Return to the Darkness - Ripley Proserpina Page 0,15

didn’t have to. So you’d stay close to home.” I swallowed hard, thinking about how he wanted me to tell his boys to take care of their mom. “It was just a dream. Right?”

Oliver stood in the door, but all of his casualness had faded. He stood upright and tense, staring hard at his brother. He didn’t even glance toward me when he asked, “What else did he say?”

“He was surprised I could see him. And then there was more talk about time that I didn’t understand. I have only a basic understanding of physics, so all your name-dropping isn’t quite landing the way you might expect it would.”

“Guardians.” Thorn jumped from the bed and tugged on his jeans. “Pouque are guardians of time. Their dad is going on about time and killing Erdirg. I have a feeling that wasn’t a dream, Lace. I think that was a visit to another dimension.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Sure, my brain was fried from all those orgasms, but this was crazy.

“After jumping through inter-dimensional portals, you’re surprised about this?” Thorn asked, zipping his pants. The muscles in his arms rippled as he grabbed his shirt from the floor.

“Fair enough.” It wasn’t that I was floored by it. I had just been hoping for something a little less demon related. Which I knew was a stupid hope. This was Mr. Chee we were talking about. And my hometown. Of course there was going to be something paranormally fucked up about the whole situation. But was it too much to ask that Mr. Chee was having a mid-life crisis and had joined some hippie commune in the desert?

I tucked my knees up, making sure the sheet didn’t fall from my chest. No. I didn’t think that was too much to ask. “For a little while, I forgot this was a working vacation.”

Oliver gave one bitter laugh and shook his head. “Leave it to the old man to insert himself into everything. Always angling for the spotlight.”

That hadn’t been the Mr. Chee I’d seen. The one who’d blinked at me in surprise had seemed frightened, actually. And full of regrets.

“Whatever he was trying to do, now or in the past, Oliver, we’re still going to find him.” Aaron’s voice was hard. “He’s our father.”

Oliver took a hard bite of the apple. “Obviously. We left Alaska and dragged Lacey from the life she loved and the only father figure she’s ever had to go save ours. So yes, we’re going to do that.”

I held up my hand. “Sorry, I’m confused. Does he think he can mess with time? Like, instead of me, he could actually kill Erdirg, or put him to sleep, and then we have a different future?”

Oliver continued to chew. “Yep. I think that’s what he thinks. Lacey, I think that you should show us exactly where you faced the demon. It will be the best possible place to start. We’ll figure out how my father, moving at a different speed in time, went to another dimension. And then we’ll figure out if there’s anything left of him to save.”

Aaron rose slowly, seemingly unconcerned that all of his private parts were now on display. It was just his brother. Maybe he didn’t have to be embarrassed. Come to think of it, Oliver had seen me naked, too. Maybe I didn’t have to be embarrassed. But there was a line and me naked pressed against his brother was going to take a little bit of time to get used to.

“If that’s moving at a different rate, how did he expect to elicit change here? In this timeline?”

Thorn groaned. “He must have had a way. I’m going to become an expert on this. Give me a little time. I’m texting Colton to meet you at the site. He’ll need one of you to tell him where to go.”

“You’re not coming?” Thorn didn’t usually like to be left out as far as I could tell, but he did seem happy as long as he was researching.

“I’ll meet you guys out there as soon as I have something. Better Wi-Fi here than in the desert. Go. I’ll meet you there. Text me where you are, too. I’ll find you.”

The only person not hurrying was Oliver. I took a quick shower and then pulled on some clothes and stepped in front of him. “You okay?”

“Yep.” Another slow bite. “Pissed as hell at him. But fine.”

“I think he wanted to help. Wanted to make it so you guys didn’t hate him.