Rift

by Nancy E. Dunne

  Em said goodbye to the last vestiges of her patience as she turned on Lex. "When you saw him on the boat?" Lex nodded. "And you were going to tell me when? Did I interrupt you coming clean with me by allowing you into my bed on the boat? Or did you use that to distract me?" His tattoos throbbed crimson, matching time with hers, but she did not care. It was like the last piece of that puzzle fell into place with a thud. "You did that every time I was close to figuring something out, didn't you? That same magic that you used to make me sleep - you used it to make me want you, didn't you?"

  “Em, I don’t think that we should -”

  “You did. LEX.” Em took a beat and fisted her hands by her sides to keep them from flying at his face. “And you - where were you during all of this?” she said as she turned back to Alex. “If I am supposed to believe that you are him - or that he is one of your avatars - or is your avatar or whatever the hell it is, were you there, watching when he and I…” Her consciousness, her awareness, everything just popped suddenly, louder in her mind than the puzzle piece finding its home. She stared at Alex. “Tell me...what you meant...when you said that Val sent you after me.” It was her last attempt to keep her composure, returning to the original question, and demanding an answer. If this didn’t work, someone was going to get seriously hurt.

  “Val sent me to find you, Em. He wanted to know where you were at all times as soon as you registered for Arcstone.”

  “We downloaded the beta together. How did he know - Papa.” Em grabbed the bridge of her nose so forcefully that she almost pulled her nose off her face. “Papa told him about me when Val took him prisoner.”

  “Yes and no.”

  “What kind of answer is that?”

  “Well, to be fair, Em, you didn’t ask me a question.” She raised her fisted hands, and Alex raised his own, palms toward her. “Stand down, that was a joke, clearly a bad one. Val and Henri have known each other since they were boys. You know that.”

  “Yes, and Val is still in love with my Papa.”

  Alex seemed taken aback for a moment but then nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Anyway, Val has known about you since you were born because he and Henri kept in touch with each other their whole lives.” Em nodded. This was not new information. “Remember I told you that he didn’t tell me everything, but what I was able to glean from what he DID tell me was that he was very jealous of your mother. He wanted a life with Henri - on his own terms.”

  “Yes, Papa told me that. He told me that the last time he went to visit Val in Paris, it was only because Val had threatened Mama and me.” Alex nodded. “So he wanted me in the game - for what purpose? We will revisit HOW he got me into the game later because I believe that IS your area of expertise.”

  “Val told me that he wanted to make sure that you were safe and that you had a good experience in the game so that you would keep playing it - and I swear on my life, Em, I think that was his intention in the beginning.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense at all.”

  Lex was nodding his head. “It does, actually, dar - sorry, Em. It does make sense. If Val really loved Henri as he claimed, he would have wanted to look good in Val’s eyes. You are the center of Henri’s universe, playing the game that Val and Henri envisioned, so of course, he wanted to make sure your experience in the game is superior.”

  Alex grinned. “You’re right, Lex. And may I say this is WEIRD to be talking to you directly.”

  “It is! I was almost afraid you’d say something to me on the boat, and I’d have to respond because I wasn’t sure that my voice would even work with you there!”

  “Exactly!”

  Em cleared her throat loudly. “If you two are finished with your little love fest, could we get back to the topic at hand, please?” They both looked sufficiently chagrined, and she couldn’t help but smile. Their facial expressions were very similar, but otherwise, they were two different people - only they weren’t, not at all, they were the same person - weren’t they? Ugh. “You were telling me why Val wanted you to stalk me.”

  Alex rolled his eyes. “Stalk you? There it is, the melodrama. I was merely supposed to watch after you until you went and got yourself stuck in Ruarden’s dungeon.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and Em was sure he was trying to be haughty and important. “I saved you from there, remember?”

  “Well, I did, technically, but -” Em pointed at Lex with a dagger to shut him up. “Fair enough.”

