3. Chapter 3
Chapter three
I was only a block away from the Taco Hut when I heard steps pounding the sidewalk behind me. Maintaining my steady stride, I mentally prepared myself for the challenge of telling the world’s hottest stalker to leave me alone. Again.
“What is your deal?” I huffed out as the bronze beefcake matched my brisk pace.
“My deal?” he asked. “I apologize, but this is not an expression where I come from.”
I couldn’t place his accent, so he had to be from somewhere pretty exotic. “And where exactly is that? Your English is decent but clearly not your first language.”
“I am from Rivella,” Dey replied, puffing up his already expansive chest.
“Sorry, geography isn’t exactly my strong suit. Is that in the Middle East or something?”
He moved in front of me, stopping my progress. “Rivella is in Vitaea," he answered, "but it is not in the east, middle or otherwise. It does, however, pose some complications with what I need to tell you.”
I laughed mirthlessly. “Yeah, not really interested in continuing this conversation any further. I’m already late for work.”
I tried to go around him, but he settled his hands on my shoulders, locking me in place. The scent of smoke and applewood wafted off him, and I crinkled my nose. The smell reminded me of camping, something I never enjoyed because it reminded me too much of the few weeks Jenn and I spent living out of her car.
Analyzing him a little more closely, I finally registered his outfit; the gray shirt I thought was a t-shirt was actually some kind of tunic with laces at the neck. Brown leather pants clung to his powerful thighs, and a pair of soft black boots stretched just past his calves. Overall, he looked like he wandered away from a renaissance faire, and it occurred to me then that I should probably be more worried that this guy was legitimately unstable.
"Look, Deylan, or whatever your name is, I've had a rough day, so would you mind finding someone else to harass?" Ducking under his hold, I hurried down the sidewalk.
“It is about your parents,” he called out, his words bringing me to a screeching halt.
Well, damn.
Of course he had to say the one thing that would actually get me to listen to him. Granted, there was a chance he was lying, manipulating me for some endgame, but I couldn’t just walk away. Not if there was a chance he knew something.
“I mean you no harm,” Dey continued, coming up beside me. “I promise you this will all become clear if you would allow me the opportunity to explain.”
Maybe I was an idiot, but there was something so genuine, so honest in his eyes that I actually believed it when he said he wouldn’t hurt me.
I let out a long breath. “Okay,” I conceded, my curiosity getting the better of me. “Let me send a quick text message to my boss, then we can go chat.”
He grinned wide, and I hoped that I wasn't going to end my day as a lampshade.
“Why did you bring me to King Solomon Park?” I asked, nearly an hour later. “It’s not even open.” I gestured to the padlock on the iron gates.
Dey laughed. “The flimsy metal here is little more than a mild inconvenience." He strolled over to the gate, picked up a hefty stone, and smashed the lock. The cacophonous sound echoed into the night, and I glanced around to see if anyone would come running to investigate.
When it became clear we were still alone, he tossed the now useless hunk of metal behind him. Pushing the gate open, he gave me an expectant look.
“Fine,” I huffed out dramatically, dragging my ass after him. “But if you get me arrested for breaking into a cemetery, I don’t care what you have to tell me, I’m seriously going to kick your ass.”
He scanned up and down my thin, malnourished frame. “I welcome the challenge,” he replied, amusement dancing in his eyes.
Well at least he didn’t outright laugh in my face.
“So… what now?” I asked. “You wanted a private place to talk. Here we are. Although, I’m not sure I would have chosen a graveyard when literally anywhere else would have worked.”
He held out a hand which I reluctantly accepted. It was soft and warm, lacking the callouses I would have expected from someone with his muscles.
“Literally anywhere else would not have had what I need to show you,” he replied. Tugging me forward, he led me deeper into the cemetery.
I contemplated the headstones as we passed by. What could possibly be here that I would need to see?
A thought crashed into me and I froze, unable to continue along the small path.
Dey cast a look at me over his shoulder, his eyes questioning my lack of movement.
“Dey…” I began slowly, trying to process the thoughts whirling through my brain as they all coalesced into one solid notion. One reason he would need to bring me to a cemetery.
“Are my parents dead?”
