by Pax M
A piece of rabbit fur laid in Dante’s hand. He held up a crystalline disc. Sunlight from the office window hit the object, sending a rainbow over his skin. “No matter what it does, you can’t go after her. The Envoys will tear you apart before you get farther than ten steps.”
International intrigue in the middle of Oregon? That was what envoys brought to mind, and it sounded as if Earl and Dante knew where Charming went. Daelin would make Earl tell her.
“If the Envoys don’t get you, the secret will,” Dante said. “You know it. We need a better plan.”
“As soon as I think one up, I’ll be in contact.”
“Not too often or I’ll have to make you the special of the day.” The musical laugh didn’t hide the threat.
Earl walked out of the office, rebundling the device in the rabbit fur along with a pair of broken eyeglasses.
Daelin pressed herself against the wall as flat as she could, holding her breath.
Dante strode out and his gaze fell on her as if he had known all along she eavesdropped there. His irises sparked yellow, and his smile made her shiver.
hapter
From all their afternoons and evenings together, Earl knew Dante hated surprises. Especially this kind. He jumped in front of Daelin and pushed Dante back. His fingers heated up, blistering, but he didn’t let go. “Watch yourself. Remember who she is.”
“Explain.” Her tone could whiplash bedrock.
The whole truth of the rift and Dante strained reason. Snippets had to threaten sanity. Earl did his best to put a reassuring smile on his face. “No lying. He can see a lie. How long have you been out here?”
Her olive complexion paled. “N-not long.” She stood straighter, locking gazes with Earl. “You know where Charming is.”
She’d come off as downtrodden earlier, and due to the tales of despair he’d heard from Charming, he had assumed Daelin weak. Wrongly so. She had spunk, and she’d need it.
A mountain would cower before Dante’s full bluster, but he couldn’t mean it. He had called last month asking about Charming, showing keen interest in the arrival of the sister. He had plans. Earl didn’t like being in the middle of something he didn’t know two hoots about.
More than anything, he had promises to keep to Charming. She most likely had plans for Daelin as well. Earl couldn’t chance spoiling them by saying what he shouldn’t. “Just a hunch as to where she went. She might be home tonight.” He’d keep wishing for it. Her return would save him a lot of worry.
“So tell me the hunch.” Daelin crossed her arms, raising her chin.
Now wasn’t the right moment to reveal Settler’s biggest secret. “In time. I promise.” Earl needed to quit making promises. One of these days he’d have himself all tied up in knots. “Now you,” his fingers thumped on Dante’s chest, “you can handle this pleasantly.”
“What I’m going to do is best for all of us, especially Charming. Take my hand.” Dante reached over Earl.
To define what kind of being Dante was, went beyond Earl’s understanding. Everything about the rift did. He continued to grapple with how he had arrived here and why Dante had gone to great lengths to befriend him. Dante came from the class of beings who controlled the gateway, the Governors. He came to Earth to hide after stumbling upon some unfortunate truths he refused to disclose to anyone except for Charming. Why her? Worse, Earl’s insides knotted over the role he had played in getting her involved.
Daelin scooted out of reach, lifting a box to keep between them. Her instincts had merit. No doubt she’d be recruited by Sabina.
“Your job with the library is about more than books,” Earl said. “We’re on your side. and your sister’s. Let Dante take your hand or you’ll deepen Charming’s troubles.”
“What does that mean?” Daelin backed toward the door. “Deepen her troubles how?” She dropped the box and grabbed a ladle off the stove. “Explain to me what kind of trouble she’s in and how you two dragged her into it.”
For a long minute, Dante studied her, smirking at the flimsy utensil in her hand. He spoke softer. “I’m really glad you moved to Settler. Soon you’ll understand every word we said, but you can’t know yet, and your confusion will lead to troubles just as volatile.”
A sticky spot, indeed. Earl leaned against a tall stack of flour bags, hooking his thumbs through his belt loops. “She’ll need to understand later.”