  “You saved me with help from Val?” Alex nodded in response. “And so everything else we did, all the other missions -” It was her turn to shoot a pointed look at Alex. “Everything we did, Val was watching. Is that what you are telling me?”

  Now it was Alex’s turn to look embarrassed. “Everything in-game, yes.”

  “Before and after I came into the game myself?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you tell him about our offline conversations?”

  “No!” Alex lunged forward as he answered, causing Em to spin one of the daggers into her hand and point it toward him. “Of course he wasn’t. And did you notice that as we - well, as we knew each other better, a lot of...THOSE conversations happened outside of the game? There was a reason for that, Em. I respected you too much for him to know. I loved you too much.”

  “Stop.” She held up her hand to emphasize what she was saying. “I cannot hear that again. Not from either of you. It means nothing to me now. Do you understand that?” Em fiddled with her daggers for a moment, getting a good spin on both of them. Entirely in sync with each other - this was something she would never tire of seeing in person. “So Val wanted me to be followed to make sure he could tell Papa that I was enjoying the game. Why on earth, then, was Papa detained here? I was enjoying the game. I was happy. What changed?”

  Alex looked at Lex, who shrugged. “Well, that was before anyone had come into or out of the game, Em. I think that Val just wanted more. He always wants more. Val had the only relationship he could have with Henri when they were young, but he wanted more. He had Henri thinking better of him than he had been in years, so he wanted more. He created the game for them - a world where they could be together like Val wanted.” He shrugged his shoulders, perfectly imitating Lex, and let her digest that before he spoke again. “He never asked if that was what Henri wanted. Val just assumes that people want what he does because he is right.”

  “But he wasn’t right this time.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” Alex shook his head. “He would never accept that he was wrong, Em. It just wouldn’t happen.”

  “That’s why, I guess when we were at the tavern with Henri at first, and I told him we were there to meet Val, to bring him the box, Henri freaked out?”

  Alex’s eyes widened. “The box - you mean the portal?” Lex nodded in response. “You have the box?”

  “No, I left it somewhere safe before we even got on the boat. I left it with Henri, but I don’t know where -”

  Em looked back and forth between them. “It’s in the tavern, and that’s where we are headed next.”

  Twenty Eight

  Lex and Alex stood still, staring at her. Em felt like she was going to explode from the inside out - how could they just be standing there? Did they not understand that time was of the essence - at least she thought that it was, or she was going to lose her mind being there with both of them. “Well? Lex, can’t you do anything to transport us there?”

  “I can’t transport him.” Lex pointed at Alex, who scoffed. “And I wouldn’t, even if I could. Em, you cannot trust him.”

  “This again?” Alex rolled his eyes. “I’m a GM, fool. If I wanted to, I could have already done any number of things to Em by now, but I haven’t!”

  “BOYS!” Em pointed one of her fingers at each of them. They were, thankfully, smart enough to fall silent. “Fine. Lex, you transport me as you did before - minus the sleeping spell, please - and Alex, I guess you can just - log yourself in over there?” The headache was returning as her brain trie
d desperately to figure out how all of this was happening.

  Alex smirked at her. “I can, and I can transport all three of us. Perks of being a GM.” His grin faded in the face of Em’s stony stare as Lex shook his head violently at the notion. “Or I can just take you. Lex can bring himself.”

  “Not happening.” Lex folded his massive arms over his chest. “I take Em, or we don’t go at all.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Em threw her arms up in the air in frustration and then turned to Lex. “Listen - let me go with Alex. That way, we know he isn’t up to any shenanigans. We can’t risk him running back to Val and telling him what we are doing.”

  “He will take you to his employer!”

  Em pinched the bridge of her nose. “You two BOTH work for Val.” Lex opened his mouth to retort but thought better of it. “Right, that’s settled.”

  “Fine.” Lex narrowed his eyes as he looked at her and then disappeared in a puff of purplish smoke. Em waited a moment and then burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Alex almost sounded offended.

