The Rift (10 page)

To my complete and utter shock, Jed laughed.
He laughed like he thought it was all just hilarious. I stood and
shoved him, with the force of my anger behind it. His chair tipped
over, and he fell on his back and skidded a few feet across the
floor. He froze and stared up at me. “What the hell was that?” he
asked. I was such an idiot.

“You were pissing me off.”

Jed pulled himself to his feet and set the
chair back at the table on all four of its legs. “I’m not asking
why you pushed me, I’m asking how you moved me like that. I don’t
care how strong you’ve gotten I’ve still got at least seventy-five
pounds on you.”

“You weren’t expecting it. I got lucky.”

“Kelsey,” he said, as he sat back down and
stared at me. “Things could get sticky here, and I need to know
exactly what’s going on with you in case we have to fight.”

“Speaking of that, Tucker said there’s a lot
of reapers in town. Twenty-five, I think, and none of them will
talk about the wolves.”

Jed crossed his arms over his chest and just
stared.

“Fine, but if this gets back to your mother,
I will cut off your balls and feed them to you.” I wasn’t quite
sure where that came from, but it didn’t seem to faze Jed in the
least. He just kept staring.

“Henry’s been training me to fight. You know
how in the spirit realm I’ve got super powers because I’m actually
alive and I can draw on that life force?”

Jed nodded, doubt clear in the little line
between his eyes.

“Henry and I have figured out a way for me to
build up my life force while I’m on this plane. I’ve learned how to
draw on it to have superpowers when I fight here.”

“What can you do?”

I concentrated for a minute, then I stood and
lifted the heavy oak dining table over my head with one hand. I
lowered it to the ground slowly and sat back down in my seat. Jed
whistled. “I want to see what you can do against an opponent.”

“Anytime, anyplace.” I would have loved to
fight Jed again and actually beat him.

“We’ll need somewhere warded. I don’t want
anyone else knowing what you can do.” He paused. “Can this be
taught to other people?”

I shrugged. “Henry’s tried and he can’t do
it, but I really have no idea.”

Jed shook his head and stared at me until I
started to feel uncomfortable. I used to think I had him all
figured out, but lately…I just had no idea.

“I should get to bed,” I said. “These therapy
sessions are exhausting.” I hadn’t meant to mention therapy, but I
had no filters around Jed apparently. Not that I had much of a
filter around anyone else.

“Speaking of therapy, I’ll make sure Doctor
Veronica doesn’t share anything she shouldn’t with Yvonne.”

“You trust her?”

Jed nodded. “It’s in her job description to
keep your secrets confidential, and I’ve known her for a few years.
She’s defied my mother in the past.”

“Okay, good.” I stood and turned to head back
to my room.

“By the way,” Jed said and waited until I’d
turned back to face him. “I left Briarton after I kidnapped you
because my mother was planning to send a whole team in to extract
you and drag you back to Varius. I wanted to be sure to intercept
them. And I didn’t go back to Briarton with you for the final
showdown, because my mother didn’t trust me. She said if I didn’t
stay behind she’d make sure Angelica was killed in the cross
fire.”

I rocked back on my heels stunned. He walked
past me, far too close for my liking, and headed back to his room.
I just sat there for several long moments, before I turned and went
back to my own room.

“Kelsey.” A man loomed over me in the dark.
My heart raced and I knew something was terribly wrong. “Kelsey.”
The man tried to pull me closer to him and I got a good enough look
at his face to see it was Landon, his expression livid. I gathered
everything I had and punched him hard in the face. He flew off me
and slid across the floor, landing against the wall.

A light blazed on, and I saw Henry, hands to
his face, moaning. “Oh, my god.” I leapt off the bed and ran to
him, but strong hands pulled me back. I twisted and looked up to
see Jed’s anxious, angry face. “Let me go.”

“Did he hurt you?” Jed asked. He studied my
face and scanned my body, his gaze investigatory and cold, and I
was suddenly reminded that I was standing in front of him in only a
thin t-shirt and panties. My cheeks warmed, and tried to get away
from him and get a robe, but he held me firm. “Kelsey. Did he hurt
you?”

For a moment my mind flicked back to Landon,
before I realized he was talking about Henry. The idea of Henry
hurting me was laughable. He was the sweetest, most gentle guy I
knew. “Clearly, I’m the one who hurt him.” I pulled against Jed’s
hands but got nowhere.

