From all their afternoons and evenings together, Earl knew Dante hated surprises. Especially this kind. He jumped in front of Daelin and pushed Dante back. His fingers heated up, blistering, but he didn’t let go. “Watch yourself. Remember who she is.”
“Explain.” Her tone could whiplash bedrock.
The whole truth of the rift and Dante strained reason. Snippets had to threaten sanity. Earl did his best to put a reassuring smile on his face. “No lying. He can see a lie. How long have you been out here?”
Her olive complexion paled. “N-not long.” She stood straighter, locking gazes with Earl. “You know where Charming is.”
She’d come off as downtrodden earlier, and due to the tales of despair he’d heard from Charming, he had assumed Daelin weak. Wrongly so. She had spunk, and she’d need it.
A mountain would cower before Dante’s full bluster, but he couldn’t mean it. He had called last month asking about Charming, showing keen interest in the arrival of the sister. He had plans. Earl didn’t like being in the middle of something he didn’t know two hoots about.
More than anything, he had promises to keep to Charming. She most likely had plans for Daelin as well. Earl couldn’t chance spoiling them by saying what he shouldn’t. “Just a hunch as to where she went. She might be home tonight.” He’d keep wishing for it. Her return would save him a lot of worry.
“So tell me the hunch.” Daelin crossed her arms, raising her chin.
Now wasn’t the right moment to reveal Settler’s biggest secret. “In time. I promise.” Earl needed to quit making promises. One of these days he’d have himself all tied up in knots. “Now you,” his fingers thumped on Dante’s chest, “you can handle this pleasantly.”
“What I’m going to do is best for all of us, especially Charming. Take my hand.” Dante reached over Earl.
To define what kind of being Dante was, went beyond Earl’s understanding. Everything about the rift did. He continued to grapple with how he had arrived here and why Dante had gone to great lengths to befriend him. Dante came from the class of beings who controlled the gateway, the Governors. He came to Earth to hide after stumbling upon some unfortunate truths he refused to disclose to anyone except for Charming. Why her? Worse, Earl’s insides knotted over the role he had played in getting her involved.
Daelin scooted out of reach, lifting a box to keep between them. Her instincts had merit. No doubt she’d be recruited by Sabina.
“Your job with the library is about more than books,” Earl said. “We’re on your side. and your sister’s. Let Dante take your hand or you’ll deepen Charming’s troubles.”
“What does that mean?” Daelin backed toward the door. “Deepen her troubles how?” She dropped the box and grabbed a ladle off the stove. “Explain to me what kind of trouble she’s in and how you two dragged her into it.”
For a long minute, Dante studied her, smirking at the flimsy utensil in her hand. He spoke softer. “I’m really glad you moved to Settler. Soon you’ll understand every word we said, but you can’t know yet, and your confusion will lead to troubles just as volatile.”
A sticky spot, indeed. Earl leaned against a tall stack of flour bags, hooking his thumbs through his belt loops. “She’ll need to understand later.”
“Later is key. The rift will reject her if she’s allowed to remember what she knows. It marks her as the Governors’ enemy. They’ll kill her.” Dante’s thumb massaged his knotted brow. “I’d like to avoid her death and mine.”
Daelin growled. “Quit talking about me as if I’m not here, and tell me what you know about my sister. Reject me for what? Enemy of what? What are you talking about?”
By day’s end she might wish she had never moved to Settler. “If you trust your sister, trust us. I swore to her I’d look after you, and I will,” Earl said.
The ladle sliced the air, a respectable slash. “No closer. You love my sister. I saw your photo on the fridge.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Tell her whatever you like, she’ll unknow it in a few.” Dante swept his sandy waves behind his ears, such a human gesture.
“Un-unknow?” Her voiced quivered like tumbleweeds in the wind.
“To keep us and this world safe you must forget what you heard and saw.” Dante leaped before her. His breath hovered on her lips, and his skin grew blue.
The ladle clanked to the floor. She groped for another utensil and came up with a spatula.
Dante didn’t understand restraint. Earl clutched onto his sleeve, yanking him back a step. “Make it less scary. Huh? If she fights, she’ll remember too early.” If this went wrong, Daelin would unravel all of Charming’s lies. “Then I have no chance of saving her sister.”
“This is a nightmare, right?” Daelin slapped the spatula against Dante’s chest.
Chrome pigments in his skin slithered across his cheeks. “Earl can’t rescue your beloved sister if you don’t cooperate.” Dante’s laugh rumbled like stone down a hill. “This won’t hurt.” His eyes shifted from yellow to orange.
She twisted and with all her might kneed Dante between the legs. He fell to the floor like a sack of fools gold. As if scraping off a disease, Daelin brushed her hands over her arms. “What in all the dictionaries is this about?” Her glare snapped, despite the shake in her words.
Dante took a slow breath, his eyes cooling to blue, his hand covering his bruised parts, wincing. “Settler is a junction between worlds. It’s about protecting you and your sister. I can’t tell you more until the time is right, which isn’t now.” He reached for Daelin. “Give me your hand.”
She scooted toward the door, clasping the spatula. “None of this is believable. I don’t know how to believe you. Why are my sister and I so important?”
Dante’s gaze shifted to Earl. Earl tugged at his collar. How did he fit in? His questions numbered as high as Daelin’s. At least she hadn’t been transported into a different century. He wouldn’t tell her she had it easier, though. Nothing about discovering the existence of the rift was easy. “Your sister trusts us. You can believe that.”
“I trained your sister as best as I could in this world and prepared her for the next,” Dante said. Probably trying to be helpful, unaware the words he chose had a morbid connotation.
Earl cleared his throat, raising his voice. “He doesn’t mean—”
Daelin’s forehead furrowed, drawing her dark eyebrows together. “Is she… is she… dead?”
“What he meant is he took the best care of your sister. She trusts us. You can, too.”
hapter 