Rite of Passage: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 26)

by R. L. King

  When he reached the church, he started by walking all the way around it, once again scanning for magical energy. He didn’t find any, but he did discover all the windows were long gone, the front door was intact (probably because it faced away from the cave opening), and the far side had two more large openings in the wall. Weeds choked the area around it, and when he peered inside, he saw a mossy blanket covering most of the ripped carpet, along with several broken pews scattered around.

  Once again, his memory returned to the last time he was here. He’d spent many hours inside this church, a prisoner of the Evil as they forced him to work with two of their own scientists to find a way to stabilize their unpredictable portal. He paused a moment to recall their names, but could only remember one: Byron Sherman, from Seattle. The tall, skinny young man with crazy blond hair had possessed the same irreverent streak and insatiable curiosity as Stone himself; under different circumstances, the two of them might have been friends. But Sherman was dead now, just like the other one Stone could barely remember.

  He ducked through one of the large holes and entered the church, watching his step in the dim light so he didn’t trip over anything. Decker’s Gap was surrounded by tall trees, so even the blasted windows and holes in the roof didn’t let in a lot of light.

  He picked his way to the front and turned to face where the congregation would sit. The pulpit was long gone, the stage area strewn with bits of wood and trash. Magical sight once again revealed no sign of energy, unusual or otherwise.

  He sighed. This whole thing was pointless. He was wasting time, drawing out the inevitable so he wouldn’t have to return to California and tell Stefan his search had come up empty. Even though he hadn’t admitted it to Kolinsky, he’d been as intrigued by the unusual readings as the dragon, and he suspected his friend knew it. To find nothing was just—

  “Alastair? Is that you?”

  Stone jerked his head up, barely stopping himself from gathering energy for a spell.

  The voice was a woman’s, and came from the other end of the church. A shadowy figure was stepping through in a spot where one of the blasted holes combined with a blown-out window to form a space almost as tall as a door.

  He narrowed his eyes. He didn’t recognize the voice, and from here couldn’t make out enough of the figure to determine anything except she was of medium height and had shoulder-length hair. “Hello?” he called, ready to pull up a shield if he needed to. The woman might just be a hiker or camper, but out here he wouldn’t take chances.

  She came closer, picking over the debris on the ground with the same level of care he had earlier, but stopped in the middle of the aisle and stared. “Oh, my God…” she said. “It is you.”

  He could see her a little better now. She was dressed simply in jeans and buttoned shirt, her dark-brown hair was uncombed with a few streaks of gray, and her expression was wary but amazed. He still didn’t recognize her, but she certainly seemed to know who he was.

  “Er…” he began, but didn’t move. “I’m sorry, but you seem to have me at a disadvantage. I don’t think I know you.”

  “You do, but I guess I can’t blame you for not recognizing me.” Her smile grew wistful. “It’s been a long time. I’m Daphne. Daphne Weldon.”

  4

  At first, Stone couldn’t say anything. He stared at her, eyes wide and mouth open, unable to do anything but gape. “Daphne…Weldon?”

  “I know.” She walked forward, still picking carefully across the floor. “It’s a shock. It’s got to be. It’s a shock for me too, seeing you. What are you doing here? Last I knew, you were teaching at Stanford.”

  Stone swallowed, trying to make his careening thoughts come together enough to form a coherent reply. But all he could manage was “Er—”

  Daphne Weldon? That was impossible. Daphne Weldon was dead! She’d died eleven years ago, along with her boyfriend and two other portal researchers, in the accident that had brought the Evil’s two portals into being and sent them pouring into the world. All four of the researchers had disappeared into the void, either ripped to pieces or devoured by the proto-Evil swimming around in the Overworld.

  A little thought poked at his brain: But what if she didn’t die? Nobody ever saw a body…

  That’s absurd. Of course she died. She’s been gone for eleven years! If she didn’t die, why did it take her this long to come back? Where has she been all this time?

  “Alastair?” She was looking at him with some confusion now, tilting her head. “Are you all right?”

  “I—” He narrowed his eyes and switched to magical sight. Her aura was bright blue, clear and untroubled, with just a hint of understandable apprehension. He’d seen that aura far too many times, back when the two of them had been—stop it. “I don’t know who you really are,” he said coldly, “but this has got to be some kind of cruel trick, and I’m not falling for it.”

  She didn’t seem offended by his tone. “I know,” she said gently. “Of course you’d think so. I’d think so too, if I were in your shoes. We’re scientists. We don’t just take things on faith.” She nodded toward the floor. “Oh, God, Alastair, it’s so good to see you. Can I come closer? I want to get a better look at you.”

  “Not too close.” He did raise his shield then. If she wanted to think him overly cautious, she could go right ahead and do it. A massively powerful magical energy surge followed by the woman he hadn’t seen in more than eleven years turning up in the same vicinity couldn’t be a coincidence.

  “Okay. I’ll stay back.” She approached a few more steps, then stopped. “But this is…amazing. How are you here? Why are you here? I didn’t even think you knew this place existed.”

