Page 38 of Monsters of Mayhem

“This is like your command center,” Laney commented, glancing over at the table as she moved towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, you could call it that,” I said. “Now we just have to figure out what we’re going to take control of.”

“Can you see where the problems in the rifts are?” Eunice asked.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s hard to get the rifts to stay closed. That’s one of the problems with monster energy. They have the potential to disrupt the frequency and they can change it up if they’re being clever.”

“It nearly killed me,” Ratchet said loudly. I watched as he glanced over at Laney. Laney glanced back, rolled her eyes, and went back to looking for food in the fridge.

“Whatever is going on in the world, we’re going to have to figure it out from here before we plan our attack.” I placed my hand on the table and started reviewing the global rifts, looking for monster activity.

Chapter 22

We spent the afternoon looking at the map of the world identifying all the rifts. I saw the one where Ryder and Ratchet had just gone to fight against the monsters in Greenland where the frost giants lived. It was so amazing to see this side of Ryder. I’d always known he’d been hiding something from me, but never in my wildest dreams had I imagined it was this.

Laney got stuck in to work with the witches making lunch but I stayed over by the map watching exactly what was going on. There was a rift in Australia that ended in Uluru or Ayers Rock as it used to be known. There was the rift in Greenland, Jackson Hole, Atlanta, Hawaii, and even the Florida Keys. The more I looked at the map, the more I realized there were rifts all over the planet.

“All of these rifts lead to monsters?” I asked.

“The rifts lead to any number of places,” Ryder said, leaning toward me to make sure I heard him over the noise of the others. The witches were chatting away fiercely in the kitchen, discussing different potions and spells they could use to combat the monsters. “The biggest problem is not combatting monsters themselves. It’s trying to find out who’s holding the reins. The one who is trying to open so many of the rifts at the same time.”

There was a row of crystals along one end of the table the witches had placed when they arrived. At one point they started shaking and glowing until a shimmering screen came up from them.

“Oh, good Lord,” Ratchet said. “I told you this would come back to haunt us.”

“What would come back to haunt you?” I asked.

“She’s got questions,” Ryder shrugged. “Let her talk.”

A beautiful woman came up on the screen. I had to swallow hard. It was my knee-jerk reaction to be jealous of Ryder and any woman who came around. I couldn’t help it. I knew it wasn’t an attractive quality, but it was the way I had programmed myself during all the years he wasn’t around when I thought he was with somebody else.

Now I knew that wasn’t true.

I was stuck with the realization in the pit of my stomach that he loved me. He had just told me he really loved me. Maybe now we had a real chance. So, even as I stared at the beautiful dark woman on the screen, I didn’t have to think she might be an enemy. Ryder was mine.

“Vina,” Ryder said coldly.

“I’m not here alone,” Vina said, and whatever was telecasting her image zoomed out and I could see she was in a room full of other people. They all had the same shimmering look I had gotten used to seeing around Ryder. They were all demigods.

“You needed to bring the whole council together?” Ryder asked. “I thought we were solving this problem one rift at a time.”

“The problem’s getting worse,” Vina said. “We need to know what you’re doing about it,”

“I’m doing everything I can about it,” Ryder said. “Are the rings safe?”

“Indeed, they are. They’re still in the safe where we placed them before, but all of the demigods are feeling disturbances in the forcefield that protects our land. There has to be something more you can be doing. If you need support, we’re here for you.” Her words were supportive but they sounded more like a command.

I saw Ratchet roll his eyes to the side. Hopefully the demigod council didn’t see.

“You hardly helped when I asked you to check on Caroline,” Ryder criticized.

“A banshee is not our problem,” Vina countered. “The rifts are your problem.”

“We’ve got this handled,” Ryder responded.

“Get it handled in the next twenty-four hours,” Vina said. “Or else we’ll have all the demigods involved.”

The screen shut down and chatter went up around the room.

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