Chapter 13 #2
Somewhere behind Addison one of the covered cages shifted again with a low scraping sound that absolutely nobody was going to make me investigate today. I had enough emotionally devastating nonsense on my schedule already.
“It’s not what he did,” answered Addison. “It’s what he is.”
I stared at her, opened mouthed because I was suffering from a severe brain fart moment. “What? What the hell are you talking about?” My brain attempted to process this statement in seventeen different horrible directions simultaneously, and all of them sucked.
Addison met my eyes. “Your son is a gift. A rarity among our kind because he is born of different worlds.” As she spoke, her eyes flicked briefly toward the portal again.
Not fear exactly. Recognition. Like she understood what it was.
That sent a fresh wave of unease crawling slowly down my spine because I still barely understood what it was, and I was apparently the one opening the damn things.
I glowered at her, picturing how I was going to rip off her head from her body.
It was a good visual. Therapeutic even. “Don’t you think I know that?
It still doesn’t explain why you did what you did.
And you still haven’t told me what you poisoned him with.
I won’t ask you again. No. Because my fists will do the talking.
” My hands curled automatically while heat rolled harder through the laboratory.
Papers lifted off nearby tables. Glass clinked softly. Somewhere behind me the portal pulsed once like it could feel my temper climbing right alongside my magic. Fantastic. Emotionally codependent dimensional tears, exactly what every stressed mother needed.
Addison just watched me, not at all scared, and that pissed me off more. “You have no idea what he is.”
“He’s my kid,” I hissed. “He’s not some lab experiment.
” I thought of my Darian, how his little body kept shifting from gorilla to human, like it didn’t know where or when to stop.
How scared he looked. My son. My boy. He was no one’s toy.
Especially not hers. My chest tightened so hard it physically hurt.
Every protective instinct inside me clawed violently to the surface while my Nexari magic surged in response, hotter and darker now—angry, ancient, hungry.
And now it was time to make her pay.
I pulled on my magic. “I’m done talking.” The words came out low and sharp.
Addison flinched. Her hand gripped the syringe tightly.
And that’s when things got weird.
As I tried to step forward toward Addison, something pulled me back.
Not something. My portal.
What the hell?
The force hit suddenly enough that my body jerked backward hard.
My boots scraped violently across the laboratory floor while cold wind exploded from the portal behind me.
Papers flew. Metal trays crashed loudly onto the floor.
The portal’s red-black light brightened instantly, swirling faster now like it was reacting to something. Or someone.
Me.
“Oh, hell no,” I hissed.
I strained as hard as I could, even yanking on my magic to try and tear me from the portal’s pull.
But it was useless. I wasn’t strong enough.
No matter how hard I fought it, the thing kept dragging me backward inch by inch like reality itself had wrapped invisible hands around my waist. My muscles burned from resisting while panic climbed steadily higher in my chest. Apparently opening portals and controlling portals were very different skill sets, like owning a car versus understanding how the engine worked.
Right now I was basically a magical teenager with a learner’s permit driving directly into supernatural traffic.
And with one last look at Addison, who was staring at me with a cold smile, I was yanked back into the portal.
“Sonofabitch!” I screamed, as the portal took me for another round of travel. My voice vanished instantly into the darkness while heat and pressure slammed into me from every direction. At one point I was reasonably sure my spine briefly stopped existing.
I didn’t ask it to take me anywhere, and that part scared me.
Given the heat, the darkness, the blurred lights, I realized that maybe this had been a stupid idea.
I shouldn’t have jumped in without truly mastering my portal mojo.
Which sounded obvious now. Of course maybe don’t aggressively fling yourself through unstable reality tears while emotionally compromised.
Hindsight really was a smug little bastard sometimes.
But it was too late. And now I had no idea where I was going…
or whether I’d survive the trip. My insides twisted while shadows churned around me like some kind of ancient magical blender setting from hell.
Somewhere in the middle of it, I briefly wondered if people could portal vomit.
Follow-up horrifying thought: What if it came back and hit me in the face mid-travel?
