He brought her hand to his lips. This time, magic rolled into her knuckles, up her arm. His magic, strengthening her.
“Josh, no.” She tried to tug her hand free.
Running to them, Nurse Wells called, “Josh, stop!”
He ignored her. “You’ll be okay,” he assured Edie.
She didn’t have the strength to break his hold. Panic clawed at her throat. “I don’t know how to give it back,” she told the nurse. Occasionally sharing power or raising a shield hadn’t taught her how to push back against an influx like this.
“Steady, Josh.” Wells knelt to support him, two fingers at the pulse in his throat. “Edie, let go.”
“I’m trying.” Desperately.
Josh slumped against Wells, his eyes closing, but his grip on Edie’s hand tightened.
Stefan Harper flashed into view behind him.
“Stop him,” Edie begged. “I can’t stop him.”
Harper put a hand on her wrist and one on Josh’s. Magic flowed over her fingers, and Josh’s hand relaxed.
Harper frowned. “Magic is leaching out of you both, but doubly out of him.”
“He was giving it to me.”
Josh lay unmoving in Wells’s arms. His eyes were closed in his ashen face. Orderlies with stretchers translocated into the meadow. Harper must’ve summoned them.
“Oh, please, Dr. Harper, I have to give it back. You have to help me.”
“Steady.” He gripped her hand. “Nurse Wells is boosting Josh. We’ll get you both upstairs right away. We can’t translocate into the building—security precaution—but we’re fast.”
Edie let them bundle her onto a stretcher and watched them settle Josh. He lay still, apparently unconscious. Why had he given her his power when he was draining as fast as she was?
If only she could give the power back.
* * *
“I’m fine,” Josh insisted. At least comparatively, he was. The room no longer spun, and his vision wasn’t foggy. He had a clear view of Edie, though he couldn’t explain why she was sitting in his room, looking worried, instead of avoiding him.
Standing by Josh’s bed, Harper told him, “You’ll stay flat until I’m sure you’re stable.” He removed his fingers from Josh’s wrist. “Your power level is coming up, but slowly. What happened out there?”
“We were about halfway across the meadow,” Josh answered, “when this chill hit, as though someone blasted me with icy air. Edie shivered. Then my magic started to drain. Fast, like it was under suction. Edie and I were still holding hands, so I felt hers go, too.”
He had to stop, catch his breath. Shit, he kept himself in combat-ready shape. What the hell could put him down so fast?
“Before that,” Edie put in, “we were both feeling better. My power levels had almost come back to normal while we were in the woods. Then it’s like we hit an invisible line and the magic just…drained.”
“It’s probably the orb,” Harper said, and Edie looked stricken.
Josh wanted to reach for her hand, but she was too far away. Not to mention, she was probably still pissed after that kiss in the woods.
“So what do we do about that?” he asked.
“We’re going to destroy it. It isn’t unusual for a magical object that attaches itself to a person to have limited range. You felt well in the woods because you were outside that range. When you came close enough, the link activated.”
“When they destroy it we’ll be okay?” Edie looked at the doctor with wary eyes that made Josh want to put his arms around her.
“You should be,” Harper said. “When we destroyed the orb last summer, the people under its influence suffered no ill effects.” He headed for the door. “I’ll check with Will, but it’s only ten now, so we have a couple of hours to go. Josh, you stay down at least another fifteen minutes. Then the two of you should go outside again, see if you can gather some more energy.”
Josh nodded, but if some curse or charm or whatever was stealing his life force, he wasn’t going to lie down and wait for it take what it wanted.
“You don’t have to watch over me, Edie. I’m fine.”
“I’m not watching over you. I’m trying to figure you out.”
She walked to the bed and settled her hip on the edge. “You’ve always been distant with the women on the crews, but I’ve never heard anyone say you were a jerk. So I don’t understand why you blow hot and cold on me. First you kiss me, then you pretty much warn me off, and then you risk your life to help me.”
