Truths in a Rift (The Traveling Rifts Trilogy: Book Two)

Downed Dragon

"Miss? Can I help you?"

An elderly woman sat behind the librarian's desk, staring at the girl. She was an overweight, wrinkly woman who wore all brown, but had an open disposition. Aris realized she had been standing at the entrance to the library and staring at the interior of the building. She quickly flashed the librarian an awkward smile.

"No, no, thank you."

She quickly sped towards Raven, who was glaring at her a few yards away. However, the moment Aris had stepped through the door, she couldn't help but stop. Of course, she didn't remember if she liked books or not growing up, but after the convergence, Aris knew she wasn't overly fond of sitting somewhere with a pile of words in her lap. She preferred action, something to do. But, still, she felt nostalgic coming into the library. Her mother loved books. It was one of her favorite pastimes.

Sighing, Aris traveled through the building until finding a computer and sitting in the cushioned chair in front of it. The knife's sheath stabbed into her leg, and she readjusted it with a grimace. Once situated, she looked at the screen, and discovered something bad. Something very, very bad.

They needed a code to use the computer.

"This is not good," the girl said, staring at the screen. Hearing the sound of something unbuttoning, Aris glanced to Raven. He held a wallet.

"Isn't it handy women carry purses all the time?" he asked, though his tone was bored. The elf pulled out a library card and offered it to Aris.

"What?" Aris took it from him. She glanced back to Raven and hissed, "Did you steal this?"

"Don't worry, we'll give it to the librarian once we're finished. You don't think that far ahead, do you?"

Face burning and conscience prickling, Aris typed in the letters on the back of the card and found herself with a thirty-minute time slot to work with. Quickly, she pulled up Google maps. Raven put a hand on the back of her chair and leaning over, palm resting on the desk. Aris paused for a sliver of a moment, heart racing.

Stop it! she scolded herself.

Chewing the inside of her mouth again, the girl focused back on the computer and her eyes lit up.

"We're in a city named Oshawa," she said, staring at the foreign name.

Raven didn't answer.

Aris ignored him and quickly typed in the address in her book. She had memorized it the night she had seen it, and now wrote it with confidence. Kingston, Ontario. The girl glanced back to the screen curiously. It was over one hundred and sixty miles away. That would take around three hours in a car, but Aris had no idea how long it would take for the group to get there. They were all so tired and injured.

"Let's print it," Raven said, leaning back again. He began fishing around in the wallet for money.

"What?" Aris asked incredulously, turning to him.

Raven glanced up. "You seriously didn't think you could memorize that, did you?"

Embarrassed by him, once again, Aris turned away and waited for him to get the money.

"Excuse me, sir, could you help us?" he asked a passing librarian, this one middle-aged with a brown mustache.

The man jumped a little, startled by Raven's unusual appearance. His hair covered the tips of his ears, but the elf still had pasty skin and soiled clothes, which would be enough for anyone to turn their head.