Chapter 4
Periwinkle
The first thing I notice when we step out of the car is the scattered high rises looming over a sprawl of lumpy urban architecture in the distance. Normally I like a thriving city atmosphere, but in this particular case, it seems non-ideal.
I hesitate. “The new rift appeared this close to a city?”
Rollick beckons the five of us away from the vehicle that transported us from the airfield, his expression unusually solemn.
“And less than a quarter mile off one of the biggest highways in the country. It seems we got lucky that the first one appeared in such an out-of-the-way location. Come on, have a look.”
I feel the rift before I see it—that squirmy, wobbly sensation its strange energy provokes under my skin, cutting right through the warm spring air. I shiver, already sure I’m no keener to dive into this portal than the one up in northern Canada that we investigated over the past few weeks.
As we approach, the smear of wavering energy appears like a vague blurring of the low, grassy hills behind it, hovering just a couple of feet above the ground and stretching at least twenty higher and across.
Rollick stops when we’re still about ten paces away, and I can’t say I’m upset to keep my distance. I can see just fine from here, thank you.
“Popping up here, popping up there,” Mirage says, but his singsong voice sounds just as unsettled as I am.
Jonah glances at Rollick. “How did you find out about this one? Do you have any idea how long it’s been open?”
The demon shakes his head in answer to the second question. “I’m guessing not very long. One of the local shadowkind stumbled on it and alerted me yesterday. Some digging turned up a few tales of strange beasts roaming the city streets over the past day or two, but nothing beyond that.”
Hail grimaces. “The warped creatures are tumbling out of this one too? We won’t be keeping the existence of shadowkind secret for very long if they’re partying all through downtown.”
“As I’ve observed time and time again, humans have an incredible capacity for pretending away anything they don’t want to admit could be real.” Rollick rubs his hand along his jaw. “But there are limits. And this rift poses a significant threat to the nearby mortals as well as to us.”
The winter fae scoffs as if dismissing the idea that any human deserves our concern. A deeper twitch ripples through my skin.
What if that whole city found out creatures from a realm of shadows exist—and regularly travel into their own world? Would hundreds of thousands of them pick up shiny nets and laser whips to hunt us down like a few mortals already do?
I’ve met plenty of friendly humans in my explorations of the mortal realm, but most of them had no idea I was what they’d consider a “monster.” I’m not sure gambling on their good will would be a very fun game.
Jonah considers the rift with his forehead furrowed. “Has anyone notified the Highest Ones about all this weirdness yet?”
I glance over. “The Highest Ones?”
Rollick clicks his tongue. “Ah, you’re lucky enough not to have crossed paths with our supposed overlords or any of their minions in your existence so far.
The Highest mostly lounge around way off in the deepest depths of the shadow realm and only get involved in other business if they think they personally might be threatened.
And I’d imagine they’re still licking the wounds to their egos after an unfortunate incident a couple decades ago.
We’re probably better off without them trying to interfere in their out-of-touch way.
None of them has so much as peeked into the mortal world willingly in centuries. ”
Raze takes a step toward the rift, his shoulders flexing as he studies it. I taste his tension like a thick, peppery soup. “Why did you want us to come out here? We couldn’t really do anything about the first rift.”
“And that whole experience ended so wonderfully,” Hail mutters.
The basilisk shifter’s head jerks around so he can glare at the other man. When Rollick clears his throat, they both appear to tamp down their animosity.
An animosity they’d put behind them just a few days ago. An animosity I stirred up all over again with these bonds I never meant to form.
Our headmaster must decide it’s better not to dwell on that subject.
He focuses on Raze’s question. “To begin with, I was hoping the five of you could share your observations on this rift and how you feel it compares to the one up north. You spent more time analyzing that one than I did. Maybe you’ll pick up on something useful that I’ve missed. ”
Mirage springs toward the rift, his ruddy fox fur rippling over his body, and then bounds away in a backflip that ends with a full-body shudder. “It’s just as creepy. Creeping and crawling right into my being.”
