“Please excuse my sister. She’s very blunt and speaks before she thinks. Goodbye.”
When they left, Jane breathed a sigh of relief. Until she realized that she and Andrew must go over to the siblings’ house that evening, and a sickening dread consumed her.
4
Axel
“How did I let you talk me into this?” Axel raged when they walked through the door.
“Stop whining, will you? You keep talking about that damned woman like she’s some kind of mysterious creature. You’re the special one here, and don’t you forget it. So, when you get to know her and see she’s like all the other vaginas out there, everything can go back to normal.”
“What is normal?” he asked.
“Well, at least you can move past this obsession with her. Yes, I get it. She’s got a nice rack.”
“Who are you?” he wondered out loud. She would never use such language in the homeland. She’d been in this world far too long.
“Your baby sister,” she smiled. “Look, you get her in bed, you see she’s nothing out of this world, and you move on to a woman that actually is available. And one that isn’t so… so… suburban. Then you can finally come home so we can live like a normal family,” she said, throwing herself on the couch. He knew Genevieve despised living in this realm, but he wasn’t forcing her to stay. It was her own folly if she kept stepping through the mirror.
“You say you’re here to help me, yet you’ve done nothing to find me a wife.” He paced, his mind all muddled.
“Axel, please. I’ve helped you time and again by preventing you from bringing back all of those awful women. Father was lucky with mother, and look at her now— indisputable queen and reigning over everything as if she had been born there. We need someone as strong and capable as her. Not these weaklings you seem to find.” Genevieve stood up and walked towards the mirror. “I’ll be back before dinner, my prince,” she said sarcastically. She hated that he was the eldest and heir to the throne. He knew it, but he also knew she loved him. So he suffered her attitude in silence... most of the time.
Axel took care of ordering takeout for dinner and showered, this time remembering not to send his mind out searching for Jane. He had to be much more careful. For some reason, his control was not absolute when it came to her.
He had been able to enter her mind and see her in the shower the day before, her body a beautiful sculpture by the gods. He had stayed in her mind to watch as she let herself go and orgasmed by her own doing. It was a glorious thing to watch, leading him to have to rub one out right there in the shower as well.
And that’s not to mention that intense dream last night. Though he couldn’t remember the specifics, he knew Jane was involved, those creamy white breasts of hers filling his sleep. He had woken up in a sweat, having to change the sheets and take another cold shower…
Dinner was all set, and Genevieve had returned and was busy showering when the doorbell rang. Axel felt nervous, but he disregarded it, resolved to take back control of his mind.
When he opened the door it was as if he’d been punched in the stomach. Andrew had his arm around Jane’s waist, where a loose pair of pants clung to her. She wore a cutoff shirt with an exposed midriff, and she’d swept her hair up in a messy bun. Her neck was graceful and daring to be kissed. Axel stopped his thoughts from continuing down that path and made sure not to shake hands with Jane.
They ate, small talk prevailing as they enjoyed his carefully selected menu from the hottest new restaurant in town. Axel thought he was progressing rather nicely and had even spoken to Jane without wanting to lift that shirt over her head. He also didn’t feel like ripping Andrew’s head off whenever Andrew would squeeze Jane’s hand or kiss her after saying something sickeningly sweet.
Towards the end of dinner the doorbell rang. Genevieve and Axel looked at each other, wondering who it could be. His sister went to answer it while Axel poured another glass of wine for everyone at the table. They heard a conversation turn into an argument at the front of the house.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Axel shouted, ready to go see for himself. A man barged into the dining room. Genevieve followed him in, grabbing his arm.
“Stop it, Carl! We’re having a nice dinner. I’ll call you later, okay?” she tried to push him, but he wouldn’t budge.
“Who’s her date for this evening?” Carl asked, his head thrown high. His eyes were wide and wild. Axel tried to send him a soothing message, but it wasn’t working.
Andrew stood up then and said, “I think we should all just calm down and talk.” There would not be any talking because, before Andrew could continue, Carl whipped out a gun and pointed it at him. There was the deafening sound of a shot being fired. Screams filled the air, and Axel saw Genevieve wrestling with Carl.
Axel’s first instinct was to help her, but then Carl pointed the gun directly at him. Axel could feel Genevieve’s fear mixed in with his own. He sensed that, just as he wasn’t able to connect with Carl, Genevieve couldn’t latch on to Carl’s mind either.
She touched Carl’s hand and spoke to him. Axel couldn’t hear her words but saw Carl’s face relaxing as he lowered the gun. Genevieve motioned for her brother to help with Andrew, and Axel rushed over to him, prepared to carry the man out of there. Jane was crying over him, pressing her napkin to the wound on his stomach.
“Get out now!” Genevieve cried out.
Axel didn’t wait. He grabbed Jane by the waist— catching one last glimpse of Carl’s deadly eyes and that gun pointed at him— and he launched Jane and himself into the next room and through the mirror. The last thing he heard was the sound of the bullet and the shattering of glass.
