Homecoming: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 23)

by R. L. King

  “Verity, may I use your guest room?”

  “Sure, but—”

  Stone had already pulled out his phone and was striding out of the room toward the back of the apartment. By the time he reached the cluttered second bedroom, he was already listening to it ring.

  Nakamura answered promptly. “Hello, Dr. Stone. What can I do for you this evening?”

  “I need to talk to Harrison. Do you know if he’s…er…here?” He emphasized the last word.

  There was a pause. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

  “Do you have his phone number?” Of course, it wouldn’t be possible to reach Harrison if he was on Calanar, but every time he called Stone, the number showed up as blocked. It would help, at least, to be able to contact him when he was on Earth.

  “I can give it to you, but he is extremely difficult to reach, even when he is…here.”

  “That’s all right—I’ll take my chances. Let me have it, please.”

  “Is everything all right, Dr. Stone?”

  “Not really. I need to tell him something, as soon as possible. Something he’s going to want to know.”

  “I wish you luck, then.” He gave Stone the number.

  Stone jotted it down. “Thank you, Mr. Nakamura. And if he should happen to turn up, please ask him to contact me immediately. Tell him it’s about what we discussed today, and I’ve got more information for him that he’ll want to know before he makes any decisions.”

  “Of course. If I hear from him, I’ll pass on the message.”

  Stone ended the call and sighed loudly. Why was it that every powerful mage he knew was impossible to contact quickly these days? Kolinsky refused to use phones at all except in dire emergencies, Madame Huan had disappeared off the face of the Earth—possibly literally—and Harrison, who was otherwise the poster child for advanced technology, couldn’t seem to manage checking his voicemail.

  He tapped in the number Nakamura gave him and listened to it ring. “Come on…answer, damn you.”

  But Harrison didn’t answer. It rang several more times—far more than it should if the voicemail was going to pick up—and then the line went dead.

  “Bugger.” Stone jammed the phone back in his pocket and stalked out to rejoin the others.

  They all looked up at him. “What was that about?” Jason asked.

  “He just got a brainwave,” Verity said. “Right, Doc?”

  “Yes.” He didn’t sit.

  “And—don’t tell me—you have to go.”

  “Er…yes.” He was probably overreacting, but if he didn’t reach Harrison and give him this information, he had no idea what might happen. Even if this rift wasn’t like the others and wouldn’t cause the same kind of trouble if Harrison closed it, he’d still want to know somebody from his side of the universe might be tinkering with portals between their two worlds. If he could find Harrison before he closed it, it was possible he could study it and determine who that somebody was.

  It was also possible if he closed it, something even worse might happen. Stone had no idea what would occur if a fixed portal between dimensions was closed without proper care. Would it behave like a normal portal—like the Overworld, for example?—or was it a completely different and unexplained phenomena? On Calanar, they had the magical know-how to teleport all over the place via prepared travel pads, but who knew how it would work between their magic-rich environment and Earth’s comparatively lower one?

  He had to find Harrison—and he had a good idea about where to look.

  But first, he needed to talk to Kolinsky.

  “Right now?” Amber asked, narrowing her eyes. “You can’t even finish dinner?”

  He looked at his watch. If he left here now, he could get to Sunnyvale in an hour. He’d still have to drive up from Santa Fe, but it was still probably faster than flying—especially since he’d still have to drive once he landed.

  “Yes, right now. I’m terribly sorry, all of you. I know I’m a dreadful guest, and I promise I’ll make it up to you later. But I’ve got to go.”

  “Where are you going?” Verity asked. “Do you want us to come with you?”

  Once again, he appreciated her offer. Jason and Amber were nodding too—all of them had no idea what he was up to, but still they were willing to sign on. “Thank you, but no. I don’t think there’s anything you can do.”

  “At least tell us where you’re going.”

  “I need to talk to Kolinsky. Then back to Colorado. I can’t reach Harrison, and I’ve got to tell him something.”

