Rift

by Heidi J. Leavitt

  They finally reached the front sliding doors, and Jenna smothered a gasp of relief. Walking back outside, her eyes darted around for Jimmy, hoping that he was right at the front of the taxi line and she would have no time to do anything but wave a hurried goodbye at Zane and dash off. Unfortunately, Jimmy had moved up only about halfway. Where are all the taxis this morning? she mentally grumbled to herself.

  Jimmy was staring out across the busy thoroughfare, and so they’d nearly reached him when he glanced back. His eyes widened in shock.

  “Look who I ran into,” she said, forcing her voice to be bright. The two men were both silent for a moment. The lines around Jimmy’s eyes had tightened, and in that moment Jenna knew that Jimmy had not forgiven Zane quite as completely as he always insisted. Zane seemed to recognize it also; he halted a few feet behind Jenna, clearly regretting his decision to come outside. Then Jimmy seemed to shake himself; his eyes cleared and he stuck out his hand.

  “Zane, it’s been forever! It’s good to see you!” he greeted. Zane moved forward and took it briefly.

  “Hi, Jimmy,” he returned, his voice more subdued than when he’d been talking to Jenna.

  “I didn’t know you were back from Kirtuth,” Jimmy commented with a glance at the taxi line in front of him. A new brace of taxis had arrived, and their whole group shifted forward to fill the gap.

  “I’ve been home about a year,” Zane said. “My father has kept me very busy. I have a huge debt to repay.” Jenna could believe it. Though the enormous drug debt Zane owed to Quartos would never be paid back, she guessed that Lev probably expected Zane to pay back every senine the elder Quintan had spent hunting down Quartos and his men and capturing them. It would be Lev’s way.

  “Living in Quintan Tower again?” Jimmy asked. Jenna was gratified to see that three more taxis had arrived. They were very close to the front of the line now.

  “Yes, though I have my own apartment now. It’s just like your old one,” Zane said. “What about you guys? Where are you living?”

  “Oh, just some little hamlet off on the other side of the world,” Jenna answered vaguely. There was no doubt that if Zane’s father wanted to know where they were, he already did. After all, Jimmy’s father knew exactly where his sons lived. But something inside of her hesitated to let Zane know about their safe haven. Tarentino Bay was as far away from life in the Red Zone as one could possibly get—and Jenna wanted to keep it that way.

  Zane must have recognized the brush off. His expression fell. “Well, I’d better get back so I can meet our VIP. It was good to see you both,” he said, his tone a little flat.

  “Good seeing you too, Zane,” Jimmy answered. Jenna waved, and Zane turned and headed back through the shuttleport doors.

  Once they were seated in the taxi and Jimmy had given their destination, Jenna laid her head on his shoulder.

  “That was so awkward,” she moaned. “Of all the people I could randomly run into at the Winter Fountain, it would have to be Zane.”

  Jimmy took her hand. “Having second thoughts, are you? Wondering if you picked the wrong guy?” His tone was mischievous.

  “Of course,” she said, playing along. “Did you see how handsome Zane is, even all these years later?” She sat up straight, looking Jimmy up and down as if comparing the two of them. “You’re not exactly a novella star.”

  “And he’s so tall,” added Jimmy with a chuckle. “I keep trying, but I just don’t think I’ll ever catch up.”

  Jenna wanted to laugh, but it stuck in her throat. A sudden memory of Zane lifting her off the ground by her neck darted into her mind. Yes, he was tall. It was not in his favor.

  Jimmy pulled her close again. He seemed to read her thoughts. “Aw, Jen, it wasn’t really him, you know. But it’s OK if you’d rather not see him again. You’ll notice I refrained from inviting him to join us for dinner,” he added, his tone still light.

  “Speaking of dinner invites,” Jenna said, changing the subject, “I invited Lilah and Vato to eat with us tomorrow.” She gave Jimmy a stern look. “And no jokes about her hair, OK?”

  Jimmy raised both his hands in defense. “Why would I make cracks about her hair?” he protested.

  “Just promise me,” she asked in despair.

  “OK,” he said easily.

  But she didn’t trust him. It would take a miracle.

