?” I snapped, whirling around and pointing sharply at Lark who stood a few feet away, examining the surrounding scene. “What did he do?”

“Shadowstep,” Lark replied simply.

I just blinked, wanting further explanation, but not wanting to admit that I needed it.

“How am I supposed to explain to my colleagues why I wasn’t on the plane, how I got here before them, and why I am accompanied by two arrogant pricks that look more like bodyguards than scientists, one of which I don’t even know the name of?”

“Rook,” the man at my side told me. “My name is Rook.”

I stared at them in stunned disbelief and then threw my hands up in irritation, pacing away from them, my steps uneven in the snow.

“And we aren’t all pricks,” he added, calling out to me as I strode away. “One of us didn’t sweep you away against your will.”

“Thank you, Rook,” Lark grumbled and I turned on him.

“You can’t just use your magic whenever you wish,” I snapped. “Not here. Not unless you want to expose your entire plane to mine. These are intelligent people, some of the world’s most foremost scholars. They won’t be deterred by some half-assed excuses. So we had better think of a story and quick.”

“We hold a private interest. We flew you here on our private helicopter. America isn’t the only one investigating this phenomenon. Take your pick.”

I bristled, jutting out my chin in preparation for a fight but then I shivered involuntarily. Until that moment, I had failed to notice that I was on the side of an arctic mountain in a blazer and jeans.

“Cold?” Lark asked, raising a brow.

I clenched my jaw and glared at him. He smirked with amusement and waved a hand. Suddenly, I was much warmer and far more uncomfortable. I glanced down at the incredibly tight black pants and low cut black coat. Shifting a bit, I could tell I wasn’t wearing a shirt under said coat. Or a bra.

“Black suits you,” he told me, his gaze narrowing in appreciation as he took a step back to admire his work. Rook chuckled from behind us.

“You forgot a few pieces,” I growled.

“Did I?” he asked, feigning innocence with a shrug. “My apologies. Fashion isn’t my forte.”

“It wouldn’t have to be if you had given me time to pack.”

“We won’t be here that long.”

I let out an exaggerated sigh, crossing my arms and clenching my jaw.

“You’re so confident in your abilities?” I asked, shaking my head.

“I’m quite confident in many of my abilities,” he mused, letting his gaze rake over me once more. My cheeks burned as I whirled around to the man standing silently behind us.

“Aren’t you going to do anything at all about him?” I snapped.

Rook tilted his head in thought for a moment before waving a hand in my direction. Suddenly, my underwear was back and even a thick black turtleneck to boot. I stared down at the change, mouth open. Rook just smiled slightly and shrugged.

“This is worse than I thought,” Lark said then, interrupting our conversation. Rook fell silent as I stepped forward to Lark, looking from him to the rift where his attention had drifted.

“What do you mean?” I asked, forgetting his impropriety for a moment. “You can help us, can’t you?”

I had just watched this Fae transport us halfway across the world with a simple touch. If he couldn’t mend this rift and our machines weren’t capable of reversing the polarity, I was out of options. The entire mortal plane was out of options. I would fail us. I would fail all of us.

Lark just stared up at the rift, lost in thought. In my desperation, I turned to his friend once again.

“He can do this, can’t he? Can’t you both? I mean, surely two of you—”

“Take us closer.”

My mouth snapped shut. I bristled at being commanded in such a way, whirling back to face Lark who was still watching the rift intently as if he couldn’t pull his gaze away from that swirling black mass.

“Follow me,” I barked, annoyed. “And don’t say a word.”

I turned away from them and stomped forward, up the slight incline of the mountain toward the camp. Wyn saw me coming before I arrived and set the box he had been hauling aside, placing his hands on his hips as he caught his breath and looked me over.

“Professor Belling,” he said in greeting. He watched me warily, as if afraid I would brandish a gun and shoot him where he stood if he took his eyes off of me for even a second. “It’s good to see you’ve made it back in one piece. The president has been demanding more information on how you took down the minotaur. If we could speak privately for a moment…”

He gave a pointed look over my shoulder to where the two hulking Fae males stood out against the snowy backdrop of the mountain.

“Are you still in charge of this camp?” I asked, doing my best to sound friendly but I could do nothing to hide the implication of my words. Asking if he was still in charge but leaving the rest unsaid. After you abandoned it, after you left your men to die, after you failed your mission.

“I am,” he replied, puffing out his chest in that way that insecure men always did to assert their authority.

I gave my own pointed glance over my shoulder at the Fae. That purple glow was brighter around them now, shimmering. Glamour. I wondered briefly what they looked like to Wyn Kendrick as I turned back to the man.

“These are some of my contacts I spoke to you about just before everything happened,” I said. “They seem to think they have some ideas about how to solve our problem.”

“That’s wonderful,” he replied and I could feel the relief behind his words as he spoke them. “Tell me.”

He waited, expectantly.

“They’re Russian,” I blurted.

Lark turned slowly toward me.

“I know you don’t want to cause an international incident, Wyn,” I continued, lowering my voice so as not to be overheard. “These men and their government have just as much interest in closing the rift as we do but they will not use their equipment where they can be spied upon by the American military.”

I gave a pointed glance at the soldiers patrolling the rift on the other side of the encampment. Wyn’s gaze flicked from me to the men behind me, eyes widening as he realized what I was implying.

“I can order them away for a time,” Wyn told me. “I’ll open an account at the tavern in town, tell them to drink for the fallen, take the night off. I’ll make up some story about how we’ve been monitoring the wavelengths of sound from the rift and don’t see any immediate danger. But you won’t have long. An hour at most. And it won’t be until this evening.”

I nodded, reaching out and giving his arm a squeeze of gratitude.

“Thank you, Wyn,” I said with a smile. “We’ll be here.”