Chapter 29 Old Friends, New Foes
Atlas.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him, that last look, that final moment before the Rift swallowed him whole.
All I could think about was when I would see him again, and whether I ever truly would.
Because he promised me he would be back, but what if something awful happened to him in his fight with his brother?
What if word had somehow gotten back to his enemies, and there was a trap waiting for him?
There were a million what-ifs, and each one was making me crazy.
And now here I was, making my way back to the city, or rather to the outskirts, where a car waited for us. We hadn’t waited for the rest of the army to pass through the Rift, not when it became clear that it would remain open until the very last soldier had crossed through.
Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I discovered that Atlas had arranged for my very own horse to carry me back. It was a testament to how much turmoil my mind had been in during the journey there that I hadn’t even stopped to wonder how I would be getting home.
Although I had to admit, trying to keep my balance without him behind me certainly kept me occupied.
Every few minutes, I gripped the reins tighter, silently praying that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face, or worse, beneath the creature’s hooves.
It wasn’t that I disliked horses; far from it.
They were beautiful, powerful, regal creatures.
But they were also enormous, capable of trampling or kicking with enough force to shatter bone.
I might have once dreamed of being a veterinarian, but that didn’t mean I was immune to fear. Every veterinarian had that one animal they would rather admire from a distance. And horses, with their unpredictable nature and sharp teeth, had always been mine.
And now, without Atlas at my back, my quiet fears grew louder.
Aster had assured me that the King had chosen this particular horse for its calm temperament, one he trusted with me. The sentiment helped a little, and I found a fragile comfort in it. The animal seemed to understand its task, following obediently behind the horse carrying Aster and Tiff.
Now and then, I caught the sound of their voices drifting back to me, teasing one another in the same half-bickering, half-flirtatious tone that made me smile despite myself.
But then my chest tightened again, the ache returning as I thought of Atlas and me, how we had started much the same way.
Bronte road behind me along with a handful of other soldiers that were being sent back to help protect us.
The rhythm of their horses hooves on the dirt road became hypnotic, the steady thud filling the silence.
I didn’t know how much farther we had to go. But when Tiff finally started complaining about her sore backside, I couldn’t help but laugh softly in agreement. I wasn’t disappointed at the chance to stop, to stretch my legs, and to let my thoughts breathe for a moment before they suffocated me.
I tried to dismount the best I could, though graceful was not a word I would have used to describe the attempt.
My boot caught in the stirrup, and for a few humiliating seconds, I was hopping around like a deranged bird, flailing for balance.
Atlas would have laughed, that deep rumble that made everything feel lighter, and then he would have come to my rescue before I could embarrass myself further.
Aster, to his credit, did at least help me untangle my foot. His large hand closed around my ankle, steady and sure, his expression somewhere between amusement and pity. Once I was finally free, I muttered a quiet thank you, brushing dust from my pants in a poor attempt to restore dignity.
We led the horses to a nearby creek, their hooves crunching against the pebbles as they dipped their heads to drink. The sound of running water filled the air, cool and clear, and for the first time that day, I felt a small measure of calm settle over me.
“I’m going for a pee, if that’s quite alright,” Tiff announced in a snippy tone, one halfway between challenge and exasperation.
Aster grumbled something that might have been a warning, and I smiled, telling him lightly, “I’ll do the same. I’ll be right over there behind those trees.” I gestured to a patch a little farther off, a quiet corner where the sunlight filtered in soft gold beams.
I’d learned my lesson the first time, so this time, I was well prepared.
I crouched among the tall grass, the soft hum of insects the only sound around me.
When I finished, I tidied myself with the tissues I’d brought, tucking them away in the empty packet, stuffing them in the pocket of my jacket before pulling up my pants.
The parka I wore clung uncomfortably to my skin, the sun too warm for such heavy fabric.
I slipped it off, laying it over a smooth patch of rock.
I was about to sit, grateful for the brief reprieve, when a hand seized me from behind.