  She nodded as light dawned. “I get it. You think he already figured out where the rift is, and he’s going there to close it.”

  “I can’t say. You know that.” But the look he gave her answered her question.

  “But I thought you decided you weren’t going to try stopping him.”

  “New information.” Stone’s heart was already beating faster. “I’m sorry—I’ve got to go. Thank you for a lovely dinner. I’ll call you after this is all over.”

  “Doc?” Her voice reached him as he opened the door.

  “Yes?”

  “Be careful, okay?”

  He didn’t even bother to use his old, flippant ‘I’m always careful’ line anymore. “I will.”

  25

  Even with his disregarding spell active, Stone was amazed he didn’t get pulled over on his way to Palo Alto. Traffic wasn’t bad once he got out of San Francisco, but the CHP didn’t usually take kindly to cars flying down 280 at ninety miles per hour.

  “Okay, Stefan,” he muttered to himself as he entered the shop and jogged down the stairs to the showroom. “I know you’re going to bite my head off for summoning you again, but…”

  He shoved the door open and stopped.

  Kolinsky was seated in his usual spot at his rolltop desk, a book open in front of him.

  “You’re…here,” Stone sputtered, not even caring how idiotic he sounded in his shock.

  The black mage slowly swiveled his chair around as if not at all surprised to receive a visit from an obviously agitated associate at nine p.m. “Good evening, Alastair.”

  “Er—hello. I didn’t expect to find you here. I thought I’d have to look in the mirror and chant your name three times again.” He paused to take a deep breath, trying to calm his frazzled state of mind before speaking further.

  Kolinsky indicated the book. “A new volume arrived for my collection. I lost track of time while perusing it.”

  “Well, good luck for me, then. I’ve got to talk to you, if you can pull yourself away from it for a few minutes.”

  “Of course.” He slipped a bookmark between the open pages, closed the tome, and put it aside. “What can I do for you, Alastair? You seem…disturbed.”

  “I am disturbed.”

  “Is this about your associate?” He didn’t even bother waving Stone toward a chair.

  Stone didn’t bother sitting. “Yes. I know you said you couldn’t let me out of the oath, but I’ve got new information.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Please—just listen to me.” He stalked around like a cat. “I can’t tell you everything—and I’m not asking you to release me from the whole oath. But I want to give you some new data and see what you think of it, apropos these mates of yours who might take issue with what’s going on.”

  Kolinsky inclined his head. “Pray, continue. I can make no promises, however.”

  “I understand that.” He spun away, pulled another deep breath, then turned back. “Okay. My associate is a powerful mage, who spends most of his time…elsewhere.”

  “Elsewhere?” Kolinsky’s eyebrow rose.

  “Yes. He’s…” Stone considered his words with care, afraid of revealing the wrong thing to Kolinsky and opening a can of radioactive worms. “…a dimensional traveler.”

  “Indeed.” Kolinsky’s other eyebrow joined the first.

  “Yes. And please don’t ask me to tell you anything else about him, becau
se I won’t. But I’ve now got reason to believe this rift isn’t the same type you lot are so bothered about leaving alone.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Stone didn’t miss the sharpening in Kolinsky’s gaze. He had his interest now—he just had to make sure he didn’t blow this. “I don’t think this rift is a case of two dimensions drifting into phase with each other. I think it might have been purposely created.”

  “By whom?”

  “Don’t know. I don’t think anybody knows at this point.”

  “I see. Did your associate tell you this?”

  “No. Well, indirectly. I worked it out based on something I know from before. I don’t think he’s aware of it. And that’s what I’ve got to tell him, before he tries closing it.”

  Kolinsky considered. “What do you believe will happen if he does try?”

  “I haven’t got a bloody clue. That’s what I’m worried about. We know—based on the fact that I’ve closed three of the other types of rifts and nothing’s happened, as far as I’ve heard, aside from possibly the one that opened in Oakland—” He shot a questioning glance at the black mage.

