The Rift (3 page)

I looked at Henry with wide eyes and mouthed
“
What the fuck?”
But he just shook his head, which I took to
mean I should keep my trap shut. A part of me wanted to get out of
the car and refuse to go anywhere until they told me what was going
on, but getting away from Varius, no matter where I was going, was
too tempting to pass up.

I had expected a long ride to Dulles, but we
went to a small airport fifteen minutes away. Jed parked and
twisted around in his seat to face us. “We’re taking the company’s
private jet,” he said. “To avoid any problems we might encounter at
Dulles or Reagan.”

“Varius has a private jet?” I asked, thrilled
to be flying without reapers. “I mean I figured the company was
doing well, but this…”

Jed grunted and unbuckled his seatbelt.

“We have several very wealthy donors who are
grateful for our past assistance,” Henry said. I headed to grab my
luggage, but Henry gently pushed me back.

“I’ve got it, babe,” he said with a wink. I
decided I really hated being called babe, even by dear Henry.

I let Henry carry both our suitcases. Jed
grabbed his and Angelica’s, and we headed for the plane. I had
expected a jet like in the movies, with a huge pristine seating
area, swivel seats and tons of leg room, but that’s not what we
had. The plane was actually really small, with just four seats
directly behind the pilot and co-pilot and not much leg room at
all. I’d hoped for a chance to talk to Henry alone, but that wasn’t
happening, so we all buckled in and enjoyed the one hour flight in
almost absolute silence. Henry tried to make conversation with me,
then with Jed and, finally, with Angelica, but none of us were in
the mood, apparently. He finally settled, with my hand in his, and
pointed out interesting sights below us. We landed in another small
airport near gorgeous mountains covered in evergreens and deciduous
trees that were alternately bare or flowered.

“Where are we?” I asked no one in
particular.

“Virginia,” Jed said. “Blue Ridge
mountains.”

We all piled into the four-door sedan that
awaited us in the parking lot, and Jed drove us down the small main
street of Vale Hollow, which was lined by six businesses, and up
into the mountains. We drove up twisty roads to a three-story,
clapboard house that stood alone in the woods. Alarm bells blared
in my head and, if Henry hadn’t been there, I would have been sure
Jed and Angelica had brought me up there to torture and kill me,
because, well, that’s just the kind of year I’d had. My vision went
a bit foggy at the edges, and my heart raced in full-out panic
mode. I looked to Henry for reassurance, but he wouldn’t meet my
eyes. Shit, maybe they were going to kill me.

I followed them all into the house, and
watched Henry and Jed set our bags down on the floor, but I didn’t
step inside. “Who wants to tell me what’s going on?” I asked. All
three of them found the interior of the house suddenly
fascinating.

Jed finally looked at me and sighed. “We’ll
discuss the mission when the rest of the team shows up.”

“The rest of the team? You really expect me
to believe we’re on a mission? What sort of mission could we
possibly accomplish from the middle of the woods?”

“Kelsey,” Henry said, stepping closer and
trying to take my hand.

I shook him off. “I’m not stepping a foot in
this house until someone tells me what the hell is going on.”

Henry looked at Jed and shrugged. Angelica
had taken a seat on the overstuffed couch and was hugging a pillow
to her chest. Jed took a step toward me, hand out in front of him
like he was approaching a wild animal. I felt slightly sick as I
realized he was looking at me like he was afraid of what I might
do. “We’re all worried about you. You’ve been getting drunk every
night. You’ve been seen around campus looking ill and miserable.
You’ve been…” he threw a glance at Henry and bit back his words.
“We brought you here to try to help you. I…we all thought if you
were here, away from the alcohol and the…the temptations, you could
heal and maybe deal with your issues.”

I sent Henry a glare that should have burned
his skin. This was all his fault, his and Tucker’s. Okay, so it
wasn’t like I wasn’t getting anything out of the deal, but
still…“You brought me here for a fucking intervention?” I knew I
was shouting, but I couldn’t stop. “I don’t need an intervention. I
need something to do. I need to be trained and allowed to fight
reapers.” I threw my hands up and stepped back onto the porch.
“This is ridiculous. Please take me back to Varius.”

“Incoming,” a voice whispered in my ear. I
turned to see Tucker, grinning like he was watching a comedy show.
I wished he’d go corporeal long enough for me to smack him.

