Intangible

by J. Meyers

  “Can’t you just pop us out of here?”

  “Only Lilith can teleport in and out. She has wards set up to prevent others from doing it.”

  “But you popped around the room.”

  “Stronger vampires are able to do that. But none can teleport in or out. Lilith’s safety precaution.”

  Sera frowned at Jonas. “What if I change you by accident? Because my hands will be on you. I don’t want that to happen.”

  “Sera,” he said, his tone serious again. “If you change me, you change me. At least you’ll be safe. That’s more important at this moment.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes, but she blinked them away as best she could. “Okay,” she said. “But I’m only agreeing because I don’t think you’ll take no for an answer.”

  “I won’t.”

  Jonas squatted down next to her and opened his arms. She put her good arm around his neck while he slid one arm under her knees, and then in one liquid-smooth movement he stood up with her tucked safely in his arms. Sera kept her hands in tight fists even as she clung to him.

  Luke fell into step with them as they crossed the immense room to where the Fae Fighters waited to escort them out. Sera craned her neck to catch Luke’s eye.

  “You look like crap.” she said. He was limping and his face and neck were covered with bruises.

  “Excellent,” Luke said. “It was mostly Lilith.”

  “Your new girlfriend?”

  Luke laughed and pulled on one of her feet. “She’d be a real killer of one, wouldn’t she.”

  Jonas looked back and forth between the two of them. “Let’s not incur her wrath at the moment, shall we?” he said.

  “Okay, Dad.” Sera heaved an overly dramatic sigh.

  “Yeah, sure, Pop.” Luke clapped him on the back. “You don’t cross Lilith, do you. I think she may have trust issues.”

  They’d reached the entryway to the tunnel. Fey and several Fighters went out ahead of them into the corridor, while some of them followed behind. It felt strange to Sera. All this attention. All this dedication to her well-being. And Luke’s. Like they were special.

  She didn’t feel terribly special. She felt terribly ordinary. Now, Fey, striding confidently down the hall in all her sparkly splendor, she seemed incredibly special.

  Sera leaned over so she could see Luke again, who was still walking alongside Jonas. She nodded up toward Fey. “Wow.”

  “Yeah, right?” Luke said. “She’s a total babe in the Realm, isn’t she?” Sera shook her head at him, but he just grinned. “She’s a Light Elf, and she’s our protector. Cool, huh?”

  “I thought she was a vampire.”

  “Nope. One hundred percent elf.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yes, indeed.” Luke nodded, his eyes on Fey.

  Coming out into the light, into the fresh air, Sera felt as if she was suddenly truly breathing for the first time since they’d entered Lilith’s lair. They were going to use the gateway through the water, she’d heard, and was kind of glad she wouldn’t have to pick her way through bat guano on the way back out.

  When the Fae Fighters paused for orders from Fey, Jonas let Sera down, but she was dizzy and couldn’t stand on her own. Her arm was slick with blood.

  “You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Jonas said. “You should heal yourself before we continue.”

  Sera shook her head. “I can’t. It doesn’t work that way.”

  “What about Luke?” Jonas said.

  “What about Luke?” Luke said. Sera looked at him.

  “Could you heal her?”

  Luke held up his hands. “Noooo. No. No. No. I can’t do that. I’m not the healer. I’ve never healed anyone, I’ve just made people feel a little tiny bit better.” He held his index finger just a hair above his thumb to show how much healing ability he had.

  But Sera nodded, understanding dawning on her. “Yes, but when you put your hands on me in there, the pain in my arm almost went away completely. I think the Realm strengthens our abilities, Luke. And Lilith said that part of my power comes from my necklace. Maybe if you’re touching it, you’ll be a stronger healer? It’s worth a shot,” she said. “That way I don’t have to explain this to Mom or the emergency room staff.”

  Luke looked doubtful. “This is so not going to work.” But he picked up her pendant and held it in one hand, then placed his other hand on her injured shoulder.

