Chapter 28 #2
Feeling like a character in one of those detective TV shows that always seemed to be playing in the hospital break room, River slowly walked the perimeter.
If the front of the gas station looked like no one had been there for a decade, the back looked like a dump. Tables with cracked legs were piled on top of each other, along with stacks of chairs and a broken vending machine. There was a door, but she jiggled the handle, and it didn’t budge.
A tumbleweed blew past, bumbling along as if it didn’t have a care in the world. As if it had no idea that the man who held River’s heart was missing, and she was in a state of panic, standing here and trying to figure out what to do.
River laughed as another tumbleweed followed suit, because it was either do that or cry. And tears were pricking at the edge of her vision, begging her to set them free. Breaking down would be so easy, and maybe at another time, she would’ve let the tears flow, but she kept them back.
She had to stay strong for Nikhail.
“River!” Arlo shouted. “Come here.”
River hurried back to the front of the building. Arlo was crouched in front of the door, examining the lock.
“What did you find?” she asked as she made her way over.
“I’m not sure. The lock is broken, though, and the knob doesn’t look as dirty as everything else.”
Arlo twisted their fingers, a dagger of ice materializing in their left hand, and they pulled their gun with their right.
“Arm yourself,” the water fae ordered. “We don’t know what we’ll find inside.”
River reached within herself and drew from her well of power. Her magic came to her as easily as breathing, and a blade formed in her right hand. She shivered as the ice touched her palm.
Arlo nudged open the door. The hinges protested loudly as the door swung inward, and a plume of sandy dust rained upon the yellowed tiles.
Coughing, River covered her mouth with her arm and squinted, trying to see past the dust. When it finally settled, her stomach twisted in on itself. Any doubts that Nikhail had been here vanished.
It looked like a gods-damned tornado had ripped through the inside of the building.
The till was on its side, the cash drawer hanging off the checkout desk. Chip bags, individually wrapped chocolate bars, and packs of gum were strewn throughout the space. Shelves were on their sides, knocked over by an unseen force.
The diner portion hadn’t fared any better. A wind, powerful and dangerous, had torn this place apart.
River’s magic strummed in recognition of the destruction that could’ve only come from one person. The complement to her storm.
Nikhail had done this.
Why? What had happened that he’d needed to call destruction upon this place?
He wouldn’t do something like this without a good reason.
River glanced at Arlo, her face pinched with worry, and she stepped into the shop. Arlo moved beside her. Even though they moved on near-silent fae feet, their footsteps seemed to boom in River’s ears.
Then she saw it.
In the middle of the dirty floor, partially obstructed by fallen shelves and an overturned booth, was a pool of blood. It was turning brown, a sure sign that it had been here for some time.
“Fuck,” Arlo said, following her train of sight.
River nodded mutely, unable to speak. There was no way a person could bleed this much and not be in serious danger.
The thought entered River’s mind that the blood could belong to Nikhail, that he was in serious, life-threatening danger, but she quickly banished it. She couldn’t let those thoughts fester. They would pull her down and make it impossible for her to function.
At least now, they had proof that they were on the right track.
Then River looked past the blood, and her breath caught. Even though they were hidden by the destruction, she could make out several bodies scattered on the floor. She raced over, bile rising in her throat.
The healer inside River screamed as, one by one, she turned the bodies over and scanned their faces before letting out a sigh of relief.
There were half a dozen dead, but she didn’t recognize any of them. Most wore civilian clothes, but two of them were dressed in all-black gear that marked them as soldiers.
Thank the Blessed Obsidian Sands, Nikhail wasn’t among the dead.
There was another body at the back of the store. A young elf, who appeared to be no older than twenty, was lying prone on the floor in a pool of blood. It looked like he’d been shot several times.
Dark brown streaks ran along the floor from the elf’s body, disappearing suddenly at the edge of a tile.
“That’s weird, right?” River pointed to the area that was oddly void of blood.
“Very,” Arlo said, coming to her side.
