The Moon's Fangs | 1

18 | conditions

It felt like we walked in circles. Cold, annoying circles.

There were several times I wanted to say something, especially when noticing we passed the same lump of old crates, and worn-down shacks more than a couple of times.

~Reks Arlen is merely taking extra precautions to make sure the tail Baze sent to follow us loses our tracks.~ Nox pointed out.

Wait. I checked behind my shoulder. Someone's following us?

~Not anymore. The tracker lost us a little while back.~

Would've been nice to know... I sent the Guide mental waves of annoyance, then sent the intangible temper towards the back of Reks' head since he failed to mention it to me.

"When were you going to tell me someone was following us?"

Reks paused, lifting his hand for me to stop too. When I looked down, I realized we stopped at the edge of the district. Unlike the other districts, this one didn't have any kind of gate encompassing the level. If I wasn't paying attention, it would be too easy to miss a step and fall off.

"Someone was following us. And now they're not." Reks dropped down to sit on the edge, offering me his hand.

I stared down incredulously at him, then his hand. "Seriously? Can't you just use your portal ring thing and warp us back, no sweat?"

"Gate ring." He presented a blank stare. "If we use it out in the open and someone sees, then one of our only advantages is gone. Word will get out and a high rank with some brains and motivation will figure out there's an unregistered waypoint in Asylum. There's a chance they'll figure out how to get access if they're capable enough. Now come on, we're jumping through here."

I squinted my eyes to glare at the top half of his irritatingly handsome face. But for someone who initially claimed to not trust me, the way he easily relayed vital information to me spoke volumes. His attitude and actions were in complete opposition. It continued to confuse and frustrate the hell out of me.

"I hope you know there's going to be conditions if this is going to work," I said, taking his hand and dropping down to sit on the cold ledge. My feet had gone numb from walking barefoot around this district for so long.

"Conditions, huh? Awfully bold of you to try and bargain with a vitiate, Outlander." His brow rose in interest. He slid his ring off his finger. "Save it for after the jump." He flipped the ring in front of us, as if flipping a coin into a fountain.

"Are you sure this is safe—"

There wasn't time for an answer. The ring opened into a liquid galaxy below our feet. My heart lurched as Reks secured my waist with an arm, sliding us both off the ledge to fall into the swirling cosmos.

I clapped my hand to my mouth to ward off the building scream.

One second, my stomach fluttered with the sensation that comes with riding a roller-coaster then the next, my feet lightly touched clean marble.

Reks let go of my waist, catching his ring.

I blinked, looking around at the lab in complete astonishment. Why didn't Earth have wicked scary-slash-cool teleportation stuff like this yet? Maybe with Nox's help, I could bring it to the table. Hell, I'd be a billionaire. No. Trillionaire!

"Now that I finally have you to myself..." Reks leaned against the table in front of me, casually sliding his ring back into place on his deeply tanned finger before pulling the mask free from the lower half of his face. "How about you explain why you decided to run from me."