Riley logged out of the computer, stood up fast, wanting to steer Daphne out of the library and out of sight. Impatience and excitement stirred his blood. He couldn't wait to find more leads so that he could get his hands on this jackass called Dax. He felt they were getting closer. 

The smell of paper, leather, and dust permeated Daphne's senses, she wanted to stay in this bubble of warmth and coziness. As she was walking out, she couldn't help but want to grab all the books and take them to the storage in her time. The storage that displayed everything extinct at their time, faded lives, forgotten memories, things lingering to an era long gone like lost apparitions. Books in the future were such a rarity, all they had were paperbacks with curled up corners and yellowish edges and a few hard copies with withered faded bindings opening to stained pages and fading inks. She could imagine Tako's childish laughter if he'd only been here, he would go through them one by one like he was picking a delicacy.  She wouldn't be able to take any books to Tako but, she had to believe she was about to change their gloomy future. Tako would have all these books and more once Dax was destroyed. 

"C'mon," Riley said when he realized she was just staring at the shelves like a long lost puppy. The little facial expressions of his daughter to mundane things like coffee and old books scared and saddened him. He felt he'd disappointed her in life. Deprived her of a life she deserved. He wanted to give her everything. He wanted to protect her.  But most importantly he wanted her to understand he was here to stay by her side. He still wasn't sure what had gone wrong in her world that he would leave her like that, but he wasn't screwing this up. 

Daphne forced herself to move forward. She realized she was scared. The fear of being found as a fraud exhausted her.  She was used to fighting, surviving, and she was used to being alone but she wasn't good at acting, keeping track of her lies and pretending to people she was beginning to like.  Riley was cool. Dependable. And definitely resourceful. She was amazed at how much she'd progressed in the little time she'd been here. All because of him. But, what if he became suspicious? There were so many things that could give her away. She was about to face one of them. 

What was an angel way of traveling? That's what Riley had said. Though she was an angel, she doubted she could pass as one with the little she knew about her powers. What if he found that strange? Wouldn't he expect her to know these things? Riana's diary said little about the technicalities of traveling or much of anything else. All she did was ramble on her good life with her picturesque family.  The laughter, the love, the adventures....

The diary wasn't complete, the torn pages at the end tempted them like a treat to a dog, but gave nothing away. The last parts of her diary were about the handsome guy she'd met. His smile can melt the mid-winter snow.  That's what she had written. She didn't need to name him.  And she hadn't. It was Dax. It had to be. They were sure of it. But there was nothing about his identity or his whereabouts. The mind-blowing smile was all they had. In short, they knew little about what really mattered. And, everything Dax and Riana had done together to destroy the world had faded away with the stolen pages leaving them pretty much empty-handed. 

If Daphne managed to kill the baby before she was born, they would never meet, fall in love and work together and the Termino invasion would be avoided. But first, she had to make sure Riley's suspicions weren't opening for sail.  Her story was as tattered as clothes washed in bleach. If you pulled it this or that way, you would be left with nothing but strings. 

"Just hold me baby girl, it would be safer and would draw much less attention if I carried us both," Riley's words put out the flames in her heart. Wow, the Gods were surely watching out for her because she surely didn't know a lot about the angel ways, let alone angel way of traveling. 

Riley dragged her beneath the canopy of the trees in the library garden finding one that overstretched above them with tangled branches, hiding them from the view of others. His face had lit up like a naughty child and he winked at her after his discovery of this secluded place. "This shall do," he said. She felt his arms around her, the touch of his lips on her hair and just wanted to rest her head on his shoulder. Was it the fact that they were both of the same species, or was it because he was treating her like his daughter, she didn't know but at times she loved slipping into the identity of Riana.  This was one of those times. Why couldn't Riley be her real father? He was loving, fun and strong. It was unfair. 

The moment she no longer felt the ground beneath her feet, she bit her tongue not to scream. It had all happened within seconds, one moment she was gazing at the beauty of the ancient tree, its trunk so long that it was dancing with the sunrays with its branches casting skim shadows on the ground, the next she was standing next to the sign, "Welcome to Binghamton." 

She felt like vomiting and swallowed heavily, trying to push the bile down. 

"Oh, you are like Alice. Your aunt never liked traveling this way. You too don't like it, do you?" he smiled.

She nodded, if she spoke, her breakfast would come out. This was worse than the car ride. She couldn't help but feel that all the toxins she had breathed in had probably ruined her for good. She had become a weakling. 

She took deep breaths even as she tried to get a feel of this place. The place where Dax might be. Despite the hatred she harbored towards him, the town took her breath away, the mountains were like a rolling quilt woven in red, green and yellow fabrics.  Blooms of every color dazzled her eyes and a blend of mild and sharp fragrances of spring growth cascaded her senses. The place which had bred this evilness was beautiful. 

Riley took out his phone. 
"What are you doing?" Daphne asked.

"Calling Uber service. He will take us to the exact location of these anomalies."

"Okay."

"It's only five minutes away," Riley said looking at the map on his phone. 

It felt like those five minutes dragged into measureless hours. After the time the cab picked them up and dropped them at their requested location, her nerves were frazzled. 

"Wow," Riley said. He walked back to the cab driver. "Did you take us to the right place?"  

"Yes, I entered the location on GPS." 

Daphne couldn't believe what she was looking at. The pits were gone, the ground was either smoothed with dirt or the news they had found earlier was utterly fake.  "There is nothing here."

"Yep."

Daphne knelt on the ground. Disappointment had faded the earlier sparkle in her eyes. She knelt on the ground, tried digging up the soil as if the dirt below would have some answers. She became frustrated when all she had, in the end, was dirty and cracked nails. 

"What about the other place?" she suggested. "The one in Vestal."

"I doubt it will be any different, but we should give it a shot."

She had little hope even as they went back to the car. Damn it Dax, where the hell are you?

As always, thanks for reading

Alena