Rifts (36 page)

"Mother!" I shouted more loudly. There was no response. I scrambled to my feet and gave chase, crashing into the forest - trying to capture the sight of her again. Branches whipped across my cheeks, leaving small trails of blood flying behind me as I ran. Why wasn't she responding?

She dodged around a tree and I had to leap to avoid a fallen log. Damn, she was fast and she knew this area better than I did. "I need better radar," I called out to the earth with exasperation. My senses became fine-tuned. The obstacles became clearer and easier to avoid as I ran.

I stopped suddenly, breathing heavily, and leaned on my other senses. She was silent as a ghost. My ears strained to catch a hint of her whereabouts. I growled and tilted my head back with eyes closed, trying to get a feel of movement. Something rustled to the left and I was off again, running full tilt trying to catch up to her.

My heavy footfalls flushed wildlife out of the trees and bushes. None of them were easily recognizable and I realized that I was truly off world. I also wasn't being very cautious. If this wasn't my mother, I could be falling into a trap.

But let's face it, I was Grace. I didn't heed warning signs. I barreled through life doing what I thought was right, consequences be damned. My single minded purpose led me up a rise and into a small clearing.

A flash of gold blurred across my vision as I caught sight of her again. "Diana!" I called and bolted off after her, but tripped over a thick tree root and went sprawling. My body hit the ground hard and I ended up having to spit out a mouthful of dirt. "Shit," I exclaimed. Hoping that I hadn't missed her, I looked around.

"We have to stop meeting like this," she replied with a laugh.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips. "Thank God, you’re alive."

"I don't know what your God has to do with it." Those words made me glance at her curiously.

She looked like she had when I'd woken up in her illusionary house. Her hair fell in fiery waves down her back and over her shoulder. I would have been more comfortable if she'd been clothed, but now wasn't the time for prudish behavior. "Mother? Diana? Do you know who I am?" I looked into her sea-foam green eyes, hoping for some recognition.

My question was laced with concern. If she remembered me, she shouldn't have run away. Something was wrong.

"Diana. That's what I had been trying to remember." Her voice filled with humor, laced with a tinge of regret.

"Yes, but do you know who
I
am?" I asked again, hoping that she would.

She sighed at me and rolled her eyes. "Of course I know who you are, Grace. I'm fucking with you."

"Are you kidding me?" My tone was not amused.

"Well, I didn’t know who you were until you tripped over that branch. Then it was obvious that it couldn't be anyone
but
you."

"This is the first time my utter gracelessness has come in handy," I muttered.

"You're not the first person to come through the Rift. I thought I saw my daughter Hope, but she's been dead for hundreds of years. So I've stayed hidden here."

Oooh yeah. I wasn't going to fill her in on that yet. Right now, I needed to get her back through the Rift and into the Lab so she could fix me. "Why haven't you come home?" That seemed like an important question to ask, especially considering the circumstances. I guess I just needed to know if I was going to have to conk her out to get her out of here.

Her eyes bored into me and she replied with grim steel, "I needed to make sure he was really dead."

I wanted to argue that point. He was buried in the ground, worm food even. But taking that for granted just seemed like a bad idea. "Have you decided that he is?" I asked.

She looked uncertain. "I think so. I just couldn't bear it if not making sure came back to haunt us."

"Are you all right? You were so injured when you pulled him through." I got to my feet and walked slowly toward her, wary of frightening her off. She seemed a little jumpy.

She nodded. "As soon as I shifted, I began to heal the worst of the wounds. The rest came through some rest and downtime. This is a peaceful place."

"I need you to come home with me now, Mom." I took another step and reached out, hoping that she would take my hand.

Her face softened and eyes began to water. Oh God, I'd upset her. "What? I'm so sorry. What did I say?"

"This is the first time you've ever called me ‘Mom.’ I thought I'd never be able to hear you say that to me." She strode forward and wrapped her arms around me.

Suddenly we were both tearful. I'm sure it was for entirely different reasons, but the moment meant the world to me. I stayed wrapped in her arms and cried out all of the hurt and pain and fear that had encompassed my life for the last six months. She held me close and cried with me.

After a while she pulled away and wiped the tears from my face. "Let's go home," she said simply.

I nodded and sniffed. "There's some things that I need to tell you but it can wait until we get back."

Her brows knit together in concern and confusion but she nodded and opened a Rift. I gripped her hand and pulled her through with me into the safety of Zeus' lab.

Zeus and Heph were huddled around a bank of screens when we appeared on the other side of the Rift. They turned and the look on Zeus' face as he saw my mother will stay with me for the rest of my life. There was relief mixed with a love so profound, I had to turn away; feeling like I didn't deserve to see that.

