The reader, p.1
The Reader, page 1
part #3 of The Rifters Series
The Reader, The Rifters Book 3
© 2015 M. Pax
All rights reserved
Cover by: edhgraphics / Graphic Artist Erin Dameron-Hill
Editing by Kelly Schaub
An Untethered Realms World
This ebook is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are fictional. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment, and may not be re-sold or given away without express written permission from the author.
Become an M. Pax reader and receive the first two books in both The Backworlds and The Rifters series for FREE.
Click here to get started:
http://mpaxauthor.com/newsletter/
The Reader
Rifters Book 3
by M. Pax
For her sister, Daelin Long would do anything, including remaining in a dinky town in the middle of nowhere. At the beginning of summer, she had hopes of fitting in and enjoying an exciting new life in an out-of-the-way corner of Oregon. However, after defeating a murderous phantom and a swarm of volcanic bees, she had a horde of secrets, deadly secrets. She was a disaster at lying and put up barriers, locking away the truth, keeping out people who wanted to be her friend. Daelin wanted friends in the worst way, but she’d not endanger anyone to get what she needed.
She spent nights sitting among the silent trees and the days dusting moldering library books, wishing for a life in which she could fully take part instead of a life on loan waiting for her sister’s return. And her sister hadn’t come home, disappearing through the rift with the conquered beasts. More troubling, Daelin’s sister would be trapped on the other side until the portal reopened next June. They’d grown up close, relying on one another to get through the trials of youth and an unreliable mother. Imagining her days without her sister, Charming, shook Daelin severely, threatening to erase the flimsy grounding she had.
The emptiness of the desert wind of Central Oregon swept through her soul. Hugging her puffy, green coat tightly, she didn’t glance at the two obsidian pillars dominating the clearing among the pines or the boulder that had become her favorite perch to guard against possible dangers. Between the pillars, the mysterious rift formed and connected forty-two universes. It opened only during the summer, often dispensing monsters worse than nightmares. No one knew how the rift had started or why it had come to be. It existed, and Earth needed protecting from it.
“The rift closes without much happening. I was hoping for more action, Sabina. You promised more thrills than watching frost form on the fir boughs. Only your stories of centaurs and wonders have entertained me since we thwarted those fiery bees.” Daelin straightened to her full six-foot height, twisting left and right to stretch out her muscles. Neither dainty nor overly broad, her body leaned toward powerful, especially since beginning her training. Her coal-black hair tumbled loose from her hair clip over her shoulders.
She combed her fingers through her tresses, willing her sister not to keep her worrying much longer. If Daelin had to dust one more shelf of books and answer one more phone call about the weather or the state of the roads, she might disintegrate into pulp. Caslow County librarian wasn’t what she aspired to be. Her dreams were populated with men in tailored suits, meetings with famous authors, and a career in publishing instead of an empty library, flannel, and hiking boots. She wanted a better paying job and the possibility for growth. She wanted to fall in love and have a family. All of that had been delayed to keep her sister safe and aid her in saving the world. Quite happily, Daelin would continue to stick around if there was anything to be done. Only there wasn’t. There wasn’t any evidence of a crisis, the rift as silent as, well, the county library. Her sister, Charming, needed to return soon and prove the quiet meant all was well. What if it wasn’t? Hugging herself tighter, Daelin refused to think about it. If she did, she’d lose it.
Sabina Staley, Daelin’s boss and the older woman reclining on a log, swung her legs around and sat up. The large bubble-framed glasses perched on Sabina’s long, straight nose slid forward when she checked a device on her wrist—a transputer. Resembling a bulky watch, the face of it glowed with blue energy and ignited a tattoo of circuitry on her wrist, which was only visible when she wore the transputer. “Some years are dull. It’s good for your health and everyone else’s. Would you prefer some creature seep through and chomp off your leg?”
“It’d be nice to meet the centaurs or someone else with tales from another universe. That would feed my mind until next summer. Beasts with teeth can stay where they are.”
