Page 45 of Lust

“What am I looking at?”

“Another world. Dobbers was like Cody. He could feel the presence of the Rift, this tear between our world and another. And his powers gave him the ability to probe into that world.”

“What kind of world? Like ours?”

“The Sinners did a lot of occult and New Age reading to come up with their jargon, and they use the phrasesentient thought formsto describe it.”

“Ghosts?”

“Not the best descriptor.Ghostusually refers to something that has lived at some point, but a lot of what’s in this other world has never been corporeal. Some ghosts do end up there, but our understanding is that’s almost an accident—a spirit wanders into the Rift by mistake and gets trapped there. It’s not what I’m describing, though.”

“Are there more Rifts in the world? And others who knew about this before Dobbers and Dad?”

“The Guides have worked with others in the past to close gates and prevent monsters from wreaking havoc on our world. They told Dobbers this is where a lot of myths originated—creatures that escaped and entered our world. Some are still out in the world now, though most of them aren’t as dangerous as the ones the Guides have helped others stop. In that way, Dobbers and your dad were the original Sinners for this Rift, here in Lawrenceville.”

“So what does all this have to do with these powers you guys have? And with whatever I’m able to do?”

“From what we’ve gleaned from the book and our experiments, this alternate world creates an energy around Lawrenceville that we can manipulate.”

He flips a few more pages before displaying one with a cross necklace and some more gibberish. Then he removes his necklace and hands it to me. “These amulets have copper in them, which for whatever reason, this energy from the Rift is drawn to, and it can build up in there like a battery, which helps us use it whenever we choose. We’ve experimented with other metals, trying to improve them, but copper does the trick best.”

So many fucking questions… “This energy is around Lawrenceville, so what happens to your powers when you go home?”

“The energy is everywhere, but it’s stronger here. I can still use it when I’m away, but it’s nothing like when I’m here. Same goes for Codes and Seth.”

“That makes sense, I guess, but Jesus fucking Christ, how do you guys know that it’s okay to be fucking around with energy from another world? I mean, there must be a reason my dad and Dobbers stopped playing around with it, right? At least, I’massuming they did and that’s why they hid their notebook. Have you even talked to Josh Dobbers?”

He shakes his head. “Dobbers passed before your dad, from cancer.”

That hits me like a brick. “And that doesn’t sound disturbing to you?” I start to consider that maybe my parents’ deaths had something to do with all this.

“I don’t want to be insensitive, Luke, but their causes of death were nothing alike. And as far as we know, your mom wasn’t a part of any of this. Sometimes people just die.”

He’s not wrong. They could have discovered this and, unrelated, died of various causes years later, but…I don’t like coincidences. “So why did they leave behind this book with all their secrets, without any explanation?”

“Back when your father and Josh Dobbers went here, when the Guides in the Rift called to them, it was because there was a tear in the Rift—like Cody mentioned, a gate—that allowed evil entities to escape into this world. The Guides showed them how to use their powers so they could protect our world from things that might escape.”

“If that’s true, then why did they stop?”

“They eventually closed the gate, but the Guides had them leave this book behind in case another gate opened, which we believe it has now.”

“This has bad idea written all over it. You guys are playing with fire.”

“I hear your frustration, and we’ve had our own discussions around this, but we’ve had positive experiences with the Rift. And what were we supposed to do—lock this book back up and pretend nothing was happening if a monster escaped and started killing people?”

But for someone who’s been so forthcoming, I can tell he’s holding something back. “I can understand wanting to protectthis world from monsters, but I still don’t know that you should be trusting some book. What did you mean by positive experiences with the Rift? Is that about being good at getting laid?”

His gaze drifts, his jaw tightening. “That’s not what I’m talking about, but I have my reason, just like Seth and Cody have theirs. They’re all deeply personal, so I’d never share theirs, and the most I’m willing to say about mine right now is that it’s a good fucking reason.”

“But you won’t tell me what it is?”

He shakes his head. “Not tonight, no.”

His entire body language has changed. His shoulders tensed, and he’s not looking at me. Even though he’s not willing to share what it is, I’m tempted to believe that, whatever it is, it’s a damn good reason.

Still, there’s a flaw in his logic. “You’re saying you had good experiences with the Rift, but now there’s this thing that came through and already killed someone.”

“Okay, maybe I should have worded that better. We hadn’t had any bad experiences until those visions started up. But like I said, once that happened, knowing what the original Sinners faced, we knew we couldn’t walk away from this.”

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