Chapter 4 When Forever Is Lost #2
I guessed that the large table positioned to one side of the room had been added because it looked out of place.
It was also strange that it held nothing on top of it other than a glowing gold orb that, at first, I had mistaken for an unusual style lamp.
The silver base that held it looked like metal vines curled and twisted into a hexagon shape.
As for The General, I finally glanced back at him to find him leaning against his desk with his arms folded, watching me take in the room.
“Why am I here?” I asked, unable to help my tone from coming out harsh and impatient.
He raised a brow while looking smug, as if he relished irritating me.
Like he knew he had gotten under my skin in that Warden’s office.
And if I were being honest with myself, he was right.
He had managed to get under my skin in a way that worried me, because I wasn’t sure I would be able to ever work him out again.
He pushed away from the desk and made his way over to me, making me tense.
Yet despite wanting to flee, I resisted the urge to take a step back, forcing myself to stay still as he approached.
My breath caught in my chest as he came within inches of me, close enough that he could grasp my chin and tilt my face up.
“You are not the only one who seeks answers,” he told me, his voice taking on a deep timbre.
His eyes were like molten chocolate, a darkness I wanted to get lost in.
In fact, they were dangerous, and I was captured by his intense gaze.
It was as if he had the power to draw secrets out of me, secrets I didn’t even know I had.
But just as I was near desperate for breath, he released me and stepped away, focusing on the table that had held my interest… or should I say, the glowing orb I felt strangely drawn toward.
He reached for it, holding his palm out toward it and making it vibrate in its holder before it shot into his hand. The sight of his inhuman power made me gasp, and a sliver of fear zipped through me. Because it served as a reminder that I didn’t yet know what he was fully capable of.
“What is it?” I found myself asking, unable to keep the awe out of my voice as the object started to pulsate in his hand.
“Come closer and I will show you,” he offered, but when I didn’t take a step toward him, he glanced back at me and taunted, “Or are you afraid?”
I gritted my teeth, and just like he knew I would, I accepted his challenge, stepping closer.
“It is known as the Orb of Hermes,” he said, before covering it with his hands and creating that energy he had used when healing me. Then he tossed out his hand, making the golden orb shoot back toward its holder, but instead of setting back into place, it now hovered above it.
As for The General, his palm remained held out to it before his hand then turned into a fist, then a small, bright, golden spark exploded out from between his fingers.
He quickly opened up his hand, setting the spark free to join the glowing orb as if powering it further.
This created an instant effect, and it consumed the smooth surface of the table by projecting a 3D image of the Rift on top of it.
I gasped, taking a half step back before curiosity overtook my shock, and I found myself moving closer to the glowing image, mesmerized by the sight.
It spanned across three states from where it had started in Wyoming, before cutting across Montana, and finally, a jagged line cut across most of Idaho.
Mountains rose in shimmering golden hues, and just like the rivers and lakes were shown, so were the most populated areas.
Tiny streams of light glittered like stars and were clustered together, showing the groups of people.
The only way I knew this was when my eyes traveled the map and landed on the base in Jerome.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Riley represented one of those lights?
Had he made his way back there yet? Not knowing what had happened to him was killing me, but I wasn’t about to ask The General if he knew.
“Is this how you found survivors?” I asked in awe, but when he didn’t reply, I looked back at him to find him watching me.
“Among other things,” he replied cryptically before stepping closer to the map of the Rift and standing next to me.
His close proximity made me shiver, yet his focus remained firmly on the table.
As for my focus, this became rooted to the sight of the Rift and everything that had started because of it.
“Is this why you brought me here?” I asked nervously, prompting him to glance down at me over his shoulder, his expression unreadable.
“Actually, it is what you can show me that interests me more,” he replied, surprising me.
“What I can show you?” I questioned, wondering what I could possibly give him. What answers there were for him to discover?
After all, he had my journal and had clearly read it, so what was left, I just didn’t know, because I had written about that fateful day in detail. If anything, it just seemed like this was a way to punish me. Perhaps because I had gone back on our deal by running from the prison with Riley.
“Where were you the day the Rift appeared?” he asked, the question instantly taking my mind back to it, and another shiver crept its way up my spine.
To date, it had been the worst day of my life. Everything that had happened after had set a dangerous new path that I had been forced to walk.
Which was why his question invoked enough bad memories that it wasn’t ever a place I wanted to return to. But I knew that he could feel this trepidation within me, especially when my entire body tensed at the question.
“Why would you ask me that?” I paused as I took a single step away from the table and asked again. “What would it even matter? The Rift opened that day, and we all know what came next.”
“And what is that exactly?” he asked, his tone a bitter mocking.
“Monsters came out of it, and my world changed forever,” I told him with a bite of words.
“Forever?” he inquired with a slight shake of his head before continuing…
“Oh, little bird…”
“…What do you know of forever?”