  He studied her more carefully, now that she was closer. She certainly looked like Daphne. She was a little thinner and appeared older than when he’d known her, but the twinkle in her eyes hadn’t changed, nor the way she stood with her feet wide as if preparing to take on the world. There had been a time when he had known every inch of that body, before the physical distance between them and the proximity of her co-researcher Neil Hanley had convinced them both it wasn’t meant to be.

  “I’m…investigating something. An anomaly a friend picked up in this area. Do you know anything about it? Does it have something to do with why you’re here?” He realized his tone had turned a bit confrontational, but didn’t apologize for it. Instead, he fixed his gaze on her, switched on magical sight, and waited.

  All she looked was confused. She shook her head slowly, her eyes never leaving him. “No…nothing like that. I only got here earlier today.”

  “If you’re Daphne, where’s Neil?”

  Her expression clouded, and she looked down. “Dead.”

  That jolted him. “Dead? But—”

  She sighed. “Alastair…I don’t know anything about this…anomaly you’re talking about. I have my reasons for being here—good reasons—and I’ll tell you what they are in a minute. It’s going to be another shock to you, I warn you. But I promise, I can prove it.”

  “What…happened to Neil?” He didn’t drop the shield, but the confrontation left his voice.

  “He died…in the accident. Along with the others.”

  “The…accident.” Stone already knew what she was talking about, of course, but he wanted to hear her say it.

  “Oh. Of course—you didn’t know what we were doing.” She looked at her feet again.

  “I do.”

  “You do?” Her gaze shot back up.

  “Yes. I know about the semi-stable temporary portals. I’ve read your research notes.”

  “You’ve—” Now she was looking even more confused than he felt. “But how—?”

  “Long story, probably best not told now.” He didn’t want to believe her. There had to be something going on here, and he planned to find out what it was. But her face, her expressions, even her aura were telling him otherwise. If this was something masquerading as Daphne Weldon, it was doing a damned good job. “Tell
me what happened, Daphne. To Neil and the others.” By now he’d lost track of time, of their location, of everything except the woman standing in front of him. He wanted to pick her up and drink the knowledge from her in big, gulping swallows.

  “I’ll tell you everything. I promise. But first…I need to tell you something else.”

  Stone tensed. Was this where she’d reveal her true self and attack him? “Something else.”

  She nodded, looking sober. “I told you it’s going to be a shock, and I didn’t expect to have to do it today. I didn’t expect I’d ever see you again, let alone find you out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “What is it, Daphne?” His thoughts were chaotic again, trying to figure out what shocking news she might be about to drop on him. “Just—tell me.”

  “I’ll do better than that. I’ll show you.” She turned in place, looking around the church’s interior, and then faced the same hole where she’d entered before. “You can come in,” she called in a gentle voice.

  A small figure appeared in the opening, wreathed in shadow. It stepped tentatively inside, where the waning light revealed it to be a young boy dressed in a simple buttoned shirt and trousers.

  “It’s all right,” Daphne said, still speaking as if to a nervous deer who might bolt at the first sign of danger. She held her hand out and the boy came to her.

  “Alastair—this is my son, Jeremy.”

  5

  For a moment, Stone could do nothing but stare. Whatever connection normally existed between his brain and his mouth had been neatly severed, and no matter how hard he tried to speak, nothing came out.

  The boy looked back at him with a gaze that was apprehensive but not frightened. He was small and slightly built, with shaggy, dark-brown hair, large eyes, and a pointed chin. A faint dusting of freckles covered his nose and cheeks. He didn’t say anything either.

  Daphne put her arm around his thin shoulders, but she was looking at Stone. “I told you it would be a shock,” she said wryly.

  Stone finally found his voice. “You—er—did do that.” He had so many questions, all of them currently engaged in a cage fight to see which one would emerge victorious.

  She indicated one of the two mostly intact pews. “Shall we sit down? I’ll tell you everything, but I warn you, I’m shocked too, to see you here. This is a…shocking day.”

  Something seemed off about her, but Stone couldn’t put his finger on what it was. She was definitely acting like herself—he’d known her long enough, both as a lover and a colleague, to know that, even after all this time. If something was impersonating her, it was doing a world-class job. He decided to reserve judgment for the moment, while keeping his defenses up. Stranger things than this had happened to him over the last few years, so he supposed anything was possible—even that his ex-lover had managed to escape certain death in a horrific extradimensional accident eleven years ago and stay out of sight all that time. Not to mention have a child. Jeremy was still watching him, snuggled into the crook of his mother’s arm. So far, he hadn’t said anything.

  Daphne seemed to pick up on Stone’s apprehension. “Maybe it’ll be better if I explain a few things to you. That way I can tell you without making you have to ask awkward questions. I’m sure you have a lot of them.”

  “I—do,” he admitted. That was something he’d always admired about her—she approached problems in a straightforward, good-natured manner. He shifted his gaze to Jeremy. “Forgive me, forgot my manners. It’s very nice to meet you, Jeremy. I’m Alastair Stone—an old friend of your mum’s.”

  Jeremy said nothing, but only continued watching Stone.

  “He…doesn’t talk.” Daphne ruffled her son’s hair, then smiled. “And not so old, from the look of you. You’ve aged a lot better than I have.”