“You were screaming.”

That made me droop for a moment. I’d thought
I was done with that. I hadn’t woken up screaming in six weeks. “It
was a nightmare. Henry was trying to wake me up and I punched him.
Now let me go.”

He released me. I ran to Henry and peeled his
hands from his face. Thankfully, I hadn’t made contact with his
nose, but he was going to have a nasty black eye. “Get me some ice
please,” I said to Jed. “I think we should take him to a doctor to
make sure nothing is broken.”

“I’m trained as a field medic,” Doctor
Veronica said, as Jed eased past her to leave the room. “I can
check him out.”

“I hit him pretty hard.” I didn’t doubt her
ability as much as I doubted her understanding of the potential
damage I could have caused. “I think he should have x-rays.”

Doctor Veronica pinched her lips together,
but said nothing. Jed returned with the ice and I put it on Henry’s
face. He looked at me and gave me the smallest smile. “Sorry, I
shouldn’t have tried to pull you in for a hug, but you looked at me
and I thought…”

“I wasn’t seeing you,” I said. “I’m so, so
sorry.”

Henry started to shake his head, then
stopped, a small moan escaping. “I’ve been hurt worse. I’ll be
fine. And next time, I won’t touch you until I’m sure you’re
awake.” He let me help him up and lead him out to the living room.
After I’d gotten him comfortable on the couch, I went back to my
room for a robe.

Back in the living room, Doctor Veronica
looked up at me with wide eyes. “He’s got a bit of a concussion and
a bad bruise, but no broken bones. That’s quite a punch you
threw.”

I shrugged like it was no big deal. “I’ve
been working out. I don’t quite know my own strength.”

Three sets of eyes swung in my direction, one
amused, one worried, and one disbelieving. I ignored them all.

“So I should probably make sure he doesn’t go
back to sleep, right?” I asked.

Doctor Veronica nodded. “That would be
wise.”

“I can stay up with him,” Jed said. “I would
have been getting up in an hour anyway.”

“No,” I said. “This is my fault. I’ll stay up
with him.”

I could feel Doctor Veronica’s eyes drilling
into the side of my face and I ignored her. “I’d like to see you
for a session first thing in the morning,” she said.

I nodded and she left.

“Kelsey, you look exhausted,” Jed said. “Why
don’t you let me stay up with Henry?”

Because I don’t want to go back to
sleep
, but I said, “No, it’s fine. I’m wide awake now.”

“It’s okay, Kelsey,” Henry said. “I know you
didn’t mean to hurt me, and Jed and I should talk. Go back to
bed.”

The last thing I wanted was for those two to
talk, because I was pretty sure they would talk about me, and if
Thad could figure out Henry wasn’t really my boyfriend… But I
couldn’t come up with a good reason to keep them apart. I nodded
and headed back to my room, even though my heart was still racing
like a freight train and sleep seemed unlikely.

When I got back to my room Tucker was laying
on my bed glaring at me. “I’m sorry I damaged your beautiful
boyfriend,” I said.

“It’s been months since you’ve had a
nightmare,” he said, ignoring my apology in pure Tucker fashion.
“What happened tonight?”

“Houston didn’t come and speak to me in a
dream if that’s what you’re worried about. It was just a garden
variety nightmare with Landon trying to kill me. I woke up and
thought Henry was Landon.”

He nodded, looking relieved. “So why did you
have a nightmare tonight? Did something happen today?”

I considered lying, but Tucker had always
been able to see right through my lies, and bullshitting him or
beating around the bush would only piss him off. “I’m usually
pretty well drained and exhausted when I go to bed. Tonight I
wasn’t.”

His face fell. “I thought you were getting
better.”

I sighed and sat down on the bed next to him.
“I’m not sure better is an option for me,” I said, before I’d
thought.

He wrapped his ghostly fingers around mine.
“Would it help you sleep if I stayed?” he asked.

I shrugged, doubting it would. Henry being in
bed hadn’t helped me before. “At least I can’t hurt you if I have
another nightmare.”

I left the light on and curled up next to
Tucker. He could have drained some of my energy and really held me,
but he didn’t. Knowing he expected me to have to fight soon scared
me almost as much as the nightmare. I lay there staring at the
wall, my thoughts racing, sure I’d never find sleep.