“Later is key. The rift will reject her if she’s allowed to remember what she knows. It marks her as the Governors’ enemy. They’ll kill her.” Dante’s thumb massaged his knotted brow. “I’d like to avoid her death and mine.”
Daelin growled. “Quit talking about me as if I’m not here, and tell me what you know about my sister. Reject me for what? Enemy of what? What are you talking about?”
By day’s end she might wish she had never moved to Settler. “If you trust your sister, trust us. I swore to her I’d look after you, and I will,” Earl said.
The ladle sliced the air, a respectable slash. “No closer. You love my sister. I saw your photo on the fridge.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Tell her whatever you like, she’ll unknow it in a few.” Dante swept his sandy waves behind his ears, such a human gesture.
“Un-unknow?” Her voiced quivered like tumbleweeds in the wind.
“To keep us and this world safe you must forget what you heard and saw.” Dante leaped before her. His breath hovered on her lips, and his skin turned blue.
The ladle clanked to the floor. She groped for another utensil and came up with a spatula.
Dante didn’t understand restraint. Earl clutched onto his sleeve, yanking him back a step. “Make it less scary. Huh? If she fights, she’ll remember too early.” If this went wrong, Daelin would unravel all of Charming’s lies. “Then I have no chance of saving her sister.”
“This is a nightmare, right?” Daelin slapped the spatula against Dante’s chest.
Chrome pigments in his skin slithered across his cheeks. “Earl can’t rescue your beloved sister if you don’t cooperate.” Dante’s laugh rumbled like stone down a hill. “This won’t hurt.” His eyes shifted from yellow to orange.
She twisted and with all her might kneed Dante between the legs. He fell to the floor like a sack of fools gold. As if scraping off a disease, Daelin brushed her hands over her arms. “What in all the dictionaries is this about?” Her glare snapped, despite the shake in her words.
Dante took a slow breath, his eyes cooling to blue, his hand covering his bruised parts, wincing. “Settler is a junction between worlds. It’s about protecting you and your sister. I can’t tell you more until the time is right, which isn’t now.” He reached for Daelin. “Give me your hand.”
She scooted toward the door, clasping the spatula. “None of this is believable. I don’t know how to believe you. Why are my sister and I so important?”
Dante’s gaze shifted to Earl. Earl tugged at his collar. How did he fit in? His questions numbered as high as Daelin’s. At least she hadn’t been transported into a different century. He wouldn’t tell her she had it easier, though. Nothing about discovering the existence of the rift was easy. “Your sister trusts us. You can believe that.”
“I trained your sister as best as I could in this world and prepared her for the next,” Dante said. Probably trying to be helpful, unaware the words he chose had a morbid connotation.
Earl cleared his throat, raising his voice. “He doesn’t mean—”
Daelin’s forehead furrowed, drawing her dark eyebrows together. “Is she… is she… dead?”
“What he meant is he took the best care of your sister. She trusts us. You can, too.”
hapter
To trust or not? Daelin gripped the spatula until her knuckles turned white, taking a deep breath. “Half my gut says to call the police. The other half worries for Charming. My sister wins. For now.”
As soon as she extended her hand, she regretted the decision. She’d prefer
to maintain control over her fate. She’d prefer to keep the knowledge she had and find her sister. Yet, she knew she was out of her depth. Way out.
Dante’s grip heated as hot as the New York streets in August, and the acrid aroma of char compared to the smell of burned gunpowder, as if she stood in the subway again helpless. Never again.
She met his gaze, refusing to blink. This went beyond crazy, and she knew in her bones Dante was more dangerous than a mugger with a gun. What was he? What was her sister involved in? To get close to him was the quickest way to find out.
No way would she let him think he could push her around, though. “Don’t piss me off, or I’ll turn my sister against you.” Yeah, Daelin could make demands of her own.
Earl smiled and tipped his hat. “You’ll be right and fine. See you shortly.” His footsteps echoed like a death knell when he walked away.
She felt less safe, but wouldn’t admit it to Dante. She stared into his gaze as blue as Settler’s lakes. “Get on with it.” Right. Before she lost all nerve.
