Page 48 of Aberrant Monsters
She flinched like I’d struck her. “Fuck you, August.”
She strode away.
Shit.
“Not cool, babe,” Archie said before going after her.
I remained at the side of the road for a moment longer, hands on hips, letting the urgency swirling inside my stomach die down.
I’d almost been hit by a car.
Nandi was right. I needed to pull it together. I wasn’t going to make it three months otherwise.
* * *
I foundNandi and Archie at Real Deal. The bell tinkled, announcing my arrival, but Nandi kept her back to me, tinkering with Dot.
Archie looked up from his spot perched on the edge of his desk and winced.
Crap. She was pissed. And she had every right to be. “I’m sorry, Nand. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. You didn’t deserve it. I was an ass.”
Her shoulders dropped and she turned to face me. “Are you ready to tell me what the hell is going on with you? You’ve been infected for months, and it hasn’t stopped you from being careful. You’re never flippant with your life, August.”
She was right. I got the job done, but taking unnecessary risks wasn’t my modus operandi.
I took a couple of deep breaths. “I have to find this eldritch for Quentin so he’ll take me to the rift where my mother died. He’ll let me start mapping there. I could get answers.”
Her expression softened. “Oh, Auggie, why didn’t you tell me?”
I shook my head. “I know it’s stupid. The Order didn’t find anything, and she’s been dead for years. What are the odds of there being any clues? Like, I get it, but…I have to try.”
“The Order didn’t have you on staff back then,” Nandi said. “Their rift walkers couldn’t stay longer than an hour. And the infected ones have all gone nutso so they couldn’t use them. You have a chance. Not if you get yourself killed, though.”
“Which way was it headed?” Archie said. “We can go that way, find that residue crap. We can still locate it. What did Quentin say about these fuckers and proximity to the rifts?”
“That they like to stay close.” I sucked on my bottom lip. “It was headed for the Underbelly gates.”
“So we go check out the Underbelly,” Nandi said.
I made for the door.
“Wait,” Nandi said.
“What?”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Huh?”
“She’s talking to the coffee demon,” Archie said.
Nandi looked at me. “Dot says she might be able to help.”
Archie snorted. “I highly doubt that improving her coffee-making skills will help us right now.”
Nandi shot him a glare. “I won’t repeat what she just asked you to go do to yourself, but I’m sure you can work it out.”
I stepped between them, drawing Nandi’s attention back to me. “How can she help?”
