The Ties That Bind: The Borderlands Book 1

e said. Both Feds nodded in unison. One started to bend his knees as though resuming the sea

,” the other Fed said as

which is the smart

ept the facts lined up in his head. He was born in Barrowville, lived there, left there and made a life elsewhere. Those were the facts that mattered. His thoughts settled for the m

“Something you have fami

iled. “I

’m sure there are aren’t many to give and what there are, you can’t share.” Captai

a timeline would imply details. The letter j

even one corsag

he information needed for his cases from Charlie as well and was just providing him with a breat

through the glass at the waiting agents. “If you get left h

ks Ca

office. The agents glanced at him once and then began walking towards the exit, trusting him to follow. Danny thought about dragging his feet just on principle but dec

a black SUV. He got in, the agent’s got in. The doors were locked in case

ile few ever left the Borderlands, those that did tended to cluster in the cities nearest the acce

ettle down with a job after graduation, he made certain that the city he made his home was away from the access points as well. He was there

y, silence didn’t bother him. He liked the space to sort his own thoughts. Now too many thoughts he didn’t want to think, let al

fish suddenly finding themselves on dry land instead of swimming along at the bottom of a very deep

appened to

ith both its drawbacks and benefits. The list of things that could harm Alice was short and none of them were items Danny wanted to dwell on. He turned to look out of the window as the city s

ulled up as close as the agents deemed safe and all three of them got out of the car. As they walked over, a

oining their little group. As he looked less official

en he was in speaking range. Danny won

he re

hout a word, the two that brought him turned around and

any other equipment or services are needed there is contact information included. You have been given top priority. Your requests

at is in the fi

e looked slightly put out at having to admit it. Danny nodded and

ery boy,’ Danny thought as

like it had been treated with some kind of stain resistant spray. ‘Figures,’ Danny said. ‘I finally

er. There were no inflight magazines and everything looked clean and ut

rcom to tell him the details of the flight, but the pilot didn’t seem to feel the need to explain anything to

e going to the nearest access point, he wasn’t terribly worried. He supposed the plane could manage to stay safely i

hen the plane leveled off and the seatbelt sign dinged and grew dark, Danny opened the file. On the top was a plastic enve

he access point to Barrowville marked out in red. Danny smi

rything in town. Two of his teachers had been Breakwaters, as was the local postmaster. He was pretty sure a couple of the Breakwater’s ran the local bakery as well. The family didn’t have a lot of political ambition, money or power, but they were the

ys, although for different reasons. ‘At least the sheriff is well co

fficial file that lurked under the map. Alice was fine, or even if s

in the last four months. There was no connection to the people involved, at least not that anyon

neath the image. Danny guessed it was the day they died, but there was no accompanying information. He left the photos in the order they were placed in the file. The oldest dated

mbination of human and Fae. The Borderlands were created as a place between the human and the Fae world. It was a home for those who were too human to live i

t world was human or Fae, settled there as well. While there were still tight clan structures and family loyalties often bound as t

r twenties who looked as though she drew evenly from both gene pools and then the latest, a teenager named Colin who seemed mostly human with only a whiff of fae about his features. What Fae clan any of their blood

ange of abilities. Those abilities could have made them harder to kill or they could have been the reason they were killed. Since whoever put together this file didn’t include any names

ra abilities normal humans wouldn’t have come across outside o

he looked out of the window, he could see a solid floor of clouds stretched out between him and the ground preventing him from even looking at the fields and towns

n and Danny could feel the descent of the plane. They landed with a jolt and the sound of the wheels h

id from the doorway. “I

y more of a mood for chatter than the agents were. Danny gathered the pieces from his file, tucking them all back inside and followed the man off of the plane. A j

nt was more like an airport terminal and passport checkpoint than mi

s escort between them and through the door. Once inside, he was taken to a table off to the side where he had his fingerprints taken and checked against a database. There was even a retinal scan, again compared with the scans that were taken when h

el the growing magic. He knew it was designed to keep the Borderlands separate from the rest of the world. He knew it was benign and not targeted, but it had been years since he felt magic, espec

rop of magic to his blood and would be immune to the effects of being so near the border, but it always left him ut

he border and exit on the other side without registering the space between. To them, The Borderlands simply weren’t there. As they drove, every hair on Danny’s body stood up and as the

er. As they exited he gasped for breath and had to pretend to his friends th

he eyes. They were the plain metal doors one could probably see in thousands of institutionally built buildings around the world.

or on the right hummed with a slightly different note than the air around him. Behind it was the entrance into the Borderlands. His escor

he door,”

ghed, “Yo

wiped the smile off of his fac

es creased his forehead. The man remained st

,” Dann

ts average exterior, it was composed of heavy metal laced with even heavier spells. It requi

s crawling over his skin, but in two steps he was through it. He supposed the differen

ing shock the tou

oing anywhere on its own. The metal door was set into a small square of a brick building that looked to be about eight feet square and

imself. He turned away from the building and saw that there was a sing

rch for my rental,’ Danny tho

was a scent to the air. He drew in a deep breath. The air felt different. It felt like Borderlands air, the particular scent of regular elements and just

eath, took out the car keys and unlocked th