Dante’s mouth quirked to the side and he stood, leaning in against her, pressing her up against a refrigerator. “I’m waving the white flag.” His chuckle rumbled against her chest. He stripped the spatula from her grip. It clanged to the floor. “You’ll make a formidable opponent one day, and you’ll fight with me not against me.” He shifted, pinning her beneath him like a long-lost lover and raised his arm to her chin. “Do you like my bracelet? Take a good look at it.”
What? He was every bit as strange as that Trinidad woman, and Earl wasn’t so far off target either. How could any place be more kooky than New York City? Perhaps it was an elaborate prank by her sister: the man in her face with glowing eyes, the wanting her to unknow the most bizarre things. Who would want to know them?
Dante held her like a viper about to strike, and she knew this was no hoax. She had fallen into a rabbit hole. Her gaze fell on his wrist. A band of small crystal ovals graced his muscular arm, flat and opalesque. The colors danced, flaring then dimming.
“Keep watching,” Dante purred into her ear. “Tell me your name, your full given name.”
His bracelet shone blue, the glow burning brighter. Sleep weighted Daelin’s eyelids. “Darlin Dae Long. People call me Daelin.”
“Shhh.” His breath entered her mouth, soft, tasting of toasted bread. “You came into the grill, sat down with Betty and Earl. He left to run errands, you stayed and ordered a sandwich. You like Betty.”
What little she knew of Betty, Daelin did like. That truth seeped deep, taking root in her gut. She licked her lips, remembering Earl’s determination to run after Charming. Repeatedly Daelin thought, rescue Charming. Another sandwich would be great. Something hot with lots of cheese this time. No more chicken.
The gems on Dante’s wrist shifted to yellow. Little lines of green and purple swirled. “You didn’t hear Earl and I talking. What you heard was the TV in my restaurant. An episode of Missing in Memphis. It ended. You understand?”
Maybe a story would help. Right. Earl, the dashing knight, would protect her. Together they’d rescue Charming from the evil chicken and they’d all live happily ever after. The rest of her thoughts slipped, waves of nothingness washing over them. “Yes.”
“When you see the obsidian pillars open the doorway, you’ll remember everything.” The crystals blazed in red, growing more violet. He leaned in, exhaling into her mouth. “You’re going to be the best of soldiers.” The bracelet flashed purple.
Daelin blinked and found herself sitting at a table with the pink lady. “Betty,” she whispered.
The cook, a man who resembled Earl, set a huge sandwich on rosemary focaccia in front of Daelin. “My special chicken club as you ordered, miss.”
Why had she ordered evil chicken? Where was Earl? Charming needed rescuing. Didn’t she? Daelin couldn’t remember, but knew she shouldn’t let the sandwich guy know she was aware things weren’t completely right.
She sighed at Betty. “That episode of Missing in Memphis was really engrossing. I don’t remember Earl leaving.”
hapter
If Dante would have let Earl stay, he would have. Leaving Daelin in his otherworldly hands poked at Earl wrong, as if he broke his promise to Charming. What were she and Dante up to? Part of him believed he should warn Daelin off. The part devoted to Charming said he couldn’t.
“I’ll see how things play out. Yeah.” He filled a cart at the bulk store with items from Wilma’s list, groceries, and a prepaid phone for himself. “No matter what, I can be Daelin’s friend.”
“What’s that, sir?” A young man in a blue and gray apron blinked up at Earl from the floor.
“Just talking to myself.”
“It’s a rampant disease in this town.” The stock boy carted off his empty boxes, shaking his head.
After loading up his pickup, Earl headed back to Dante’s. Daelin sat with Betty, watching the television, picking at her sandwich. Whether it was magic or an ability of alien origins, Dante must have succeeded in erasing Daelin’s memories of the afternoon. Earl deduced so because Dante left her alone. Yet she appeared restless.
“My errands are done. Do you want to see more of Bend?” he asked her.