  ●●●

  The next night, Lilah arrived at the restaurant after they were already seated for dinner. Jenna jumped up and gave her best friend a tight hug and got a kiss on the cheek in return. Jimmy stood also, and he stared at Lilah in open amusement, his eyes twinkling.

  “Well, hey there, Glimmer Shimmer!”

  Jenna groaned and shot him a furious look. For most of her life, Lilah’s dark, naturally coarse hair had been kept in a multitude of tiny braids, but during the last year she had been dating a celebrity hair stylist from the fashion district of Omphalos. His experiments on Lilah’s hair had ranged from stunning to scary. The current iteration (of which she had sent a photo to Jenna) was shoulder length, straight stripes of rainbow color with the occasional random lock coated in pink glitter. She looked exactly like a real-life version of a popular children’s animated character.

  “Jimmy Forrest, you are such a maynard,” Lilah said, as all three sat back down at the table. Jenna choked back a laugh.

  “What in the universe is a maynard?”

  “I don’t know, but Vato says it about every clueless rube who doesn’t appreciate his work,” Lilah retorted.

  “Hey, it was a compliment!” Jimmy protested. “Not every girl gets to look like Glimmer Shimmer! Only a real master could recreate that look.” Lilah glowered at him.

  Stars grant me patience, Jenna thought despairingly. Jimmy could be an incessant tease, and he loved to poke at Lilah, who normally just returned it full force in good humor. But she was just a little prickly when it came to anything that might be even the tiniest slight on her darling Vato. Especially if there might be a reason. Jenna mentally cringed as she covertly stole another glance at Lilah’s hair. It was even more garish in person. Apparently the QE didn’t have an employee dress and grooming code, or maybe it was just a very lax one, especially for the managers.

  “Speaking of Vato, I thought he was coming with you tonight,” Jenna said.

  “He was going to, but he had something come up at the last minute. Some starlet had a makeover emergency or something,” Lilah explained.

  “A makeover emergency?” Jimmy repeated with a snort. “What, she accidentally chose the wrong lipstick?” Jenna elbowed Jimmy.

  Lilah merely scowled at him for a moment, and then she shrugged. “Actually, I think she got wasted at a party and tried to give herself a haircut. Vato’s comment was that she looked like a plucked peahen.”

  “And here I thought the plucked peahen look was all the rage,” Jimmy said wickedly. “Though it can’t compare with the Glimmer Shimmer look, of course!”

  “Jim-my,” Jenna groaned.

  “One more word, and I will stab this fork into your hand, Jimmy Forrest,” Lilah threatened.

  They made it halfway through dinner without any more aspersions cast on Vato’s styling talent. But just after they finished discussing Jenna’s project pitch earlier in the day (she felt it had gone very well, but she wanted to rehash every little detail with Lilah and Jimmy to get their take on it), Lilah suddenly pointed her fork at Jenna’s plate, which was still mostly full of food.

  “Since when have you decided to start starving yourself?” she asked.

  “I’m not starving myself,” Jenna said. “I’m just not very hungry tonight.”

  “Not hungry tonight,” Lilah repeated. “Were you hungry last night? Or the night before? You look like a skeleton, Jenna.”

  “Thanks a lot,” she replied with a chuckle, trying to make it into a joke.


  “I’m serious,” Lilah said forcefully. “You look terrible!”

  Jenna dropped her spoon on her plate and glared at her old roommate. “At least I don’t look like a flaming cartoon character!” she snapped. They glowered at each other for a few seconds, and then Jenna shoved her chair back. She caught a look exchanged between Jimmy and Lilah, and that just made her angrier. She tossed her napkin on the table and stood. “I’ll be back,” she muttered. Then she stalked away, her face burning.

  In the restroom she angled the air dryer at her face, trying to cool down. It whipped her hair away from her face, and she closed her eyes. What was wrong with her? She rarely lost her cool, especially not with Lilah. Lilah had always been outspoken, and Jenna had always taken it in stride. After a moment, she moved away from the dryer and stared at herself in the mirror. She hadn’t taken a really good look at herself in months (she’d never been one to scrutinize her appearance in the first place). Her long blonde hair was still thick, but it had lost some of its shine, and she had dark shadows under her eyes. Worse, Lilah was right. Her face was so thin that she looked like she had aged ten years. Lines had shown up around her eyes and mouth, and her cheeks were hollow.

