The Rift (8 page)

“
But? Wait, Pieter, did you write
down your login and password?”

“
Uh, yeah.”

“
You can’t do that! Someone
might…”

“
Neil! No one cares about an email
server in Panama! It’s not what we’re worried about.”

Neil turned a pouty face to his laptop screen.
“Well… you
should
be. Fine, take your password. But memorize
it. Then burn it later. Now seriously, you get why we can’t just
ignore this whole thing, right? It won’t ignore us.”

Sure, it might not, but that didn’t make it
easier to handle. That didn’t make it easier to want to take
action. The joint in Pieter’s car sounded really nice right
now.

“
Okay, so what are the other
scenarios?”

“
Scenario two: Zip the lips. We
kill Jed and his sidekick before more highlanders come through.
Then we go back to our quiet lives.” He said it so casually, as
though planning a raid in WoW. The thought of real violence—so
unlike the video game imitation—made Pieter shiver. The night
before had been enough to last a lifetime.

“
Or scenario three: Save the
world.” Neil grinned as he said it. “Kill Jed for secrecy then do
exactly what James asked: Fight a guerilla war against Terian and
make Earth a graveyard for his forces. Make sure Rolland wins then
get rewards and glory. And the girls.”

“
Assuming Rolland’s the good
guy.”

Neil swirled back and forth in his chair.
“Well, if the prince shows up with an army, it’ll be pretty
obvious, yeah?”

Pieter stared open mouthed at his friend. “Are
you joking?”

“
Usually, I’m the one asking
you
that question.”

Pieter glanced at the sword hanging on the
wall. “So, you been… waiting for this or something?”

Neil swiveled and stared dead on at Pieter.
“What, expect a portal to open in my backyard and somebody to come
out and tell me I have to save world?” He breathed heavily. His
eyes had an impulsive, agitated look. Pieter hadn’t seen him this
excited since the first WoW expansion, back when they’d hung out a
bit more and been better friends.

“
You sound like you’re enjoying
yourself,” Pieter said. “Like Bad Guy Destroy.”

Neil stared into the distance, an absent,
pleasant look on his face. They both remembered it, meeting as kids
living in the same neighborhood when they were four, right after
Pieter’s family moved to SLO. Their parents had made them play
outside in the park, and the two became best friends. They invented
Bad Guy Destroy, a game that involved turning every toy into a
laser, bazooka, or sword and blasting imaginary bad guys. Co-op,
not versus. It was something like
Halo
back before their
parents let them play violent video games.

“
Enjoying myself? Of course not.”
Neil spun away from Pieter. “This isn’t a game. It’s real danger,
real pain and sweat and blood. Excited? No.” But the wild look
didn’t vanish from his eyes.

“
No, of course not,” Pieter
muttered. He knew which scenario Neil was rooting for. And he
didn’t like it.

Pieter lightly jogged through an empty,
locker-lined hallway. It wasn’t that this weekend’s excitement had
caused him to sleep in; it was that every weekend’s excitement
caused him to sleep in. Now that he drove himself to school, his
mom didn’t bother him in the morning.

Pieter slid into a seat near the back, directly
behind Gloria, just as Mr. Miner finished the roll call. “Pieter
Walters.”

“
Here,” Pieter called out. Every
once in a while, his last name came in handy.

Mr. Miner, a tall black man wearing floating
math symbols on his tie, leaped into a lecture on quadratic
equations. The bleary-eyed students slowly felt the freedom of the
weekend drain away. Pieter stared at the back of Gloria’s
head.

South Obispo High was about ten years old and
lay spread across a hillside surrounded mostly by undeveloped land.
Unlike the older SLO High across town, South Obispo drew students
from nearby county land and a couple towns down the freeway. Pieter
heard some of the teachers who’d grown up elsewhere talk about how
they loved the small town feel of the school and how they never
wanted to teach anywhere else. He couldn’t wait to leave this
parochial village for somewhere fun.

At the same time, he recognized most of the
students. They’d grown up together, and he brought spice to their
life. They appreciated his humor, if he did say so himself.
Barriers of cliques didn’t bother him; no label defined him. He was
Pieter; he got along with everyone from Neil to the football
players. From the potheads to the church kids.

“
The four of us should meet and
talk,” he whispered to Gloria.

She jumped a little at the sound of his voice.
“Yeah, you think?”

“
Hadn’t heard from you since that
night.”

“
It was a lot to take in,
and…”

“
You slept about twelve hours
yesterday?”

“
Yeah,” Gloria said.

“
How about after
school?”

“
I’m busy after school every day
this week, mostly work.”

“
You have a job?” Pieter
asked.

“
Yeah, Bueno Taco. Lots of drunk
college students on weekends.”

“
Sounds entertaining.”

“
Usually.”

Gloria was so different one on one. She
actually talked.

Mr. Miner spoke up. “Pieter, can you tell us
the value of X?”

“
Three fifths,” he
responded.

“
That’s… that’s
correct.”

“
You know me and math; we’re like
this.” Pieter crossed his index and middle fingers and held them
high. “Now, do you mind? I have a conversation to
finish.”

A few laughs around the class. Mr. Miner said,
“Yes, actually. There’s an empty seat up front if you’d
prefer.”

“
Well, Gloria, yes I love you, but
I already have a girlfriend. And I have to pay attention in math
class.”

A few students laughed. Gloria said nothing but
slunk low in her seat. Pieter stared up front and zoned out. His
mind flashed to the dying form of James and the feeling of Croga’s
strength in his muscles.

Then he heard Jed’s words. “Your deaths will
entertain me.”

Mentally, he pictured the highlander as a
little girl in a pink dress and moved the voice up a few octaves.
“Your deaths will entertain me.” Given the choice between terror
and humor, Pieter preferred humor.

