Eight of Hearts: The Rift Blade - Book 1

Chapter 42

Shyla stood, gathering her mental reserves as she braced herself to follow Adriana into the unknown. She stopped short as she realized something was missing: the body of Stink-bug's daughter had vanished without a trace. "Wait!" she called as the others started filing through the portal. "Where's the girl I carried in here?"

"Someone must have moved her already," Isaac commented. "Come on, you'd better hurry or you'll get left behind."

Most of the group had already passed through the portal ahead of them, but no one had been carrying anything as significant as a body.

Shyla stood motionless, her senses alert and her nerves on fire. Something was wrong. The air felt cold, and the chemical smell of smoke and iron permeated the small vault. It reminded her of the long nights she spent in the field tracking dimension-hoppers. There was a sudden skittering noise behind her, and she instinctively reached for her gun.

"Come on, Shyla!" James called, his head poking back through the portal. "We'll be safe once we go through, I promise!"

She gave her surroundings one last look, then relaxed. The strange feeling had passed, and there was no sign of anything unusual. She stepped up to the portal and saluted Isaac and Tobias who stood waiting on her. "Well, here we go then," she said. She took a deep breath, then stepped through.

Tobias stood in front of the portal, taking a moment to force down the emotions that were twisting his gut. He knew he couldn't let his failures trip him up, or he would never catch up to James. He swore to himself that one day he would pay him back for all these years of kindness.

"You hanging in there, chum?" Isaac asked, clapping him on the shoulder.

Tobias turned to face him, meeting his smile with a grave expression. The look of shock Isaac had given him during the confrontation with Dr. Higgins was still fresh in his mind. "Isaac...are you going to be okay?" he asked.

Isaac's smile flickered, then faded away. Tobias saw a glimpse of something hidden beyond the cheerful banter and excessive optimism. So he really is human, Tobias realized. It was strange, because the cheerful Isaac never seemed to be a front, but there were still hidden layers to him that Tobias had yet to understand.

Then his smile returned just as quickly as it disappeared. "Absolutely!" he crowed, his eyes lighting up with joy as he pumped his fists. "I can't wait to try out the rides!"

"Rides?" Tobias repeated. "What rides?"

Isaac didn't respond as he strolled through the portal and vanished.

Tobias shook his head. He would probably never understand him. Even so, he was left feeling somewhat cathartic after that little exchange. If Isaac could push through the pain after what they had experienced, then so could he.

He took a deep breath and stepped through the portal. The dark orb closed behind him, leaving the vault silent once more.

Jonas looked out across the wasteland that stretched in front of him. The sight unnerved him. The way the sky stretched out in a single shade of mauve as though painted on; the way the bluish-gray ground was shattered as though frozen in the midst of an explosion; the strange bushes that littered the land despite how dry everything was.

Bryce stood braced against a pillar of stone that jutted out of the ground next to him, while the others--excluding Adriana, who sat lounging against a rock nearby--were taking a moment to rest in the rocky alcove from which they had emerged from the portal.

"This terrain isn't natural," Jonas commented aloud.

"What, you think somebody made all this?" Bryce asked, using heavy sarcasm. "I would hate to meet the design team responsible for this mess."