At the age of eleven, Roni and her friends found great amusement in going to the mall and walking up the down escalator at the correct pace so that they never changed position. Being inside the rift felt the same way. The rift tried to pull her down but Elliot’s power kept her in the same spot. She felt motion yet remained motionless. And this struggle of energy thinned the rift walls so that she could see the rifters amassing in the basement.
A few of the daring purple-black smoke balls attempted to attack her. They barreled through only to be disintegrated the moment they touched her skin. She watched as the dark curls of smoke dissipated around her, and she wondered if it was her presence in the rift or that of Maria’s which caused such destructive power. Another attacked her and died for the effort.
But this did not stop them. Like ants or locusts, these creatures understood the power that came from attrition. They continued to shove through the rift and slammed into her body. It did not hurt her, not much worse than a mosquito bite, but it most certainly killed them. Yet they continued to come.
Over time, like a water drip cutting through a stone, they would rip into her. The protection Elliot provided would not last forever. Neither would Maria. When those energies left, Roni knew what would happen to her — she had seen these creatures shred Sister Mary and Sister Claudia.
The air heated up around her, becoming like a bad sunburn. Still more rifters bulleted towards her. The bright orange air darkened with their purple corpses.
“Maria! Now!” The words scratched Roni’s throat but she repeated them — louder each time.
All the noise and stress spun Roni’s head in throbbing pain. She turned in a circle, and in every direction, she saw a greater number of rifters than before. They filled every location upon which her eye fell. They surrounded the rift and consumed all available space in the basement.
“Maria,” she called again though slightly weaker.
When she thought to call out a third time, her feet lifted off the floor. The floor? Because she did not expect the floor within the rift. Because there wasn’t one. The only floor around her was that of the church basement.
Roni watched as the basement ceiling came closer. She felt as if a coarse rope had been wrapped around her chest, lifting her up and forcing her arms out like wings. She was in the rift and the church simultaneously, fragmented between worlds, held in place by the same forces that threatened her.
Glancing down, the floor filled in beneath her with purple and black. It bubbled like a dark cauldron.
Please, Roni thought, please Maria. Leave my body. Do what we came here to do.
She would never understand why those thoughts worked when all her pleading and calling out had failed before. When she would think back upon this day, Roni always came to the same conclusion — that she had never understood Maria nor could she have. The trauma that girl had suffered, the oddities she had experienced, the frozen time and splitting from within herself — these were not experiences another human being could relate to. Whatever spurred Maria into action at that moment, Roni knew that she could never duplicate it.
Like tearing a hundred bandages off simultaneously, Maria stripped free. Roni shrieked. With both the speed of a bomb blast and the stillness of the rift’s pulse, Roni experienced Maria’s energy pouring out and amplified by Elliot.
A golden sunburst spread across the church. Wherever it touched a rifter, only wisps of gray smoke remained. Thousands of the creatures incinerated in seconds. Roni watched them slowly fall apart.
The distortion of time twisted her stomach even as it hypnotized her mind. The ceiling above her cracked apart, the wood floor of the nave giving way to the energy blast that had been Roni and Maria.
As time reconnected with itself to flow normally, Roni’s body rose higher in the air. She slipped through the opening and lifted into the main part of the church.
The rifters soared away from her, the energy pulsing from her body repelling them. They pressed against the church walls like rats abandoning a sinking ship. But they could no longer slide through the stone. The walls glowed golden. They were stuck.
Roni’s stomach clenched and her mouth opened. She expected to throw up but instead another blast of golden light erupted from her. It spread out in all directions, decimating the creatures that remained.
The sunburnt feeling on her skin worsened. She smelled burning flesh. Further in the distance, further than she could imagine, she heard a tinny voice. Almost like a coyote howling through a radio on a mountain miles away. But she heard it nonetheless. Calling her name.
... roni ...
The orange and red of the rift had gone. The purple and black had disappeared. All that remained was golden light.
And that distant voice. Calling her name.
... roni ...
A thin line of dark swiped across her field of vision. Again, she heard her name and again she saw the line. She tried to move her hand but it refused to obey her.
Roni felt as if she were once again surrounded by the stone golem — except this time it was golden light not gray rocks. This time, it was Maria. And the pressure upon her skin hurt. Burned.
Let go of me, she pleaded, but suspected Maria would never listen to her again.
Once more she heard that distant call and saw that gray line appear. This time she understood — Gram.
Thinking the name cleared her eyes. Roni saw Gram standing down on the nave floor, twirling a chain at her side. The walls of the church crumbled around her. Bits of stained-glass cracked and fell. Gram remained standing in place throwing her chain at Roni, all of her being focused on trying to lasso her granddaughter.
As the chain soared through the air once more, Roni watched it head directly for her. Except it diverted at the last moment as if it had been swatted aside by an invisible hand. It passed before her eyes like it had each time previously.
Gram gazed up at Roni, the desperation consumed the air between them. Roni tried to call out, try to tell Gram to give it another go. No words would leave her mouth.
Calling her name again, Gram twirled her chain once more. But she sounded so far away — roni.
Roni closed her eyes. She focused all of her mind and energy into her right arm. And she felt it — that sickly-sweet energy. Maria. The last vestiges of her existence, the part of her that had kept her alive all those years in the rift, the will that refused to end.
Maria did not mean to harm her — at least, Roni did not think so — but she also intended to keep Roni. Perhaps Maria did not want to let go of her connection to her past, even if that meant hurting Roni. Perhaps she only wanted to go on existing, no matter the consequences, no matter what the rest of her desired.
With every fiber of mental strength she possessed, Roni pushed Maria away and reached toward Gram. And she listened. And she waited.
When she heard Gram call her name once more — roni — she snapped her eyes open. The chain sailed towards her, and as it had each time before, it curved away. Except this time Roni thrust all of her thoughts into her right hand. The fingers flipped open and the rosary beads stretched out — far enough to make contact with the chain.
Gram paused, astonished at her success as the chain snapped onto the beads. But she was a professional of the Parallel Society. She wouldn’t waste time. Within the next second, she pulled Roni as she backed up towards the exit.
Time threatened to rip apart again. Roni sensed it splitting down her mind. This would be the last time. If Maria held too tight, Roni did not think she would ever get free.
Please, Roni thought with all the firm compassion she could summon. We love you. But it’s time for you to leave. It’s time for you to rest.
Still, Maria held on.
Let me go! Let yourself go! You … you’re not my mother. You’re not even Gram’s daughter. You need to find your own life, your own future, your own peace.
Words continued to tumble out of Roni like a riffing poet. She did not think her pleading would amount to anything, but then she felt a cold chill slip out of her spine. It did not hurt — it was like having an icy hand slowly remove itself.
And she was free.
Two arms, two thick arms Roni knew so well, wrapped around her. Gram kissed her face as she lugged Roni out of the church. Raindrops pelted them, and Roni’s legs refused to help, but Gram kept dragging her to safety.
Sitting on the ground with her back against the rental car, Roni watched as Sully and Elliot and Gram eased next to her. Three loud cracks like dynamite signaled the end of the church. In a plume of stone and debris, the old building crumbled to the ground.
As the sound quieted and only the patter of rain remained, Sully returned to his feet and set his hands on his hips. “Well, this is going to take some explaining. Governments can be a real pain in the tush.” He turned toward the group. “Is everyone okay?”
All eyes rested on Roni. She gazed back at them. “Me? I feel fine. Absolutely —”
Her head grew heavy and rolled toward the ground as her eyes closed.