“They’re about to, until next year, at any rate.” Sabina sniffed and dabbed at her nose with a tissue. “Ninety seconds to go. Put on your optilyzers and observe as the fall equinox dawns. I’d like you to witness the sealing of the rift. Note how the aural energy shifts.”
A modified pair of 1920s aviator goggles hung around Daelin’s neck. She pulled them up over her eyes—the same inky shade as her hair. The lenses distorted the world in tints of violet except for the space in the middle of the two obsidian pillars rising as high as the twisted juniper between them. The air amid the columns sizzled in cobalt lines and tangled together into a blue ball. The sky lightened and the energy dissipated.
“So the rift is good and shut. Is that what the disappearance of the blue energy ball means?” she asked. There’d be no hope of Charming returning and releasing Daelin from constant worry now. Dusting wouldn’t keep her mind off it. No, Daelin would have to scrounge up some sort of distraction for the next nine months. Maybe rearranging the entire library. Again.
“Mmhmm. The sphere of energy was there all summer. Now it’s not.” Sabina brushed her fine, white curls behind a pair of bold ears. “Now you have proof the rift closes on the fall equinox. You’re the sort in need of evidence.”
“Yeah, I’m a pain that way. Here’s the thing though, Sabina. This year, the portal opened three days early. You heard what Earl said.” Earl Blacke had more secrets than Daelin’s sister, more secrets than a town with a mysterious portal leading to other universes, and more secrets than the ghost watching over the library. “How do you know the rift won’t open again when it’s not supposed to?” If there was the slightest chance it would usher in some news of her sister, winter might be bearable.
“I’ve been a Rifter longer than you’ve blinked. You needn’t worry so much. You forget your first lesson as quickly as you demonstrate your knowledge of it.” Sabina held out an arm.
“Trust.” Daelin took hold of her boss’s hand and helped Sabina onto her feet. “We can blame my mother for my inability to stick with my lessons. She taught me to never trust.” If Daelin hadn’t questioned her mother constantly, her brother, sister, and herself wouldn’t have made it out of childhood. “I suppose I’ll never progress farther than the rank of Initiate in the Rifters then?” She didn’t mind being the lackey of the elite group of townspeople who battled otherworldly monsters. Whatever her rank, she would see to it her sister came home. Alive and whole.
“Surprises are always in store when you’re a Rifter.” Sabina smiled as if cooking up a conspiracy.
“That was evident when I first arrived. Not since. Do you ever regret joining the Rifters?”
“No.” Sabina fixed her knit hat. “Every wish and desire I ever had dissolved the moment I met Caelif. Half man and half horse, his golden hair flowed down to his hooves. Oh, and what muscles! He was incredibly magnificent. It’s unfortunate your only acquaintance with the rift so far has been unfriendly beasts.”
“I had a brief moment when killing the head-stealing ghost and another when exterminating the bees. Nothing since. I need more than these cold nights in the woods, because the dreams I held dear before moving here crash in with more persistence. What if my version of Caelif is in New York or Portland or somewhere else?”
“Why? Do you wish to leave?”
“Honestly, sometimes I think about it. More so as the summer ends and nothing has happened. There’s no future in the library, and I miss tall buildings, endless blocks of shops, and museums.”
“We have a fine history museum in town.”
Daelin raised an eyebrow.
“All right, not what you meant. What you need is a passion outside the Rifters. Knitting or quilting. Skiing?”
“I was hoping to reconnect with my sister. That was Settler’s main draw, and now she’s…” Daelin gulped in a deep breath. She had to remember the lie. Her sister’s whereabouts were a secret from everyone including the other Rifters. “On the other side of the globe in China.” Before chasing monsters, Charming had chased dinosaurs and had worked for the Paleo Institute in Settler. It was her idea to say she was in China on a dig, and she had done some work to cover her tracks. Daelin had to hope the truth wouldn’t break out. Otherwise Charming would become an enemy of the Rifters. Then so would Daelin. Daelin couldn’t turn against her for any reason.
