The Rift Frequency

by Amy S. Foster

  “Well maybe Ezra is experiencing some posttraumatic stress, too. Wouldn’t that be the most likely explanation for his paranoia?”

  “He’s not a Citadel, but you have to give him some credit—Ezra is stronger than you think he is and he would never want me to worry unnecessarily.” I pull the pack awkwardly over my puffy shoulders as I stand.

  “Seriously, Ryn?” Levi says in a snit. “I get that he’s your boyfriend, but how well do you really know him? As well as Henry? As Violet? He isn’t trained for this. For fuck’s sake, we’re trained for this and it’s hard for even us to process. This is crazy town! Sometimes I can barely tell which way is up in here. So are you really gonna stand there and tell me he’s just cruising along because . . . science? And computers? And love?”

  “Stop it!” I half yell. “Stop it with the superiority act. He broke out of the Village. I gave him some helpful hints, but he did that on his own. And you met Audrey, right? She’s a Citadel and she’s a lunatic, so we don’t exactly have the market on sanity. I know you don’t like him. You think he’s the reason we’re here, and you’re right. He is. And you should thank fucking God that he showed up when he did. Unless, I don’t know, you’d rather be a little puppet boy again while ARC, or the Roones, or whoever, tugs at your strings. Now, this is crazy town, but my gut tells me that it’s related—the something that is after him is connected to this weird buzzing that’s driving me bonkers. I know it’s not a logical thing to think, but I just do.”

  I put my hands on my hips, practically daring him to get into it. I know he wants to. I can see it in the subtle twitches around his mouth, in the way he’s breathing. Instead, surprisingly, he relaxes. It’s always strategy with him. He baited me, which means that in his own twisted way he’s already won. How does he do that? Win a fight without actually fighting? Christ, that’s annoying.

  “Well, my gut is telling me that I’m starving. We need to eat. Both of us,” he says, finally standing.

  “No, we should Rift again. I think—”

  Before I can finish my sentence, however, I hear a popping sound and then an odd grunt from Levi. He looks surprised as he reaches for his neck, and then I see the blood spilling out over the collar of his coat.

  He’s been shot.

  “Oh my God,” I say as I rush to him, trying to stanch the gush. Meanwhile we are out in the open, still exposed. “Get under the bleachers,” I tell him quickly. “Take off your pack and get your first aid kit. I’m going to try and get that sniper.” Levi doesn’t argue. He just does as he’s told. I grab at my gun, which has remained under my jacket. My rifle is still attached, too, but I think I would have to go under my sweater to get at it and there’s no time.

  I scan the area. Based on the sound of the shot and where we were sitting, I know the shooter has to have been coming from the west. I run full-out, through a small thicket of trees, until I’m in an open field. In the far distance I see movement, a lone runner, and I sprint in that direction. Once I cross Tenth Avenue I know there is a forested area, but I want to get to him or her before that. Unfortunately, even with my speed, they have had one hell of a head start. Just as I break through the trees, I hear the sound of a Rift opening.

  What the hell . . . ?

  There’s a boom and then that awful whistling that stops me in my tracks. Damn it, is the sound getting louder? I shake my head and continue to bolt, but I am too late. I get there just in time to see the last electric glow of the Rift closing. It folds in on itself like a black box tied with a neon bow being kicked inside out.

  Shit. How is this even happening? Who could know we’re here, except . . . ?

  Edo.

  She could have sent a patrol after us. But they wouldn’t kill us, right? I could believe they would take us back, take us prisoner, even, but if she wanted me dead she’s had plenty of chances. So probably not her. Who is it, then? I race back to Levi. He’s sitting in the dirt under the seats. I crawl under to get to him.

  “I don’t think it hit an artery.” I nod in agreement—if it were an artery, he wouldn’t have been able to stop the bleeding at all. Still, there is a ton of blood and he looks waxy and his lips have lost their pigment. They are an ashen rust instead of their usual scarlet.

  “The patches from the SenMachs?” I ask while grabbing the Maglite from my holster.

