The throbbing in her face, OK everywhere, kept Daelin wide awake, that and what she had done. She had battled and defeated a ghost. “In all the dictionaries.” She hadn’t expected life in Settler to be filled with monsters and secrets.
Relentless, the pain squeezed and tormented, getting worse instead of better. She pushed herself off the chaise and shuffled to the washroom to get more pain relievers. She doubted the entire bottle would help. Her reflection stopped her, a complexion of scrapes, bruises, and swelling. The robber in the subway hadn’t done half as much damage. If she encountered a thug again, she’d take him on, wail on his head, give him a taste of defeat.
“Right. Mild-mannered librarian has a different definition here too.” Yeah, like fancy, normal, and weird.
She padded to the kitchen to make a sandwich, pausing to stare at the photo of Earl and Charming. Could he be trusted? He held Charming’s life in his hands. Daelin’s too, because life without Charming would be wrong, terribly wrong.
If she waited until morning, she might not find a quiet minute to have a meaningful conversation with him. She washed up and put on clean jeans and a sweater. Needing to feel a little girly, she slipped on her ballerina flats with the gold and pink flowers.
The chilled air outside slapped her, reviving her better than seven cups of strong coffee. A box on the porch caught her attention. It was from Cobb. She tore it open and pocketed her new phone.
Half way down Madeline Street she regretted not driving her sister’s Jeep. Her muscles stiffened, screaming, roaring about her injuries at a higher volume than earlier. Every half block, she had to stop to let the pain settle. Somehow she made it to the library before sunrise and without being seen.
The silver key let her in, and she locked the door behind her. Leaving the blinds down and the lights off, she used her hands to navigate past her desk and the restroom to the closet. Earl sat on the floor inside it, the gem beside him, looking as bad as Daelin felt.
“I made arrangements with Scott to get you to Bend. He’ll be in front of the mercantile at sunup. Dante is expecting you.”
“Why do I have to forget again? The extra information doesn’t make sense of all this.”
“The leather journal Sabina left you will open now. At the end is an oath where you swear to stand against all enemies of the Governors. They’re the folks who regulate the portal and set the rules. Your sister broke almost all of their rules and you know it. With that knowledge and knowing Dante, you’ll be rejected by the Governors. If you have no memory, then you can join.” He rubbed at his shoulder. His shirt had torn and a dark bruise showed. “You don’t have to forget everything, just what you overheard at the sandwich shop, seeing the portal open because that triggers remembering what you overheard Dante and I say, you can’t remember ever meeting Dante, and you’ll have to forget seeing your sister tonight.”
The last item on his list made Daelin frown most. She didn’t want to forget her sister in need of her help. “Why would I want to join a group that considers my sister an enemy?”
“Because you can’t help her if you don’t.” He shifted his legs, groaning. “The other Rifters are her friends. If they know what she knows, they’ll be put in the same peril. They’re not her enemies. It’s the people on the other side. You get it?”
“I think so.” Daelin winced with him, knowing exactly what he felt. “I’ve some pain reliever—”
“Got my own. Start reading the journal. I’ll holler when it’s time to go.”
She limped to her desk, opened the drawer, and took out the leather-bound journal. It fell open at her touch, no sign it had ever been stuck. She fished Charming’s flashlight out of her coat pocket.
Cursive letters ran across the pages. 20th Day of June, 1888. Lightning erupted near the volcanic core, shaking the house. I handed Lilah the shotgun before going out to investigate. The lantern and my rifle kept me company along the trail, which the locals keep clear. They say the volcano’s core is sacred ground. A native called Chuck told me so. Chuck! I’m not sure I should believe him. He loves to tell jokes.
Oh, by the way, on the trail I met a thing, some sort of creature. It resembled a man with blue-silver skin and silver leaves for hair.
The entry ended there. Daelin read several more pages. Patrick Swit had an annoying habit of writing at length about trivial things and the bare minimum of what mattered, like creatures who traveled here from other worlds. “You’d never be published, old man, except the subject matter is fascinating.”
The next several entries revealed the creatures, mostly unfriendly, came through a gateway that formed between two obsidian pillars near the volcanic core. The natives had legends of it in their lore, Grove of the Gods, but reported the rift had been silent for hundreds of years.
