The Rift Read Online Free PDF

behind the
therapist. He wasn’t behind the second curtain, which meant he
wanted me to see him. Houston was a two-hundred-and-sixty-year-old
reaper who had an odd habit of teaming up with whatever reaper was
trying to cause trouble in my life. I raised my eyebrows to let him
know I’d seen him and ask him what he was doing, but the asshole
just winked and vanished. I didn’t like that at all.
    “Is this house warded?” I asked.
    Dr. Veronica froze in her seat. Oh, goody,
the doc was afraid of reapers. That could be fun. “The bedrooms are
warded, but we wanted Tucker here for the intervention, so we
didn’t ward the kitchen or living area. Did you see someone?”
    I narrowed my eyes at a spot over her right
shoulder. “I’m not sure. I just feel that we aren’t alone…”
    “I…I thought you could see them,” she
said.
    “I can’t see them if they’re watching us from
behind the second curtain.” I lied to her, because no one was
supposed to be able to see beyond the second curtain, and I saw no
good reason to tell her I could.
    She shivered. “Yes, well, let’s try to stay
focused. Your mother and your friends are here to remind you that
there are people in your life who care about you and who don’t want
to see you hurting. They believe your attachment to alcohol is a
form of self-medication to treat the aftereffects of all the trauma
you’ve experienced. How do you feel about that?”
    “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do
here, but I don’t have a drinking problem. I’ve been bored because
I’ve been assigned jack all to do at Varius. Maybe I’ve been having
a bit more fun than I should, but I can stop. I will stop, if
everyone will get off my case and Yvonne will allow me to start
training.”
    The doc shook her head. “No. Sorry, Kelsey,
but it’s not going to be that easy. You’re staying here until
you’re sober and healthy.”
    I’d been expecting that, but it still
disappointed me. “Does my mother really have to be here? She’s
going to freak if anyone starts telling her what I’ve been
doing.”
    “She’s only here for the night, and everyone
is under orders not to tell her too much. I’ll drive her back home
tomorrow.”
    “Good. So this is just a one day thing,
then?”
    Dr. Veronica’s frown became slightly less
severe, the closest I’d seen her come to a smile. “Oh, no, Kelsey.
The intervention is just a one day thing, but you’re going to have
to stay here for at least a few weeks. You need to detox and
recover.”
    “A few weeks?” I asked. Those weeks stretched
out before me like an eternity trapped in that house and forced to
face memories and emotions I much preferred to keep locked
away.
    “Exactly. After the intervention tomorrow,
your mother and Thad will leave. Henry and Jed will stay here to
act as guards, but they’ll be allowed only the most limited contact
with you. I would have preferred to have guards who don’t know you
at all, but I was…overruled.”
    I groaned and fell back against the couch
cushions. I didn’t have any choice but to go along, and it looked
like I would have even less freedom there than I’d had at Varius.
At least at Varius I could go out dancing or go for a run.
    “Kelsey, I think your drinking is a sign that
you are suffering from a stress disorder and, because I’ve been
given such a short time to help you, our work together will have to
be intense. This is going to be difficult and painful and, in order
for it to work, you have to want to get better. You have to agree
to do what I ask, okay?”
    I wanted to explain to her that it was all
just a misunderstanding. I’d only actually gotten drunk once in the
last two months. Every other time it had appeared I’d gotten drunk
had just been a show, to prevent anyone wondering what Henry and I
were doing together outside of the apartment complex. When people
saw me dancing on tables at the club, they assumed I’d been there
all night. Not to mention it was