  She did look terrible, like she hadn’t slept or eaten properly in months. Was her life weighing her down so much? She often felt overwhelmed with the demands of trying to get her firm up and running as well as meeting the needs of three young children. However, she loved her children, and her marriage to Jimmy was a happy one. Jimmy carried a lot of the household on his shoulders so she could focus on her work, too, so she couldn’t complain that he was leaving everything to her. Did the insomnia plague her that often? She’d thought that it was only occasionally that she had lain awake fretting about Andie.

  Maybe she was worrying more than she realized. Taking a deep breath, she decided it was time to change. She couldn’t keep going on like this.

  6. Jenna Walks Out

  When Jenna stormed away from the table, Jimmy almost pushed back his chair and darted after her. Instead, he forced himself to stay seated. He’d never seen her yell at Lilah like that, and she probably needed a moment to cool down without him hovering on top of her, making it worse.

  “All right, Jimmy,” Lilah demanded. “What was that about? I expect obnoxious comments from you, but Jenna never says stuff like that.”

  Jimmy sighed deeply. “She told you about her sister, right?”

  “Yeah, that Andie turned up alive on Corizen, except that nobody’s heard anything since. But why’s it affecting her like this? Her sister’s been missing for almost her whole adult life. She should be used to dealing with it.” Lilah picked up her fork and stabbed it into what remained of her steak.

  “Well, I don’t think she sees it that way,” Jimmy defended loyally. “She’s worried sick about her, and she won’t even try to let her go, not after finding out she was wrong the last time she believed her sister was dead.”

  “She should let it go,” Lilah said. “What good does it do Andie for Jenna to starve herself to death?”

  Jimmy didn’t answer her. He was just as worried about Jenna, but he also knew that nagging her about it would just make the problem worse. This trip was supposed to be a chance to lift Jenna’s spirits, not drag her further down.

  “She never got along with her sister anyway,” groused Lilah moodily. “She always got blamed for every mess that Andie ever got into.”

  “And that somehow changes things? Heard from Damon lately?” Jimmy asked innocently.

  Lilah shot him a nasty look. Her younger brother Damon seemed to be following in his father’s footsteps. He was regularly in trouble with the law, and Lilah bailed him out repeatedly. According to Jenna, it drove Lilah crazy, but she still couldn’t bring herself to just let him deal with the consequences on his own. Jimmy raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything else. He knew that Lilah had taken his point.

  “So how are you planning to get her to start eating again then?” asked Lilah, waving a bite of steak in the air. “You can’t honestly be willing to just let her waste away into a shadow of herself.”

  “I’m hoping that with a break away from all the normal stress of daily life, she’ll relax and talk about it. At best I’m hoping to get her to see that she can still enjoy life while waiting for her sister to reappear,” Jimmy explained. “I’m taking her out to Seven Falls tomorrow afternoon, and we’re going to stay the night out there in a little cabin. Get away from everything for a little bit before heading back home.”

  “So how are the kids doing? Getting big, I bet,” Lilah said, changing the subject. Jimmy gratefully joined her in the small talk about their family and in return asked her about how life in the QE was treating her. They had been chatting meaninglessly for more than ten minutes when Jimmy finally pushed back his chair.

  “I think I should check on Jenna,” he said. “It’s not like her to disappear for this long.”

  Lilah checked her flipcom and frowned. “I’ll run into the restroom,” she offered. “I need to apologize anyway.”

  While Lilah was gone, Jimmy waved down a server. “Hey, my wife left the table a while ago, and she hasn’t come back. Have you seen a fair-skinned woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes? She was wearing a green blouse and black pants.”

  “No, I haven’t seen her,” the server replied after a moment’s thought. “Have you tried a comm?”

  Jimmy looked down at Jenna’s flipcom still sitting on the table where she had placed it early in the dinner.

  “I don’t think that will help,” he said without rancor. The busy server shrugged helplessly, and Jimmy let him go. Suddenly, Lilah hurried up to the table.