  “The mighty Prophis, the demon of the three kingdoms and bane of dark places - teleports with a puff of purple smoke? I don’t know, it just struck me as funny.” She turned her attention to Alex. “So, what do we need to do now?”

  “Just stand there for a moment.” Alex moved closer to her and then suddenly swept her up into a hug. She was so surprised that all she could do was stand stock still, frozen in place. Alex’s lips were so close to her that she could feel them brush her ear when he spoke. “Em, I have been so worried about you! Ever since Val told me what he had done and ordered me to watch over you and you were with him - I have been so worried! I’m so sorry that I got you mixed up with this game and with that Prophis.”

  She pushed back from him, but he didn’t let her go. “Alex, Lex is you. Should I be worried now?”

  He released her and sighed. “No. Well, not really. Listen, we need to go, Lex has already teleported and -”

  “No, tell me what you meant first.” Em was finding it hard not to stare at Alex. So many times, she wondered what he looked like and if his voice sounded the same in person as it did over voice chat. “Because I’m armed, you know.” She spun a dagger to punctuate her threat, and Alex laughed - the same deep, throaty laugh that she had heard over her headphones. The same deep, throaty laugh that she heard from Lex. This was not helping at all.

  “I mean, when I’m controlling Lex, and we are running a mission, it’s me controlling his - demonic urges and actions. But Em - the thought of you being with him without me as a buffer...and then when I saw you together in the cottage -”

  “Wait, what?” Em could feel her face flushing and wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment or anger - or both. “You saw...what?”

  Now it was Alex’s turn to blush and turn away from her. “I saw you two in the cottage. It was after you found my note, and I was hanging around to talk to you about it and let you know that I was there if you needed me and stuff.” Em’s heart leaped up into her throat. That was the night she was with Lex for the first time. Lex had seen something outside the window.

  “It was you that Lex saw when he ran outside to check, wasn’t it?” Alex nodded. “And the note - the mail, that was from you?” He nodded again and then looked up at her through his eyelashes. Unlike Lex, who was considerably taller than Em, Alex was only a bit taller than she was. He was also of a much leaner frame than Lex - the Prophis was all muscle. “Why were you spying on us?”

  “I saw him carry you inside, and I didn’t know why - until I thought about it.”

  “The rain.”

  Alex nodded. “You as yourself wouldn’t have been affected, but you as Em, well, it could have been deadly.” He lifted a hand and started to touch the side of her face, but hesitated. “I was so afraid that he was keeping you there against your will, but then when I saw -” His hand fell down to his side as he leaned in close and held her gaze. “Even though you were with him, you were still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. You ARE the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, just like I imagined you would be all those nights on the voice chat.” Em blinked back unbidden tears as she looked into his eyes, searching for the lie or the con - and found nothing but honesty. “Even though what I saw - well, it broke me a little, to be honest, but I was fairly certain you were NOT being held against your will, so I left.”

  “Did you tell Val what you saw?”

  “Not exactly. I didn’t want Val to know that I had left you that note, so I told him -” He swallowed hard and looked away from her for a second. “I told him that you were enjoying the game very much.”

  Now it was Em’s turn to blush. She was horrified for a long moment - but then something about it struck her as funny, and a giggle emerged, followed by a laugh. Alex tried to fight the grin tugging up at the corners of his mouth, but he eventually gave in and laughed with her. As the laughter wound down, she looked up at him and cupped the side of his cheek with her hand. “I’m so sorry you saw that, Alex.”

  “No, don’t be, it was -”

  “I thought -”

  “No, enough, now, com’ere, and let’s transport to your demon, so he doesn’t think I’ve run off with you and done something stupid.” He took her arm and pulled her in close to him yet facing away, and then wrapped his arms around her. “Yep, just like I thought it would feel,” he said as she leaned her head back against his collarbone. “Allons-y!”