I woke to the bustle of voices and someone
calling my name. I pried open my eyes and sat up, feeling like I’d
been run over by a truck. Tucker blew me a kiss and vanished, not
wanting to get caught in my room. My door opened without the
pretense of a knock and Angelica stuck her head in, beaming.
“Jeremiah and Wraith are here,” she said, practically bouncing.
“They want to take us hiking.”

I wanted to lay back down on the bed and tell
her to go away, but I wasn’t about to let Angelica miss a chance to
spend the day with Bruce. “I’m have a session with Doctor Veronica
and—”

“She said you can skip it, as long as you see
her this evening.”

My eyes widened at that. Weren’t my sessions
with Doctor Veronica the whole point of my being in that house? I
didn’t really want another round of her therapeutic brand of
torture, though, so I just nodded. “Okay, let me get a quick shower
and I’ll be ready.”

“Jed made pancakes. You should eat, too,
before we go,” she said, before disappearing down the hall.

I dragged myself out of bed, pulled out a
clean, but baggy tank top, long sleeved t-shirt, and cargo pants,
and headed for the shower. The whole house smelled like pancakes,
and my stomach rumbled with hunger.

I heard Angelica’s laugh before I opened the
front door and stepped out onto the porch. She was sitting in a
rocking chair between Wraith and Jeremiah and she was bouncing in
her seat, looking like the happy, easy-going girl I’d met in
Briarton. Jed sat on the porch steps staring out at the trees, his
mouth turned down in a deep frown, his brow wrinkled. “Hey,” I
said. “I’m ready, but I don’t have any gear for hiking. I don’t
even have a water bottle.”

Wraith walked over to me, and Jed handed me a
full camel back, just like the one on his own back. Wraith placed a
hand on my back and gave me a gentle nudge toward the stairs. I
bristled at the unnecessary guidance and reminded myself again that
I was doing it for Angelica.

“Hey, man,” Wraith said, as Jed started down
the stairs. “You’ll have to drive your own vehicle. I don’t have
enough room for you in mine.” Judging by the size of the black SUV
parked in the driveway, Wraith was lying. I turned to look at him,
my eyebrows raised. Who the hell did he think he was?

Henry bounced out the front door and let it
fall shut with a loud bang. “I call shot gun,” he said, sounding
way too cheery.

Wraith turned to him, and I saw an emotion
flash in his eyes that made my heart stop for a minute. I was not
getting a good vibe from the guy, at all. “I don’t recall inviting
you,” Wraith said. “And there’s not enough room in my vehicle for
all of us.”

I wrapped my arms around Henry’s neck and
gave him a long, full kiss. He laughed into my mouth and pulled me
closer. “I’m sorry about last night,” I whispered in his ear as I
nuzzled his neck.

“It’s forgotten,” he whispered back. Then he
looked at someone over my shoulder and his whole body tensed.
“There are two guys glaring at me like they want to kill me right
now, Kelsey,” he whispered. “I’m not sure that kiss was a good
idea.”

I ignored the implications of what he was
telling me. I’d kissed him to get Wraith to back off, and I’d
accept the consequences. “I’ll protect you,” I whispered back,
lingering over his ear like I was kissing it. Jed cleared his
throat and I slowly stepped away from Henry, keeping an arm around
his waist. “If there’s not enough room in your vehicle, Angelica
and I will ride with Henry and Jed.”

Angelica huffed in frustration, and I glared
at her. She rolled her eyes, but she didn’t argue.

“Fine,” Wraith said, apparently unwilling to
change his mind about the seating capacity of his SUV. “Follow us
there.”

Jeremiah gave Angelica a quick peck on the
cheek and leapt down the steps to join his friend. The four of us
got into Jed’s rental car and followed them in silence. I sat next
to Henry in the back, his hand gripped in mine. I had a bad
feeling. Going into the woods with strange werewolves seemed like a
catastrophically bad idea, and my heart raced like it was trying to
beat its way out of my chest. My stomach churned and my vision
tunneled for just a moment. I was terrified, well beyond what I
should have been for what we were about to do. Maybe I’d gotten
soft being holed up at Varius for the past two months.

“Kelsey,” Jed said in a loud voice and I
returned to the car to see all three of them staring at me, like
I’d missed something.