"You came back," he whispered. I blinked and they were wrapped around each other in an embrace that seemed so intimate that I felt unworthy and quite uncomfortable to be in the same room.

"That looks like a nasty gash you have there, Grace," Heph said loudly. I could have kissed him.

"Yes," I replied, equally as loud. "Would you help me clean it up?"

"I would love to," he grabbed my arm and led me from the room. When we'd gotten far enough away, we stopped and he looked at me with wide eyes. "Wow that was uncomfortable."

"Seriously, right?"

"Where did you find her? Why hadn't she come back on her own?"

It was a reasonable question, so I told him the story as he gently cleaned my cuts and scrapes. I smiled down at him as he was close to the end of the cleaning process and said "You know those will heal on their own. You don't need to bother."

"Actually, I do." He said.

Our gazes locked and my mouth opened so I could pull in more air. His stare knocked the very breath from my body in its intensity. I couldn't speak or form words. I knew that logically I should push him away. I was broken. Not ready for what he wanted or needed. The words wouldn't leave my lips.

"I know and I don't care." He pulled me forward and cradled my head in those massive hands before brushing his lips against mine.

If Drew was a lightning bolt, this man was the very thunder called down from the heavens. I saw stars and they were beauty itself, filled with colors and light.

"Holy shit," I breathed against his lips.

"That is what you get when you come out of this on the other end. Don't forget that Grace." He pulled away and I rocked back on my heels, unsteady.

He nodded toward the room we'd left Zeus and Diana in. "I think they've had enough time. She needs to get you fixed and I need to call in the others. It's time to plan the assault." He grabbed me and kissed me one more time, his tongue sweeping over my lips in a move that left me shuddering before releasing me and walking through the door.

"That man sure does know how to make an exit," my mother commented casually from behind me.

I had to take a few deep breaths before I could talk again. "Yeah he does."

"You want to talk about what's going on there? I feel like I missed out on five years of life instead of six months."

I nodded. "I do want to talk about what's going on there, but first you need to fix me. My nanites aren't working correctly because they're not tuned to my human genetic code." I turned to face her and met her eyes. "Did Zeus tell you what's going on?"

She nodded gravely. "He did. I'm sorry, Grace. I'm sorry for everything that you've had to deal with on your own. You've been so very strong and I am incredibly proud of you."

"I don't feel strong right now. I’m afraid. What if they've hurt my baby?"

A rigid mask of anger fell over Diana's face. "Then we'll wipe them off the face of the Earth."

Well, that explained where I got my sense of rage and vengeance. "Yeah", I agreed. "I will personally kill them all."

She nodded back toward the proper Lab. "C'mon, let's get to the tweaking of your genes. You're mostly there, I just need to do a few things and you'll be set. It should also unlock some of the powers you haven't been able to access yet."

"Well, that doesn't sound like a bad thing. Let's do it," I said. I followed her through the door and hopped up on the metal table.

"Lie down and get comfortable. This shouldn't take long but you're going to feel a little off for a few hours afterwards. You may as well rest during the process."

I lay down and crossed my legs, scooting a bit to find a comfortable spot. "Did he tell you about Hope?" My voice was small as I asked. Having lost Dylan, I understood her pain at the loss of her children. I didn't want to make it worse but I had to let her know what I intended.

Her lips formed a grim line and she nodded briefly. "I know she's my sister," I started.

"You don't need to explain yourself. Be quiet so I can concentrate. This is more magic than science. I need to go down into a cellular level to make these changes. We'll talk about Hope after, okay?"

"Okay. Just know that if I thought that I had another option, I would take it. I swear, I would."

"I know you would." Then she pressed her fingertips to my forehead and - like our first meeting - I passed out into a dark void.

It felt like I'd just gone to sleep when I was blinking my eyes open again. My mother's eyes were the first thing I saw. She smiled down at me. "There you go, you're now Super Grace."

"Woo," I said weakly. "I don't feel like Super Grace. I feel like someone hit me with a Mack truck."

"That will fade in a bit. You've been out for about three hours and I wanted to let you rest a bit longer, but it's time to get this party started. You ready to go get your boy?"

I nodded weakly and tried to sit up. It didn't work as well as I'd hoped. Her laughter filled my ears. "Give it about five minutes and you'll be able to move again."

"’Kay," I whispered. "Can I have some water?"

"Yes, of course." A straw found its way to my lips and I took a long pull, filling my mouth with the cold liquid. That felt better.

"What did you do to me?"

"I reversed all of the human genetic coding I’d done when you were a baby. You will still have all of your memories and whatnot, but any humanity in you is gone now."