  Instantly Sera felt a smooth, warm wave undulate inside her arm. She closed her eyes and lay her head back on Jonas’s shoulder. Light flooded her body, intensifying around her shoulder. She could feel the muscles knitting themselves back together, the layers of skin fusing, could almost visualize it. Pain that had been throbbing stronger and stronger, now faded to nothing. She stretched out her fingers, then moved her arm around. It felt…normal, healthy. Like it always did.

  “Wow,” Luke said. “I’m amazing!”

  Sera smiled. “I think amazing is a bit strong, don’t you?” She looked at Jonas.

  “A bit,” Jonas said, a smile playing on his lips.

  But Luke ignored them. “Hey, Fey! I just healed Sera! Check it out. I’m like a god!”

  Fey glanced over from where she was consulting with her Fighters, knit her eyebrows together, and said, “Okay.”

  “I’m incredible. Prodigious. Awe-inspiring.”

  “Unbelievable. Preposterous. Absurd.” Sera laughed, and reached out to hug Luke. She almost couldn’t believe they’d both come out of this alive. He really was amazing.

  She felt the healing light flowing through her arms and going into Luke’s body. She released him from the hug, but stood in front of him, her palms pressed against his chest until the light faded completely. Her eyes focused on his necklace. Since he had been able to heal by touching her necklace, she wondered if maybe she could See the future if she touched his.

  Sera reached up and touched his pendant lightly with her fingers. Then she scooped it into her hand and held it for a moment.

  Marc lay on the ground writhing in pain, incoherent, inconsolable. Shadows from gravestones circled him, an inky black mass slowly moved toward him. She could hear the sounds of water nearby—the lake. Sera instinctively knew the cemetery.

  “I don’t care if I die,” Marc said.

  “Oh, you will care,” a voice rasped. “You’ll be begging for it.”

  Sera gasped, her heart thundered and chills spread over her skin.

  Jonas reached for her, concern clouding his face. “Are you okay?”

  Sera took his hand, but stared at Luke. “It’s Marc.”

  THIRTY-SIX

  As soon as Sera spied Marc’s car at the back side of the cemetery, she broke into a run with Luke at her side.

  “MARC!” There was already a stitch in her side, and she was having a hard time catching her breath, but she couldn’t slow down. Thankfully the silver light of the moon lit the place up almost as if it were daylight. Her eyes scoured the area around his car as she got closer.

  She heard a cough, and her eyes flew in that direction. She could just make out a lump on the ground near a couple of headstones, not far from a few small pine trees. It moaned and Sera sprinted toward it.

  It was Marc.

  She threw herself to the ground next to him, completely out of breath, and immediately took stock. He looked awful. Shivering, sweating, and moaning, he seemed oblivious to where he was and that they were there.

  “He’s freezing,” Sera said between gasps. She ripped off her coat while Luke did the same, and they covered him as best they could. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. I usually get a sense of the problem, but nothing is coming to me.” She placed her hands on either side of his face, his eyes open but not comprehending her, and silently hoped it would work.

  Light spread down her arms and into Marc, making his whole body glow—except his head. Sera looked at him for a moment and then up at Luke. She’d never seen that happen before. As if the energy was somehow blocked from goi
ng above his shoulders. She could see him healing from all that had happened in Lilith’s care, but he didn’t seem better. He was still moaning, still incoherent, unaware that she was there. She didn’t understand why the light wouldn’t go into his head.

  “It’s not working!” Sera’s breaths started coming faster and faster. “Why isn’t it working?” She grabbed her necklace with one hand while keeping the other on Marc, but it didn’t help. She couldn’t have lost the ability to heal. Not now when she really needed it.

  Luke sat on the other side of Marc, watching, his brow furrowed. Sera looked up at Fey and Jonas, panic on her face. Fey’s eyes were narrowed as she looked at Marc and Sera, then she peered hard into the darkness of the pine trees nearby. Her eyes widened suddenly, then her face filled with such hatred Sera gasped.

  “What is it?” she said.

