Approaching Storm (Alternate Worlds Book 2)

by Taylor Leigh

  He slid the window open and, after casting a quick look about, crept out onto the roof, briefly releasing Sam. He gave her such a trusting look Sam willed herself to stay put, agony making her thoughts go red.

  ‘Well, are you coming or not?’ he asked, leaning back in through the window. He beckoned to her, hand extended expectantly.

  Sam nervously pulled back, afraid of the pain she knew would follow, but she couldn’t tear herself away from his kind, if impatient, gaze. ‘Do I have a choice?’

  The Traveller’s hand was still extended to her. His voice softened slightly. ‘You always have a choice.’

  Sam’s muscles revolted against her. Her whole body fought to race back out into the darkness of the hall and give herself up to those below. But Sam’s whole soul longed for the Traveller. As she stared into his eyes, everything else seemed to give way, the pain, the fear, the sadness. All of it fell away into a clear path, her only escape, and that was him. Almost unconsciously, Sam found herself placing her hand in his.

  Her world snapped back to reality.

  The intruders were upstairs. She saw one of them walking towards her father’s room and she involuntarily tugged against the Traveller but he hauled her out onto the roof with as little force as necessary.

  ‘I’ll drop down first,’ he said, tone returning to business-like.

  ‘What?’ Sam cried. She could feel tears welling from the blinding urge to go back. ‘We’re on the second floor!’

  He nodded. ‘I know. You have to trust me. I’ll be able to survive it just fine. You jump down when I say. I’ll catch you.’

  Sam didn’t have time to protest. She watched in muteness as he dropped over the edge. A second later Sam heard him hit the ground. She crawled to the edge and peered down. He stood beneath her, apparently unhurt.

  He held his arms out. ‘See? It’s fine!’ he said, tone gentle and coaxing. Sam heard a shout behind her. There was a crash as her father’s door was thrown wide. She winced. ‘Come on,’ the Traveller called gently. ‘I promise I won’t let you fall.’

  Sam sat on the edge of the roof and stared down at the skinny man. She realised how much trust she was putting in this perfect stranger. This stranger whom just hours ago she was convinced was nothing but a myth. He still could be, but he was living and breathing before her and had come back. Sam couldn’t see his face in the darkness, though Scottorr was low and bright above her, yet she could picture it.

  Sam shut her eyes miserably, then, regretting it immediately, slid from the edge of the roof and into the empty night.

  Chapter Nine

  The Traveller caught Sam easily in his arms, as if he’d had years of practice doing just that, and set her lightly on her feet. Sam swayed for a moment against him. The Myrmidons were up in her room, she could hear them throwing things about. Searching.

  She trembled. Her companion looked at her. ‘We’re going to have to run for a bit, are you up for that?’

  Sam swallowed a deep breath of air and nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. ‘Yeah, yeah. I can manage.’

  He gave her a smile, took her hand again, and then he was off. Sam stumbled after him, tripping over her feet, mind whirling.

  Scottorr was bright, casting long white shadows across the red earth. It was bizarre, the night looked like day, she was running down the street in nothing but her pyjamas, holding the hand of a complete stranger and fleeing from her home and everything she once knew was gone. Sam felt strangely numb to it all; she could not quite believe it was real. Come morning, she’d wake up from the madness and be back into her everyday routine. No ring, no Traveller, hopefully no Scrabia. Just back on Scottorr with her mates and boyfriend and city.

  Sadly, that did not seem to be the case.

  They ran and ran and by the time her rescuer finally deemed it appropriate to stop, Sam could hardly breathe. Her companion had, annoyingly, not even broken a sweat.

  The entity inside of Sam’s ring was in such a rage at her disobedience that once she was free of the Traveller’s grasp—which it seemed to take some fear in—it attacked her with such a vehemence she actually cried out. She doubled over and collapsed to the ground, teeth clenched as fire raged in her belly. She was going to die, Sam realised. After all the Traveller had done, here she was, going to die on the pavement. A fitting end to a dull life.

  His hands were on her back immediately. ‘Tell me what’s wrong, Sam? You’ve been in pain ever since I found you.’

  Sam shook her head wildly, desperately wanting to get the words out. ‘I—won’t stop hurting me!’

