Page 77 of Aberrant Monsters
I’d hidden in the washroom, heart pounding way too hard, and a song had come into my head. The one my mother used to sing to me. I’d hummed it to calm myself, wishing I could be anywhere but there, and that’s when the rift had opened and swallowed me.
I’d known what a rift was. Known about the Order and the rift walkers, so it didn’t take me long to realize what had just happened, and it took even less time to jump back out again.
The second time was a deliberate test, and once again I hadn’t stayed long, and the third…The third had almost killed me.
Now I was here for the fourth time, staring at an expanse of rocky land dotted with brush and forestland in the distance.
This was where my mother had died. I scanned the earth as if I’d be able to see the bloodstains, as if they’d been left here for me to find. I didn’t find any stains, but I did find a stone plinth that looked suspiciously like a gravestone.
I headed toward it with Quentin close behind. The stone was dove gray and clear of any flora or lichen. Symbols were etched into it, an inscription that I couldn’t read.
“What is this? Have you seen it before?”
He shook his head. “This rift hasn’t been accessed since your mother’s death. But I believe this was the spot that her pack was found.”
“Did the Order do this?”
He shook his head. “I would know. I checked all the files.” Quentin walked around the stone. “Remarkable.”
The blood quickened in my veins. “If the Order didn’t do this, then it means someone else, someone onthisside, did.”
He nodded slowly. “It would seem our theory about there being a sentient, intelligent civilization on this side is correct.”
“So why did thispersonbuild a marker for my mother?”
Quentin shrugged a shoulder, at as much of a loss as me. “That’s something we’ll need to find out.”
I pulled a notepad out of my pack and copied the symbols from the stone.
“We never mapped this rift,” Quentin said. “It’s one of the few that we don’t have a two-mile radius on.”
“I’ll stay and map. You should go back. Your body won’t be able to handle staying on this side for long.”
He looked torn but nodded. “Keep an eye on your watch and use your locator to get back to this rift when thirty minutes are up.”
“I can go longer.”
“Let’s not assume that. Just do the hour and then we’ll get you checked out. If there’s no damage to your system, then we’ll try a longer stint next time.”
It sounded reasonable. “Okay.”
Quentin reached into my pack and pulled out the tracking and mapping device. He turned it on, and a green dot appeared, followed by a purple one.
“The purple dot is the rift behind us. That green dot is this device. It will map the terrain in a fifty-foot radius as you walk. You can manually add notes as you go. Do not lose this. It’s your best way of locating your exit routes.”
My palms were suddenly sweaty and my heartbeat a little too fast. I was about to be left alone in the place my mother had died.
He locked gazes with me. “You can do this, August.”
I nodded, afraid to speak in case my voice failed me.
He pressed a hand to my shoulder and then walked back toward the rift. “I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”
Then he was gone, and I was alone.
Not alone, August. Never alone.
The knots in my stomach melted away.