Thankfully my body chose survival over humiliation.
Just as I started a small freak-out, my feet, or rather, my body hit solid ground. Hard enough that pain shot through my chin, knees, stomach and elbows instantly while the breath exploded out of my lungs in one deeply unattractive noise.
The air was knocked out of me, and for a few seconds I just lay there, my face pressed against hardwood flooring while my brain attempted to reboot itself. My entire body felt scrambled. Like someone had shaken my organs inside a jar.
“Tessa?” I recognized Iris’s voice.
I lifted my head and looked around. I was in my aunts’ house, right smack in the middle of the living room floor. “I’m alive?” Honestly fifty-fifty there for a second.
Ronin laughed as he walked over. “Does it hurt?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you’re alive, my friend,” said the half-vampire.
“You look exhausted,” said Beverly. She stood up from the couch, glass of wine in hand. “You look like me after my date with Luke.”
“Ah…” Yeah. I had nothing. Mostly because Beverly’s dating stories usually escalated into emotional warfare, broken furniture, or accidental nudity within minutes, and my brain currently lacked the strength to unpack whatever had happened with Luke.
“Where were you?” came Dolores’s voice from the kitchen. “We were looking for you.” She appeared holding a dish towel, already frowning at me like I’d planned this.
I pushed to my knees. “Well, I went to see Addison.” I looked behind me expecting to see my portal, but it was gone. Weird.
“You know where she is?” Dolores stood over me, her hands on her hips, glare in place.
I shook my head. “Not exactly. See… I was testing a theory, one I got from my dad. Long story short, I created a portal to find Addison. And I did. She’s in some lab, but I can’t tell you where it is.
The portal took me but it’s not like it gave me a map or street numbers.
But she’s working on something. Something important. ”
My heart started pounding harder again just remembering that place—the restraints, the syringes, the cages, the smell. Every instinct I had screamed that whatever Addison was doing in there had been happening for a long time.
Iris and Dolores shared a look.
“What?” I looked over to the dining room and saw Iris’s bag along with some bowls, questionable instruments, and books. “Did you figure out what Addison used on Darian?”
Hope hit me so fast it almost hurt. Because maybe this was over. Maybe we had answers. Maybe my kid was safe.
Iris looked at me for a beat before answering. “That’s just it. The thing is… I couldn’t find anything. No magical influence. No traces of hexes or curses. Nothing. It was just a normal strand of hair.”
I got up to my feet. “But that’s impossible. She did something. He couldn’t stop shifting. She even confirmed it.” My voice rose despite myself.
Iris shook her head. “I’m sorry. I tried.”
I was pissed but not at her. “I know.” I rubbed both hands over my face roughly. My entire body suddenly felt exhausted again. Portal exhausted. Emotionally exhausted. Existing exhausted.
“It could mean that whatever she injected ran its course,” said Dolores. “It’s the only rational explanation. It manipulated Darian’s shifting abilities, but it was temporary. Maybe just to scare you.”
“It worked.” But if they were right, that meant it was over. He was safe. “Okay then. This is good news.” My chest loosened slightly for the first time all morning. Not fully. Not enough. But enough to breathe easier.
Iris smiled. “It is.”
The front door banged open.
Ruth came in first, wild-eyed and flushed. Her lips moved soundlessly before she finally gasped, “I don’t know what happened.”
A fresh rush of panic hit me so hard I nearly threw up. “Where’s Darian?” My pulse exploded instantly while every protective instinct inside me clawed violently back to life.
“Hi, Mom,” said a deeper voice that was familiar but different.
A young boy of about ten or eleven years old walked in after Ruth. Dark hair, gray eyes, gangly limbs, and wearing the same clothes he had on this morning. Though they were stretched and torn because they weren’t on a toddler body anymore.
His face was my boy’s face, just older.
Ruth gave a nervous laugh. “He grew. He just… there was a flash of light… and then he just grew.” She gestured vaguely with both hands like that explained literally anything.
No… it can’t be?
“Darian?” I managed to croak out.
And then I fainted.