Seeker (Riders #2)(51)

As we ride up, it's still rising out of the earth like a sprouting plant, the nose pressing through the treetops and disappearing beyond.

The shaking stops as suddenly as it started, and there it is. In front of us. All but the tail sticking out of the ground.

Silence rings in my ears. For a few seconds I have to just process.

Daryn told us about the flowers washing over her mom, but this is the first time I've seen something unbelievable with my own eyes.

"So." I lick my dry lips. "Wonder where that flew in from."

Marcus looks at me. Not laughing.

Everybody knows this is from my past. There's no point in even saying it.

I hop off Riot to check it out. Jode comes with me, nocking an arrow in his bow.

I touch the plane. The metal feels solid and real. Every detail is just as I remember it. All it's missing is people.

Jode finally lowers his bow and lets out a hissing breath. "Why?"

"Don't know. But I was thinking about it before."

"You were?"

"Yeah. It wasn't the only thing on my mind, though." I was thinking about Bas, too. About my mother and my sister. My dad.

"But it's the only thing that appeared."

"So far."

"Yes. So far." He shakes his head. "It's like we're meeting our own psyches."

As I catch Daryn's eye on my way back to Riot, it hits me how hard it must've been for her to see her mother here.

This stuff isn't real-not the plane or her mom-but it feels completely real.

If I came across my mom in the Rift, I'd lose it. But if my dad were here?

Just imagining it makes my stomach queasy.

"Good seeing ya, plane from my past," I say as I mount up.

Well done, Gideon. If you want to feel positive, be positive.

"Thanks, horse," I mutter, patting Riot.

Just as I'm shaking off the plane, we come across our next surprise; they're coming in quick succession now.

This time there's no shaking ground or snapping branches. Like Marcus's Mustang, we ride up and there it is.

Another car.

A Range Rover that's smashed into a tree. Smashed into it. Almost wrapped completely around the trunk.

"Mine," Jode says. "This belongs to me."

He jumps off Lucent and moves to investigate, peering into the mangled cabin. It's empty, but I'm sure he's imagining himself inside it, since I am.

I know this story. Jode died in this car. It's his version of the C-130. 

I picture his last seconds before he crashed, died, and came back as Conquest. How much like my last seconds they must've been. Feeling all that regret over things you wanted to do and say and be, but never got around to. Nothing like those pre-death moments to give you perspective on life.

As Jode returns, his face is white but he tries a grin. "Quite a grand tour of our transportational tragedies."

"Not all of them. My mother was different," Daryn reminds us. "Her flowers, too. They're not all related to tragic accidents."

"Were you thinking about her beforehand?"

"I can't remember." Daryn frowns. "Were you thinking about this?"

"Yes. Gideon, too."

"I think I was too," Marcus adds. "I just remember a headache before the Mustang."

"I felt that as well before this," Jode says, tipping his chin at the Range Rover.

"Same for me before the plane."

"I've felt pressure the entire time I've been here," Daryn says.

Jode looks at each of us. "Well, let's be smart about this. We could be manifesting these anomalies through our thoughts. We can't dismiss the possibility. And the headaches could be giving us warning, so keep sharp, everyone."

"Yeah, but … " I shake my head. "Never mind."

"Say it, Gideon. We need everything right now. As much intelligence as we can use, let's use it."

"Daryn, you said earlier that you thought Samrael poisoned this place when you first opened the portal. He contaminated it. Those were your words."

"Yes," she says. "That was how it felt."

"Well, Samrael didn't just have the ability to get into my head to see what was there. He had a lot more guns than that. He could go hunting for my memories. And fears. He could put thoughts in my head, too. So if this place took some of him and has his ability, it's not just our thoughts that can manifest. We're wide open. It's open season on our worst fears."

No one says anything for a few seconds.

Then Jode shoves both hands into his hair. "Oh, hell. Bloody fabulous."





CHAPTER 19

DARYN

I don't know if what Jode and Gideon suggested is true.

Are these anomalies coming from our minds? Is the Rift peering into our heads and lobbing our fears at us?

It seems utterly unbelievable. Impossible.

But then again, we've seen the impossible too many times to doubt it can happen.