“I wonder…” River crouched, running her fingers along the grout. She was far from an expert in flooring, but it didn’t feel quite right.
Ignoring the disgusting grime beneath her feet and the bodies at her back, because they’d clearly been dead for over a day and there was nothing that could be done for any of them, River pressed her fingertips along the edges of the tile.
She started at the top right-hand corner, but it wasn’t until she reached the middle that something shifted.
There was a low hiss, and then the tile lifted.
River scrambled back, cursing as a gaping black hole revealed itself.
The word she used would’ve had Tertia screaming at her for hours because proper young ladies did not use language like that, especially not Waterborns, but River didn’t care.
Tertia wasn’t here, and this situation, more than anything else River had encountered today, merited a bit of cursing.
River sat back on her heels and peered into the newly revealed tunnel. It seemed to absorb the light, like a bottomless pit. River shuddered. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, per se, but it didn’t delight her.
“They went down there, didn’t they?” she asked Arlo.
It was a question, but she already knew the answer. Where else would they have gone?
“Appears that way.”
“I’m going to follow them.” River’s voice didn’t leave any room for discussion. She had come all this way; she wouldn’t let a bit of darkness scare her off.
Arlo’s thoughtful gaze swept over hers for a long moment before they dipped their chin. “Okay.” They rose to their feet. “I have some equipment in the car. I’ll grab it.”
While Arlo was out, River snapped a series of photos and sent them to Ryker. She’d barely had the chance to send a follow-up text, letting him know what they’d found, before her phone rang.
She accepted the call. “Hello?”
“River. Thank the gods.” Worry was woven into his words.
“Hey, Ryker.”
“You need to get out of there, right now.”
His voice, full of authority, was that of a man who wasn’t used to being disobeyed. Unfortunately for Ryker, River wasn’t one of his soldiers, and she didn’t have to listen to him.
“Sorry, but I can’t do that.” Pressing the phone against her ear, she kneeled over the hole and peered into the darkness. “Nik is in trouble.”
A frustrated huff. “I know. Now that you have those pictures, I can get a team there faster. Obviously, something went down. I appreciate you gathering that evidence. Now, let the professionals look after this.” That stung, even though River acknowledged that she wasn’t a soldier.
“Let them look after it, River. You need to—”
“Don’t,” she said, interrupting him.
“What?”
“Don’t tell me to leave. I can’t. I won’t.”
“But you’re not trained for this. I can get someone else there. You don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do,” she said firmly. Ryker wasn’t the only one who could fill their voice with authority. She had Waterborn blood running through her veins just as much as he did. “You can’t stop me, Ryker. I am going after Nikhail.”
Even if it was the last thing she ever did.
“Fuck, River, please just listen to me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I love you, Ryker, but I can’t do what you’re asking. I won’t.”
He was ranting on the other end of the line, saying that he would get someone there soon and couldn’t she just have an ounce of self-preservation, but River ended the call.
Arlo returned, carrying two flashlights and a black backpack. “Everything okay?”
River’s phone lit up with another call. She sent it to voicemail and turned the device to silent before slipping it into her back pocket.
“It’s fine,” she said, accepting the flashlight Arlo held out to her.
Ryker was angry, but she could handle that. It wasn’t that she enjoyed arguing with him or going against his wishes, especially since she knew he had her best interests at heart, but in this, he was wrong.
River couldn’t sit on the sidelines when Nikhail’s life was potentially on the line. She might’ve lacked military training, but she was still powerful. Still a force to be reckoned with. She was a Waterborn, for the gods’ sakes, and she was angry.
Angry that Nikhail might be injured.
Angry that he was in danger in the first place.
Angry that some stupid, bureaucratic rule might play a role in his demise.
And anger, she was learning, wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. For once, she didn’t resent the storm battering against the dam within her. She didn’t hate the churning of magic in her veins.
Both were reminders that she wasn’t weak or useless.
She’d already lost her father.
She would not lose the man she loved, too.