Saturday had almost been a blast. Dragging the
girls and Neil into a dark field, becoming the king of that field…
he’d almost managed to make something of the evening. And then Jed
had appeared. And then Neil had decided to charge into battle for
death and glory. It’s not as though they’d accomplished anything.
James still died. Except now, they’d gotten sucked into some weird
civil war from another world. Even Pieter couldn’t make that
fun.

Mr. Miner gave some time-consuming homework
then released them. Gloria waited outside. “I wanted you to see
this,” she said and pulled a little square of thick paper from her
pocket. She handed it to Pieter. “What do you think?”

It was a photograph of a woman wearing a long
blue dress that reached to her ankles. The neckline rested just
below her shoulders. Beautiful but not sexy. Long wavy, jet-black
hair fell to her waist and billowed behind her.

She faced the camera with a very slight smile.
Her dark-brown eyes contained a confidence Pieter had never seen.
She didn’t seem carefree, just convinced that everything in the
world would turn out fine. He couldn’t quite place her age: twenty?
Thirty? She seemed timeless.

Above the woman’s head, some kind of light
threw down beams and bathed her in colors Pieter couldn’t quite put
words to. Blue, yes, but a very crisp blue. It almost looked
Photoshopped.

“
What do you think?” Gloria
asked.

“
She’s hot. Where’d you get
this?”

“
James.”

“
Oh, right. Didn’t he say you
reminded him of her?” Pieter studied the picture then looked up at
his friend. Gloria definitely wasn’t so tall and skinny. But they
both had the pale skin and black hair. “A nice compliment. But he
didn’t say who she was, did he?”

“
Julia. That’s all he said.” She
put the picture in a three-ring binder. “Figure out a time and
somewhere private to meet up, then text me.”

“
Sure thing. I never refuse a lady
wanting to secretly meet with me.”

Gloria’s mouth dropped open and she stared down
the crowded hallway.

“
That’s the reaction they usually
give.”

“
No, do you see that?” she asked,
pointing.

“
Yeah, I don’t think those shorts
fit the dress code.”

“
No, it’s gone. I saw a short,
dark-skinned man. He looked like that… that assistant of Jed’s.
Dek. But he was almost naked and see through, like he wasn’t really
here. He just stood there, and people walked right through him.
Then he vanished. You didn’t see anything?”

“
Spooky. Though streaking is rather
pointless if you’re invisible.”

Gloria didn’t respond.

“
You afraid?” He gave her an
affectionate hug. “Don’t be. You’re wearing your jewelry,
right?”

“
Yes,” she replied, placing her
hand on the zipper of her sweater, a little below her
neck.

“
Good. I’ll get you the staff back
after school. Remember. James said you’re the
strongest.”

The warning bell rang and Pieter dashed down
the hallway. Second period waited across campus, and his mind
churned to produce an excuse in case his feet didn’t carry him fast
enough.

Vero walked toward sixth period music
appreciation, chatting with her two closest friends, Kristin and
Carrie. She liked sixth period. It gave her a nice nap at the end
of the day.

“
Did you hear about those guys
downtown?” Kristin asked. She had long black hair and clothes Vero
wished she could afford. Kristin’s dad was a lawyer; she and Carrie
had both grown up in SLO. They were well connected in the school,
which made Vero connected, too.

“
That was my brother-in-law’s
store,” Vero said.

“
What?” Kristin asked.

“
And I was there.”

“
No way,” they both said at the
same time.

They stopped at Carrie’s locker. The blonde
opened it, checked a mirror, and dabbed on some makeup. Somehow,
beneath it all, Vero could still make out her face.

“
You see them?” Carrie
asked.

“
Yeah,” Vero said. “A sword and a
mace. So weird.”

“
Crazy,” Carrie said. “They hit all
those stores. Then just… like, vanished.”

“
In SLO. In broad daylight.”
Kristin giggled. “What
is
this, Bakersfield?”

Vero had told them, once, where she was
from—and had regretted it ever since. Bakersfield wasn’t
that
bad, mostly poor and hot. But to these girls, anywhere
outside the Central Coast was an unlivable ghetto. They walked into
music appreciation.

“
Hello,” a timid voice said from
the back row.

Vero glanced toward the voice. Gloria? Despite
the warm weather, the girl wore a loose sweater and some jeans.
Vero’d noticed her a couple times earlier in the day, but they
hadn’t spoken since Vero and Pieter had run off with the
weapons.

“
Hey,” Vero said. “How’s
things?”

Gloria shrugged. “You know, fine.”

“
A friend?” Carrie
asked.

“
We met this weekend,” Vero
replied. She smiled at Gloria. “You want to come sit with us?” she
motioned toward the right side of the room.

Carrie scowled. Gloria glanced at the three of
them then looked down at her desk. “No, thanks.”

Probably for the best. Vero walked with her
friends to their normal spot. “How’d you meet?” Kristin
asked.

“
Didn’t I tell you about that
double date Pieter made me go on Saturday night?”

“
You mentioned it…”

“
It was for this old friend of his,
a guy named Neil. He was pretty, well, let’s just say there’s a
reason he needed Pieter to try and work out a date for him.” They
laughed. “Gloria was the female sacrifice.”

“
They hooking up?” Carrie asked a
little too loudly.

Vero shook her head. “Doubtful.”

Carrie lowered her voice and said, “I’ve seen
that girl around since I was six. We’ve never spoken.”

“
She’s just so plain, not to
mention a little… uh… pudgy,” Kristin added. “I’m not
surprised.”

Vero said nothing. Yes, plain described Gloria
very well. But of all of them, Gloria had noticed James’s injury.
She’d insisted on calling an ambulance to try and save him. Deep
strength and kindness hid inside that quiet shell.