She shook her head, her dark eyes crinkling slightly at the edges, the hint of a frown. “I’m anxious to see my sister. What if she’s home? I can see the sights another time.”
Her teeth tugged on her lower lip, red and full. The sun had deepened her olive complexion. The sun had more strength in the high desert, suffusing the thinner air with its intensity. Yet, if Daelin had never set foot outdoors in her entire life, she’d still not have the fairness Charming did.
Their beauty was as individual as their fathers. Charming had told Earl about their free-spirited mother, and he had the honor of meeting Rosalie Dae Moon two months ago. He had honestly never met anyone like her. A saloon gal in San Francisco he had once known came close, and if she had lived in this century she might have rivaled Rosalie, but he doubted it. At any rate, Daelin showed more of her mother’s spunk than Charming.
“Sure thing.” His girl could return tonight, then he could quit lying. He tipped his hat at Dante. “See you.”
Dante’s eyes sparked like electric lemons. “Stay away from the horses.”
Earl didn’t like the way he said it. Sooner rather than later he needed to figure out how to take Dante on and win. It’d be necessary for his survival. Mostly he worried for Charming’s.
With a hand to her elbow, Earl escorted Daelin out to his pickup. Her height made it easy for her to climb up into the cab. The truck started with barely a rumble. Its power surged up his leg when he pressed down on the accelerator, a high he would have missed if he had never been brought into this century. He steered toward the highway and whatever fate had been set into motion by Dante and his girl. The way Daelin sat as the mountains whooshed by, she couldn’t have any idea what she had agreed to when moving in with her sister.
Her lips pursed, and she glanced at Earl. “It’s not much of a city,” she said. “When you mentioned going to the city on my sister’s porch, I had such great hopes. I don’t see anything taller than a two story house.”
In his time, San Francisco had bustled more than the towns around here. He could see her point. “We could swing through downtown if you’d like.” That wouldn’t bolster her impression, though. He shrugged. “Give it a chance. It’ll grow on you.”
“Maybe Portland. I can’t see staying in Settler long.”
Yes, a lot like her mother. “Rosalie didn’t. Three weeks was her limit.”
The knot between Daelin’s eyes threatened to burst into storm. “My mother? She was here? You met her?”
The coldness in her tone didn’t escape him. Charming had harbored it too. He’d best tread cautiously. “She visited in April.”
“Charming never said.” Daelin crossed her arms. Her jaw stiffened, and she glared at the world. “How long have you been seeing her?”
&
nbsp; What an abrupt change of subject. He shifted in his seat. “Seeing her? Who?”
“Don’t play dumb. You don’t strike me as dumb. How long have you and Charming been together? I saw a photo of the two of you on her refrigerator.”
Oh boy. Dante had succeeded. She didn’t have any memory of having talked about this earlier. “It’s not like that.”
“Then how’s it like?”
If he said anything other than what she expected, she’d not believe him. Yet he could only answer with the truth. “We’re good friends. I gifted some money to the Paleo Institute so they could hire a paleontologist. I helped interview the candidates. Charming and I hit it off.”
“I think there’s more to it than that.”
Oh, there was, but Earl would keep his secrets.
hapter
Why wouldn’t he admit he was in love with her sister? Well, if he wouldn’t own up to it, Daelin would wager people in town had plenty to say. With less than a thousand souls, everyone in Settler had to know everyone else’s business.
How many secrets did Charming keep? Why had she never said she had patched things up with their mother? Granted, Rosalie was an extremely sore spot with Daelin, so Daelin could forgive Charming’s discretion. Not about the boyfriend, though. Why keep Earl a secret? It made no sense. Maybe if Daelin knew him better the answers would come.
“Did you grow up in Settler?” she asked.
His palm tapped on the steering wheel. “No. Never spent much time in Oregon until recently. I moved around a lot. Guess I bought into the commercial, ‘Come Settle in Settler’. Have you seen it?”
The tiny town had a commercial? Daelin would have to search it out and watch. She could use a laugh. “How long have you lived here?”
“Five years. Charming said you all moved around a lot.”