  “She didn’t come back?” she asked anxiously. Jimmy shook his head, standing. “She wasn’t in the restroom. The lobby host said that he saw a woman who fits her description leaving the restaurant a little while ago, though he wasn’t sure about the time.”

  “What?” exclaimed Jimmy. “Why would she just leave? She didn’t seem that angry.”

  “Maybe she got an emergency comm?” suggested Lilah anxiously. “But then why wouldn’t she tell us?”

  Jimmy scooped up the flipcom off the table. “She didn’t get a comm,” he said grimly. Lilah stared at it, puzzled. Nobody went anywhere without their flipcom. Not intentionally.

  “Was she just so mad at me that she walked out of our dinner?” Lilah fretted. Her voice had lost all of her abrasive confidence.

  Calling up the screen on the table, Jimmy paid the bill for their unfinished dinner and led Lilah out of the restaurant. On the street they both looked in vain for a sight of Jenna’s golden head. It was dark but still busy. There were plenty of transports traveling down the main road, while clusters of guests waited outside the front of restaurant or nightclub entrances.

  “I guess she could have taken a taxi back to the hotel,” Jimmy said with a frown as a taxi transport deposited a pair of women right in front of their restaurant.

  “But if she didn’t have her flipcom, how would she pay?”

  “I’m sure she was wearing a money pouch. She always does when we’re in the city. It would have had a cash card she could use to get home.” Jimmy scanned the streets nervously. Could someone have taken Jenna against her will? But that didn’t make sense. Jenna would have put up a fight, and he knew she was wearing her atlatl, like she always did in public. There would have been a commotion, and with all the people around, someone would have noticed something.

  Finally, he sighed. “Let’s go back to the hotel. Maybe she was more upset than we realized and she decided to just go back to the room.”

  ●●●

  The hotel room was dark and empty. There wasn’t a sign that anyone had been in there at all since they left. The sick feeling in the pit of Jimmy’s stomach lurched and expanded. This wasn’t like Jenna at all. Why would she walk off from their
dinner and not even come back to the hotel?

  “I don’t like this,” Lilah muttered, turning in a circle as she stared at the shadowed hotel room.

  “I’m comming the Omphalos emergency site,” Jimmy decided grimly.

  ●●●

  It took an hour before a law enforcement officer showed up at their hotel room. Jimmy paced the whole time, while Lilah sat on the bed, furiously searching the city’s newsfeeds, looking for anything that might point to where Jenna had gone. The officer was polite, but she was clearly skeptical.

  “So you believe that something may have happened to your wife because she left without her flipcom?” she asked, a tablet poised in front of her for note-taking. Jimmy glanced at it, wondering if she was recording vid of this as well as audio.

  “It’s not like her. It’s not like her to leave in the middle of dinner at all, especially without telling the rest of us where she was going.”

  “Where did she say she was going when she left the restaurant table?” the officer asked.

  “She just said she would be back, that’s all,” Jimmy recounted, rubbing the back of his neck. The tension was starting to give him a headache.

  “I’d said something that upset her,” admitted Lilah. “Something about how terrible she looked. So when she left the table we thought she’d just gone to the restroom to cool down for a bit.”

  “Hmmm,” the officer murmured, making some notes on her tablet. She asked for a great deal more detail—how long it was before they went to look for her, if anyone else had seen her. She raised her eyebrows when Lilah repeated that the restaurant host might have seen her leave the restaurant.

  “Has she been under a lot of strain? Anything unusual? Any, pardon me, possibility of an illicit relationship?”

  Jimmy started. “What? You think she ran off with a boyfriend?”

  “I’m just trying to get all the details of the bigger picture,” she said mildly, adding another couple of notes to her tablet. Finally, the officer raised her head and met Jimmy’s eyes. “Well, there’s not much I can do yet. She hasn’t been missing long enough to file an official missing person report, but I’ll flag her ID. If she shows up in the law enforcement system, I’ll comm you. Also, I’ve commed the restaurant asking for their front security footage for the window of time that you were at the restaurant. I don’t have the legal standing to force them to release the vid—not without a warrant—but they could decide to share.”