  “As far as I or any of my associates are aware, nothing else significant has resulted from the closures,” he conceded.

  “—okay, so we know it’s not a definite correlation. Closing the other types of rifts doesn’t necessarily lead to any kind of catastrophe, or new ones popping up. If your ‘tectonic plates’ theory is correct, there might need to be some kind of buildup, a tipping point. Right?”

  “Simplistically, yes.”

  “But in this case, we don’t know what will happen. Aside from the Overworld, I’m not aware of any other portals, or rifts, or whatever, opening between dimensions. Are you?”

  “No.”

  Stone barely noticed Kolinsky’s easy admission. “The Overworld has been fully stable—well, mostly so, anyway—since it was discovered. And because it has so many openings all over the world, it wouldn’t be possible to close it completely. But in this case, it is—and I’ve got no idea what will happen. Do you?”

  “I…do not,” Kolinsky admitted.

  Stone sighed. “So, I need to find him, and tell him enough to hold him off until we at least sort out what’s going on with it.”

  “How do you propose to do that?”

  “The only way I know how—after I’m finished talking with you, I’m going to go there and try to find him.”

  “You expect him to be there?”

  “I don’t think he’s there yet. But he’s a bright bloke. That’s an understatement, really—he’s brilliant with this kind of stuff. He’ll figure it out, and he’ll find it. And I need to be there when he does.” He let out a loud, frustrated breath. “If only I could get there faster. The closest portal is in Santa Fe, which means at least a six-hour drive.”

  Kolinsky’s gaze was as sharp as ever. “And you believe he will arrive before you do.”

  “I think he might. He’s got…other ways to travel.” Stone stopped, afraid he was teetering on the precipice of revealing things he couldn’t afford to reveal. “I can’t give you all the details, but…yes. I think he might beat me there.”

  “This man sounds intriguing…and potentially dangerous. I would like to meet him at some point.”

  Yeah, that’s going to happen. “That’s up to him. But right now, I’ve got to find him, before he ends up blowing up half of Colorado or something. So can you work with me, Stefan? Can I tell him anything at all?”

  Kolinsky considered. He swiveled his chair toward the desk and stared up at the wall, obviously deep in thought.

  Stone waited silently, forcing himself to remain still even though his whole body was racing.

  The seconds ticked away. The shop was quiet enough Stone could hear his harsh breathing, and worked to quiet it.

  Finally, Kolinsky turned back to him. “I believe,” he said thoughtfully, “that it might not be necessary for me to alter the terms of our oath.”

  “What do you mean? Why is that?”

  “The oath you swore constrains you from revealing information regarding the rifts that result from dimensions drifting into temporary confluence with each other. But if what you say is true—”

  “—this rift doesn’t have anything to do with that!” Stone finished. An electric jolt of excitement spiked through him. “Yes! Of course! As long as I don’t tell him anything about the other rifts—which I don’t need to because it’s not relevant in this case—I can give him enough information to hopefully at least hold him off until we’ve had more of a chance to work out what did cause it. Bloody hell, I should have thought of that myself—but I couldn’t risk it. Not without talking to you first.” He shoved his hands through his hair. “But it might not matter, damn it. Not if I can’t get there soon enough. Damn, damn, damn!”

  He spun on Kolinsky, once again forcing himself to calm down. “Thank you, Stefan. You were a big help. But now, unless you’ve got a portal in your pocket that can send me to the wilds of Colorado, I’d best get on with it. We’ll talk again when this is over.”

  He turned and strode toward the door, thoughts racing as he tried to think of any way he could get to Colorado faster. Maybe if he could charter a plane from Santa Fe to somewhere closer to Gunnison, he could—

  “Alastair.”

  Stone stopped. Kolinsky’s voice sounded…different.

  Contemplative.