“And you,” I said. “You know I don’t need an
intervention.”

Tucker sobered, the grin vanishing. “I’m not
so sure you don’t Kelsey. There’s been…”

That’s when I saw another car coming up the
drive behind Tucker. It was a black, four-door audi and, when it
pulled up, I saw my therapist from Varius, Dr. Veronica Thenier
behind the wheel, and my mother in the passenger seat. “You invited
my mother to this ridiculous…” I froze as another thought pushed
its way through my anger. I looked around at them all, giving them
my most serious death glare. “Please. Please tell me you didn’t
invite my father to this farce.”

Jed had the decency to look uncomfortable.
“We did invite him, but he’s not sure if he’ll be able to make it.
He sent Thad in his place, but he’s hoping to be able to stop by
for a bit.”

I groaned and dropped my head in my hands. I
forced myself to shake it off at the sound of my mother’s clear,
southern lilt. “Kelsey? Hello? Can you come down and help me with
my bags, sweetie?”

I picked up my head and plastered on my best
impression of a smile. “Of course, Momma, I’ll be right there.”

“Tone it down a bit,” Tucker said. “You look
like you want to eat her.”

I turned my smile on him. “You,” I hissed.
“Will pay for this.”

“Kelsey, I’m only trying to help. You’ve been
so—”

I ignored him and skipped down the stairs to
wrap my mother in a big hug. It had been over three months since
I’d seen her, and she still smelled like home to me, warm cinnamon
and chanel perfume, despite everything. She hugged me back and
pecked me on the cheek. “This lady here said you’re having some
trouble, Kelsey, and she asked me to come and help you. I told her
you’re fine. You’re fine, right, dear? I’m really busy at work and
with my wedding, and…”

I’d been pulling out my mother’s second
suitcase when she said wedding, and I dropped it right on my foot.
Searing pain shot up my leg, and I fell on my ass in the dirt and
the gravel. I bit my lip hard enough to make it bleed, by which
time Henry was by my side, inspecting my foot. Every one of his
touches sent more pain blazing up my leg, but he just smiled,
ignoring the names I was calling him under my breath. “It’s not
broken,” he said. “Just badly bruised, most likely.”

I nodded and let him help me to my feet, at
which point, my mother, who’d been standing frozen like a statue,
rushed over and started fluttering around me. “Are you okay? Oh,
Kelsey, you’ve always been a bit klutzy. You really have to pay
more attention to what you’re doing.”

I smiled at her through gritted teeth and let
Henry help me back up the stairs and into the house. Jed grabbed my
mother’s suitcases. Henry got me settled on the couch, with three
pillows to elevate my foot and a bag of ice. The living room was
decorated in a modern, but homey style, with streamlined, mostly
black, mostly leather furniture, but also green plants and a wooden
armoire that I expected housed a wide-screen T.V. The ceiling in
the living room was cathedral style, and there were stairs leading
up to a loft-like area with four closed doors. The first floor
appeared to be pretty big, but all I could see was the kitchen
through one doorway and a hallway leading back to more closed
doors.

Jed showed my mother to her room, on the
first floor, and reappeared looking a bit flustered and
uncomfortable. “We need groceries, so I’m going to head to town.
Anyone want to go with me?”

Angelica leapt up from her seat like it was
on fire. “I’ll go!” she said, more vehemently than she meant to,
judging by how quickly her cheeks reddened.

“Sure, run away, both of you,” I mumbled,
feeling something like jealousy as the two of them walked out
shoulder to shoulder, safe in their normality and in no need of an
intervention.

Momma walked back into the living room as Jed
and Angelica fled. I looked at her, really looked at her, for a
long moment. She was perfectly coifed and made up, as always,
dressed in slacks and a purple blouse that had been ironed to
within an inch of their lives. She didn’t look the least bit
creased or rumpled from the drive to the mountain house. She looked
different, too, easier, less tense, and she was smiling a genuine
smile. There wasn’t much about my mother that was genuine. She must
be really happy.

“Wedding?” I asked.

Momma sat down in the armchair Angelica had
just vacated and waved her arms like she was cheering. “That
therapist lady said I shouldn’t mention it while I was here, but I
think that’s just ridiculous.” She looked at the therapist lady who
was seated, with a glass of tea, on the loveseat, and rolled her
eyes. “Ronald asked me to marry him and I said yes.”

