all centered around an area south of the city. There have been some casualties and property destruction. No one’s gotten a good look at who or what’s responsible—no one who’s survived, anyway. All I’m hearing is rumors, and the rumors don’t make any sense.”
“What are the rumors?”
She tapped her fingers on the wheel. “It’s no secret, I suppose. You’ll hear about it at the roadhouse if you ask. People claim to have spotted creatures no one has seen topside for a very long time. I’d think folks had just gotten some bad weed, but the descriptions are fairly consistent and coming in from all over. If they’re right, we could be dealing with a very, very serious situation.”
“What do you mean, ‘topside’?”
Another long pause. “As opposed to the Underworld,” she said. “Nothing’s come up out of there anywhere near here in a very long time—that’s usually a European or far East problem, as you know. If there are Underworld critters running around up here, and shades loose topside, either we’ve got a new fractured boundary somewhere or someone’s left a door open.”
My stomach sank. Mariela had come here intending to travel to the Underworld. I didn’t believe in coincidences. What if she’d succeeded in opening a doorway, and then accidentally left it open?
“Jeez, that sounds terrible and really scary,” Malcolm said from the back seat. “Fractured boundaries and open doors to the Underworld. Hopefully it’s not that.”
“Yeah, hopefully.” She turned back to me. “Let’s grab some coffee and a snack and head for the roadhouse. We have to take the long way around because one of the local covens has apparently closed their territory again. By the time we get there, it will be about lunchtime and we’ll be starving if we don’t grab something. My source won’t be arriving until around sunset, so we’ll have some time to rest if you want. The roadhouse has rooms where we can catch a few Z’s. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t sleep last night and I can’t afford not to be sharp.”
On the one hand, I itched to go after Mariela, but it sounded like Lucy might have some useful information—like where these creatures were coming from and what they were. Even if my wolf could track the scroll, I didn’t like going in blind, especially since my magic didn’t work right here, and the spells and amulets I’d brought might not work at all. We needed to know what we were up against.
“Sure,” I said. “Coffee, lunch, and a siesta it is.”
“That’s the spirit.” She winked at Malcolm in the rearview mirror. “So to speak.”
“Great, someone else who makes ghost jokes,” Malcolm muttered. “Just what I needed.”
12
We were indeed strangers in a very strange land, and “not in Kansas anymore” didn’t even begin to cover it. The Twilight Zone was a more accurate description.
As we got closer to the city, I propped my head on my hand and stared out the window. With Lucy sitting next to me I had to keep my poker face in place, but it was difficult. We’d gone through the looking glass, quite literally, and this was not our world.
Many things were similar, from the makes of vehicles to businesses, infrastructure, and clothing. Beyond these basic similarities, however, the Broken World was completely different in every way I could think of.
I saw few small cars, even in the city. Most vehicles were heavy trucks, vans, SUVs, or jeeps. I did see a lot of public transportation, all heavily armored and many with weapons like the one mounted on Lucy’s vehicle. No skyscrapers downtown, or anywhere else. The tallest buildings were about ten or fifteen stories, and there were only a handful. Instead of a few very tall buildings, there were lots of medium-sized ones—none of which had glass sides or lots of windows. I wondered if that was because of dragons, or a result of other factors. Doorways were taller, probably to accommodate those who were extra tall, and most doors had two sets of hardware: one for very tall persons, the other for the very short.
Pedestrian traffic was heavy in the center of town, and about one in twenty people seemed not-quite human—some far from it. Giants walked alongside dwarves, and neither paid the other much heed. One tall woman scurried across the street in a crosswalk using her hands and feet like a four-legged spider.
When Lucy turned into Mermaid Coffee, I had to bite my tongue to keep from chuckling. Even