  “Bled right through them. I was going to put a coagulant on, but I think maybe there’s something in there. Did you find the sniper?” I gently push his head down and examine the wound with my light. I use my coat sleeve to wipe away the blood. I can see a perfectly shaped O in his neck until the bleeding starts again. If it had just been a graze, the wound would look different. Levi is right, there is most likely a bullet, or at least a bullet fragment, in there.

  “No, they Rifted out.” Levi looks up at me, confused, but I don’t explain further. “We need to go somewhere, somewhere where there is running water and a safe place for me to take care of this where no one will see us.”

  “We could just break in to the school. Use a locker room,” Levi suggests with strain in his voice.

  “Ordinarily I would say yes, but we might live here, or versions of us live here. There are alarms at the school and maybe security guards. I don’t want the other versions of us going to jail. So ditto for a hospital—too many questions we can’t explain away. And we can’t go to a hotel because you’re basically bleeding to death. That might cause some tongues to wag. But there is one place . . .” I dig into my bag and open up the computer again. “What’s the date? I mean, the actual day here?” When the computer says Thursday, I slam it shut again.

  “It’s date night. Perfect. Come on, and keep applying pressure to the wound,” I say as I take Levi’s pack. “Can you walk for a couple of miles?”

  “I think so. But where?”

  “I’m going to go to the one person I trust here. Hopefully this Earth is similar enough that, because it’s Thursday, they’ll be out and she’ll be alone. Sort of.”

  “Who? What? Explain. Blood loss . . . ,” Levi says as he staggers to his feet.

  “Me.”

  “Wha—?”

  “We’re going to my house.”

  Chapter 15

  We don’t exactly run to Meadow Glade, but we keep a brisk pace. It doesn’t take us long to get there, which is a very good thing, because Levi isn’t holding up all that well. I stop at the hedges of my house. I can feel my hands begin to tremble ever so slightly and I clutch at the handles of my pack to get them to stop. She might not even live here—that would suck. I suppose if she doesn’t, we could always just circle back around and go to the garage. It’s not ideal, but it’ll do in a pinch. Might actually be better, now that I think of it, because even if she is here, what the hell am I going to say? I’m going to have to improvise, and possibly lie. Thankfully, those are both skills I excel at. I ring the bell and after a handful of seconds it swings open.

  It’s me. Thank God.

  Ryn Two looks at me and then Levi and then back at me. “What the hell?” She is baffled, but not afraid. Because on any Earth, I’m pretty awesome.

  “I need to come in. Are Mom and Dad on their date night? Where’s Abel?” Ryn Two furrows her brow but opens the door wider and steps aside so we can walk in.

  “Umm . . .”

  “No one is going to hurt you. There’s a totally crazy explanation for this, which you’ll get, but first I need your help because, obviously, you’re the only person I can trust right now. So who’s here?”

  “I’m alone. Yes, Mom and Dad are at the movies and I have no idea who Abel is.”

  “Oh,” I say while practically holding Levi upright at this point. I don’t have a brother on this Earth. The thought makes me ache. I love my brother possibly more than anyone else in the world, and this Ryn doesn’t have an Abel. “You don’t have any brothers or sisters?” I ask hopefully.

  “No, but—”

  “Hello? Bleeding?” Levi interrupts.


  The house looks exactly like mine. It looks so similar that I get a different sort of ache. Being here hurts. I miss my mom and dad. I miss my friends and my bed and my books and the dumb pictures of crazy shit on the walls that my dad’s art school friends made.

  Whatever. I can’t think about that now. I made the right choice. This is a safe place. I know me.

  I race up the stairs dragging Levi along with me. “Where are you going?” Ryn hollers while running up behind us.

  “Up to Mom and Dad’s bathroom. There’s the most space in there, and tile. You can’t stain tile.” I pull Levi along the hallway past my own room and where Abel’s would have been. I don’t even want to look at those doors. It’s too much. I practically yank the doorknob off as I turn and pull it. My parents’ room looks identical, the same velvet duvet and the same wallpaper on the wall above the bed with golden peacocks and tiny purple birdcages. I walk through to the bathroom, which isn’t huge, but it’s big enough for a double sink and an area for Mom to put her makeup on. I quickly grab the stool from the vanity and push Levi down so that he’s sitting on it.

