Page 54 of Kingdom of Chaos
Being as secretive as he is, I’m sure Talon doesn’t want to give these two any more information than is absolutely necessary, but we have to tell them some things to get them to trust us.
“Not long ago, we accidently opened a portal to your world. Ensley’s brother, Becks, was shoved through it. He was injuredand couldn’t get back through before it closed.” I take a step toward Violet, appealing to her because she’s been the most reasonable out of the two of them. “He doesn’t know anything about this world. Creatures on our side don’t know you exist any more than humans know about the creature world. His injury was . . . bad.” I have to take a moment to swallow over the lump in my throat before forcing the next words from my mouth. “He’s injured and could be dying for all we know. We have to find him, and fast. We really need your help.”
Noah crosses his arms over his chest and shoots Violet a somber look. “The disturbance in New York.”
“They weren’t sure that was anything,” Violet says, wringing her hands.
He arches an eyebrow. “How much you wanna bet that’s what it was? And that chapter is particularly secretive. We don’t really know what they found.”
“Is this ‘New York’ anywhere near Central Park?” I cut in to ask.
“Central Park isinNew York City,” Violet says, and my heart skips a beat. “How do you know about it?”
“Because I read it on a sign before the portal closed. That’s where Becks went through.”
Noah looks smug, but Violet just seems concerned.
“Come on,” she says. “Let’s get out of the swamp before it gets too late. The gators in the area are used to us, but I don’t feel like getting munched on tonight. The head of our unit will know what to do.”
We trail Noah and Violet to the far edge of the swamp lake, where a boat waits just beyond the tree line. It looks almost identical to the airboat we used back in our world. I know we’re not there anymore, but everything feels so familiar it’s hard to wrap my head around it.
Noah steers the airboat like someone who knows these swamps well. As the light fades, he flips on a headlamp to guide us through the winding rivers until we reach a small dock. Once the boat’s secured, we pile onto the rickety planks, which groan under our weight. Violet and Noah lead us up a muddy embankment to a waiting vehicle.
I freeze when I see it. The brand logo is unfamiliar, and the body shape is slightly off, but otherwise it looks like a regular truck. The paint’s a faded, muddy green, and dents line the side, but it’s close enough to ours that it stops me in my tracks.
“What?” Violet asks when she notices I’ve stopped walking.
“Our trucks look really similar,” I say.
She glances at the vehicle and then back at me. “Really?” she asks as Noah piles in the front seat and cranks it.
“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know what car company that is or anything,” I say. “But all the essential parts look the same.”
She shrugs. “I guess that makes sense. We’ve always been told our worlds, even though they are separate, somehow affect each other. I wouldn’t be surprised to know our industrial and technological advances are similar. Maybe we even fought similar wars throughout history. It would be fascinating to sit down and compare notes.”
She’s not wrong, it would be interesting, but that’s not what we were here to do. “I just want to find my friend and bring him home.”
Pressing her lips together, she nods. “You all must care a great deal for Becks to have gone to such lengths to bring him home.”
“Yeah, we do.”Some of us more than others.
Noah rolls down his window and calls for Violet to get in. She jumps in the passenger seat. Titus and Talon share a quick look and then both jump in the truck’s bed without having to be asked. Miraculously, we all still have our backpacks, Talon’smostly shredded pack included, and so after tossing them in the back with Titus and Talon, Imogen, Ensley, and I cram into the cab’s second row behind Violet and Noah.
The air in Florida is just as muggy as it was back in our world. Noah rolls all the windows down and yells back to Titus and Talon to stay out of sight, saying it’s illegal to drive with anyone in the bed, before he takes off.
The air conditioning in the truck must not be working, because he never rolls up the windows, which makes it hard to converse, so I don’t even try. I spend the drive looking out the windows at the human world. I catch subtle differences, but so far it’s still a lot like ours, which in a way makes it even more shocking. It’s almost like we haven’t traveled to a different world at all.
After only about fifteen minutes, Noah pulls the truck off of the main road and onto a gravel drive. We bump along a dirt-and-sand road for probably less than a mile before he pulls to a stop in front of a boxy two-story house that’s perched up on stilts.
Teal with white shutters and trim, the house is loud. Not in sound, but visually. It’s a large dwelling, rivaling the size of Becks and Ensley’s home, with a full wraparound porch. If I had to guess I’d say it has seven or eight bedrooms.
We pile out of the cab at the same time Talon and Titus jump out of the back bed. They’re chuckling about something, and their hair is windblown. When Talon’s gaze connects with mine there’s a lightness in his eyes I haven’t seen in a while.
Not since that night.
It draws me in.Hedraws me in.
I turn away before I start thinking about that too deeply.
