Gateway to Fourline (The Fourline Trilogy Book 1) (26 page)

AN EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK

On the Meldon Plain

Book Two in the Fourline Trilogy

CHAPTER ONE

The sky reminded Nat of stone.

She turned onto a side street, running in the middle of the road to avoid the ice patches and clumps of snow covering the sidewalks. She passed a row of dilapidated Victorian houses. Smoke curled from their boxy chimneys and blended into the gray sky.

Late afternoon traffic poured onto the street. A dirty yellow truck missed hitting her by a few inches, and the driver slammed on his horn. She jumped over a sheet of ice, skipped onto the sidewalk, and continued her steady pace without giving the driver so much as a glance. Her feet fell rhythmically as she ran block after block. Each breath brought an icy ache of air into her lungs.

At the red metal bridge spanning the Cannon River, she turned onto the limestone riverwalk. She tore down the walkway, scattering pigeons and winter crows. Restaurants, shop fronts, and offices flashed by. Her lungs and legs burned, distracting her from the pulsing pain of her shoulder wound.

A second bridge came into view. Intricate circles reminding her of the vine pattern twisting up her forearm swirled around the railing. She glanced at the tip of the vibrant vine and spear peeking from underneath her sleeve. The pattern had yet to fade as Sister Barba had promised. Instead, since her return from Fourline, its hue had only deepened, just like her guilt over Soris. She sprinted to the bridge, rapidly moving her legs and arms and pushing away thoughts of her Sister markings and her friend.

When Nat reached the bridge, she quit running. She pressed her hips against the cold metal railing and watched the river flow toward her. Water rushed around ice sheets, creating little clusters of dull bubbles. She gently massaged her shoulder, avoiding the center of the wound as she followed the course of the water with her eyes.

The river snaked past the bridge, auto repair shops, industrial buildings, and a warehouse fronted by a stucco building. A sign reading “Gate’s Costumes” hung from the front of the stucco structure. Nat pushed her green knit cap off her forehead and wiped the sweaty strands of brown hair from her brow. She watched the costume shop sign flicker on and off in the gray afternoon light.

Two months had passed since she’d pushed through the membrane tucked deep within the cliff wall behind the costume shop, leaving the world of Fourline and the Nala behind, but bringing her wounded friend Soris through. Her skin crawled as she remembered the humanoid Nala, with its lancing forelimbs and spiderlike fangs, slashing her shoulder and biting Soris. She placed her hands on the railing, the numbing cold surging through her fingers as memories of her quest into Fourline tumbled through her mind.

She’d ventured through the portal to Fourline to help Estos, the realm’s young king, leave the safety of his exile in her world and return to his own. Estos’ loyal rebel band needed him to lead the fight against Lord Mudug, the corrupt usurper who’d ordered the murder of Estos’ sister, Queen Emilia. Nat had donned the garb of a Warrior Sister so she and Soris could destroy the Chemist’s tracking device and create a safe passage for Estos’ return to Fourline. But Soris had paid a price for accompanying her. She could only blame herself for not having protected him from the predatory Nala. Her journey with Soris had taught her that the Nala could turn humans into halflings called duozi with one bite from their venomous fangs. Unaware she wasn’t a real Warrior Sister, Soris had trusted in her ability to keep them both safe.

Nat shook her hands and cupped them around her lips, blowing warmth back into her fingers as she thought of all the things she’d done wrong in Fourline. Failing to take Soris straight to the membrane after the Nala bit him was her biggest mistake. The skin around his wound had already turned blue like the Nala’s by the time Annin helped pull his body through the resistant membrane. Nat hadn’t brought Soris to Ethet, the Healing Sister who lived in her world, fast enough to curb his transformation into a duozi.

What exists in only one of the worlds cannot exist in the other
. Her guilt deepened as she thought of Estos’ words to her. He’d said Soris wouldn’t survive in her world, that the Nala venom had progressed too deeply through his body for him to remain on this side of the membrane. Sister Ethet told her he’d have to return to Fourline, where Nat knew he’d be condemned to live the life of a duozi, targeted by both the Nala and the humans prejudiced against halflings.

