“You need to see something that might make you understand a little better” she told her opening her hand. Abby saw that it was the Seer’s Orb, still small and marble like. She looked back up to Jasmine.
“Will it work for me?” she asked. Just as she asked the question, Abby felt a warmth go through her body. She looked up to her mother, whose eyes were closed.
“The rest of the spell is now lifted” her mother said. She looked back to Jasmine.
“So it should work now?” she asked her.
Jasmine nodded, “Yes as long as you are calm, your magic will work” she said.
Abby nodded and took the orb from her. She held it in her hand and took a deep breath and closed her eyes and thought, show me what Jasmine wants me to see, and she felt the orb grow hot and let it go.
As the orb flew up into the air and grew to the size of a bowling ball she saw the images in it start to clear up. She leaned forward and focused on what she was seeing, it was Tom sitting in his apartment reading a book, but the name of the book was too small to see what exactly it was that he was reading.
Suddenly she heard a knock at the door and watched as Tom looked down at his watch and walked over to open the door with a smile on his face. As the door opened she saw Nicole standing there in the doorway, but she watched Tom’s face as he realized who was standing there. He started frowning, not the big smile she expected to see.
“What the hell are you doing here Nicole? How did you find my apartment? You know I have a restraining order on you, I will call the police” he said. His voice sounded very angry as he turned toward the chair he was sitting in, where she saw that he was reaching for his cell phone. Nicole ran into the room and grabbed his arm.
“Tom wait! I’m not here to cause problems, I want to apologize for how I treated you and to tell you that I’m happy you have found someone” she yelled at him. Tom turned back to her.
“How do you even know I’m dating someone? That tells me right there that you are still stalking me. You haven’t changed at all have you?” he said back to her with a look of pure hatred on his face that Abby had never seen before.
“I’m telling you the truth, I have been in therapy for a while now and have been working on my issues. I’ve actually started seeing someone back in Houston, where I live now” she told him, still hanging on to his arm. Abby heard another knock on the door and watched as Tom pulled her hand off of his arm.
“That’s the Chinese food I ordered. Sit down while I pay for it, then you are going to get the hell out of here, I don’t care how much you say you’ve changed, or what kind of apology you think you should give me. I don’t want anything else to do with you ever again” he told her.
Abby watched as Tom moved to answer the door while Nicole sat down on his couch and as his door opened, saw herself standing in the doorway in the long coat.
Abby pulled away from the orb and started to cry again, not from having her heart broken this time, but out of fear that she had completely screwed everything up with Tom.
Abby handed the Seer’s Orb back to Jasmine and looked back at both her and her mother.
“What do I do now? Why did I jump to conclusions so fast? Oh, I feel horrible. He is totally going to break up with me now” she said as she started to pace frantically.
Suddenly it felt as though her senses were on high alert and she had a gut feeling that they needed to leave this place. Her mother noticed her change of mood and looked around.
“What’s the matter Abby?” she asked her.
Abby shook her head, “I’m not sure, I just have a feeling like I need to leave here, and something isn’t safe about this place right now” she tried to explain.
Abby shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know, anyway, I really want to try to go and talk to Tom. I will come back and talk to you in the castle after that. Hopefully my magic will be working much better by then” she said.
Her mother stood up and put her hand on her shoulder, “I thought you should know that he is at the Murphy Hotel, talking with his father about all of this” she said.
Abby nodded, “thanks” she said as she kissed her on the cheek. She looked over at Jasmine.
“Do you think I can do it myself now? Is my magic really back?” she asked her.
Jasmine nodded, “It should be fine, but Abby, please take this.” She said handing the orb back to her, “I think you should have this one, I have another back at the shop” she said.
Abby smiled and took the orb, putting it into her pocket as she hugged Jasmine.
“Okay, love you guys, see you soon” she said as she felt the heat take over her body letting her know that her magic was back intact.
***
Abby landed softly in the parking lot, where she could sense that nobody was around and took off at a trot toward the front doors of the hotel. It didn’t take her long to reach the door and as she pushed them open she saw Tom’s mother standing in the lobby talking to one of the doormen.
She ran up to her and waited for her to finish her conversation, but she must have sensed her standing there because after just a few seconds she stopped talking and turned toward her.
“Abby!” she exclaimed.
“I really need to talk with Tom, is he here?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer to the question.
“Yes, hang on just a second” she said turning back to the doorman. Abby watched as she handed him a photograph.
“This is her, if you see her in here again, please call the police” she told him. Abby stretched her neck to get a better look and saw that the photograph was of Nicole. Tom must have told her that she was watching him from the hotel lobby.
The doorman answered a quick, “Yes Ma’am” and turned and walked to the front desk. Tom’s mother turned back to her.
“Come with me dear, we can talk in the elevator” she told her.