  There was no rush of wind this time, no darkness, no bright light. They were in the cottage one minute and the street in front of the inn the next. “Alex?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I thought that Lex was you. In the cottage, in his arms, in my bed - I thought he was you.” She squeezed his hand and then walked toward the entrance to the inn, feeling his stare on the back of her head. She smiled as she heard him chuckle and follow her inside.

  Valentin

  Twenty Nine

  For several hours after his Prophis betrayed him and took Henri's daughter away, Val hovered just out of arm's reach of Henri, waiting for them to return. Waiting for them to take Henri away. But by now, they were not likely to return - if Em had gotten away from the demon, she would have no idea how to find them. Henri was safe from her for now.

  He looked back at his oldest friend - his first love. Under the gray hair and wrinkled skin, behind the spectacles, the eyes were still Henri. The soul was still there. He might be angry with Val for his methods, but he would remember. He would know that Val had done all of this for him - for them. A magical world, just the way they had imagined it so many years ago - before the accident. Before...the change. Before…

  "You can't keep me from her, Val." He pivoted to look at Henri, frowning slightly.

  "Oh, mon coeur, I think you will find that I can. I have, for how long now? I made a mistake separating the Prophis from his human handler, but that is easily rectified." He took Henri's hand, but Henri jerked it away. Val sighed. It would take a while for Henri to remember, so there was plenty of time. Once Em got close, they would go somewhere else. And if she figured that place out, he would just make new places for them to go.

  "She is resilient - and a bit foolish, I suppose, in how devoted she is to me." Henri was propped up in his bed, and he tries to rearrange himself but was having trouble with his coordination. Val fluffed the pillows, but Henri pulled away from him.

  "Why do you continue with this display of putting space between us? Is it that woman you were married to? What was her name?"

  "This is nothing to do with Em's mother. You are holding me hostage. How would you prefer I act?" Henri settled himself into the pillows and folded his arms across his chest. “What are you doing here, Val? Why is all this necessary?”

  “This is something we have dreamed about since we were boys, Henri.” Val moved closer and sat down on the end of the bed. “I’m sorry that I’m staring, I just haven’t seen you in so long, not up close I mean.”
/>
  “It hasn’t been that long. You saw me the day you pulled me into this nightmare.” Henri coughed and winced as he held his ribs.

  “I mean, since I have had you all to myself. Even when you first arrived in Arcstone, you were still preoccupied with that woman and your daughter.”

  Henri smiled sadly. “Maggie. Her name is Maggie.”

  Val’s face flushed red as he fisted his hands. “What does she have that I don’t have?” Henri opened his mouth to answer, but Val held up a hand. “Never mind. She is of no consequence now. And your daughter is here. There is nothing left to make you ever want to leave.”

  “Except that I don’t belong here, and that this isn’t a real world, and that you are insane.”

  “Still witty.”

  “Still waiting for you to explain yourself.”

  Val sighed loudly. He had never been able to deny Henri anything when they were younger. “Remember when we were boys, and we would hide out in those basements that we found empty?” Henri nodded. “We would create our own world, remember? Tell each other stories?”

  “We were playing Dungeons and Dragons, Val.”

  Chuckling, Val nodded his head. “Yes, we did. But remember when the other boys would go, the two of us would stay and plot out our campaigns? That was where this started. That was where Arcstone was born.” He looked away for a moment as memories washed over him - memories of the two of them together, heads bent over the tabletop map, the first time their hands touched when they both reached for the same piece on the board…

  “Val?”

  “Sorry?”

  “I was saying that I understand that you had many years on your own to think back on when we were young and decide that was the best of times, but Val - please hear me - you are alone in that decision. In fact, that was part of why I put distance between us.” Val glared at Henri and started to say something, but Henri held up his hand. “Please, listen to me. When we were young, I loved you. I did - with my whole heart. We grew up together, and we only had each other a lot of the time, especially with your situation at home.”