Nat’s legs, stiff from the sudden rest, cramped when she turned toward campus and ran away from the blinking “Gate’s Costumes” sign. Hot tears, turning cold in the frigid temperature, streamed down her face.
I know you’re gone, Soris,
she thought, feeling the familiar emptiness eating away at her. She brushed her arm across her eyes, and a sting of pain ripped down her shoulder to her arm.
You’re gone, except in my nightmares.

“How many is that today?” Viv, Nat’s roommate, glanced up from her sketchbook. She scratched her face, and a black smudge appeared above her nose.

“How many what?” Nat carefully pulled her thin fleece sweatshirt over her head. An oozy gray stain from her weeping shoulder wound marred the fabric. She turned her body, keeping her shoulder away from Viv’s line of sight, and tossed the garment into the laundry basket. She gingerly touched the loose bandage taped to her shoulder.

“Miles, kilometers, leagues, rods,
li
, minimarathons.” Viv dropped the sketchbook on the floor and lifted herself out of the striped chair. Her blue hair was arranged in tiny topknots.

“Your hair looks cute,” Nat said halfheartedly.

“You’re evading my question, and I know for a fact you don’t think my hair looks cute. The last time I wore it like this, you said I looked like a pincushion with zits.”

“Your hair was red then.” Nat shoved her head through the neck hole of a clean shirt, wincing when she brought her arm above her shoulder.
I’ll rebandage the wound later,
she thought as Viv babbled in the background. Nat grabbed her new computer and slid it into her backpack.

Viv watched Nat change socks and slip on a pair of leather boots, her tangled brown ponytail skimming the floor when she tied the laces. Nat looked up and knew she wasn’t going to escape the room easily, not without a roommate interrogation. Viv crossed her arms and leaned against the door, barring her escape.

“Three miles this morning and three this afternoon. That’s how far I ran today,” Nat responded.

“Are you kidding me?” Viv’s brow creased. “Have you looked at yourself? I don’t know how much weight you’ve lost since you got back from January term, but your clothes are hanging off of you and your face is all . . . sunken looking. If you’d J-termed in the tropics and picked up a tapeworm, I’d get it, but you were in Canada, so what’s the deal?”

Nat stared at her roommate. If she had really been in Canada, everything would be different. She felt the tears well in her eyes and looked at the floor, pretending to struggle with her laces.

“You’re right. I need to eat more. I’ve just been busy.” She wiped her eyes, stood, and grabbed an apple from a dark-blue bowl on top of their minifridge. She took a bite. “I’ve got to get to my lab. I promise to eat dinner after.”

Viv stepped away from the door. “You won’t grab dinner after lab, because you’re coming to Butler’s. It’s his birthday, remember?”

“A night with a bunch of inebriated artists. Looking forward to it.” Nat took another bite to placate her roommate and lifted her jacket off the coat hook with her good arm, thankful Viv had yet to notice how left-handed she had become.

Viv plopped back into the chair. “It’s the best company you’ll get smelling like that.” She scrunched up her nose. “You’re turning me into a nagging roommate, Nat! Take a shower and eat, and you’d better be at Butler’s by ten or I’m coming to find you,” she threatened.

Nat slammed the door behind her. The late March wind stung her face as she plowed through the dorm’s heavy doors. The half-eaten apple pinged against the side of the metal garbage can next to the entrance and landed in a clump of dirty snow. She buttoned her coat and walked with her head down, passing through the parking lot toward the Student Center. Safety lights shone brightly on the cars. She looked up, searching for a distraction from her thoughts and the pain in her shoulder.

Yellow light illuminated the wide first-floor windows of the Speech and Theater Building set behind the Student Center. A figure moved into the light of one window, and Nat halted. Sister Barba, the Wisdom Sister from Fourline who had drawn Nat’s markings on her arm before sending her through the membrane, passed in front of the window. Nat veered away from the path between the two buildings. Her guilt over Soris was already ever present in her mind. With her shoulder wound and markings, she needed no more reminders of her quest.
It’ll get better, she told herself. I’ll forget all of them. I’ll forget Soris. My wound will heal.

