Page 15 of Shadow Warrior
“What does that mean?”
“It means that this room is neither here, nor there, nor anywhere. It exists on a different plane altogether.”
I looked down at my cuffs. “I don’t understand … How can I be here? My cuffs are supposed to stop me from porting.”
“You didn’t port, you slipped. At least that’s what my people used to call it. The ability to move from one reality to another.”
Wait … What? “How in the hell did I do that?”
He chuckled. “Don’t get excited. I opened the way and held it for you. No one can get in without me.”
He’d opened a doorway for me. A doorway to a place in-between. How could he do this stuff? “So, no one can find you in here?”
He smirked. “Precisely. I don’t use it often. It can be addictive.”
“Does Hyde know about it?”
He nodded. “Hyde and Brunner, and now you … Youcankeep a secret, can’t you?”
“You wouldn’t have brought me here if you thought I couldn’t.”
He grinned again.
The enormity of what he could do hit me. He could open doorways to other realities. “What are you?”
“Bored.” He patted the sofa. “Sit.”
I noticed the huge flat-screen TV for the first time. Wait a second, had that been there a moment ago? Damn it, this place was nuts.
The blank screen lit up, and the starting credits forLunar Creekbegan to roll.
“Popcorn?” Larkin held out a bowl.
What the fuck?
“Don’t question it. Just enjoy.”
Fuck it. I sat down and took the bowl.
“Oh, by the way,” Larkin drawled. “The peach-scented weaver with the amazing hair stopped by a few times looking for you. He asked me to tell you he wasn’t leaving for half term until the day after everyone else and to find him if you were still willing to be his date.”
The weaver ball. Did I want to go? I wasn’t so sure any longer. “Thanks for passing that on. Now, you’re going to need to fill me in on the last season of the show.”
Larkin grabbed a pawful of popcorn. “Well, last season the merfolk rose to terrorize the town; this season, Melody, the fool, opened an ancient text buried in the library vaults and unleashed soul-sucking wraiths.”
“So, what—”
“Hush, it’s starting.”
I settled down with the bowl. In the periphery of my vision, Larkin sat forward eagerly, his orange eyes aglow with the reflection from the TV.
It was no easy feat opening doorways to other realms. Larkin was more than he seemed. Much more, and I was determined to find out what.