  Fey looked back down at her. “I’ll be right back.” And she was gone.

  Sera couldn’t believe that Fey would just pop off at a time like this. Sera had always thought that Fey had a certain amount of respect for anyone’s life, but she sure seemed to have less for Marc’s.

  Sera looked down at him again. If this was what he’d wanted healed, then she was starting to understand his strange reaction earlier when she hadn’t been able to heal him. She didn’t understand why her power was failing her now, but she felt completely helpless as she watched him writhe. She wished there was something she could do.

  “Put this around his neck. Quickly.” Fey’s voice was warm in her ear, and a necklace suddenly hung in front of her face. Suspended from the silver chain was a rectangular pendant with three wavy lines etched into it, one on top of the other. Sera grabbed it out of Fey’s hands and pulled it over Marc’s head as quickly as she could.

  His whole body relaxed as if the pain were instantly gone. He breathed normally, his face smoothed out, and he lay at peace in Sera’s lap. She gently touched his face, he opened his eyes, looked right at her. And smiled.

  “You’ve healed me,” he said.

  “Not really.” Sera shook her head. “Fey did. She brought this necklace for you.” Sera lifted the pendant for Marc to see. He looked at it confused, and his eyes went to Fey.

  “It’s specially made by my people for Gifteds who need protection. Luke and Sera each wear one, too, and theirs have served them well. Especially today.” She looked at him. “Yours will protect you from the Dark Elves for as long as you wear it.”

  “Dark Elves?” Marc said.

  “They are the deepest, darkest beings you’ve ever seen,” Fey said. “They’ve been torturing your mind. That is one of their many powers.”

  “You mean the Shadows?”

  “If that’s what you called them, yes.”

  “They’ve been doing this to me all along?” Marc sat up, looked a little woozy, but stayed upright. “I’m not sick? Nothing’s wrong with me?”

  Fey shook her head, then patted his chest where his necklace lay. “But you are protected from them now. You are safe again.” She paused. “If I had known what was going on, I would have been able to protect you sooner.”

  Marc put his head in his hands and sat there shaking his head. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe that this was all because of you two.” He looked at Sera and then Luke. “I can’t believe that my life has been ripped to shreds because of you. And almost ended by vampires. All because of you.”

  “We didn’t do this to you,” Luke said.

  “You left me there.” Marc threw his arms wide. “How could you leave me there?”

  “We came back,” Luke said softly.

  Marc had this look of astonishment on his face, and Sera felt her heart drop. “Do you know what she did to me? Do you have any idea what that PSYCHOPATH DID TO ME?”

  “I’m sorry,” Luke said. “There was noth—”

  “Let me tell you something,” Marc said. “I’m done with you. I’ve lost everything because of you.” He got to his feet and waved his arms around in the air. “I have no family, no friends—”

  “You have us,” Sera said in a quiet voice.

  “—no life.” Marc looked at Sera and shook his head. “I don’t want you. I want my old life back.” Then he closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m out of here. Now. I’m going back to try to pick up the pieces of the life I used to have.” He paused, then said, “I don’t want to know about the Realm or vampires or elves or anything else. I don’t want to be a part of this.”

  Fey said quietly, “If you always wear that necklace, then that shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Sera wanted so much to touch him, to ease his pain. To change his mind. “I’m sorry about what happened. I wish it hadn’t happened to you.”

  “That makes two of us,” Marc said.

  “Three, actually.” Luke stood up.

  “Four,” said Jonas.

  “Might as well make it five,” said Fey.

  Marc looked at them all in silence, his mouth open, eyes wide. For a moment Sera was sure he was about to change his mind. But then his face closed, he shook his head, pulled his keys out of his pocket, and simply walked away from them.

  “Marc,” Fey said. “What were the Dark Elves making you do?”

  Marc stopped, but didn’t turn around.

  “They wanted me to find Luke and Sera for them,” he said.

  “What?” Sera said. “Like a bounty hunter?”

  His shoulders sagged. “Yes.”

