CHAPTER FOUR
“What do you mean he was nowhere in sight?” Rosie demanded of the whister pilot.
“Just that, Mrs. Catch.”
“Ms. Storm.”
“Whatever.”
Rosie’s temper flared. The whister pilot would, no doubt, sleep better at night not knowing how close he came to being a turd in the grass. And a small one at that.
“I also tried his phone,” the pilot continued. “Goes straight to voicemail.”
Rosie wheeled away from the pilot and looked at Deliverance, who just shrugged. She ran her hand through her hair. “What do you think?”
Deliverance stood with arms crossed over his bare chest, which was, in his opinion, the ultimate fashion expression. His black eyes picked up the light and, to some degree, reflected whatever he looked at. Slowly he moved his gaze away from the pilot to his granddaughter.
“I think you gave him the key and he used it.”
“Way to make me feel better.”
Deliverance looked confused. “I didn’t know you felt bad. So how would I know I’m supposed to make you feel better?”
“HE’S PROBABLY DEAD!”
Deliverance shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I’m going to be in so much trouble with the Jefferson Unit Sovereign. Not to mention that I liked Simon. He was okay for an… administrator type.”
“Your husband is an administrator type.”
She gave him a look that said she didn’t appreciate that comment. “Wait a minute. What don’t you know?”
“A few things. Not much.”
“No.” She was sounding exasperated, which never worked with Deliverance. She counted to five, calmed herself down, and said, “He’s human. The injection I gave him would only last a couple of hours. It would be wearing off in,” she looked at her watch, “soon.”
“An injection of your blood?”
“Yeah. What else?”
“To ride the passes with you?”
“Yes.” She drew the word out as if to say ‘duh’.
“You’re assuming it’s a portal to passes.”
Rosie stared at him for a few seconds, his meaning dawning. She turned to the whister pilot. “You can go.”
“You don’t have the authority to dismiss me, ma’am. The Director called me. I have to wait until he tells me to leave.”
“What is happening here is above your intel level. You don’t have clearance to stay.”
The pilot’s eyes flicked nervously between Rosie and Deliverance. He was clearly torn. “I’ll go, but it’s on you. Your responsibility. Right?”
“I take full responsibility. Want a blood pact?”
The pilot looked from Rosie to Deliverance as if trying to determine whether or not she was joking. Seeing that they both looked serious, he said, “No. Your word is okay.”
They watched the pilot walk back across the field to the whister and waited until he’d lifted off and flown out of sight.
“If it doesn’t lead to the passes…”
“It’s a portal.”
“So if it opens directly into another dimension…”
“He’s alive and, more important, probably easy to find.”
“That would be what I’d call catching a break.” She looked around the ring. “So who built this and why?”
He shrugged. “Heard stories. Nothing to…”
“Write home about?” He shook his head. “Take to the bank?” He shook his head. “Get excited about?”
He grinned. “Yeah. That.”
“Like what?”
“The stories?” She nodded. “Well, we,” referring to elementals like himself and Rosie, “can open a door and step into the passes anywhere. We can travel wherever we want. We don’t need a designated gateway to a particular dimension to get there.”
“But others do.”
He nodded. “There are places where there are little tears in the fabric that separate realities that occur naturally. Not stationary. They move around. Pop up here or there for a minute, then they’re gone. Then there are places like this, where somebody wanted a portal with a permanent two-way hinge. Those not like us could come and go when they wanted.”
Rosie was fascinated. “Wow. It’s a good thing humans don’t know what it is or how to use it.”
Deliverance ran a hand over his chest like he enjoyed the pleasure of his own touch and agreed. “Chaos calling.”
“So whoever built these… well, why?”
“The usual,” Deliverance said.
“What’s the usual?”
“Sex.”
“Grand. Everything in the universe isn’t about sex.”
“Yes, it is,” he said with absolute certainty.
“I know I’m going to be sorry for asking this, but how do you figure the reason for this portal was about sex?”
“You know what happened with the Elk Mountain tribe?”
“In what sense?”
“They stopped making girls. When they stopped making girls, they got desperate. Same thing happens if there’s a shortage of boys. Love makes the world go round, you know.”
“Because the strongest instinct is mating.”
“Well, it is if you’re the mating kind.”
She rolled her eyes. “So grabbing potential brides, or grooms, is the reason these were constructed?”
“Told you. I heard stories. Can’t say for sure, but it’s as good a working theory as any.”
Rosie nodded thoughtfully. “Doesn’t tell us who figured out how to do it.” Deliverance shrugged again. “So. You want to see what’s on the other side?”
“Do they have willing women and margaritas?”
“Won’t know until we look.”
“Okay. I’m juiced up and good for a while. I’m in.”
Rosie started walking toward the north stone. “Oh, hold on a sec.” She pulled her phone out and called Glen. “Hey. I’m on a job for Simon.” Pause. “Tell you about it later. Thing is I may be out of touch for a bit. Don’t worry. I’m in good hands.” Pause. Her eyes came to rest on Deliverance. “Grand.” Pause. “Geez, Glen. No more coffee today. Right? Okay. Gotta go. I love you. More than anything.” She hung up before he could ask more questions.
“Let’s go.”