Abby nodded and followed her to the private elevators Tom had taken her up in on the night of the party. Tom’s mother punched in the code to get the elevator doors to open and they walked in, but Abby couldn’t wait for the doors to close before she started her pleading.
“Mrs. Murphy...” she started.
“Please, call me B.B., everyone does” his mother interrupted.
“Okay, B.B., I made a big mistake, I thought that Tom was seeing Nicole again and I went off the deep end” she said.
B.B. nodded, “Yes, dear, he told me what happened and I told him how bad it had looked to a female eye. I don’t blame you. I probably would have reacted the same way” she said.
Abby lowered her head, “I feel like an idiot, I really should have let him explain, but I was just so hurt that I was scared to even stop and listen. I didn’t want to hear him say he was with her again” Abby tried to explain. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and was afraid to open her mouth again. She was scared that if she did she would start to cry and not be able to stop.
B.B. put her arms around her shoulders, “He will forgive you for not listening to him, trust me. He is up there with his father trying to figure out a way to get you back, he loves you very much. I have never seen him feel so strongly for anybody before. It will all work out, just have faith” she said with a knowing expression on her face. But, before she could ask her how she was so sure, the elevator beeped and the doors opened.
Chapter 26
The first thing she saw when the doors opened was Tom sitting in a very dainty looking arm chair with his back to her. He was bent forward with his head in his hands while his father stood in front of him, facing her, with his hand on Tom’s shoulder. When his father saw them walk out of the elevator, he nudged Tom.
“Tom, she’s here” he said. Tom stood up suddenly turning toward her, all in one swift movement. When their eyes met, it was like everything she wanted to say to him got stuck in her throat and she couldn’t make herself speak.
“Abby” Tom said in a half whisper walking toward her without taking his eyes off of
her. She then realized that there wasn’t anything she could say to make him understand what she was feeling, just being there was enough.
She started toward him, reaching him quickly, and as soon as she was close enough, he reached forward and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. She felt her feet come up off of the floor and lifted her to eye level and suddenly his lips were on hers, kissing her frantically, unlike he ever had before. It was as though he was afraid that if he wasn’t touching her, she would just disappear again. Finally after a few minutes she heard his father behind him.
“I think we are going to get out of here and let you two talk” he said. Tom set her back down onto the floor and she turned back toward his mother. She saw that she had tears in her eyes watching them embrace, so she went to her and hugged her.
“Thank you so much B.B., for everything” she told her, close to tears herself. As they pulled away from each other B.B. put her hands on Abby’s face.
“You are very welcome dear” she said as she leaned forward and kissed her on her cheek. Abby walked back over to Tom and watched as his parents got into the elevator, waving to them as the door closed once again.
After his parents left, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the big overstuffed couch next to the large windows and sat down, pulling her down next to him. She snuggled up next to him, putting her head on his shoulder and sighed, just minutes ago, she never thought she would be sitting next to him like this.
“I’m not trying to rock the boat, but I need to know exactly what happened” he asked her. She didn’t even look up at him, knowing that it would be easier to talk to him that way.
“Well, I was too quick to judge the situation, I thought you were messing around with Nicole behind my back. I don’t know why I didn’t stop to let you explain, but my emotions took over, I’m sorry” she answered starting to cry softly.
Tom started to run his fingers through her hair, the way he always did when they were this close together.
“I can’t believe you didn’t even trust me, you should know that I would never do anything like that to you Abby, I love you” he said.
Abby continued to cry, she had no idea what to say to him at this point. There was no way she would be able to get across to him just how sorry she was.
“It would be one thing if you were just a normal girl, but you have all those scary powers. I thought you were going to shoot flames at me for a second, and then when I realized you weren’t going to, you were gone before I could even say anything else to you” he continued.
She started to sob harder, scared that he was going to tell her that he wanted her to leave, but instead he picked her up onto his lap so that he was looking right into her eyes.
“Abby, don’t cry. I now feel bad about what happened, I can feel your pain, but you have to trust me. I have never given you any reason not to, and I promised not to ever hurt you” he told her.
Abby nodded, “I know, but please remember that this is my first relationship and I have never had to deal with this stuff. I handled it badly, but I had no idea I would react that way” she said.
They sat there looking at each other for a few minutes, and then Tom reached up and wiped away her tears before leaning in and kissing her very softly.
“Will you come and lay next to me? I still have a bedroom here and I don’t feel like going home. I feel drained and need to lie down, but I want you to stay so we can talk more” he asked her.
Abby nodded and stood up off of his lap taking his hand while he led her down the hall to his old bedroom.
As they walked into a large bedroom at the end of the hallway, she was amazed at how manly the room looked, while still being beautifully decorated.
The furniture was thick dark cherry wood that all matched, from the bed and dresser to the little couch and chair he had in the sitting area. The walls were painted a muted gray color that matched the black and grey bedspread on the large bed that looked strikingly similar to the one in his apartment.