5
Jane
“What the heck?” Jane shouted, standing up and dusting herself off. “I’m sorry for swearing, but, where’s the house? We have to call 911.” Her voice trembled. She looked around desperately but could only see trees in every direction. There were also large shards of glass lying on the grass. She looked at Axel, still on the ground, his head in his hands.
“Oh no. Shit!” he yelled. He still did not look up at her, but stared at the glass.
“Axel, where are we, and how did we get here? We have to call an ambulance for Andrew!” She was on the verge of crying again. Not only was her fiancée bleeding to death in her neighbors’ dining room, but now she didn’t even know what happened after they ran from that madman. Where was she?
“This isn’t good,” he said, finally looking up at her. His eyes, always profoundly intense, scared her. She knelt next to him and grabbed his shirt.
“Tell me what’s going on!”
“We’re in another realm, and the portal is gone. We’re stuck,” he said, shaking his head. Jane didn’t understand. She shook her own head.
“What are you talking about? This is no time for jokes.”
“I’m not joking. I brought you here to save us from getting shot, but the portal is gone. He must have broken the mirror.”
“Do you mean to tell me we actually went through a mirror? I thought my mind was playing tricks on me again because that’s been happening the past few days. I don’t get this, any of it. Take me back. Now!”
He tried to pass his hand along her arm to calm her down, but she shot up.
“This is impossible!” she cried. “Where are we?”
“Another realm. I call it my homeland, but it doesn’t really have a name. Things are different here, and we don’t name everything like you do.”
Jane’s eyes bugged out, “What do you mean ‘we’? What are you?” She was in survival mode, and one wrong move from him would cause her to tip over the edge to hysteria.
“Again, we don’t name things, but I suspect we’re a lot like humans. In fact we mate with them often. It’s how we grow stronger.” Mate? She crossed her arms in front of her and walked in a circle around him, trying to get a grasp on reality. Axel stood up then.
“Come, follow me,” he said. She didn�
�t want to but didn’t relish staying behind in the thickness of those trees either. He led her, and she was on alert in case he tried something. By his own admission he was something other than human, and that was enough to keep her on alert. Her eyes searched the area they moved through, but she found nothing to fear.
Then they heard the sound of water and followed it until they reached a cliff. What Jane saw below was like a dream. She’d ignored how green the trees were before, how soft the grass, but now she could not. The aquamarine water in the pool below her was resplendent, the green moss growing in the surrounding stones a green she’d never witnessed in nature. The coral hue of the flowers growing outside the pool was vibrant and not like the Earth she knew. This was not the Earth she knew.
“We’re not on Earth are we?” she asked softly, afraid that this might be an alternate reality she couldn’t escape. Axel looked into her eyes and shrugged his shoulders. His uncertainty was not comforting. He led her down toward the pool being fed by a tall waterfall. Removing everything but his underwear, he jumped in. The pool was crystal clear, and in every other circumstance Jane would be happy to jump in such a beautiful waterfall. But not when her fiancée was probably dying.
“Jane, I’m sorry,” he said wiping the water from his face.
“Yes, well, tell me what happens now,” she said, sitting on a rock.
“The only thing to do is to go to my family and see if my father is well enough to create another portal.”
“Let’s do it then,” she said, ready to go. Why was he swimming in this oasis if they had a chance to get back?
“It can only be done on the Night of Eternal Light. One thing this place has in common with Earth are the seasons. And like your very northern places, my homeland has almost all darkness in winter and almost all light in summer. Summer is not here for a while. Around three months, your time.”
Jane tried to absorb this information. Three months from now she might go home? She wouldn’t even know if Andrew were alive or dead until after she returned. The tears flowed then, her perfect life no longer what she’d dreamed it would be. There had to be another way back.
“There’s no way back but a portal, and my father only creates one when another is broken, so there are no others. Trust me.” He said, swimming up to the shore. He came out then, his muscles dripping with water. Jane averted her eyes. Trust him?
“Where do we go now?” she asked. He pointed up the tall cliff.
“My father’s place is a rather long walk, so we must rest tonight before we can finish the trip. There are no cars or airplanes here.”
She nodded her head, her eyelids drooping. Before giving up for the night, they hiked up the stones, and when they reached the top, Jane felt like she’d stepped into a fairyland. What she’d seen down in the pool was nothing compared to what her eyes now beheld.
6
Axel
Axel turned to look at Jane every few minutes. He’d discarded his shirt long ago, the cool evening air feeling good on his body. She seemed to avoid walking alongside him, and he understood why.
Everything for her was in a state of limbo. She couldn’t mourn her fiancée or be glad he was okay. She was just in constant worry. Axel knew he shouldn’t, but he did it anyway— he tried sending her a memory fade. Unsure if it would work this time (especially since it hadn’t when he first met Jane) he was more optimistic now that he was back in his homeland.
Here his senses were sharper, his mind brighter and more aware. The air was crisp and engaging, the sky turning a pale pink and purple with the sunset. Soon it would be dark, which in his world meant a deep violet sky littered with brighter stars.