The thought gutted me. Every orphan dreamed that somewhere out there they had parents. Ones who had a good reason for giving them up. Ones who searched the world for them, obviously realizing the terrible mistake they had made. One day they would show up and whisk them away to a perfect existence with food on the table, constant laughter, and the security that came with knowing you were not alone in the world.
I had always pretended that I was an exception to that rule. That I lived firmly in reality and didn’t care about the people who left me at the orphanage with nothing more than a gray blanket and a name. I knew that life was cruel and unfair, and no amount of dreaming would ever change that.
Lying to myself was possibly my greatest skill.
“No, Rain. Your parents are not here.”
I was embarrassed by how much relief flooded back into me as I followed close on his heels. “Okay, so out with it then. Were my parents like high ranking politicians and my birth was a scandal? Oooh, maybe they’re royalty? And I’m like a secret princess or something.”
Dey's step faltered at that last one, and he glanced back at me, his mouth curving up into a knowing smile that spoke volumes.
“No… No way,” I protested. “That was a joke. You’re just fucking with me. Come on, are they like drug dealers or something? Because there’s no reality in which I’m a princess from some foreign country.”
He came to a stop in front of a flowering shrub. “No, Rain, you are not a princess from a foreign country... ” His words trailed off as he pulled the shrub back. “You are a princess from a foreign world .”
I blinked repeatedly as if that might change what I was seeing.
“Shut the fuck up!”
Dey frowned. “You keep using that word differently.”
I didn’t even bother to respond to his comment as I took in the sight in front of me. A shimmering mirage hung suspended between two weeping willows, it's edges glowing with a faint blue light that pulsed with an electric energy.
Moving closer, I could start to make out details in the image. It depicted something like a maze, except the tall hedges were all covered in sizable flowers, similar to roses save for their brilliant, almost neon colors and obscenely large petals. Two suns hung in the clear blue sky: one high up just reaching its apex, while the other lingered nearly halfway to the horizon. Both cast their honeyed light over the manicured shrubs, offsetting the vividly green leaves and swirling pink, blue, and purple flowers with an ethereal glimmer. Beyond the exquisite garden, Behemoth oak trees sporting early fall colors stood proudly in a row, like steadfast soldiers holding the line.
And behind it all, a massive castle climbed high into the sky, the light gray stones of it's walls sparkling in the afternoon light.
Only the front of the castle was visible, but I could see at least six massive towers and even more turrets with crenelated parapets. The two largest rose up out of the back of the main keep, lording over all the smaller ones. Dark, almost black, spires crowned each turret and burgundy flags atop the tallest ones listed in the breeze.
It was insane. It was unreal. It was…
“Is that a freaking hologram? It’s so cool!”
I looked back over to Dey who now sported an even deeper frown.
“You are not reacting the way I had expected.”
Now it was my brow that crinkled in confusion. “What were you expecting? Yeah, it’s a really cool display, but what does this have to do with my parents?”
Dey just blinked at me, his mouth opening and closing, his head shaking slightly.
“You are… I was not…” He ran his fingers through his hair repeatedly, the slight wave to his blond locks turning messy. “You are not reacting in a way that I have been prepared for.”
“Okay, so why don’t you tell me how I was supposed to react?” I shot back.
“I was told that the inhabitants of your world were rather delicate. And that when you first saw the rift, you would likely respond with something akin to hysterics or possibly mania.”
“Mania?” I scoffed. “I don’t know what technology is like in your country, but here we don’t really freak out over a few lasers. And we don’t use the word mania. Gross.”
I turned to inspect the hologram a bit more. “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten that you promised to tell me about my—holy hell!”
I was not expecting the image to have changed while my back was turned, but sure enough it was different. Well, the background was still the same, but now there was a rather grumpy looking old guy standing in the garden glaring out at us.
To my even further surprise, he began speaking. The words were harsh and not in any language I recognized.
“What’s he saying?” I checked behind me to see how Dey was reacting and flinched when I saw his face inches from my own, his features twisted in sadness.
“I am so very sorry, Rain. This was not what I intended at all.” Resting his hands firmly on my shoulders, he leaned in close. “Do not hate me for this,” he said quietly.
Then he pushed.