The Science Center loomed in front of her. She pushed open the glass doors and slowly climbed the stairs. A rush of students brushed past her. Someone’s backpack slammed into Nat’s injured shoulder, and she bit down on her tongue to keep from crying out in pain. She climbed the remaining stairs and leaned against a window, pressing her hot forehead against the cool glass. When the pain subsided, she walked into the lab. A graying sunset filtered through the lab’s floor-to-ceiling windows. The fading light left her with an unsettled feeling. Night brought no rest, only more nightmares.

Signe, her lab partner, looked up from their assigned table. Nat dropped her bag and jacket next to a metal stool, grabbed a pair of goggles, and pulled out her lab book.

“Testing for micronutrients, right?” she asked her partner.

“Yeah,” Signe said. Standing a foot taller than Nat, she pulled her white-blonde hair back into a clip and pointed at a small container of seeds. Nat reached for the container.

“What’s your rush? The teaching assistant isn’t even here.”

“We should check for copper, too, along with the other micronutrients,” Nat replied, thinking the copper test would take an extra half an hour—time she could use to focus on something else other than Soris, her shoulder, and her nightmares.

CHAPTER TWO

The glowing red numbers cast a tiny halo around her alarm clock. One thirty. Nat turned onto her back and sucked in a sharp breath when she pressed her shoulder into the mattress. Viv snored loudly from the bunk below. Nat listened to the sound of running water coursing through the pipes in the ceiling above her. After the noise faded, she scanned the room trying to stay awake, but sleep pulled her in. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she fell into a fitful dream.

Blades of grass tickled the back of her neck. She shifted onto her side and looked past Soris, who lay sleeping in the grass next to her, peaceful and healthy. From the top of the hill, Greffen’s stone cottage in Fourline looked tiny. Ris, Greffen’s dog, barked wildly and strained against a rope tethering him to the gate of a sheep pen. Soris’ eyes—green with brown flecks—flickered open.

“Where do you think Greffen is?” Soris tucked a strand of dirty-blond hair behind his ear.

“I don’t know, but something has Ris riled up.” Nat brought her hand to her forehead, shielding her eyes against the sun.

“Natalie, look.” Soris pointed to a figure near the sheep pen. A Nala crept on its angular arms and legs past Ris, hissing as the dog lunged toward it. It scurried up the base of the hill and lifted its bulbous head. Even in the distance, Nat could feel its concave silver eyes settle on them with a predatory gaze.

Soris leapt up from the grass and grasped Nat’s hand, pulling her to her feet. They plunged into the forest behind the hill. As they ran, the sun disappeared. Dense clusters of trees shut out all but the dimmest light. A cold darkness descended on the fleeing pair. Nat tried to hold tight to Soris to keep from losing him in the choking woods, but their hands slipped apart. Pine boughs pricked her bare arms as she ran farther into the woods, calling out his name over the sound of a nearby river. A glimmer of movement drew her eyes to the boughs of an enormous pine tree, and she stopped running.

A Nala, clinging to a bough, opened its black mouth, and a stream of venom dripped down and crackled on the dry leaves near her feet. Nat slowly eased away from the blue creature before turning on her heels and sprinting past the trees toward the river.

“Soris!” she screamed as she burst onto the riverbank. The slate-colored water roared, drowning out her cries.

Gasping, Soris emerged from the woods farther upriver and stumbled onto the gravel bank. The Nala jumped from a branch and slammed into Nat, sending her crashing into the icy water. The current pulled her feet toward the violent water racing down the center of the river. She coughed up water and called out to Soris just as the creature turned and sprang onto his back.

“Natalie, help me!” Soris shouted from the riverbank, thrashing his arm at the slick blue-skinned creature.

Leave him alone!
Water poured into her mouth, preventing her from answering Soris’ cry for help. Nat swam against the current, trying to reach the bank, but the water pulled her farther and farther downstream. She grabbed on to an overhanging tree branch and twisted around in time to see the Nala bite into Soris’ shoulder.