A scream tore up my throat, but never made it past the palm that clamped hard over my mouth. I gasped against it, my body stiff with panic, heart hammering like thunder against my ribs. My mind scrambled for answers… Aster warning me someone was nearby? A stray soldier? A creature from the Rift?
But then a voice brushed my ear, low and familiar, vibrating with a strange intensity.
“Shh, it’s just me.”
Riley!
Relief crashed through me, so sharp it almost hurt. I tried to speak his name, muffled against his hand, but he pressed it harder, whispering, “You have to keep quiet, or they’ll hear us.”
They? I wanted to tell him it didn’t matter, that Aster and Tiff weren’t the enemy, that everything had changed since we last saw each other. But with his hand still covering my mouth, all I could do was nod, my breath quick and shaky.
“Come with me,” he said, his tone edged with something strange, something cold that didn’t sound like him.
“I just want to talk,” he assured me as he led me backward, keeping his hand over my mouth, his movements urgent, almost frantic. His grip was too tight, his steps too quick. Branches snapped underfoot, the forest swallowing us in dappled light and shadow.
I stumbled, catching myself on his arm, confusion twisting with relief. Why didn’t he trust me? Why was he acting like this?
Still, I followed. He was alive. That was all that mattered.
When we were finally far enough that the sounds of the creek and the horses faded, he stopped. The pressure on my mouth eased, his fingers trembling slightly before falling away.
The moment I could breathe, I turned, emotion breaking free as I saw his face.
“Riley!” I cried, throwing my arms around him, clutching him to me before I could stop myself.
His body was solid and warm, but there was something off. He didn’t feel like Riley. His scent was different, sharper somehow, tainted with something metallic, something that made the fine hairs on the back of my neck rise.
He also didn’t hold me in return.
Not right away.
When he finally did, his arms came around me too slowly, too deliberately, the embrace too strong, his breath shallow against my hair.
And as I buried my face against his shoulder, I felt it, the faint, unnatural chill seeping through his skin.
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
“I was so worried about you,” I confessed, my voice breaking as I held him tighter, clinging to the familiar shape of him. His body didn’t soften against mine the way it used to.
Confusion prickled at the edges of my relief. Slowly, I pulled back, my breath catching when I looked up at him properly for the first time.
He looked exhausted, yes, but it was more than that.
There was a hollowness to him that I had never seen before, a dull sheen to his skin that made him look almost waxen.
His lips were dry and cracked, and his pupils, too wide, swallowing the color of his irises that flicked over my face in jerky, uneven movements.
“Riley?” I whispered, the question trembling in the air between us.
He didn’t answer right away. He just smiled.
But it wasn’t his smile. It was stretched too wide, too sharp, too deliberate. Like a mask someone else was wearing and hadn’t quite learned to control.
“Riley,” I said again, taking a small step back as a cold dread began to twist in my stomach. “What’s happened to you?” My voice wavered, small and afraid.
He tilted his head, studying me as though he didn’t understand the question. The movement was slow, unnatural, and my pulse jumped. Then, as he stepped closer, the sunlight caught on his skin, and I saw it.
The veins.
They weren’t the soft blue lines I remembered tracing with my fingers when he’d held my hand. These were dark, almost black, crawling beneath his skin like roots spreading through earth, pulsing faintly with every beat of his heart.
“Riley…” I breathed, my throat tightening.
“You’re sick… what… what is that?” I asked, nodding to the black veins.
He didn’t answer. His smile only widened, the corners of his mouth twitching as his eyes glittered unnaturally.
Something inside me screamed to run.
I stumbled back another step, then another, my boots crunching on the dried leaves beneath us. He followed, slow, deliberate, like a predator savoring the fear that rolled off its prey.
The silence between us grew heavy, unnatural, broken only by the rasp of his breathing.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “What happened to you, Riley?”
His answer came at last, but it wasn’t his voice. It was something else, something deeper, layered, as if another presence spoke through him.