“No one is forcing you to stay. If your heart leads you elsewhere, go. There’s nothing keeping you here. I’ll find another librarian.”
“The Rifters?”
“I’ll recruit more of those too. You needn’t worry.”
“There’s the oath. To unswear is to die.” Yeah, the possibility of death and the pleas from Charming for help had kept Daelin rooted. Also the lack of response to the résumés she had sent out. New York City and the big publishers had less interest in her since she had taken up a residence three thousand miles away. She had no intention of going anywhere until C harming returned, but simmering the dream on low kept Daelin sane. She needed to feel as if this weird existence would end, that life as usual, as she had once defined it, would come around again.
“With all these excuses, it doesn’t seem as if you really want to leave. However you decide, as long as you don’t betray our secrets, you’re free to leave the Rifters. Do you want out?”
Daelin had promised Charming. What her sister needed her for, Daelin couldn’t quite figure out. It had something to do with the beings who regulated the rift, the Governors, an enemy disguised as allies. In a weird way, it made sense. The rift distorted common stones into killer bees. It twisted ghosts into murdering phantoms. It had altered her sister into a warrior who didn’t hesitate to kill. “Sometimes I think so.”
“Well, I hope you stay whether you remain in the Rifters or not. You add life to our little town.”
“I won’t do anything rash. The kind of crazy that can be had around here is better than a blockbuster summer movie. I just wish there was more of it.”
“Noted. I’ll make popcorn for you this afternoon and put on that movie with the teenagers killing each other you like so much. Close the library at two o’clock then come straight to my office.”
“Why so early?” Normally, the library was open until four o’clock.
“It’s the optimum time to expand your tattoo. Don’t be late. If we miss this window, I’ll have to re-ink you in June.”
Daelin glanced down at her tattoo of blue and purple panels resembling stained glass on her wrist. Copper and gold wires glowed, snaking through the tinted panels. How much more would Sabina add? Would it cover her entire arm like it did with the other Rifters? Then she’d feel more like one of them rather than a temporary fill-in for her sister. “You’re going to promote me to Reader despite my constant failure to trust in all things?”
Sabina fixed the floral polyester scarf around her neck and picked her way over the rocky ground out of the clearing. The morning had taken hold enough to detect shapes and hazards under foot, and the hint of dawn broke over the dark hulks of the twin eastern peaks shrouding Settler. The town sat inside the caldera of an ancient volcano. “The extension of your tattoo won’t hurt much, and you trust where it counts. The rift has behaved peculiar this year. As you referenced, it hasn’t opened since the end of June. The quiet is unsettling, and a feeling nags at me. If you decide to stay, someone asking questions could be in our best interests, and I’ll need you at your full potential.” She pressed a crooked finger to her thin lips. “Which will remain between us.”
Was she admitting Daelin was right to doubt? Did Sabina remember more of her memory swipe than she should? The procedure kept them all safe, and Sabina had agreed to it. If she could remember everything the night they had battled the volcanic killer ash bees, she’d be asking questions alongside Daelin. However, the recollection could kill Sabina, the rest of the Rifters, the world, and possibly this entire universe. Daelin couldn’t let the extinction of everything happen. Not if she could help it, even if she never fit in because she was the only one who knew the facts and couldn’t tell.
She blurted out a short laugh and followed her boss. “Understood. The secrets in this town could strangle a person.” She tripped over a white twig tangled around her ankle. Its thorns dug deep. Good thing she had leather gloves in her pocket. Putting them on, she grappled with the thorns to free herself. “I’ve never been much of a nature girl.”
Sabina chuckled. “That seems obvious, my dear. Do take care where you step. Watch the stones. They pose a hazard of their own.”
“Hmmph. I don’t want to talk about stones.”