  “So you’re another version of me, right? From another version of Earth somewhere?” Ryn Two asks as she leans against the doorframe and folds her arms. She’s trying to come across as calm, but her heartbeat is giving her away. It’s pounding like a jackhammer and there is a slight tremor to her hands. Up until that point, I had been so focused on making sure we were alone and on Levi’s injury that I hadn’t really looked at her. And also because obviously it’s unnerving as hell to see another version of yourself. But now, it’s unavoidable. Her hair is much shorter than mine, and cut in an asymmetrical bob. It’s actually very flattering, but it makes her look older. She’s a little heavier than me, but not by much, maybe ten pounds. This is the body I would have if I were not a Citadel, if every calorie I consumed weren’t burnt off training, running, and fighting.

  “Twins isn’t your first guess? Like a separated-at-birth kind of thing?” I ask.

  “I read. A lot. And though I don’t go advertising it to my supercool friends, I’m kind of a science-fiction dork. It seems like the most plausible answer.”

  “And ‘alien shape-shifter’ doesn’t make it on the short list, even? Or ‘clones’?”

  “I think if you were some sort of shape-shifter you would have gotten my hair right,” Ryn Two says nonchalantly. “And a clone couldn’t be the same age as me unless it happened at the same time I was born, so . . .”

  “Well, you’re right, Other Ryn,” Levi says. “We’re from another Earth. This Ryn,” he says, pointing at me, “is another version of you, or you’re another version of her, or whatever. But as you can tell from the blood pooling on the floor, I’ve been shot, so maybe let’s focus on that?” Levi’s tone is coming across as something close to rude, but he’s in pain and probably a little freaked that he just got shot, so I just go with it. Ryn Two gives me a slightly irritated look that I’m almost positive would have mirrored my own had I just met Levi. My God this is weird—seeing myself like this.

  “Cuff,” I tell the bracelet, and the sensuit disappears. Levi does the same, and in the light and without the collar of the coat I can see that the wound is much worse than I’d thought.

  “Shit,” I say as I go to my pack and fish out the first aid kit.

  “What was that?” Ryn Two asks with a look of bewilderment on her face, finally verbally showing what her body language has been throwing out from the start.

  “Ryn,” I begin, “trust me, I get how fucking insane this is, but can I ask you to just hold off until we deal with Levi?”

  “Umm . . . yes?” It’s more of a question than an answer, but I’ll take it.

  “Levi, you need to get the top of your uniform off. I’m going to help you. Is that okay? Are you . . . okay?” The last thing we need is the friggin’ Blood Lust to activate. Ryn Two is handling this situation so well that I’m seriously impressed . . . with myself. But if the Blood Lust is triggered, all bets are off. Not only would the strain probably kill Levi, it would put Ryn Two in serious danger. So even though time is a major factor, I am being extra cautious.

  “Yeah. It hurts too bad for anything to happen.”

  I slowly undo the zipper until it’s just past his navel. I grab the uninjured side of his body and ease his arm out. I carefully give the other side of the uniform a tug at the wrist and then gingerly peel the top of it down until Levi is totally bare chested. I catch a glimpse of Ryn Two, who gives me a look that couldn’t be saying anything other than Well done. She must think Levi is my boyfriend. I ignore it. There’s so much I’m sure I’m going to have to explain, but my status concerning Levi is the least of it. I grab a flashlight from my utility belt and hand it over to the other me.

  “Ryn, I need you to keep this light shining on the wound. Okay?” I don’t bother asking if she’s okay with the blood or the gross factor. I know she can deal. Ryn takes the light from me and manages to find a perfect angle so that I can see, but at the same time not be in my way.

  First I clean the wound as best as I can, though it’s tricky business because it won’t stop bleeding. I have to dig in a little with the sanitized wipe. I can feel Levi tense in pain as I do this work. “Do you want something?” I ask him. “For the pain?”

  “Just use the local. I don’t want to be drugged.” I put a vial of local anesthesia into the medical gun and puncture tiny dots around the obvious hole of the bullet wound. Blood continues to trickle down. I continue to wipe it away.

