Page 26 of Kael

Jack shakes his head, but he doesn’t push. Instead, he leans in slightly, lowering his voice. “From one Aussie to another—can we trust the rebels?”

I don’t hesitate. “Yeah. There’s some arsehats, and the politics are a mess, but Varek saved my life. I owe him everything.”

He nods, mulling that over. “Good to know.”

I grin. “Keep your room locked, though. Fringt—little grey dickhead, Dreting species—steals anything he can tie in knots.”

Jack laughs, but if he knew what a nightmare it was trying to get by without a belt for a week while wearing pants two sizes too big because Fringt decided the leather strap was his new favourite toy, he wouldn’t find it so funny.

Time’s ticking. I clap Jack on the shoulder. “All right, mate. Gotta move.”

“Wait,” Jack says, and for the first time, his easy-going demeanour wavers. He hesitates, then glances at the Pyronox—his mate, I’m guessing—before looking back at me. “I—Solan and I—were hoping to talk to you before you left.”

I frown. “About?”

“How you got here. And the rifts.”

My stomach flips. Oh. Igetit. He’s new here. It’s all overwhelming. But there’s something about the way he asks that throws me. Something too intense. His mate shifts closer, his easy, fanged smile dimming.

Jack exhales. “I want to know how to get back.”

My heart pangs. “There’s no way to get home.” My voice is quiet but firm. “Believe me. If there was, I wouldn’t still be here.”

Jack runs a hand down his face, looking frustrated. “It’s not for me,” he says finally. “It’s for my nephew, Jamie. He’s only twelve.”

My chest aches.

I glanced at the kid who’s stuck here yesterday, but twelve…. Fuck, that sucks. But thankChristhe has his uncle. At least he’s not alone.

Jack watches me closely. “Do you know how the rifts are caused? If they’re natural?”

I pause. “Natural? As in?”

He exhales sharply. “Could someone be causing them?”

Solan tenses, shooting Jack a wary look. “Careful,” he warns.

Jack doesn’t back down. Instead, he looks me dead in the eye and says, “Sonny is Aussie. If there’s anyone I can trust, beyond you, Jamie, and Calythra, it’ll be him.”

My brain spirals. Jack thinks someone is responsible for the rifts? For bringing us here? My heart kicks up in my chest.

Who?Why?How?

It’s too much to process. Not when I’m about to head out. Not when Dawson is possibly dying. Not when I’m already running on fumes.

Solan must sense it because he reaches for Jack’s arm, gently pulling him back.

Jack exhales, giving me a reluctant nod. “We’ll talk when you get back.”

Well… at leasthethinks I’m coming back. That’s more faith than most folks will have in me, I suspect.

He nods, and I head off, mentally running through what else I need to grab before I’m stuck with Kael for four days of trekking through hell. Focussing on that at least helps me push what else he said to me away.

I shake off my unease and continue further into the heart of Dathanor. The cavern walls are rough beneath my fingertips as I trail my hand along them, the luminescent veins pulsing faintly in response to my touch. They hum with warmth, casting a soft glow that lights the narrow passageway leading to my room.

Before this place was in Terrafeara, it had been underground in another world. A hidden refuge ripped straight from one reality and stitched into another. Sometimes I wonder what it must have been like before, when underground, when surrounded by a floating lake or river. Amongst all the terror here, I can’t help but wonder how life would have been if I’d ended up in a different dimension from this one.

But I don’t have time to get philosophical about the cool, otherworldly badarsery of my surroundings. I have less than onehour before I’m expected to leave with a Glowranth who might very well kill me before the trip is even over.

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