The volcanic killer ash bees were living pebbles. They devoured flesh while burning it into blisters and welts, igniting a wish for death—the only release from their agony. The weight of the massive swarm, the heat, the anguish—the memories of the attacks remained as fresh as if the beasts surrounded Daelin once more. She’d never look at a stone or a regular bee the same.
She and Sabina strode over the dirt path leading from the pillars past the rise of the obsidian flow and skirted the property line of Blackes Ranch Resort and Spa. Daelin wondered what had happened to Earl Blacke. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since the night they had defeated the bees. A fact she had to hide from Sabina. His return to town was one of the many things Sabina was no longer allowed to remember and one of the things Daelin had to lie about. If he had stayed, she would have someone to talk to and wouldn’t be so isolated. She glowered at the big house.
Behind the ranch’s glass and cedar lodge, mist rose from East Lake. The day grew brash and the water took on a bluer hue. Two divers in scuba gear plodded onto shore, Rifters scouring the lake bottom for stray bees. Recalling the searing stings, Daelin shuddered.
“You’re safe.” Sabina set a companionable hand on Daelin’s shoulder. “The other Rifters and I have your back.”
“I may not trust everything, Sabina, but I do trust you and the others will always fight at my side.” Daelin smiled faintly.
She and her boss cut through the brush, heading toward a little blue cottage on the edge of town. Downtown spread a few blocks past the cottage. Downtown wasn’t much, just a reminder humans tried to tame the wilderness. Bushes snagged on her ankle, tripping Daelin two more times.
Sabina grabbed at Daelin’s elbow. “You’re not the most graceful woman, are you?”
A soft heat displaced the numbing cold on Daelin’s cheeks. The chill foretold of winter despite the lack of snow on the peaks of the Cascades lording over the twin lakes on the west side of Settler. “No.”
“You should train more with Vance. I want you in fighting shape by summer.”
Vance Lambert was a Rifter by night and a firefighter by day. It so happened, the fire hall was located next to the library where Daelin worked.
“I’ll ask him over to the library today if there are no fires.” Daelin wouldn’t mind the company. Most days she only had a ghost to talk to and dusting to do. When there weren’t monsters skulking about.
“Your initiative is appreciated.” Sabina paused at the foot of the porch steps leading up to the cottage where Daelin lived. Temporarily. The house belonged to her sister. Quaint and bright blue, the cottage was the perfect size for one.
“Any library business you want me to attend to today?” Daelin asked.
“No. If there’s a change, I’ll call. If not, see you at two o’clock. Tattoo.” She tapped her wrist. “Don’t forget.”
Daelin slid the ornate, antique key in the door. She smiled at the solid click as the lock unlatched. The door swung inward, revealing a single small room with eclectic decor: shabby chic with touches of industrial and the 1950s. A ladder led up to the sleeping loft. The cozy sitting room and kitchen were divided by an island fashioned from salvaged planks of wood. Off the side of the kitchen, a glassed-in porch had been converted into an expansion allowing for a dining table and a corner office nook. The only other rooms were a full bath and the garage.
Daelin took off her transputer. The single row of purple and blue panels inked on her wrist disappeared. She hung her coat on a peg by the door, stuffing her hat, transputer, and gloves into the pockets. She draped her scarf on top of her coat and made her way to the kitchen. There wasn’t anything a good sandwich couldn’t cure.
The light on the old-style answering machine, a throwback to the 1980s—she couldn’t imagine where her sister had found cassette tapes for the thing—flashed in an annoying beat on the counter. Daelin hit the play button and settled onto a stool at the island.
“Halloo, sistas,” bellowed from the speaker of the answering machine. The voice belonged to her baby brother Cobb.
She knew Cobb couldn’t hear her, but Daelin replied to the recording anyway. “Halloo, brotha.”
“What’s with neither of you answering your cell phones these days? It’s the modern age, you know.”
“Not in Settler, brotha.”
“Anyway, surprise! My flight arrives at 11:45 this morning at Roberts Field. See to fetching me, Dae. Bye ya.”