Patrick suspected the junction hadn’t always been on this world or in Settler. He surmised the other worlds were places of imagination since he couldn’t travel to them, but their residents could travel here. They are all born of nightmares. Thankfully, the rift only opens in the summer months. Why they have to impede on our short season of great weather is irksome as a bee in my shirt.
He wrote nothing more about his theories, getting lost in the details of summer before laying out his plan of how to protect this world from the others. The Rifters. At the end was a simple oath. I swear to guard and protect this world from all enemies who mean it harm and from all things born of the rift. To unswear is to die.
From 1892 until present day names filled the lines. Only one blank space remained, right under the signature of Charming Moon Knight. Her name glared in red like the others, as if signed in blood. If Charming hadn’t of pleaded for her help, Daelin would walk away, would leave Settler and never come back.
Earl rolled Haw Shot’s crystal across the floor. “It’s time to go.”
Closing the cover, she set the book in her desk drawer. “It stirs up more questions than it answers. Did my sister unswear the oath? Will I be her enemy?”
“Charming wants you to be a Rifter. Either you trust her or you don’t. See you when you get back.”
“Do it,” Cordelia whispered.
Daelin glanced at the portrait. The first librarian smiled today, and her signature had been scrawled under the oath. Otherwise, listening to ghosts made no sense. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t leave her sister in peril.
She grabbed the jewel and tiptoed outside. The gem stemmed the pain, making her giddy. She locked up and made her way two blocks down to the mercantile. The pickup sat in front as Earl had promised. She climbed into the truck bed under the tarp and let go of the jewel. Earl had explained how it suspended time. She tapped on the window to signal Scott.
The truck rumbled down the road. Daelin watched the sky pass. Outside of town, Scott pulled over and helped her into the cab. She put the seat down so she couldn’t be seen if anyone passed by. Any car on this road most likely belonged to a resident of Settler.
Scott wore a cowboy hat as brown as his complexion. It made his body appear more square. He spoke of cattle and horses then sang with the radio. When they reached Bend, the truck slowed in front of Dante’s sandwich shop. Daelin grabbed the gem, stopping time. For awhile she stared at cars and drivers that didn’t move. She made faces at a few and considered messing with some people. Fun wasn’t on the agenda, though. Saving family and worlds was.
The Inferno Grill sign said Closed, yet the door yielded to her touch. Dante sat at the customer table nearest the counter, reading the local paper. She set the jewel down in front of him.
“We meet again,” she said. “If Charming didn’t swear I could trust you, I think I’d knock you into the next county.”
A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Quit tempting me. Turn the lock then meet me in my office.” He picked up the gem and disappeared.
The three deadbolts slid easily into place. Daelin frowned, unsure whether Dante stood in front of her or had gone to Timbuktu. “You can’t keep the ghost stone.” She found him in his office. He reappeared sitting cross legged on his messy desk piled with bills and newspapers.
“I know. I won’t deny Earl his escape.” His dirty blond hair curled at the ends, brushing against his toned shoulders. His cool blue eyes raked over her toe to head.
She ran a hand over her dark straight strands, the same length as his, only her ends didn’t have adorable curls. “Escape? Where will he go?”
He scooted to the edge of the desk, papers flying, placing his booted feet on the floor. “Where he can’t be found. Same for me. Earl and Dan will disappear just like your memories of us and your sister. You disappointed by that?”
As if he were a male Siren, she couldn’t help but move closer. Maybe he was. He wasn’t from this world. “I need to remember Charming is all right.”
He tugged at his white button-down shirt, pulling it away from his throat. “Sorry. The oath will reject you with the slightest glimpse of that memory. It’s only temporary.”
She perched beside him on the edge of the desk. “The oath will? You talk as if it’s alive. What are the other worlds? Aliens? Where are you from?”
“When the time comes, I’ll tell you everything. Absolutely everything. You have my sworn word. You can’t know now. The less of your memories I have to suspend, the better.” He stood and pulled her against him. He waved his bracelet before her eyes. The stones sparked blue. “Are you ready? You’re awful tense.”
“It’s not so easy. It’s my mind and my sister’s life.”
“I’m not taking away your mind, just a few select memories: your overhearing Earl and I, the whole bullet and the gate evening, seeing Charming after defeating the ghost, and most of what happened after defeating the ghost. You’ll think you fell asleep in the library reading Patrick Swit’s journal. Please agree. Way more is on the line, Darlin Dae Long. You need to trust me or we’re all done. That includes your sister.”