Josh sighed. “Damned if I can explain it. I’m attracted to you, obviously. I always have been.”
“I guess you realize that’s mutual.” Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t look away. “Is that why, at Compadres Gulch, you came to me?”
“I was so damned glad you weren’t dead.” Yet he’d felt guilty, disloyal to those who’d died.
She glanced away. When she looked at him again, her eyes were pained. “I was relieved to know you were in the air, that you couldn’t be one of the ones we lost. And I was ashamed to feel that way.”
Edie paused, and the hesitation in her eyes told him she was gathering her courage. “Why did you stay away that night, Josh, and then treat me as though nothing had happened?”
“You know how people talk in camp.” He shifted on the bed. He’d realized standing her up was wrong, no matter what his reasons. “I didn’t want anyone to see me leave your tent or know anything had happened between us.”
Those clearly hadn’t been her priorities, especially not if his actions bothered her three years later. “When I saw you in the chow line, I knew I’d hurt you, but I didn’t think hashing it over would change anything.”
Again, he wanted to take her hand but stopped himself. She might not want him to touch her right now. “I’m sorry, Edie. I handled everything badly.”
Edie shrugged. “What about today?”
“I wanted you to understand why I have this belief my sisters think is sexist.”
“It is,” she said with a wry smile, “but your sisters were younger than you. As you said, they didn’t remember when your mom was there. So they couldn’t notice the difference.”
“That’s exactly it. To be honest, I didn’t expect you would get it, but I had to try. Then you did, and…Hell. You know.” She’d looked so beautiful, and he’d wanted her so badly. He hadn’t stopped to think.
Edie pursed her lips. If only he could know what she was pondering, but her face gave nothing away, and her vibes in the magic were guarded. “You still haven’t told me why you gave me your power. You don’t owe me anything, you know.”
His answer would only complicate things further, but he wouldn’t lie to her. “I couldn’t stand the idea you might die.”
“So it’s better that you do? Oh, Josh.” She shook her head. “Don’t do that again.”
“I care about you, Edie.”
“Well, I care about you, but it’s not fair to foist your power on me when I don’t know how to stop it. I mean it, Josh.”
In this, she was not the boss of him. She was staring hard at him, awaiting a reply. He said, “We won’t be in that situation again, so no worries.” Josh pushed himself up to sit.
Edie stood, giving him room. “You haven’t been down fifteen minutes.”
“I’m tired of lying down. Want to work on that puzzle before we go for a stroll?”
“Sure. Why not aid and abet you in defying the good doctor?”
“That’s the spirit.” They’d cleared the air. At least they could leave here as friends.
6
Edie studied Josh from under her lashes. He moved with his usual smooth economy as he worked on the jigsaw puzzle, but the shadows under his eyes had returned, thumb-wide smears above his cheekbones. The lines bracketing his mouth were another telltale sign.
She could sympathize. Her brain felt sluggish, and fatigue pressed on her shoulders.
The power infusions had noticeably less effect now. Cold squee
zed her throat, and she forced herself to take a deep breath. Giving in to fear wouldn’t solve anything.
She reached for an oddly shaped piece that seemed to have part of a brown octopus on it. Josh reached for the one next to it, part of a white fish. Their fingertips brushed.
Awareness sparked in the contact, pleasure and regret entwined. Hers alone? Or his, too? The tightening of his mouth and the way he avoided looking at her suggested the feelings were mutual.
The octopus piece didn’t fit. Edie chose one that seemed to have seaweed on it and tried it in a different place. Close, but not quite right.
She couldn’t help noticing Josh’s hands. He had very nice hands, large and lean, his fingers straight and blunt-tipped, his palms square.
She’d felt stronger holding his hand. He’d said the contact affected him the same way.
Couldn’t two grown people put their hormones aside and help each other? They’d staked out a friendship. Maybe they should act on it.
Edie touched his knuckles. Josh froze. Slowly, his eyes lifted to her face. Inscrutable hazel, they gave away nothing about his feelings.