“I’ve been enlightened.” The words slid through the air like oil, dark and gleaming.
My heart stuttered. That wasn’t him. That couldn’t be him. I took another step back, my hands trembling as I raised them instinctively, as if I could ward off whatever had taken root inside him.
“Riley, please,” I said softly, pleading now. “You’re scaring me.”
His grin twitched, faltering for the briefest moment, and in that instant, I thought I saw the man I had once known, the one who had laughed with me, protected me, and cared for me. But then the darkness behind his eyes flared again, swallowing that flicker whole.
“You should be scared,” he said quietly.
He turned his head slowly and rigidly, almost like he was possessed.
His eyes were wide and blazing red, and his smile was manic and unnatural.
Riley chuckled low. He flicked his arm out, and I threw my hands over my face and ducked instinctively.
I couldn’t help but scream out in horror.
The dark smoke that had possessed so many of the monsters I had fought since the Rift opened flew toward me.
Straight out of the black veins that lined his scarred arms.
The darkness he controlled, or the thing that controlled him, turned and twisted around me, pulling my arms down until they were locked tight against my sides.
“What are you doing?!” I shouted between clenched teeth, thrashing as the smoke coiled around me, tugging me toward its master.
He laughed, and the sound was so wrong, so guttural, that goosebumps rippled across my skin.
It was Riley’s voice, but corrupted, layered with something other, something ancient and vile.
His face twitched with confusion, yet beneath it all was malevolence, pure and gleaming, those outlandish red eyes burning like dying embers.
He looked almost human, but not enough to fool my heart.
“I’m here to save you from him, Alexandra,” he hissed, dragging out my name like a curse. “To take you with me. So, you can become like me.” The way he said it made bile rise in my throat. Hearing my full name in his mouth felt wrong, blasphemous, like he had taken something sacred and dirtied it.
Only Atlas was allowed to say it that way.
“I don’t need saving, Riley!” I spat, fighting against the inky tendrils that slithered up my body. They reached for my face, finger like shadows stroking my cheek as though testing the warmth of my skin.
The veins under his flesh pulsed, writhing like living things as his fury rose.
“Yes, you do! You’ve been brainwashed by our enemy!” he shouted, spit flying from his lips as the air trembled with his rage.
“Now come quietly!”
“Not a chance! ASTER!” I screamed, my voice raw with defiance.
He growled then, a low, guttural sound that scraped across my bones, the cords in his neck standing out like stretched rope.
The darkness tightened, constricting my chest, stealing my breath.
I could feel it moving, alive like snakes of smoky shadow weaving around his body, coiling through the air as if he were their master and vessel.
“Don’t mess with me, Alex!” he roared, baring his teeth, his humanity slipping further away with every word.
Tears stung my eyes, though I refused to let them fall.
“I would have… gone with… you, Riley,” I gasped, my throat tightening beneath the pressure of the smoke. “I was about to… to come looking for you… I… I swear I was. But something’s… happened to you. This… this isn’t… isn’t you. I know you!”
He shook his head violently, the veins in his temples darkening.
“I will protect you, like I always have. But you will come with me.”
“No!” I screamed again, throwing my body backward, desperate, but the darkness held firm, its grip merciless.
“Then you leave me no choice.”
The tendrils stroking my face shifted suddenly, flattening into ropes of shadow that slid down to my throat. They wound around me, layer upon layer, tightening until my pulse thundered in my ears. I tried to claw at them, to pull away, but the smoke binding my arms only constricted tighter.
The world around me began to fade, the edges of my vision turning grey as the ringing in my ears grew louder, drowning out everything but my own strangled gasps.
I forced my gaze upward, searching his face, hoping for even a flicker of the man I once knew, the one who had made me laugh, who had promised to keep me safe.
But the truth struck like a blade to the heart.
Though Riley’s body stood before me, his soul was gone.
Only the darkness remained.
And as the last of my strength waned and the shadows pressed closer, I realized that whatever had taken him…
Now had me too.