  The voice was back now in Sam’s head, blinding everything. She gasped as the force grew. Her head was bursting with the pressure.

  ‘Obscene spawn! Filth! Kill him! Kill him!’ it continued to scream, voices twisting into something far from anything remotely human.

  ‘Shut up!’ she shouted.

  The Traveller frowned, then spoke very carefully. ‘If they’re bothering you so much, why don’t you just take it off? Come on, hand it over!’ He opened his palm and curled his fingers, beckoning.

  ‘I can’t,’ she moaned, sniffing. ‘It’s stuck fast!’

  He nodded knowingly. ‘Blasted devils latch on and don’t like to let go, but don’t fret. This isn’t the first Daemon possessed object I’ve dealt with.’

  He swept up Sam’s hand in his and with gleaming eyes, began tracing his fingers over the golden band. Sam’s body reacted violently. Tears welled in her eyes as an agonising fire burned through her veins.

  ‘Oh, pipe down,’ the Traveller said in tiresome tone. ‘It’s not your body to hurt.’

  It took Sam a moment to realise he was chiding the thing in the ring, not her. And, to her surprise, it obeyed, slackening on the pain obediently. To Sam’s greater amazement, she saw a faint glow begin to shine from beneath his skin. As she watched, it grew, till his fingers were practically radiating it. The light danced across his skin, peppering Sam’s ring, making it shine with the same brilliance. She felt the thing inside protest; it squirmed in rage and pain.

  And then, just like that, Sam could no longer feel it.

  She looked up at the Traveller in wonder and grinned. ‘W—what did you do?’

  He held up his glowing hand and the light receded back inside him. ‘Bit special,’ he said sheepishly. ‘Genetic fluke. Weird, but Daemons don’t like it. Won’t stop them, but it’ll shut them up for you. Stop them from hurting you.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘All better?’

  Sam nodded. ‘Yeah, thanks. I think.’

  He held out his hand and gently hauled her to her feet. She swayed against him for a moment in relief. The man’s eyes narrowed quizzically. ‘Honestly, who puts a talking ring on? What were you thinking? And opening that portal at the temple? Are you trying to destroy this entire Realm?’

  ‘I couldn’t help it! I was being forced to! I didn’t want to put the ring on. It just kind of slipped over my finger. Those voices have been controlling me, blackmailing me for days! I didn’t know how to find you!’

  The man scowled, but his expression wasn’t cross, just light and curious. ‘Why didn’t you tell me about it at the temple? I could have helped you.’

  Sam took a deep breath. ‘I wanted to, Traveller and I tried. But the thing said it would make me kill my father or do something else horrible like that if I spoke up. I couldn’t do anything about it; they forced me to keep quiet.’

  His expression softened. ‘Ah, I see.’ He took a deep breath, looking a tad overwhelmed by it all. ‘And, I’ve got a name, you know.’

  Sam blinked. Funny, she hadn’t thought about it till now.

  ‘My name’s Tollin,’ he said, smiling.

  Sam returned the smile, shakily. ‘Tollin?’ She decided she liked that name. It was different, it fit him. ‘I didn’t realise. The voice always just called you the Traveller.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Tollin sighed. ‘That’s kind of my…nickname. Sounds rather menacing to baddies. Now, about those voices!’ T
ollin pressed Sam’s hand to his ear and narrowed his eyes. ‘How many are in there?’

  Sam shook her head, baffled. ‘I don’t know. Three maybe? They’re always talking over each other. Sometimes they sound like one and other times they’re all a muddle.’

  Tollin made a face. ‘Right…’ He turned around slowly, mulling things over. ‘Well, we’ll have to deal with that later. It’ll keep for now.’

  Sam stumbled to a stone bench and sat down heavily, exhaustion beating on her. Tollin stood with his hands on his hips, looking back up the way they had come, breathing almost completely normal, like running for his life was a part of his everyday routine. She became aware of the fact of how hot her eyes were. The pressure of tears was rising. If it wasn’t for her present distraction, Sam was sure she’d have lost control.

  ‘Well,’ Tollin said, still staring up towards Bone Ridge. ‘They’ll be after us soon, I have a feeling they can track the ring when it’s giving off energy.’ He pulled out a strange device from his pocket. ‘But,’ he said, looking very pleased with himself. He waved it slightly. ‘This should put them off of it, at least temporarily. Beams out a similar signal. Nice and confusing.’ He turned and tossed it into a long, thorny bush before spinning back, grinning in smugness. His smile dropped when he saw her face. ‘Oh, right. This is all rather hard on you, I’m sure.’