It wouldn’t take much for him to delve deep into her mind, but he refrained. He kept it simple— the memory fade.
“Can we rest? I’m tired,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. Axel sensed that she wasn’t as stressed as before, but he wanted to test it out.
“Yes, we can rest. Do you think Andrew will be upset if we lie together for warmth?” he asked cautiously.
“I think Andrew will be grateful if I make it home in one piece. This place is gorgeous, but my legs are about to fall off. If you people have access to the modern world, then why don’t you take advantage of technology like cars and such?” she asked. So she no longer remembered the shooting? Good, at least she won’t be needlessly worrying, he thought to himself.
“We have no need for all of that, but I’ll keep it in mind if we start to expand. You’ll see when you get there. No one ventures this far off unless they’re looking for the portal, or meeting someone from the portal.” He thought of Genevieve’s lovers.
Axel took off his shoes and pants then, feeling the yielding ground below him. He knew Jane was looking at him and that soon she’d be in awe of yet another thing about his homeland, but he did it anyway. The ground gave way beneath them, pulling them both into it like a cocoon. She gave a yelp, but they both landed on soft, billowy grass. Axel performed more manipulations, and the grass covered them up to their necks like a warm blanket. Their eyes met, and he laughed at her look of disbelief.
“You act like you’ve never slept inside the ground before,” he said.
“This is just about as ridiculous as it gets. Good night,” she said. Obviously, the memory fade didn’t clear her memories about it being his fault she was stuck there.
“Good night,” he said. She turned to her side, her bum accidentally brushing him for a second. That was enough to get him thinking about her in that way again. Thank goodness he was back home and could now have greater control over himself.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Axel woke up to the sound of his name. Unsure if he’d actually heard anything, he tried to fall asleep again. He’d been having an erotic dream about Jane, and since he couldn’t act on it, dreams would have to be sufficient. He rearranged himself, only to discover he had a hard-on. That’s when he heard his name again. Jane was calling him, yet she was lying on her side still facing away from him.
He leaned over to see that her eyes were closed. She was dreaming. About him? Hmm. He smiled to himself, and lay back in his spot, relishing in the thought she was having dreams every bit as naughty as he’d been. Probably not as naughty. He had some fucking raunchy dreams sometimes.
He froze when she moved. She turned to face him now, not once opening her eyes.
She mumbled something, but he thought she said his name again.
“What?” he said, trying to see if she’d speak up. She started making noises then— sex noises. Axel’s eyes popped open as he heard her gearing up. She was definitely having what sounded like a very satisfying dream. His hard-on was aching now from listening to her enjoyment. He wished the real him was the one pleasuring her. Suddenly, she stopped, and Axel looked over to see her eyes open.
“You can’t sleep?” he asked, trying not to give anything away.
“I, um, I don’t know,” she said, brushing her hair from her face. He could see her chest heaving. He wanted to roll over onto her and really take her breath away. Sanity returned to him just in time. “Look at the sky,” he said, trying to distract them both.
“Oh my goodness!” she said in awe. The night sky lit up with billions of stars, all ten times brighter than the ones back in her land on the darkest of nights. It pleased him to see her so excited.
“Things here are not that bad, huh?”
“Well, at least the scenery has been nothing but extraordinary. It’s a very beautiful place.” She settled herself on her back.
“That it is,” he agreed, relieved that his semi was softening.
“I wish Andrew could see it,” she said. He felt the same rush of envy he had every time he’d seen Andrew touch her. It threatened to overpower him, but several deep breaths and thoughts about seeing his family soon helped him return to base level.
“Why do I get the feeling you don’t like Andrew?” she asked, and that got him all riled up again.
7
&
nbsp; Jane
“Andrew is a swell guy,” Axel said, and again she felt that threatening cold. Is it possible he could convey his feelings to her in a physical way? It happened every single time Andrew had touched her or when she mentioned his name.
“He’s a very good guy. He’ll be a good husband, too. A good provider. A good father for our children.” The chill was unavoidable now, and she brought the ground in closer to her.
“Axel, is there something else I don’t know about you yet? Ever since I met you… things have just been off for me,” she said.
She heard him sigh, and then he said, “I can’t control my mind around you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, we have the ability to send and receive messages with our minds and, to a certain extent, influence human minds.”
“Have you been influencing my mind?” she asked, worried. What if he was controlling her, and she didn’t know it?
“No,” he said, but she thought he looked uneasy.
“Have you sent my mind dirty messages?” she asked, her eyes growing.
“Not intentionally,” he confessed.
“I see,” she said, happy that the dark concealed her blushing. She could tell that he was struggling with this, and she tried not to laugh. “What about your sister? Can she do what you can do?”
“Yes, pretty much, though she uses it way too often and far too deeply. I think that’s what happened with Carl,” he said.
“Who’s Carl?” she asked.
“Never mind. Some ex-boyfriend of hers.”
A Touch of Spring: Spellbound Series Book 1 (The Spellbound Series) Page 2