Page 45 of Rifted Hearts
Something had frightened the creatures, whatever theywere. Trash scorpions seemed a good enough name, and Remi wanted to follow them in flight.
But another scream rang out, and he made his decision.
He was going in.
Despite the shroom light, the room he stepped into was so dark he couldn’t make out much except for bulky forms that could be furniture—or monsters about to kill him. He partially transformed, the improved low-light vision and hearing from his altered eyes and ears offset by a spike of panic. Chinchillas didn’t do heroics.
He ignored a growing certainty this was the worst decision he had ever made and forced his legs to move. His surroundings were clearer now, the terrifying shapes resolving into overturned cubicle desks. Part of the ceiling had collapsed in one corner, and a door leading out to a corridor had been torn off its hinges.
The screams had come from that direction.
A purplish glow provided more light in the corridor. It came from masses of phosphorescent fungi that coated the walls and dripped down from the ceiling.
Remi picked up his pace, now hearing a snuffling noise. As faint as it was, it was enough to guide him down a branching corridor. Another cry ripped out, agonized and despairing, and he couldn’t stop himself from peering around the corner. He stared, trying to take in what he was seeing.
Bubbles of water drifted up from the floor to the ceiling, a dizzying reversal of gravity. Soft white light diffused through the liquid curtain, turning the spheres of water into glowing orbs.
It was beautiful, as was the creature trapped behind the display. Translucent white and close to Remi’s height if it stood instead of floating in the air, the creature swayed in agentle rhythm. Delicate, frilled tendrils gestured to him, calling him to come closer and help free the poor thing. It was lovely and kind, and he would have everything he wanted if only he let it out.
“No fucking way, bitch.” Remi said that part out loud.
It was a phantom, trying to lure him to his death. Remi pushed the phantom’s psychic assault out of his mind and followed it up with a mental image of a sea turtle gobbling down jellyfish. Not exactly a sexy thought so his counter assault didn’t have much impact on the murderous invertebrate, but the creature pulled the plug on its psychic version of a siren song.
Colors flashed over the phantom’s skin, not a language exactly, but Remi had always excelled at interspecies communication.
This food is not as stupid as the big one.
With a sinking feeling, Remi took a closer look. The phantom floated over a crumpled shape on the floor. He took in a hulking tattooed arm then and a thick leg. Finally, he caught a glimpse of a face, set into a frozen expression of dazed fascination.
The phantom had Zale, and that didn’t bode well for the half kraken’s continued survival. His cousin must have put two of his accessory tentacle-brains together and figured out Remi wanted to find Kat for his own purposes.
Remi had no idea what to do. The inverse waterfall must prevent the phantoms from getting out butnotstop them from luring prey in with their psychic abilities. He couldn’t fight a monster that had incapacitated one of the Colony’s best fighters. Maybe Lyall could do something, but Remi hadn’t found any sign of the hellhound, or Kat.
He needed to follow Amanita’s advice. Kaveh would be here soon, even if he couldn’t enter the base proper withoutreleasing the barrier that prevented the murder jellies from breaking free. Remi could retreat to the guard post, meet Kaveh there, and come clean.
The thought of admitting his treachery to Kaveh made him want to vomit. It might be better to stay here with the phantom.
No, that was a good way to get killed.
Remi made his decision and stepped back, but he was brought up short by a forearm across his throat.
“You little traitor.” Those words and Mabel’s voice sent a chill of panic into Remi. The pressure against his throat barely let him take in a breath, and she held something sharp against his left flank that had to be the knife she was planning to sink into his kidney. “That stunt with the bird, telling us the Don sent you—all lies. No sign of Lyall or the hostage here either.”
“Zale told us you sucker punched him and ran off.” Fable loomed over him now, a metal-tipped baseball bat instead of a banana in his hand. One of his caterpillar-like eyebrows had been singed off by the fire birds, giving his already unpleasant features added asymmetry. “Now that jellyfish thing’s got him. It’s your fault.”
“I came here to see if Lyall was following orders.” Remi wheezed out the words, which weren’t exactly a lie. “Maybe the hellhound pulled a fast one on us both. Look, Zale’s in trouble. Don’t you want to help him?”
“That overgrown jellyfish is going to eat someone.” Mabel snarled the words into his ear. “I’d rather it was you than Zale or the two of us. Go in and get him out, or I’ll gut you right here.”
Neither of those options sounded appealing.
Remi was desperate enough to try a partial truth. “Kaveh Salehi is the Saguaro Rift clan’s Azdaha, an immenselypowerful earth dragon. Let me go, and I’ll talk Kaveh into helping Zale. That way no one gets eaten.”
“Go in there now or you’re dead.” Mabel released his neck and shoved him forward.
Remi ended up sprawled in front of the water curtain, staring up at the swaying tendrils of the phantom. Colors flashed across its glittering, bell-shaped head, giving him an impression of smug satisfaction on the phantom’s part.
“Zale, wake up.” Remi tried to reach out with his powers to his cousin, but all that did was cause Zale to groan and mumble, “You’re beautiful,” in the phantom’s direction.