  That was the last thing Stone wanted to discuss at the moment. “So, er—”

  “Yes. So.” She sighed, tightening her arm around Jeremy in a protective, mother-bear hug. “I’ll start by answering the first thing you probably want to know, but you’re too polite to ask: yes, Jeremy is Neil’s.”

  Stone didn’t deny his curiosity. He narrowed his eyes. “But you said—”

  “He’s gone.” She looked at her lap. “And he is. Like I said, he died in the accident. So did Rochelle and Artie.”

  “So…you were the only one who survived? How—”

  “I’m not even sure, to be honest. Everything seemed to be going fine, but then it all went so wrong so fast.” Her gaze wandered around the church, and Stone didn’t miss the tears glittering in the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry—even after all this time, it’s hard to think about it.”

  “If you’d rather not—” Stone managed to keep his burning curiosity out of his voice, but it wasn’t easy.

  “No…it’s all right. It was a long time ago, but I haven’t thought about it in a while. For years, I tried to focus on raising Jeremy and forgetting all about it. That didn’t always work so well, though.” She swiped her arm across her face and looked at Stone again. “I really don’t know exactly what happened. We were all supposed to step through at the same time. Neil and I were here, and Rochelle and Artie were…”

  “Outside Las Vegas.”

  Her eyes widened. “You know that too?”

  “I think I know most of it—at least from this side. I promise, I’ll tell you everything. But I want to hear your story first, if that’s all right.”

  “Yes…all right.” She swallowed and took a deep breath. “So…as I said, we were all supposed to step through at the same time. If everything went according to our calculations, we’d meet somewhere in the middle almost instantly, pass each other, and step out on the other side.”

  “But…it didn’t work like that?”

  She shook her head. “No. Not even close. Neil and I went in at the same time, holding hands. As soon as I got inside, I knew something was wrong.” She spoke softly, but there was no tremble in her voice. “I tried to say something, but I couldn’t speak. The portal was already starting to collapse, from the moment we stepped inside. Something ripped Neil away from me. I got a quick glimpse of Artie and Rochelle on the other side, and both of them looked like they were screaming, even though I couldn’t hear them. And then they were gone too.”

  “Bloody hell…” Stone murmured. “What did you do? How did you get out?”

  She looked at her lap and squeezed Jeremy’s shoulders again. “I was a coward, is how I got out. I’m not proud of it. I had nightmares for years about it, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing you can talk to a therapist about, you know?” She gave a bitter chuckle and met Stone’s gaze again. “I’m guessing you still know all about that, right?”

  “All too well.” Stone had made the same joke with Jason and Verity in the past. Someday, some mage was going to make bank by getting a psychology degree and providing therapy to the magical community, but so far he’d never heard of such a thing. A wave of affection for Daphne began to overcome his suspicion. They were long past being lovers, but she’d always been one of his best friends and he hated seeing her suffer.

  “Anyway…so, yeah, I was a coward. I couldn’t see any of them anymore, and I could tell the whole thing was going haywire and would probably collapse around our ears any second. So I panicked. I put up a shield, turned, and threw myself back through the opening.”

  “And you got out.”

  “Barely. I’m not even sure how. I heard a loud noise—more in my head than physically—and passed out. When I woke up, there was no sign of the portal, or any of my friends. Just me in that cave. Everything was gone, even our lights and gear. When I left, I discovered I’d been out for almost a whole day, and my head hurt like somebody had stomped on it.”

  “What did you do then?”

  She shook her head. “I barely remember. I think I was out of my mind for a while—like my brain was trying to protect me from whatever had happened. All I wanted to do was get away from there and hide. I remembe
r being afraid somebody was after me—maybe somebody from inside the portal. I don’t know. But our vehicle was there, so I took it and drove until I couldn’t drive anymore.”

  Stone couldn’t sit still any longer, so he stood and began pacing. It was still light enough inside the church to see, but it would be dark soon. “What did you do after that? Why didn’t you contact anybody?”

  “I don’t know. I was scared, I guess. Scared and grieving and frustrated. Everything we’d poured our lives into had gone so completely wrong. I just…didn’t want anything to do with any of it anymore. I was tired of magic, and research, and portals. All I wanted to do was go off somewhere, start a new mundane life, and put everything behind me.”

  “Your mum misses you, you know…” He spoke gently, without any reproach. “I went to see her a few years ago, to ask her some questions. She doesn’t believe you’re dead. She thinks you’re in some kind of…witness protection program or something.”

  Daphne gave a damp laugh. “That sounds exactly like what Mom would think.” Her voice caught a little. “I hated to do that to her. Maybe I can do something about it now.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be delighted to find out she has a grandson…” He glanced at Jeremy again. The boy’s steady gaze was following him as he paced. “But…how did you—”

  “How is Jeremy Neil’s?” At Stone’s nod, she smiled faintly. “It wasn’t long after…the accident…that I started feeling bad. Sick to my stomach, just out of sorts. By that time, I’d hidden our vehicle and got hold of another one, and I was living out in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky. I went to the local clinic where they don’t ask too many questions and got checked out—and that’s when I found out I was pregnant.”