Soris’ cry reverberated through the river valley. Nat’s hand slipped. She clutched the branch with her other hand and watched, helplessly, as Soris’ skin turned dark blue, an exact match to the Nala looming over his body. The creature stood upright, exposing its arachnid-like abdomen.

“He’s mine, Sister,” it hissed. Nat choked, unable to breathe from the shock of hearing the familiar voice and recognizing the slanted gash in its gut.

“I killed you!” she shouted. She stared in disbelief at the creature; it was the same Nala that had bitten Soris on the riverbank in Fourline months ago. “This is a dream! It has to be!” she yelled. “I killed you!” Her hand slipped from the branch, and she fell into the water.

Nat swam blindly into the inky depths of the river, frantic to leave this nightmare for the safety of her dream space. Her fingers fumbled over the rocky river bottom, searching for the rough ledge to her haven. Her knuckles slammed into its jagged surface, and she pulled herself over. Coughing violently, she flopped onto the floor of the dark, empty space where no one—no images, no nightmares—could reach her unless she invited them in.

“Lights,” she said weakly. The protective bars of light shot up along the ledge. She closed her eyes and let her tight muscles relax as the nightmare played out beyond the barrier of her dream space without her. “The Nala is dead,” she said over and over, reassuring herself that the creature from the nightmare no longer existed.

The clock read 4:45 a.m. when Nat opened her eyes. The room felt stuffy. She threw her blanket off and stared at the ceiling before climbing down from the loft bed. The frame creaked under her shifting weight, and Viv mumbled in her sleep. Nat grabbed a towel and headed toward the shower they shared with the adjoining dorm room.

The hot water kicked in after a few seconds. She stuck her face under the spray and shivered despite the heat. She thought back to the nightmare. It was so similar to what had actually happened, when the Nala had attacked both of them on their return from the Chemist’s quarters. But unlike in her dream, she’d killed the Nala after it bit Soris, and its lifeless body had floated down the river.
Why do I keep having this nightmare?
she wondered.

She pressed her head against the tiled wall, letting the water slide down her back. The hot stream stung her shoulder, and she stepped to the side to avoid the pain. She glanced at the wound. The ugly bluish-purple spot the length of her thumb was the same. Two months with no ebb to the ache. “The wound that never heals,” she said to herself, thinking of Soris. She switched off the shower and dressed for a run.

Viv was still curled into a ball on her bed when Nat returned from her run around campus and into town. She kicked the leg of the bunk, and Viv groaned.

“I’m going to breakfast, want to join me?” Nat pulled on a pair of rumpled jeans and ducked, avoiding Viv’s pillow.

“I have a headache, leave me alone.”

“I told you to steer clear of Butler’s punch. It lit on fire when I dropped a match in it.”

“Stop making noise and go away,” Viv said, her muffled voice rising from under the comforter. “Wait,” she called out just as Nat put her hand on the doorknob. She emerged from under the covers, her hair sticking up in every direction. “Did Dermot ask you out last night?” She yawned.

“Why do you ask?” Nat crossed her arms.

“No reason. He just . . .”

“You put him up to it, didn’t you?” Nat glared at her roommate. Viv slunk a little deeper under her covers.

“You need a life,” she said indignantly. “Besides, he’s wanted to ask you out for ages.”

“The last thing I need right now is a boyfriend, especially one that needs encouragement from both my roommate and a drink.” Nat glanced at the worn carpet. “He’s not really my type, anyway.”

“Type? You don’t have a type.” Viv tossed the comforter to the side and clambered out of bed.

“I do, too, and it’s definitely not Dermot,” she said, thinking of Soris’ green eyes.

“Then who? The foreign guy from your theater class last semester, Estos? What about him?” Viv clutched the loft post and rubbed her forehead.

“Estos? No, he’s just a friend, and I think he took the semester off, anyway.” She grabbed her backpack, wanting to end the conversation. “I’ll see you this evening, I’ve got class all morning and lab in the afternoon. I want to squeeze in—”

“Another run. I know.” Viv waved her arm at Nat. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to avoid me.”