  Sam sniffed heavily and looked away, biting her lip. ‘I’m just…I am having a hard time coming to grips with all of this at the mo.’

  Tollin nodded. He sat down next to her. ‘I’m so sorry, Sam. I wish I had something more substantial to say. I know it’s a lot put on your right now. I promise I will try to help make sense of it, but for now we’re a little short for time. Please, just trust me.’

  She studied his face and nodded her head, unable to think of anything to say. Her brain was buzzing and Sam could hardly focus on anything. Tollin reached over and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. He gave her a gentle, sympathetic smile before he stood.

  ‘Think you can make it a bit farther?’ he asked. ‘We’re not safe here. We have to get down to the Night District. I know someone who can help us.’

  Sam let out a shaky breath. That was the last place she wanted to go. ‘Suppose so. You seem to know what you’re doing. Might as well trust you. What else have I got?’

  He nodded. ‘That’s all I ask.’ He smiled and broke into another jog down the winding road. Sam inhaled heavily and hurried after him, afraid to be left in the darkness.

  Sam’s head was spinning as she walked down the crowded street of the Night District. The hectic pace they had been keeping so far had been the only thing that had kept her from giving up to grief. For that, she was extremely grateful.

  Tollin trotted down the street like he owned the place and Sam jogged close behind, aware of the people staring. From time to time he cast a look over his shoulder, as if reassuring himself she was still there.

  As the crowd grew thicker, she hurried to be by his side.

  ‘You do realise I’m in my pyjamas, don’t you?’ she hissed.

  He grinned and looped his arm through hers. ‘Relax! You look fine. Nobody’s looking, well, not many people…Ah, just keep your eyes straight ahead; you’ll be fine.’

  Sam groaned. Tollin made his way across the street towards a familiar nightclub, the Red Scorpion. Sam stiffened. ‘We’re not going in there, are we?’

  Tollin gave her a tolerant smile. ‘Just need to pop in for two ticks. This is where we’ll find my associate.’

  Sam shot him a dubious look. ‘Your associate? And who would that be?’

  Tollin ignored her and waltzed up to the bouncer. He gave a broad grin. ‘Hullo,’ he glanced quickly at the man’s nametag. ‘McGraun! We’re expected inside. I’m Tollin, this is my guest.’ He dug in his pocket again and produced a shiny card.

  McGraun looked at them with the expression of a man who had heard just about everything. ‘Uh-huh.’ He took the card in his thick fingers and read it over, passing it back to Tollin with a grunt. He gave Sam another glance.

  Tollin frowned. ‘What’s the matter? Never seen a girl in her jimjams? Now come on, time’s wasting! M is expecting us. Surely he said. If not, ring him up. But I doubt you want to bother him.’

  The man grumbled something about needing a new job and slung the door inward. Tollin smirked in triumph and trotted inside with Sam in tow.

  Sam had been in her fair share of clubs, but never in such a disorderly state as she was now.

  The inside was dark and colourful, music thudded into Sam’s skull and the aroma of alcohol and smoke hit her hard. Sam swayed against Tollin, fighting down a rising feeling of sickness. She’d had too much excitement for one day to tolerate the atmosphere.

  Tollin wove through the vibrant crowd with a clear destination in mind, ignoring the looks he got from people puzzling over his—and Sam’s—odd choices of clothing. He made his way to the back of the club and towards a table where a lone man sat, leaning over a drink.

  The man was broad-shouldered with short dark hair, a square, cleft jaw, narrow nose and blue eyes. He wore a t-shirt that said: City of Layers Fire Department on it, which was tight, accentuating his muscles. Sam realised in surprise that she recognised the man. She’d seen him the first time she had been in the Night District. He’d even winked at her.

  Tollin slapped his hands on the table. ‘Ah, Marus, I’m surprised to find you alone!’

  The man raised agonisingly beautiful midnight blue eyes and let out a groan when he saw them. ‘Oh, no! Not you again! Last time I saw you I ended strapped naked to a rocket surrounded by hungry female cannibals!’ He stopped, lost in the memory. ‘Actually, now that I think on it, that wasn’t too bad.’ He had a very flat, strange accent that Sam couldn’t place.