“I could use that contact benefit.” Guys had their pride, and this one particularly wouldn’t lean on a woman. “How about you?”
“Sure.” He folded his hand around hers and lowered his gaze to the puzzle again.
The power sparked between them. A little rush of pleasure warmed her, and the chill in her throat eased.
They continued working on the puzzle. The vibe in the magic felt more harmonious, though, as if Josh protected his privacy but wasn’t locking her out. She tried to do the same.
Someone tapped on the hall door. Harper opened it and walked to the end of the table. “I won’t allow you to be present when they destroy the orb, but if you’d like to see the preparations, you may.”
Edie glanced at Josh and could read the hell, yes in his face. She spoke for them both. “We’d like to.”
“All right,” Harper said. “Will and three of the deputy reeves are taking it outside. We can meet them in the woods.”
He stepped into the hall to call a nurse.
“So we’re almost clear.” Edie mustered a smile. Did her voice sound as fake-cheery to Josh as it did to her?
His gaze dropped to the table. Idly, he fitted a piece of pink sea anemone into place. “Too bad we won’t need to finish this.”
Edie had a hunch he wasn’t talking about the puzzle. Maybe that was as well. Some things just weren’t meant to be, and that made her even madder.
“Yeah, too bad.” She reached for the paper they’d used to keep score. “Now I won’t get to kick your ass after all.”
* * *
Josh kept a tight grip on Edie’s hand as they followed Harper into the woods. Instead of taking the cross-country track, they cut west, on a narrower path, and stepped into a grouping of eight granite monoliths, each a foot thick, ten feet tall, and four across.
Four sat at the compass points with another four, set closer in, interspersed. From above, the stones would form an eight-pointed star forty feet long and wide. The trees had been magically trained not to grow above the star formation, so full sunlight washed over the area.
Dressed in fatigues that magically reflected their surroundings, Davis nodded a greeting. So did the four deputy reeves with him, three guys whose builds ranged from burly to average and a woman almost waif thin. Although Josh recognized them all, he could name only the burly man, Hank Folsom.
The air hummed with power, but his contact with Edie conveyed her uncertainty. She lived with Mundanes. There was probably a lot about battle magic she’d never had a reason to learn. Josh laced his fingers through hers and squeezed.
She flashed him a small smile.
Folsom set an onyx pedestal in the circle’s center. Davis picked up the bag beside him and drew out the large, black orb. In the sunlight, it flashed reddish purple.
Edie’s hand tightened on Josh’s, but he barely noticed.
Davis said, “We suspect the ghouls were trying to use it in the swamp. Maybe they’d already fed souls into it, or they were bringing people there to prime it. The explosion from magical backlash could’ve cracked the orb or started the fire.”
“We found it in the area where the fire started,” Josh informed him. “It could’ve been the cause. And the swamp’s still a hell of a mess. I’d like to rejoin the fight. I bet Edie would, too.”
“Damned right,” she said.
Harper smiled. “If this goes well, we should be able to accommodate you. Ms. Wells will escort you back. I’m staying here in case they need me. We marked where you were when it drained you earlier, and we’ll wait to start until we’re sure you’re out of its range.”
“Thank you.” Edie’s gaze swept the mages in the circle. “I’m sure destroying this is dangerous, so thank you.” She glanced up at Josh.
“Yeah,” he said. “Thanks from both of us.”
Us. Josh felt a little twinge at the word that grouped him and Edie even remotely together.
“No big deal.” Davis grinned at Edie with a hint of flirtation. “It’s what we do.”
That was the guy’s way. Josh usually didn’t care, but this time, he battled an irrational urge to plant his fist between the assistant loremaster’s eyes.
“We’ll ward the circle,” Davis said, “and take this thing apart. I’ll let you know when it’s done.”
Josh walked out of the circle with Edie, Harper, and Ms. Wells. Harper stopped just beyond the stones, but the rest continued down the path and out of the woods.
