“Is that part of the reason you two can communicate no matter what the distance between you?”
He nodded. “Although I can’t use the earth’s energy as a weapon, as she can, and my telepathic abilities are somewhat restricted. I can’t connect with Jarren, for instance, but I can with Ela.”
“What about Penny?”
He frowned. “I can’t directly converse, but I can receive images and impressions.”
“Is that why you’re so sure she needs to be near you to keep whatever was done to her at bay?”
A smile ghosted his lips. “No, that comes from sheer pigheadedness. Penny is my responsibility, and I will not renege on that until there is absolutely no other choice. We haven’t reached that point yet.”
And never would, I suspected. “What did Nuri gain out of the exchange?”
“The senses of a cat.”
“But not the ability to change?”
“No.” His gaze met mine. “It’ll be interesting to see what—if any—fallout there is from our being caught together.”
The ATV was now near enough that its headlights pinned us in brightness. Jonas didn’t seem worried, so I tried not to be.
“Does that mean that some people escape rifts without alteration?”
He hesitated. “Only in that, because they were alone when the rift caught them, their DNA and blood are the same. But everyone who survives those things is forever altered.”
“So how were Branna and Ela affected?”
“I didn’t know Branna before the rift, so I can’t really say. But it screwed him up mentally—”
I snorted. “You’re telling me it did.”
“And Ela,” he continued, ignoring me, “came through with sharpened senses and telepathy.”
I blinked. “The rift gave her telepathy?”
He nodded. “Nuri’s theory is it was a latent skill the rift brought out.”
I frowned. “When I was in our rift, I got the weird impression it was almost sentient. You don’t think these alterations are deliberate, do you?”
“Why would a sentient force from another world want us enhanced in any way?” He strode forward as the ATV began to slow down. “And why would they kill the majority of those caught if they intended to help?”
“Given that we don’t even know why some rifts are doorways while others are not, that’s a question I really can’t answer.” I trailed after him. The internal vehicle lights came on, revealing that it was indeed his grandson at the wheel of the ATV. I made the gun safe and clipped it onto my pants. “I’m just telling you what I felt.”
He grunted as the front and rear passenger doors opened. “I’ll pass the information on to Nuri. In the meantime, let’s get the hell out of here just in case the rift decides to double back.”
He helped me into the ATV, then climbed into the front. As the doors closed and the big vehicle began to pick up speed again, Jarren said, “There are a couple of ration packs and some water in the foot well behind my seat. Best I could do on short notice, I’m afraid.”
As I leaned over to grab the packs, Jonas said, “Nuri told you what happened?”
“Yeah.” Jarren’s voice held a note of incredulousness. “Surviving a rift once is damn lucky, but twice? Rhea sure as hell loves you, because that’s considered nigh on impossible.”
“Obviously not, given that he’s still here.” I handed one of the ration packs to Jonas and opened the second one. Trail mix and beef jerky, just as I’d feared.
Jarren flashed me a grin via the rearview mirror. “Very true. You both okay?”
“We’re alive.” Jonas half shrugged as he tore open the beef jerky packet. “As to whether we’re okay, only time will tell. You able to take us all the way in?”
“Nuri told me to dump you on the far side of the museum, just before the collapsed area. She said someone appears to be keeping an eye on the museum and that we needed to be careful.”