The Quirin Stone

by Marie Morin

  Seeing that Thor had crouched as well, she looked up at him. “What is it?"

  “A Quirin stone."

  Blinking in surprise, she looked down at the talisman again. “From legend? The traitor's stone?"

  “The traitor's stone,” he repeated.

  She looked up at him sharply then, feeling as if the air had suddenly been crushed from her lungs. “You brought it with you."

  “It's my keeper. See. It pulses now. My time has come."

  She caught his hand when he reached for it. “What will happen?"

  He almost seemed to shrug. “I honestly don't know. It doesn't matter to me any more. Whatever comes, I'm ready for it."

  Cassie felt tears fill her eyes and begin running down her cheeks. “Don't. Please don't leave me. I'm sorry. None of it matters anymore. Just stay with me."

  He swallowed with an effort. “It doesn't matter whether I touch it or not. I'm here.” He drew a shuttering breath. “I made arrangements for you."

  “Don't start that again!” Cassie said angrily. “I don't want or need the arrangements. I want you! I need you!"

  He caught her shoulders in his hands. “Listen. I don't have much time now, but I can't bear to leave you thinking as you do. I can't bear to think that it will haunt you. I love you, Cassie. When I close my eyes, it's your face I see, your voice I hear. And when I make love to you, it's you I make love to. Remember that."

  She sniffed. “I'd rather you stayed and showed me."

  “Would you?” he asked, his lips forming a faint smile. “Would you be willing to give me another chance?"

  “Yes! I've been trying to tell you that for weeks."

  He swallowed convulsively and looked down. “I should have listened to you. We could've had more time."

  Cassie glanced down at the Quirin stone, as well. To her horror, she saw that it had begun to vibrate, rising from the soil. Thor reached for it. She caught his arm, but she wasn't strong enough to hold onto him. “Don't touch it!” she cried in a panicked voice.

  “I ... can't ... stop,” he ground out. “It pulls."

  Light began to flow from it as it connected with his palm, a strange blue white light that grew stronger and stronger until it enveloped them.

  “It's opened the gateway,” Thor ground out.

  Around them, a buzzing began that quickly resolved itself into voices, voices speaking in a tongue that she'd never heard.

  “They're calling me home. I have to go."

  “No!"

  “I don't have a choice, Cassie. Don't you know I'd stay if I could?"

  She tried to wrench the stone from his hand but found she couldn't. When she saw that was useless, she flung herself against him, locking her arms around his waist. “Then take me with you!"

  Something pulled at her. She thought at first that it was Thor, that he was trying to push her away, but she realized that it was something else pulling at her, a force that tugged like a magnet. She tightened her hold, squeezing her eyes tightly closed. In a moment, she felt Thor's arm close around her, holding her, helping her to hold on to him.

  The pulling increased steadily until she felt the joints in her arms begin to pull and separate, felt pain flowing through her. She ignored it, clinging anyway.

  Abruptly, the pulling stopped. The light died. Cassie sagged weakly against him.

  He uttered a shaky chuckle and she pulled away and looked around.

  “We didn't go anywhere,” she said in surprise.

  He was grinning when she looked up at him. “The portal was for one."

  “You don't have to go now?"

  He studied the Quirin stone he still held in his hand. “I'm a free man."

  Cassie drew a shaky breath, hardly daring to believe that it was over, that she didn't have to worry about losing him. “They gave you your life back?"

  “They released me. They gave me back my right to live a normal life."

  “You're not immortal anymore?"

  He sighed. “I'll have to watch out for trains now if I want to stay around long enough to grow old with you. Do you think you can live with that?"

  Laughing, Cassie hugged him tightly. “Yes! What are we going to do first? Move somewhere else? Change our identities?"

  He chuckled. “Only if you want to. I was thinking more along the lines of starting a family."

  Cassie sighed happily. “Not until I've had you to myself for a while."

  He chuckled. “I can live with that, too.” He hugged her tightly. “I love you."

  The End

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