Rachel Golden and the Retriever of Sin (25 page)

‘Yeah, I get it. I’m just your Hero. You do what you have to do because it’s your job.’ She looked away from him, feeling tears start to build again. They were from exhaustion as much as emotion, but she still didn’t want him to see her cry.

‘You’re not
just
my Hero,’ he said, reaching out and turning her face back to his. ‘You’re my
Hero
. As in my everything. You’re my purpose, and I’d die for you. Not because it’s my job, but because you’re you.’ He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. Rachel wrapped her arms around her Safeguarder, and melted.

RACHEL PUT HER KEY IN THE FRONT DOOR AND TURNED IT. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Though she’d been gone five days, it was just about the normal time she’d be getting home from school. Now, what would she say to her mom about her appearance? Or about any of it? Could she tell her that she’d been in another dimension, battling unicorns and deranged math teachers? She really needed a hug.

‘Mom?’ she called out, not remembering whether she was at work that day or not.

‘In here,’ her mom called from the living room. ‘Watching TV.’

Rachel stood outside the doorway and took a deep breath. She had never lied to her mom, and she wasn’t about to start now, so there was no point trying to sneak to the bathroom to clean up. Besides, it would be difficult trying to hide a missing tooth. ‘Hi,’ she said weakly, and stepped into the room.

Her mom smiled and was about to say hi back when she caught sight of the state her daughter was in. In a second she was on her feet. ‘Rachel! My god, what happened to you?’ She sat her daughter down on the couch, concerned eyes taking in the dirt and the blood and the bruises. ‘Are you hurt? Did you get in a fight?’

Rachel took another deep breath. ‘Mom, there’s something I need to tell you.’ She felt like she was going to throw up from nerves and had no idea where to even start telling her about the last five days.

Mrs. Golden must have seen something in her daughter’s eyes. Her frown of concern turned to a look of grim resignation. ‘Oh. Let me guess. You’re a Hero and you’ve been gone for weeks, fighting monsters in the Altworld?’

Rachel’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. How could she have known? And then it dawned on her. She had been married to her dad. How could she
not
have known that Rachel would be a Hero one day? Rachel nodded, and fought back all the tears that had been building up over the last five days. ‘I have so much to tell you,’ she said, but couldn’t finish.

‘Shh,’ her mom said, and hugged her daughter to her. Rachel felt so safe and warm in her mom’s arms. This. This was what she needed more than anything.

After a few minutes Rachel let herself go from the hug before she fell into a coma from exhaustion.

‘What do you need, honey?’ her mom asked, eyes full of concern. ‘Are you hurt? Do we need to go to the emergency room? Are you hungry?’

Rachel smiled. ‘I suppose you’re used to all this from dad, right?’ Her mom nodded, sadly. ‘I saw him, mom,’ she said. There was a look of confusion on her mother’s face. ‘I’ll tell you about it over a grilled cheese and tomato soup. And yeah, I should probably see a doctor. And a dentist.’ Her tongue ran over the gap in her teeth. ‘But that can wait until morning. Right now I need some food, a hot shower, and to sleep for about a million years. It’s good to be home, mom. Oh, and, um, one more thing. Is it okay if a friend stays with us for a couple of days?’

She nodded to the doorway where Ros was standing, waiting for his introduction. ‘’Sup, Mrs. Golden,’ he said, and waved. Mrs. Golden fainted.

When she was revived, all three sat at the kitchen table while Rachel and Ros ate their grilled cheese and tomato soup. ‘Sure is quiet around here,’ the dog observed.

‘Mm,’ Rachel agreed, enjoying the silence, and took another bite of her sandwich. A little too quiet… Something was missing. She took a mouthful of steaming hot soup. And then dropped her spoon. She and Ros both looked at each other before jumping to their feet. ‘AC!’ they both said at once.

In the living room, the news was still on the TV. It was showing an aerial shot from a helicopter of a massive sinkhole on Highway 70. Several cars had fallen into it, and ambulances and police were on the scene.

When the camera cut back to the studio, the anchor was saying that they would have more on that at six. ‘And now in lighter news,’ she said, grinning to show how light it was, ‘we’ve had a pretty unusual visitor to Colorado today. A couple down at Beaver Lake claim to have spotted a
unicorn
out enjoying the weather. Now, before you start calling in, we’re pretty sure this is a hoax, but take a look at the footage and see what you think.’ A short low-resolution clip, taken on a cell phone, showed a white horse cantering across the beach before disappearing into the trees. And yes, it really did appear to have a horn.

Oliver Jackson was born in Leeds, England in 1977. He attended Tadcaster Grammar School, Thomas Danby College and Ballinode College, Sligo, studying print journalism.

He grew up in England and Ireland, and moved to the U.S. in 1998 where he spent 10 years working as a chef and electrical contractor in MA, FL, CT and CA. He moved to Ireland in 2008 to write full time.

His two other novels,
Clay Burning
and
Mr. Porky’s Pledge
are available on Amazon.com.

If you like, you can add him on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/oliver.jackson.58
to get updates about current and upcoming works.