  “What? I’ve got to—”

  Stone had never seen his old friend looking so odd. He appeared to be experiencing some sort of interior struggle, the outcome of which was by no means certain. “Stefan, I’ve got to go. Can we talk about whatever this is later?”

  “I…believe I can help you.”

  26

  Stone opened his eyes.

  Around him, it was dark.

  The air smelled old. Wherever he was, it wasn’t used regularly.

  He blinked, trying to clear the fog from his brain.

  He was standing upright, so he hadn’t been unconscious. But he didn’t remember anything about how he’d arrived here—wherever here was.

  “What did you do, Stefan…?” he murmured.

  He raised his hand, summoning a faint light spell around it, and pulled his phone from his pocket. He hadn’t checked the time when he was standing in Kolinsky’s shop, but it had been right around nine p.m. when he’d arrived.

  It was now ten-seventeen.

  So wherever he was, it had taken an hour to get here.

  Or…had it?

  With a shaking hand, he tapped the phone’s map application, and stared in shock at the tiny dot representing where he was in the world.

  The dot was sitting just north of the word Gunnison.

  Bloody hell…

  He looked at his phone again. It automatically adjusted to show the current time wherever he was—and Gunnison was one hour ahead of California.

  That meant it had taken less than seventeen minutes—probably quite a bit less, since he’d talked with Kolinsky for a while—to get here.

  He turned in place, remembering the conversation they’d had as he looked around what appeared to be an empty garage with its shades drawn.

  “I believe I can help you…” the black mage had said.

  “How? Even if you’ve got a private portal here, that still only takes less than an hour off the trip.”

  “Do you trust me, Alastair?”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It is a simple question. Do you trust me? Have I ever intentionally caused you harm?”

  Stone had to admit he hadn’t. As much as many mages feared and distrusted those of the darker persuasion—sometimes with cause—Stefan Kolinsky had never been anything but straight with him, at least as far as he was aware.

  “I…do,” he’d said. “But what’s that got to do with—”

  “I can help you, but you must submit to a brief technique that will conceal the manner of my assistance from you.”
>
  He’d glared at Stefan, mindful of the ticking clock. Harrison might already be in Colorado. Even if he had to drive from Denver, he had a head start. “Can you ever just come out and say something?”

  “That is where the trust comes in.” Kolinsky had appeared unruffled by his words. “Do you wish my help, or not?”

  “What do you mean, a ‘brief technique’?”

  “I will obfuscate your mind for a short time—less than a minute.”

  His glare sharpened. “So I won’t remember what you do to me. So I don’t see whatever portal you’ve got hidden away somewhere, perhaps?”

  Kolinsky didn’t reply. “Make your choice, please, Alastair.” He nodded toward his book. “I would like to finish my study tonight.”

  Stone thought hard about it. Having his mind ‘obfuscated’ wasn’t something he ever wanted to do—and certainly putting himself at Stefan Kolinsky’s mercy wasn’t high on his to-do list either. But on the other hand, Stefan had had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of him over their ten-year association. Why start now? “You can’t read my mind, can you?”

  “I cannot.”

  He sighed loudly. Kolinsky was a powerful man with a lot of secrets. If the price of getting to use his private portal, which might have access to other private portals closer to where he was going, was to allow a brief mental blindfold, it might be worth it.

  He’d certainly taken bigger chances for smaller gains in his life.

  “Okay,” he said at last. “I agree. Let’s do it.”

  His next conscious thought was when he opened his eyes inside the dark garage.

  His mind spun with thoughts, conjectures, possibilities—but he didn’t have time for any of them now. However Kolinsky had managed to send him to Gunnison, he was here now, and it had barely taken any time at all.

  He might still have time to head off Harrison if he hurried.

  It was harder to get a car in a small town after ten p.m. than he’d thought. At this time of night, most of the local businesses were closed, except for bars and restaurants. The town had a tiny municipal airport, but the rental agencies there were closed too.