His agitation quivers into me, more potent with our new connection. He glances my way as if noticing me noticing him and quickly yanks his eyes in the other direction.
I’m constantly spying on them now, absorbing their inner states—not just the full-serving emotions they can’t help emanating, but every little scrap of feeling in between as well.
I can try to do something useful here. I tilt my head to the side, peering at the rift.
“It does feel the same to me. And it’s about the same size.
It makes me… want to get away from it. Nothing about it gives me the impression that the place on the other side is my home.
” Even though I’ve spent more time in the shadow realm than the human world.
When I ease closer, a thicker waft of the rift’s energy washes over me. I frown. “It’s almost like it’s… pushing out at me. Pushing me away? But also dragging me in at the same time.”
Raze’s lizard tongue darts over his lips. “If anything, I think this one might be even more intense. The way the vibes come off it.”
The unnerving impressions stir up memories of standing by the other rift in the forest. Of that first moment my former captor hurled his sorcery at us again…
My gaze darts around us instinctively. But that’s silly. He’s dead—he couldn’t be here now.
Of course, I thought it was impossible for him to be there at first too.
A question tumbles out of me. “Once a human’s dead, they stay that way. Always. Don’t they?”
Rollick’s tone turns droll, but he doesn’t mock me for the question. “In every instance I’ve encountered, and I’ve encountered a lot over the millennia.”
Okay, we should be safe from that one threat then.
“Are we sure this is a new rift?” Jonah asks abruptly. “What if the first one made a much bigger jump than before and got more powerful in the meantime?”
Rollick snaps his fingers. “One of the first questions I asked myself. I left a couple of associates stationed near the original strange rift. They report that it’s moved a couple of miles, but it’s definitely still up there. ”
My heart sinks. “The protections Sorsha put around it—the steel and silver—they didn’t contain it after all.”
The demon offers me a softer smile than usual.
“No, but it was a long shot. Sorsha’s going to venture up there regularly to move the protections as needed so we can still contain the creatures and their possible misbehavior.
Of course, if this new rift hops around the same way, it could end up in a much more inconvenient location.
” His smile shifts into a frown as he glances toward the city.
My gaze latches on to the tallest of the skyscrapers, standing at least ten stories higher than the others around it and glittering in the mid-day sun. Its brilliance shines through my nerves. “Maybe there’s enough silver and iron there to keep the rift away. That building could be a shield!”
Rollick chuckles. “The humans here are very proud of their recently built Diamond Victory Tower, but it’ll be steel and glass, not very useful to our purposes. Iron and silver are rarely used by mortals in large quantities these days.”
Despite his nonchalant pose, Hail obviously cares what’s going to happen at least a little. He shoves his hands in the pockets of his slacks. “How often are the creatures coming through this rift?”
“I haven’t witnessed any so far, only had my people round up a couple that were still making nuisances of themselves in the area. They seem to have a lot in common with their shifty friends up north.” Rollick pauses. “But perhaps we’re about to get a little more data on that particular subject.”
The blurred surface of the rift has started to undulate. More erratic energy washes over my skin, shoving me away while also yanking me toward it, the conflicting impulses raising the hairs on the back of my arms.
Apprehension flows into me from all of my men. An orange sheen flickers in my hair, revealing my own uneasiness.
Current mood-ring setting: creamsicle. If only it tasted as good.
A dark gray shape wavers through the blurred space and then plops down onto the solid ground below the rift. It appears we’ve found ourselves a… blob. Of fur? Or are those quills? Maybe a mix of both. Its main characteristic seems to be a distinctive lack of distinctiveness.
After a moment, the blob pushes itself upright and demonstrates its sturdy legs. Six of them.
It’s like a puppy-sized, furry-quilled insect.
I can’t tell where its body ends and its head begins—or which end its head is even at, for that matter. I’m guessing the direction it starts to trundle off in, presuming it walks forwards and not backwards.
With the weird beasts that rifts like this produce, that might not be a safe assumption.
