Free The Rift by J.T. Stoll Page B

don’t want
to join James’s little guerilla army just yet.”
    “ Really, dumping all this on us was
a pretty douche move,” Pieter said. “We don’t owe it to
him.”
    “ Douche or desperate,” Neil said.
“Anyways, do any of you actually want to try and harry the
movements of EP’s army?”
    “ EP?” Gloria asked.
    “ Sorry, Evil Prince. Terian, that
is.”
    “ Though he might not be evil,”
Pieter said.
    “ Well, cool name either way,” Neil
said.
    “ I don’t wanna fight,” Vero said.
“I’ve got enough problems at the moment.”
    “ Agreed,” Gloria added.
    “ Good,” Neil said. “In that case,
we’ve just got one barrier.”
    “ Jed,” Pieter said. “And that other
guy with him…”
    “ Dek, the wildian,” Neil said.
“That’s what James called him. Whether that’s a race or ethnicity,
who knows? Anyways, if they’re here when the main army arrives,
we’re identified. We don’t want to end up in that situation. If
they’re not here, we’re just ordinary high schoolers. I’ll get back
to WoW, Vero and Pieter get back to kissing…”
    Vero groaned.
    “… And Gloria, you get back to your
life.”
    Fighting in the fury of that first night had
been one thing. But actually hunting someone down and killing them?
“What do you mean by ‘gone?’” Vero asked. “Like… dead?”
    “ Preferably not,” Neil said.
“Because whether he’s from another dimension or not, we might end
up in jail. I’d rather just get rid of his soul armor and take him
to the police. He and Dek are currently wanted for armed robbery.
We’ve got a justice system; let them handle the Ruachites…
Ruachers…”
    “ Ruachians,” Pieter said. “Like
Asians. Europeans. Ruachians.”
    Neil tapped the keyboard. “Ruachians. Check.
Anyways, I suggest getting them to the police. Jed wants to find us
and kill us? We get him first then get on with our
lives.”
    “ And if it’s not that clean? If it
comes to killing or being killed?” Pieter asked.
    The fire crackled.
    “ It won’t,” Neil said.
    “ Why don’t we just tell the police
right now?” Gloria asked. “That sounds easier.”
    Neil shook his head. “Bad idea. For starters,
if they find out about our weapons, they might suspect us of
James’s murder. Plus, the army or CIA or whoever would take our
soul armors. And I don’t want to give up our protection with those
Ruach…ians still out there.”
    “ What do you mean?” Vero asked.
“The cops would protect us, right?”
    Pieter scoffed. “Did you see what Jed did that
first night? I don’t think the SLO-po is ready for something like
that. I don’t know if anyone is.”
    “ So, witness protection or
something,” Vero said.
    “ You want to leave SLO for witness
protection?” Neil asked. “And give up your soul armor? Do
you?”
    Vero paused and rubbed a finger over the band
on her arm. Her sisters and mom loved this place. And, truth be
told, Vero did, too. She didn’t say anything.
    Neil gazed into the fire. “We take care of Jed.
Then, if we want, we hand everything to the authorities. Or not.
Personally, I say we keep the whole thing a secret. If nobody knows
who we are, we get our lives back.”
    “ You make it sound so easy to keep
it secret,” Vero said.
    “ Well, at some point, I wanted to
talk about disguises. You know, take a hint from the Justice League
and protect ourselves and our loved ones. We’ll… we’ll work on
getting some masks or something. But regardless, I don’t think
we’re ready to face them down. We need to train, to figure out how
to use these armors. Then, when we feel strong enough, we go
after him. If we’re really lucky, the cops catch him before we even
have to do anything.”
    “ And if we’re unlucky, somebody
else comes through the portal to help them out,” Pieter
said.
    “ Right. Which is why we can’t wait
too long.”
    “ What about the invasion? What if
it’s real?” Vero asked.
    “ You don’t think the