I combed my memory for a Ronald, but I
couldn’t recall her ever mentioning him. In fact, the last time I’d
spoken to her, three weeks ago, she’d been dating someone named
Frank. “Umm, wow. That’s great.” I threw a quick glance at Dr.
Veronica, but she seemed to find her glass fascinating.

“Congratulations,” Henry said. He had taken a
seat at the end of the couch with a pillow on his lap and my foot
on the pillow, so he could hold the ice in place. “When’s the
wedding?”

My mother launched into a thirty minute
monologue about the advantages of various dates for the wedding.
Once she had wound down and I had a chance to jump in, I said,
“Mom, this is my boyfriend, Henry.”

Mom let out a little whoop. “Oh, sweetheart,
he’s adorable. Why haven’t you told me anything about him? I had no
idea you had a boyfriend.”

Henry clasped a hand to his heart and gave me
a hurt look. I rolled my eyes. “We just haven’t—” I started.

“Well, I guess I haven’t actually told you
about Ronald, either,” Momma said. “He’s fantastic. He owns the
little diner over by the pet store and I’ve known him forever, but
I never really thought much about him. I mean he’s gorgeous, but
he’s only 35 and he’d always been sweet, but distant. Until last
week, when he just decided to sweep me off my feet.”

I almost fell off the couch. I didn’t like
the sound of any of that, but I knew better than to suggest my
mother might be rushing into anything. If I wanted answers, it was
best to play along. “That sounds so romantic,” I said in my best
girly lilt. Both Henry and Doctor Veronica threw me sharp looks,
but my mother was so intent on her story that she didn’t seem to
notice anything off. “Tell me how he swept you off your feet.”

“Oh, dear it was just like something out of a
movie. He asked me out last Monday night and we’ve gone out every
single night since then. He’s taken me for a picnic on the beach, a
fancy dinner out, and he even took me ballroom dancing and actually
danced with me. Oh, he’s a wonderful dancer.” She looked around and
leaned toward me. “He’s also wonderful in bed,” she whispered.

“Okay, Momma,” I said, trying not to imagine
my fifty-year-old mother in bed with a 35 year old man. “We don’t
need all the gory details. You let me know when the wedding is, and
I’ll be there, okay?”

“Well, of course, sweetie, but I know you’re
really busy with your new job and everything. I mean I had thought,
when you told me you’d be working in Virginia, I’d see you more
often, but… you have your boyfriend and a life there. I can
understand how it would be hard to get away to see your only
parent.” My mother’s whole demeanor changed, she sunk into herself
a bit and her expression became serious and somber. I’d been having
similar conversations with my mother long enough, though, to know
she wasn’t actually upset about me not visiting. She liked to
believe she wanted me to visit and to blame it on me when I didn’t,
but she and I had never really been close, and the truth was she
didn’t like to have explain me to her latest boyfriend or her work
crowd. I was the odd daughter who talked to the dead and reminded
her of the husband who’d walked out on her.

I knew my role. “I’m sorry, Momma. I’ve
really meant to visit you. I’ve thought about you every day.”

“I haven’t heard from you in two weeks,” she
said, swiping at her cheek. “I’m all alone now, you know, and it
would be nice if you at least checked in to make sure I was still
alive.”

“Well, I’d hope if you were dead you’d come
and tell me yourself.”

No one laughed. My mother frowned before
glancing meekly at Henry and Doctor Veronica. She loved having an
audience. “Everything’s just a joke to you, isn’t it, Kelsey,” she
said with a sniff. “I thought you’d be happy for me, but clearly
you’re too busy to take an interest in my life. Ronald doesn’t even
know I have a daughter for all the effort you’ve put into
maintaining a relationship with me.”

Since I’d just listened to her drone on about
her life for forty-five minutes, that statement made no sense, but
I’d heard things like it often enough to understand what she meant.
Ronald didn’t know she had a daughter because she hadn’t told him.
If I had to guess, I’d say she didn’t want to remind him of her
age, but my mother rarely told her suitors about me, so it could
just be habit. “I’ll try to do better, Momma, I really will. Why
don’t I plan a visit out to see you next month?”