  “I’m numb,” Levi tells me with relief in his voice. The Roone drugs work so much faster than the normal human-made ones. “You know the bullet is still in there, right?” he asks haughtily.

  “Yeah, I’m aware.” I huff outwardly. Most people would be grateful that they weren’t more seriously injured. Most people would be thankful that someone—two someones, actually (though the two someones are, I guess, the same person. So is it just one again?)—is in a position to actually help them.

  Levi is not most people. I try not to think about how much worse this could have been. Just a few millimeters and he would have died and I would’ve been helpless to stop it. Death is a shadow that follows all Citadels around, but I don’t think I could have handled it if he had actually died in my arms. I mean, yes, I could have, obviously. I would have pushed through, but the close call is a rock in my stomach. I’ve been so focused on Ezra, and what he could be dealing with, that I never considered Levi. He’s always seemed practically immortal. Looking at this wound, I know that’s not the case. I realize it’s more than just guilt I feel for putting him in this situation—it’s true anxiety.

  I reach for a tool in the medical kit that will help me pull the bullet from his neck. I don’t need to tell my partner to brace himself for the pain. Even with the local, he’s going to feel this and he knows it. Ryn Two is doing a great job with the light and with keeping quiet. I reach in with the miniature forceps and feel Levi bear down. The whites of his knuckles glow bright as they make fists on his resting knees. I have to fish around a little bit, but luckily, I am able to get to the culprit after a minute or so. I keep my hand steady as I pull it out of the wound, and once I do, it’s followed by another fresh round of bleeding. I bring the bullet into the light to get a better look, and even though my adrenaline is already maxed out, another round begins to race through my body. This is bad.

  “Hold that,” I tell Ryn Two, who right away opens up her palm and allows me to drop our newest worry into her hand. I’ll get to that later—right now I have to get Levi closed up before he bleeds out.

  I clean the wound again, and put some of the clotting agent in it. I close it up with medical adhesive and put on one of the SenMachs’ biopatches. I make sure everything seems to be working—no blood seeping out, basically—then I hold out my palm, gesturing for Ryn Two to hand over what I’d given her. She does so with a look that says she knows that, whatever it is, it’s no traditional bullet. Before I can gi
ve my attention to it, though, Ryn Two says, “Your friend is bleeding from his bracelet, too.” I look down and, sure enough, there is a large pool of blood collecting on the floor from what looks like his wrist.

  “Were you hurt somewhere else?” I ask him quickly.

  “No. I think the suit is cleaning itself,” Levi replies in a tone that suggests the idea doesn’t make him feel any better.

  His discomfort doesn’t matter. Not now. Not with this. I need to have a private conversation with Levi. One that Ryn Two should absolutely not hear.

  “Ryn. Levi needs to get his uniform clean. Could you give us a minute? A private minute?”

  “I could just put it in the washing machine for you,” Ryn suggests helpfully.

  “No. Thank you. It’s a special material and needs hand washing and I’m not sure Levi is wearing anything underneath it.” I mean, she already thinks he’s my boyfriend; might as well embrace the convenient untruth for now.

  “Okay. I’ll be right out here if you need anything. And after that, we are going to have a talk, right?” Smart Ryn. She’s not going to let us have the run of the house. She wants us to know she’s been promised answers. Of course, there’s nothing she can do about it if we decide to just leave, but I’m also pretty sure I can’t knock myself out. I’m guessing Ryn Two knows that. She leaves, closing the door softly behind her. Knowing what I’d do, I check the door, and sure enough, it wasn’t actually closed all the way. I push it shut firmly, and listen as hasty footsteps retreat from near the door. I turn back to Levi.

  “Take off your uniform. We do need to clean it. And honestly I don’t give a shit whether or not you’re naked at this point,” I order Levi in a stern whisper.

  Levi immediately peels off the uniform, and deep down I am relieved he’s wearing boxer briefs. I hadn’t been lying, though. I wouldn’t have cared if he had to stand there stark naked to have this conversation. I open my hand and he takes the thing that had been lodged in his neck. I, in turn, snatch the uniform out of his hands and begin to run it under cold water. A pool of inky blood flutters in the marble sink.