because he had a mental link with all the people that really mattered – but it was dead and no amount of shouting and hitting the damn thing would turn it back on. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t know,” Max replied, eyeing the front door. “The car? Hospital?” She wasn’t overly afraid anything bad would happen to her or her daughter. She had it on good authority that her little girl was destined for big things, after all. Still, Max had no intentions of pushing the baby out without a shitload of drugs. She was only experiencing early contractions and they were truly horrible. What would they be like an hour from now? Nope, Max decided. Drugs.
Ryker went to the front door of their accommodation and found it to be stuck. Not only stuck, but the handle wouldn’t even move. He turned disbelieving eyes on Max, “We’re locked in.”
Max watched helplessly as Ryker tried the side door, and then all the windows. Even going so far as to throw a chair at a window. It didn’t so much as crack the glass, let alone smash it. Max felt a hysterical laugh bubble up, but it quickly morphed into a groan when pain tore across her abdomen once more. Forcing all thoughts of being trapped inside a converted barn, hours from her friends and family as she laboured with her first child with no pain relief aside, she breathed and counted her way through the intense contraction.
“Max,” Ryker said, wiping the sweat off her forehead. “What are we going to do? Why is this happening?”
Max took his hand, leaning her flushed face into the coolness of his palm. “I don’t know. It’s like I have no powers at all. Like I’m a regular human. But what is keeping us from getting out? It’s like …” she trailed off, her eyes widening when she saw a translucent, shimmery waterfall covering all the walls and windows. It hadn’t been there moments before but unless she was hallucinating, the veil was now inside their holiday rental.
“Uh, Max? I don’t mean to add more to your plate, but do you see that?” Ryker pointed to the walls.
Max looked at him, surprised. “You can see it?”
Ryker nodded. “It looks like the place has been wrapped in rainbow clingwrap. What the fuck is it?”
“It’s the veil,” Max replied, still shocked Ryker could see it.
Ryker whipped his head around to face her. “The veil? The doorway between worlds? That veil?”
Max nodded. “Yes, that veil. I mean, I’ve never seen it like this. It’s usually a doorway like you said. This, this is huge. It’s more like a dome. No wonder you can’t open the doors or windows. I think …” Max broke off, biting her lip.
“You think what? Max? Honey, don’t go silent on me now. I’m trying really hard not to freak the fuck out here,” Ryker revealed, cupping her face in his hands.
Max gripped his wrists and looked straight into the chocolate depths of his eyes. “I think we’re between worlds.”
Ryker sat back so fast that he fell on his arse. “Between worlds? But how?”
The question gave Max something to focus on as she cursed her way through another contraction. If she was timing it correctly, her contractions were lasting for a minute, give or take, and were less than five minutes apart already. She had a feeling she was going to be holding her daughter in her arms in less than an hour. When she could talk again, she asked Ryker to help her to a more comfortable position, which ended up being on the floor in the living area on the thick, plush rug with a stack of pillows piled up behind her. Her poor husband looked a fright, with his hair a tangled mess from his constant tugging on it, his wide eyes, and his unnaturally pale face. Reaching out a hand to him, she urged him to sit next to her. She felt some tension leave her when Ryker immediately drew her close and placed his big hands on her tummy.
“I think it’s the baby,” Max then started verbalising what she intuitively understood – now that she had stopped panicking and started thinking. “I think she’s the one doing this with the veil. I believe she needs to be born straddling both worlds. And that is why we can’t communicate with anyone.”
Ryker looked down at the mound that was his soon-to-be-born daughter and frowned. “She’s not even born yet. How