She stared into his blue eyes. They shifted to yellow. “I understand.”
Tenderly, he brushed her hair behind her ear. “You don’t fully, but you will soon.”
“I will do whatever it takes to help Charming.”
“So will I. Give me your hand. When you see my face again, I’ll return your memories.”
What choice did she have? Daelin gave him her hand.
The honk of a horn shook Daelin awake. She blinked at stacks of books and at the journal she had used as a pillow.
Earl stood in the doorway, his back to her, waving. “Thanks for the ride, Scott.”
“You vanished last night.” Deep down she wasn’t surprised to see him. Perhaps because he had so mysteriously appeared in the library closet. She glanced at it. The door stood as solid as any other, as if whatever magic it had housed had dissipated with Haw Shot’s phantom.
Dressed in a khaki shirt and jeans, Earl tipped the brim of his brown cowboy hat. “You were in good hands. There was no need for me to stick around. I needed time to think.”
Odd Culver, who didn’t seem so strange anymore, had tended to her and seen her home. How could anything appear bizarre after last night? She had killed a ghost and punched lifeless heads. “It wasn’t a nightmare? Am I still in a coma?”
His eyes narrowed. “Afraid not. It’s life in Settler, dar… Daelin.” He came closer, smiling in a lumpy way. “I owe you my life for clearing my name.” Swelling distorted his nose and eyes. Bruises marred his lips. He had risked himself so she could sink a knife into Haw Shot.
Her fingertips patted over her aching cheeks. She couldn’t look any better. “What happened to the crystal in the ghost’s neck?”
“Someday I’m sure your new colleagues will tell you.” His bruised chin nodded at the journal on her desk.
Instinctively, Daelin placed her hands over it and shut the cover. “They don’t seem to like you much. Does that mean we can’t be friends?”
“Your new colleagues don’t like me because I’m a thing from the rift.”
“Culver mentioned it.” Did the whole town come from another world? It would explain a lot.
“The portal sent me here from another time. The Rifters don’t know what to think other than they don’t trust me.”
Daelin had some reservations of her own, but felt she could rely on Earl. She couldn’t name why. “Should they trust you?”
“You and your sister can depend on me.” With finesse, he made a sweeping bow. “Until we meet again.” His hand clasped over the green jewel on his belt buckle, and he disappeared.
Hawley’s jewel! Daelin jumped onto her feet, limping to where Earl had stood. She waved her arms over the area then the whole library, finding no trace of him. She opened the storage closet, staring at books, paper, and cleaning supplies. “Huh.” She shut the door, leaning against it, knowing she had seen the last of Earl Blacke until he wanted to be found.
“What am I doing? A secret society that protects this world from others filled with monsters. Really?”
Cordelia Swit climbed out of her painting to stand before Daelin. “There is no bigger monster than not believing in yourself.”
Advice from a ghost. Life in Settler wasn’t boring. “You were a Rifter. Should I join?”
“I’m still a Rifter. We protect Settler. Sign the oath and become my ally. The world needs you.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You’ll see me no more, and you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering about the rift.”
True. “Curiosity kills, they say.”
“Once unleashed, curiosity can’t be caged.”
The phone from the 1980s on the librarian’s desk rang. After three botched attempts, Daelin picked it up correctly. “Caslow County Library.”
“Hey, Wald here. It’s time to return the journal to Sabina. Can you come over?”
The library had no guests. Cordelia returned to her portrait. “Yes.”
“Bring it to Sabina.” He hung up.
“Save the world,” Cordelia whispered.
Daelin had fought a good fight last night. “I defeated a ghost who collected heads.” Right. She stood tall. The journal in hand, she left the library.
Crisp air with the aromas of cedar, pine, sage, and juniper sated her inhales. Snow-capped mountains greeted her with stunning majesty, a sight that still surprised her. She liked it much better than the canyons of skyscrapers in the city. She strode around the corner and started up the walkway to the county offices.
Sabina waited at the entrance holding out a fancy bronze pen with wires and gears on it. “I’m so pleased you’re joining us.”
In all the ways Daelin had expected her life to change by moving to this remote town, she had never expected to become a slayer of ghosts, a protector of worlds. Not in all the dictionaries.
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