As they climbed to the main building, Wells glanced over her shoulder. “They’ll start any minute. Let me know if you feel the least bit odd.”
“You said Will was the assistant loremaster,” Edie reminded Josh. “Why doesn’t the top loremaster do this job?”
Was she curious? Or worried about Davis? Not Josh’s business if she was attracted to the guy.
Josh made his voice deliberately casual. “He’s a research prodigy, but Gerry Armitage, the loremaster, has an even wider range of knowledge. If he dies suddenly, that knowledge is lost, so the assistant loremaster takes on the destruction of dangerous objects. It’s a tradition that goes back to the Burning Times.”
“I guess that makes sense. It—” Edie stumbled.
“Edie!” Pain smashed into his forehead, as though somebody sank a hatchet into it. Fighting to see, trying not to fall, he pulled her close.
Nurse Wells had her arms around them both. The three of them went down together. She was pushing power into them. It warmed his blood, but it did nothing for the agony in his head. He couldn’t see anything but pulsing red, purple, and black.
Josh clenched his teeth against a scream of pain.
Edie. He had to help Edie.
But he couldn’t focus enough to give her…Wait. She was pushing power at him. The vibe was different, not from Wells. Had to stop her.
“…transport,” Wells’s voice said in his ear. “…drain …stat.”
“Oh, holy fucking hell,” Harper’s voice said. “Hang on Josh, Edie. Stay with me.”
If only. Josh reached for the power Harper also offered, but it wasn’t enough. The world went black.
* * *
Slowly, the world swam back into being. Josh forced his heavy eyelids open.
Harper gripped his shoulder. “You’re okay.”
Josh blinked at the ceiling. He was in bed, not his room. The blue curtain to the right belonged in the infirmary, not the quarantine suite. He’d been in the woods—
“Edie.” Josh bolted upright, only to have the world turn black and reel. He clutched the bed guard for balance. “Where’s Edie?”
“I’m here.” The voice from his left was quavery, rough, and soft, but hers.
Josh let Harper ease him back to the mattress. His arms and legs felt about as strong as the proverbial wet noodles.
“Lie still,” the doctor ordered.
“Pleas
e, Josh,” Edie said.
He turned his head toward the sound. She lay in the bed to his left, behind Harper.
Harper turned so he could see them both. “The orb is linked with you more closely than we anticipated. When the demolition team blasted it, the two of you went down. We stopped immediately.”
“Is it gone?” Josh asked.
“If only. Both of your Third Eyes, your brow chakras, are inflamed. Before, they looked normal. That must be where the thing forged its connection.”
“Why?” Edie asked.
Damn, but she sounded so tired. Was she running down? About to run out?
Harper asked, “Do you understand the Third Eye’s importance?”
“An extra sense?” Edie asked.
Harper replied, “Yes, but it’s more. It’s the physical seat of your magic. The other energy centers in your body feed into it. Smashing the orb won’t solve anything unless we can sever its connection to you. We may be able to do that by retuning your chakras.”
“Like you do for mages who’ve been hurt in battle,” Josh suggested.
“Sort of, but this is more complicated. For them, we have to reenergize the affected chakras. The two of you need a full-body magical realignment. That’s rare, but there’s a way to do it. What we don’t know is whether it would sever your link to the orb. We’ve never dealt with something like this before.”
“So it’s an experiment,” Edie said.
“It can’t hurt anything,” Harper assured her. “Will and the archives staff are researching whether it should sever that link. When we finish here, I’m going to help them. We should have an answer soon.”
He glanced from one to the other. “At the least, we hope it will boost your ability to sustain a recharge.”
“You hope,” Josh said in a flat voice.
Harper nodded, his face grave. “I don’t make false promises.”
“Good to know,” Edie replied.
“You’ll receive another magic infusion in half an hour. Afterward, you can go back up to the quarantine suite if you prefer. You stay in the bed until then. Got it?”
He directed a stern look at Josh, who refused to blink. If Edie needed help—
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