  Sera stared at Marc’s back. No one else spoke or moved. Marc had hunted them down?

  “What were you supposed to do when you found us?” Sera said.

  “Turn you in,” Marc said. He turned his head to the side, but still didn’t face them. “But I couldn’t.” He sounded beaten. “I just couldn’t.”

  Marc shook his head and plodded toward his car. Sera sat where she was on the ground in stunned silence. She couldn’t believe he’d done that. Had he even liked her at all or had it all been a ploy to lure her to the Shadows?

  Marc stopped then and turned. Sera looked up at him and he was looking right at her, agony on his face. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know what they wanted when they offered me the trade—finding you in return for the cure to the headaches and noise. I didn’t know I would find friends.” He paused, his eyes still on Sera. “I didn’t know I would find you. But I can’t do this. I don’t want this to be my life.”

  Sera scrambled to her feet, and raced after him. To hell with right and wrong. She didn’t want him to leave and maybe she could influence him with a touch of her hand. He turned his head as she drew near, her hand reaching out to him. He flinched out of her reach, and fell over a gravestone. She stopped and dropped her hand.

  He pulled himself back up and wheeled on her, breathing hard. “Don’t mess with me anymore. Don’t try to change how I feel by touching me. I said I don’t want this.” He stepped backwards to put more distance between them. “I’m not stupid, Sera. I know what you can do. You’re a freak.”

  A pain started deep inside Sera’s chest. She could feel it starburst into thousands of shards cutting all the way down to her toes, out to her fingers, up to the top of her head. They lodged in her heart, her lungs, making every breath an agony of its own. Maybe if she didn’t breathe, it wouldn’t hurt, she thought.

  Tears spiked behind her eyes, hot and sharp. She wanted to stop him. Wanted him to turn and smile and say that he’d stay, that they’d all be friends. That maybe he loved her. That she was worth it.

  But she wasn’t worth it.

  She knew that.

  She wasn’t worth all the people it took to save her and Luke from Lilith. She wasn’t worth hardly anything at all.

  She was a freak. Just like he said.

  The tears had unleashed, running freely down her face. For a moment, she found her voice. “Marc?”

  He’d reached his car, turned to look at her. “Don’t look at me like that, Sera. It’s not fair.” He looked away and took a breath, shaking his
head slightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…It’s just too much for me. You’re too much.”

  She gasped at the jolt of pain his words caused. Her face wet with tears, she sank to the ground and silently watched him start his car and drive away.

  Sera lifted her face to the sky, noticed the clouds coming in, then closed her eyes. And tried not to breathe.

  “He’s wrong, you know.” Luke’s warm arm wove around her shoulders, pulled her tight into him.

  “You’re not,” Jonas said, “a freak.”

  “Says the psychic and the vampire,” Sera said. “Forgive me if I don’t take your word for it. You two are not exactly the experts on normal.”

  “I am, however,” Luke said, “the expert on you. And he’s wrong.”

  Sera sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “This sucks.”

  “Yup.”

  “You tried to warn me.”

  “You never listen.”

  Sera breathed. It wasn’t so bad. “Maybe next time I will.”

  Luke shook his head. “No, you won’t.”

  “No,” Sera said, and laughed in the midst of her tears. “I won’t.”

  She took a deep breath. The air smelled frosty. Cold little drops fell on her face, and she opened her eyes. She peered up at the sky, and held out her hands to catch some of the flakes. They were big, fat, and fluffy—perfect snow. Promising snow. Magical snow.

  Luke stood up, then offered her a hand. She grabbed it and let him pull her to her feet. She could feel his natural healing power seep into her hands, the pain in her heart ease. His healing wasn’t as strong as it had been in the Realm, but already she was feeling a little better. He picked up their coats off the ground, handed Sera hers and swung his over his shoulders. Shivering, Sera hadn’t realized just how cold she’d gotten until she was putting her coat back on. She’d kill for a hat, too.

  Well, maybe she wouldn’t really kill for one. There’d been enough killing for one day.