Page 37 of Aberrant Monsters
“Don’t lie to me, Frederick. If you want me to help your niece survive the next few months, then you need to be open and honest with me.”
“Why? So you can report back to your masters?” My uncle sneered.
Oh, he really hated the Order.
“I’m not a lackey, or a hound. I’m here to be August’s handler.” He focused on me. “Youare my priority. Your safety, your life is my responsibility now, and I can’t do my job without all the information.”
I searched his face, looking for deceit or doubt, but there was only sincerity.
“Fine.”
“August, don’t,” my uncle said.
I shot him a hard look. “And lie? No, Uncle Frederick, that’s what you seem to love doing, like not telling me that my method of rift walking isn’t the norm.”
He pressed his lips together and tucked in his chin.
I sighed. “Look, I don’t need coordinates to find rifts. I open my own, wherever I please. I assume that isn’t how it’s done.”
Quentin stared at me without blinking for several achingly long beats. “No, that isn’t how it’s done.”
“Well, it is for me.”
Quentin sucked in a sharp breath. “How do you do it?”
I opened my mouth to tell him about the song. The melody in my head that, once sung, opened a rift, but my uncle cut me off.
“You don’t need to know that. That’s August’s gift, and it’s not for sale.”
Quentin’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded slowly. “I understand. Leverage. Value. Her ability gives her all of those things if used at the opportune moment.” He held up his hands. “I get it and I’m on your side. Like I said, I’m not an Order hound, running back and reporting every tiny detail. We’ll keep this to ourselves, but if I’m going to work effectively with you, then you need to be open with me.”
My uncle made a sound of exasperation. “What does it matter how she does it, huh? All that matters is that she can.”
“Fine. That’s fine. We’ll be using coordinate rifts anyway, so you won’t need to open any of your own.”
I was surprised he caved so easily. Maybe he really was on our side and not a lackey for the Order.
“So what do we do?” Telarion asked. “Give us the first task.”
“Before I do that, I need to educate you all on the eldritch realm. You know the three rules, right?”
“Yes,” we said in unison like the good class of students we were.
He smiled, clearly amused. “But do you know why they’re in place?”
I shook my head.
“Okay, so let’s begin there.”
* * *
Quentin wroteout the rift walker rules on the chalkboard and sat back. “You know the rules, but you should know that each was put into place after years of trial and error when dealing with the eldritch realm. You see, despite having a century of contact with the eldritch realm, we know very little about it, and these three rules hint at why.” He looked at the chalkboard, as if he needed reminding of the rules. “Rule number one: never go into the eldritch realm after sundown. This rule began as soon as we realized that sundown was when the worst of the eldritch denizens came out to play. It’s a lethal time to venture through a rift.”
“Makes sense,” Nandi said.
Quentin gave her a small smile. “Yes. It does. Rule number two: never stay more than an hour. Now, this one should have been put in place sooner, but it took the Order time to realize the damage the other side was doing to their rift walkers.”
I sat up straighter. “Damage?”
