Page 154 of Remnants: Disruption
Fine. We can play this game.
I flick the cap off the bottle and knock back a swirl.
“You opened a rift to somewhere beyond this plane,” she says, watching me take another pull.
“I’m available for birthdays and weddings,” I say, giving her a grin.
She takes a step forward.
The bottle gets a little lighter.
“What you did should not be possible. Tell me what it was. Tell me what you saw.”
“I don’t fucking know, Cass,” I snap. “I saw things I shouldn’t have seen. And all I know is your voice pulled me out of it.”
I finish the bottle and roll it between my hands.
“It felt like my soul was being pulled from my body. It was excruciating and terrifying and I just wanted you to touch me.To hold me. But, no, you got up and went to check on fuckingGareth.”
His name tastes like bile on my tongue. Or maybe my stomach is retaliating.
Cass freezes, head tilting.
“Do you know who killed Loki and Beowulf?” she asks, and I finally look up at her.
“What?” I ask, hurt that she ignored how much I needed her.
Figures, though.
Maybe—
“Wait,” I say, squinting at her.
Something about Cass’ pale skin is wrong. The outfit she was wearing this morning was lower cut, but now it’s too low.
It shows her collar bone—and there’s no red lightning bolt.
“The hell?” I ask, stumbling a little as I back up. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Cass” grins, but it’s distorted and wrong. Like a mask.
“Impressive,” Gareth’s voice comes from Cass’ mouth and it’s really fucking off-putting. “I supposeCasschose her lover well. Too bad I’m going to kill you before you can run back to her.”
Chapter 55
Doppelgänger
November 15th, 1030 A.D., Late-Afternoon
Shapeshifters and nigh unstoppable, the Realm Walkers answer to their kings. And their kings answer to no one.
Unknown
Gareth seems to bend in the hazy hued light of the bar. Well—not him, really. His form. His shape.
Except instead of returning to the smug asshole white guy, what reforms isn’t even remotely humanoid. It’s like if one took the plague doctor mask I’d worn as the Dark One and plastered it onto a bug.
Though, in this case, the bug is buff and probably five inches taller than me. He has digitigrade legs that fit beneath a large torso and long arms that end in sharp claws. Talons, I guess.