  ‘Oh,’ Tollin drawled, pulling up a chair and gesturing for Sam to do the same. ‘Don’t act like that! What’s it been, twenty years? We’re do for a check-up.’

  Marus grumbled. ‘You never check on people! You only show up when there’s trouble.’

  Tollin smiled tightly. ‘Is Nix around?’ he asked, eyes scanning the crowded, colourful bar.

  ‘Nah,’ Marus grumbled. ‘She caught me with a girl the other night and left.’

  ‘Oh, back to Chrystilla, then?’

  ‘No! With my date! That was a couple of nights ago; we’re supposed to meet up tomorrow…if something better doesn’t turn up.’ His eyes flickered over to Sam and his smile immediately grew more charming as he gave Sam the once-over. ‘She’s a little young for you, isn’t she?’ He looked thoughtful. ‘Though she’s rather pretty. Good choice.’ He held out a large hand. ‘Hi, I’m Marus.’

  Sam stiffened. ‘You can just stop right there! I’m not just here for you to gawk over!’

  Marus leaned forward a bit. ‘Says the girl who can’t dress herself.’

  ‘I was in a hurry!’ Sam cried.

  ‘All right!’ Tollin raised his voice. ‘Can we get back on subject? Please?’

  Marus turned his attention back to Tollin. ‘Yes, why don’t you tell me why you’re here?’

  Tollin leant in closer. ‘We’ve run into a spot of bother with the local Myrmidon group. They’re after Sam, here, and they’re desperate, worse than usual. Sam may have accidentally stolen a Daemon artefact that I’ve been looking for…how she managed to find it before me is still a bit of a puzzler but that’s beside the point. It’s alive with energy and it’s only going to get stronger. Things are weak between the Realms, it’s the five-hundred year mark and in a few weeks the stars are realigning. And you should know better than anyone what that means.

  ‘Now that Sam has it stuck to her finger, and the creatures inside of it have a nice food source to thrive off of, I know it’s not going anywhere. So, no worries on them getting loose any time soon. But I need to get somewhere safe to figure out what to do about it.’

  Sam held up a hand. ‘Wait? What?’

  Tollin glanced over at her. ‘Just a mo,
Sam, I’ll explain later.’

  She sank back in her chair, stomach beginning to churn, mind whirling as the noise of music and laughter pounded against her head.

  Marus shrugged. ‘So? What’s this got to do with me? I’m not involved. You’re more than capable of dragging your lazy arse out of here if you wish.’

  ‘Oh, that’s where you’re wrong,’ Tollin said easily. ‘The Myrmidons have had their eyes on you for a long time. You’ve gotten lazy. Stayed in one spot for too long. You’ve been noticed. You can think of me coming here as a courtesy, warning you in advance. The Myrmidons are readying themselves. They’ve waited a long time and they’re going to be pulling out all the stops now. It’s the anniversary, you should remember what that was like, you were part of it, not me. I was busy on Scottorr, if you recall. This is my first chance to have a go at it! Why else would I be back? I’m not dragging my lazy arse off to anywhere. Not when there’s fun to be had here!’

  ‘That was a long, long time ago.’ Marus made a face. ‘You showing up is never a good thing. You’re a bad omen.’

  Tollin smiled humourlessly. ‘Such kind words.’

  Marus leaned back. ‘Look, I’ll take you kids out of the city. I have to meet up with Nix anyway. The Passing is tomorrow night and we’re planning on holidaying on Scottorr for a while. Then we part ways, understand?’

  Tollin grinned. ‘Clearly. Couldn’t have asked for better.’

  Sam felt sick. She pushed her chair back. ‘I…I don’t know if I can go with you.’

  Tollin glanced over at her, eyes searching. ‘Where else will you go?’

  She shut her eyes and nodded. Where else could she go? To the authorities? If they were in league with the Myrmidons then Sam would just end up in their custody. Could she go to Nelly’s? And tell her what, exactly? Again, it would end with the authorities being involved and Sam in a worse situation than she was now. She knew no-one and had nowhere to go. Tollin was her only hope. More importantly, she wasn’t sure she wanted anyone else.