“You could always run with me,” Nat offered.

Viv hefted a book from her bedside table and threw it just as Nat ducked out the door. The book landed with a thud.

Nat dropped her backpack by the empty cafeteria table. The ache in her shoulder was worse.
Maybe it’s time to see campus health again,
she thought as she slid her tray onto the circular top with her left hand and sat down.

A few students wandered along the buffet, filling bowls with cereal and grabbing fruit. She stared out the dining-room windows, past the dormitories to the bleak snow-encrusted fields. Clouds hung heavy in the morning sky. She played with her oatmeal, her thoughts straying to Soris and his broad smile. She tossed her spoon into her bowl and pushed the tray away
. I miss you, Soris. Maybe it would be better if I could just forget you, forget Fourline.

But she couldn’t, and Annin wasn’t around to wipe her memories. Annin would be back in Fourline with the rest of the former rebels-in-exile by now, anyway. Nat had seen Sister Barba and Professor Gate from a distance a few times since her return, but no one else.
Besides,
she told herself,
I don’t really want to see any of them except Soris.

She cleared her tray and wandered out of the cafeteria. Students threaded their way past her, and she stepped cautiously to the side to avoid bumping her shoulder. From a distance, she saw Signe’s tall figure pass through the Science Center doors. Nat hurried down the path. If she caught up with her, they could work through their lab notes before class. Her phone vibrated as she jumped over a pile of slushy snow. She pulled the phone from her back pocket and checked the number.

“Hey, Mom.” She grimaced from the sharp ache in her shoulder and shifted the phone to her left hand.

“Nat.” Her mom sounded surprised. “I wasn’t expecting you to answer.”

“It’s your lucky morning,” she said through the pain.

“Really? Doesn’t sound like it. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, just a busy week, that’s all.”

“Hmm. You’ve been pretty busy since January, as far as I can tell. Which brings me to the point of my call. I am officially giving you three weeks’ notice so you can free up some time.”

“For what?” Nat passed the library and skipped onto the path leading to the Science Center.

“Cal’s decided. She’ll be attending school with you next year.” Her mom’s voice rang with pleasure. “She has an appointment with the dance department the third week of April to meet with more faculty.”

“What? Cal’s not coming here.” A flock of pigeons scattered at the sound of Nat’s voice. “You can’t afford the tuition to send her here.” She regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth.

“Your new scholarships freed us up to help her, and the dance department gave her the Shiffer Scholarship. She would be a fool to turn it down,” her mother said stiffly.

“I didn’t go through everything I did to get those scholarships so Cal could leech off you.” Nat’s voice seethed with anger. The money for her tuition wasn’t from a scholarship. Estos had originally agreed to cover her tuition in exchange for her traveling to Fourline to help him. The fact that she no longer had to worry about her tuition only served as a reminder that she’d ruined Soris’ life.

“Leeching off us!” her mom yelled through the phone. “I can’t believe you said that. Natalie, I stayed silent when you chose not to come home during your breaks, I even bit my tongue when I saw that absurd tattoo on your arm over Christmas, but I won’t keep quiet while you insult your sister. Cal is not perfect, but neither are you. She is as deserving of the chances and opportunities you’ve been given. If you opened your eyes and saw how talented she is instead of cutting her down, you’d know what I’m talking about. I thought with time you two would grow close again like when you were younger. But after that comment . . .” Her mom’s voice broke off. Nat’s ears rang with the echo of her anger. She listened as her mom took several deep breaths. “Your sister will be there in three weeks, and you will treat her with respect, do you understand me?”

“Yes, Mom,” Nat said, feeling lower than a worm. Her mom disconnected the call. Nat shoved her phone into her pocket and dropped her chin. She stormed down the path to the Science Center and brushed against someone in her haste.

“Natalie!”

Nat looked up to see Sister Barba tripping off the path. She reached for the Sister’s elbow to steady her.

“You’re in a rush,” Barba said as she stepped back onto the path. Nat dropped her hand. The breeze lifted Barba’s red hair in every direction.