The Missing Link (Book 1: Outcast) [CURRENTLY EDITING]

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE: APOLLYON'S RETURN

A frozen second stretched through the air. There were no chants or thunder anymore—just silence and the bittersweet realization that was slowly swallowing my mind.

He was there.

He met my gaze, and one of the rifts I'd experienced Roy creating tore open a space midair. He stepped into it, and soon enough I was met with the familiar smell of the same drugstore cologne he'd worn for the past ten years. His voice was close to my ear, the most comforting sound I'd heard all night. "Surprise, kiddo."

"How?"

"Remember every single time your mother chided me for being a terrible liar?" His arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer. "You got your lying skills from me."

"But how did you even know where I was?"

"I told you I would make some calls."

I craned my head to get a better look at him, noticing there was a secretive undertone to his words. "Who did you call, Dad?"

He opened his mouth, but Roy's voice bounced off the walls. "Oh, how adorable. I had no idea we would be making a family reunion so soon."

"Don't move." Dad sprung to his feet, the Reaver Blade skillfully spinning in his hand. There was a different air to him, one I'd never seen before. He looked energized—alive. Like he was ready to leap off a building and swim across the ocean. Taking a step closer, he tilted his chin upwards. "Let me guess. You're that kid who is wreaking havoc instead of attending school?"

Roy let out a dry laugh. "And you must be the Keeper the Circle banned."

There it was again—that name. Lorraine's words were clear in my mind while it swirled with unanswered questions: Don't trust The Circle.

"They didn't ban me. I quit."

"Yeah, yeah, to start a family," Roy snapped. "But I guess you didn't count on your daughter being the treasured Keeper the Codex prophesized about, which is quite sad when you think about it. She'll watch you die a slow, painful death, and then I'll proceed to take her essence and finish what I started."

"You talk too much, Kid."

Dad crossed to Roy in three steps. He shoved his fist into Roy's jaw with a sickening crunch, letting the blade on his hand trail a clean slash from the side of his stomach to the upper, left side of his chest. Roy stumbled a few steps back, but an unnatural glow shone through his skin. The blood that had begun to drip from his shirt stopped. Like the cuts were no longer there.

"Pretty impressive, but not good enough," he murmured, lunging forward. A rift engulfed him, and the next time my eyes caught sight of him, he had plummeted on top of my father, rolling a few feet with him. Roy landed on top with a cartwheel movement. He sank his fist into my father's face this time, not sparing any seconds before plunging his knee into his ribcage. The Reaver Blade had clattered on the ground, sliding a few meters until it met the wall next to me.