Raze immediately prowls over to block the creature’s path. Hail stalks after him, his face tightening.
The fae man has complained more than once about Raze’s bloody feeding habits, and he’s been the most hesitant to hurt any creatures even when they’re lashing out at us. I’m not sure what threat either of them think this puppy-bug could pose, though.
As far as I can tell, it doesn’t even have a mouth, let alone teeth. Its legs are thick but clawless.
I focus on the stout, fuzzy body. “We can let it be for now. It’s not feeling at all hostile—just curious and a little confused.”
We all ease around so that we’re forming a potential barricade between the creature and its apparent destination. If it hurtles into significantly faster motion, it isn’t going to get very far.
But it seems content to amble along, its body swaying from side to side in a way that makes me wonder if it’s sniffing the ground. Does it have a nose?
The question has just passed through my head when the beast’s stout frame spasms. Two more legs shoot out of its abdomen, all of them lengthening, and a sharp appendage juts out of the spot that I guess is its face.
Jonah blinks. “It grew a beak.”
“Along came a spider and sat down beside us,” Mirage says with a burst of nervous laughter.
“How’s its internal state, Peri?” Rollick asks.
I’ve kept my focus on the strange creature through its sudden morph. “More confused and a little nervous, but still no aggression.”
“All right. I’d better see if I can collect this one too.”
The demon strides off toward his own vehicle, an SUV parked next to the sedan we arrived in. Hail’s gaze follows him. “Collect…?”
Rollick’s meaning becomes clear soon enough. He opens the back of the SUV and retrieves a metal contraption that he unfolds into a cage with a jerk of his hands.
Even though I know he wouldn’t be doing the creature any harm, the sight of the metal bars sends a chill over my skin. Hail’s stance tenses.
Rollick walks back with the cage and sets it on the ground several feet from where the creature is currently poking at the ground. “Jonah, I may need a little sorcerous assistance to compel it inside.”
The memory of having sorcerer commands digging into my brain deepens the chill inside me. F- experience, do not recommend.
I peer at the creature, searching for any alternative, and a pang of thin-gruel sensation seeps through me.
“It’s thirsty,” I say just as Jonah is opening his mouth. “It’s looking for water.”
Rollick clicks his tongue. “That might make for a less traumatic capture. Just a second.”
He strides away again and returns with a bottle of water and a dish that looks like it’s probably meant to be an ashtray. Hopefully the beast doesn’t mind a smoky aftertaste.
After pouring some water into the dish, Rollick sets it at the back of the cage. Then he dribbles a little liquid on the ground in a trail that leads close to the creature.
It only takes a moment for the beast to pick up on the moisture in the earth. It veers in that direction, pecking at the ground along the trail until it walks straight into the cage.
Rollick grins triumphantly and reaches to shut the cage door.
As his fingers grip the edge, the creature shudders again. Its spikes expand, its beak jutting to a sharper point, and it whirls around with a harsh shriek.
A jolt of anger jabs into me, jalapeno hot.
“Rollick!” I cry in warning, but it’s not as if the other signs screamed “I come in peace.” He smacks the door shut with a clang.
Light flares from the panels above and below the creature. Metal panels that must be made of silver and iron drop down within the bars, trapping it completely.
Rollick lifts the cage by a loop on its top, his mouth twisting. “I’d mind the shifting moods less if they didn’t always seem to cycle around to animosity.”
Jonah lets out a ragged chuckle. “No kidding.”
Hail is studying the cage. “What are you going to do with it?”
“I’m seeing what I can make of the warped creatures’ unusual natures… and whether they can be somewhat tamed.” Rollick’s gaze slides to me. “Your talents are certainly useful for evaluating them.”
I offer a bright smile, shaking off my lingering nerves. “I’m happy to help however I can!”
The demon hums to himself and turns to eye the rift.
“We can’t leave this portal unmonitored…
It’ll take more elaborate protections than the other one, considering the necessary subtlety.
The people I can call on to help with that might also be able to advise you and your newly bonded men on your peculiar situation. ”