Abby kicked off her shoes before climbing onto the bed and she slid under the covers and waited for Tom to slide in beside her. Once he was under the covers with her, he pulled her close and she rested her head on his chest, which made her feel safe and relaxed for the first time since she had seen Nicole sitting in his living room.
“So, how did you find out that nothing happened with me and Nicole last night?” he asked her quietly.
“Do you remember that Seer’s Orb I told you about?” she asked him. She felt him nod, “Well, I went to see my mother and she told me that things were not as they seemed, and then she made me watch what really happened” she told him.
Tom let out a soft laugh, “This magic stuff is really crazy sometimes, you know” he said.
Abby smiled, “Yes, I know. I saw up until the part that I knocked on the door. What happened after I left?” she asked him quietly.
“Are you wanting to know how I finally managed to get rid of her?” he asked her. She nodded, knowing that he could feel her head move on his chest.
“Well, I actually had to call the police on her. She wouldn’t leave. When she first got there, she was telling me how she had changed, and that she was happy for me and you. But, after you showed up, her attitude changed. Turns out she was just trying to get me to trust her again, so I called the cops and they hauled her off in handcuffs” he said.
Abby thought for a minute, “Do you think she will leave us alone now?” she asked him.
“No, probably not, you should probably give her picture to the front desk at your apartment building. Tell them to call the cops on sight. That’s what we did here, but I don’t have any kind of security at my building so my parents have offered me one of their apartments” he said.
Abby pulled her head up off of Tom’s chest and looked at him, “One of their apartments? How many do they have?” she asked.
Tom laughed, “Well, have you ever heard of the Azure Condo building downtown?” Abby shook her head.
“Well, it’s one of the high rises, not too far from here. Anyway, my parents own 5 apartments in that building. Two one-bedrooms, two two-bedrooms, and one three-bedroom” he answered her. Abby looked at him with a look that she was sure looked confused.
“Why do they have all of those apartments when they own a hotel chain?” she asked.
Tom laughed, “Well, a couple of them they rent out, but they leave a few of them vacant in case we have friends or family coming to stay for a few weeks. We let them stay there so that they feel more at home, rather than in a hotel room” he explained.
Abby shook her head, “Wow, it must be nice to be so rich” she said with a smile on her face.
Chapter 27
Later that night, she went with Tom to grab a few things out of his apartment to move to his new one, and she couldn’t help but ask more questions as they drove.
“So, how come you don’t already live in one of these apartments?” she asked.
Tom tilted his head, “Well, when I first got out of college, I decided I wanted to do things myself, without any help from my parents. So, I went and bought the apartment I live in now because it was small and simple, something my parents don’t seem to understand at all” he said with a laugh.
“What about now?” she asked him, “Do you still want to do everything yourself?”
Tom shrugged, “I’m not as against it now that I know I can do it on my own. I have to admit, I am tempted to sell my place and stay in the apartment I’ll be staying at, it is much nicer, and actually has separate bedrooms” he said.
Abby nodded, “Yeah, but that isn’t a big deal when you live alone” she said.
They pulled up to his apartment then, and were both completely silent while they grabbed a few of his clothes and some of his things from the bathroom. They finished fast and were back in the car in just a few minutes, where Tom grabbed her hand as he drove through the now dark streets of Dallas.
She looked around at the Dallas skyl
ine at night, as always enjoying all the colors that lit up the streets. One particular building caught her eye as they were driving; it was nearly the tallest one she could see, coming in a close second to the tall green Bank of America building her father always called the Jolly Green Giant.
The one that caught her eye was lit up neon blue and looked to be nearly covered in windows.
“That building is so pretty” she said absentmindedly her eyes fixed on the large building. Tom looked over at her.
“Which one?” he asked her. She pointed over to the blue one.
“I like the color. Has it always been blue?” she asked.
Tom started to laugh and she looked back over at him, “What’s so funny?” she asked him.
“Those are the Azure Condos silly” He replied back.
Abby nearly choked, “That’s the apartment building you are staying in?” she asked.
Tom nodded, “Yes it is” he said as they pulled up to the curb.
Abby stepped out of the car and looked up, getting dizzy as she tried to look at the top of the building. Tom walked around the car and put his arm around her, guiding her into the building. Abby’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as they walked into the large building, which was in fact surrounded in glass. It felt like every wall was made of glass, giving it a very open feel.
Abby waited while Tom went to speak with the security desk, giving them Nicole’s picture and letting them know that he would now be staying in the apartment. Once he was done, he came over and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the elevators. As they waited for the elevator to come she looked around again.
“So, how many floors does this building have?” she asked him.
“Thirty-one, I think” he replied back.
“What floor is your apartment on?” she asked.
Tom smiled, “I’m on the twentieth floor, in a two-bedroom, and it has a great view” he said.
Abby nodded, “So you’ve been in the apartment before?” she asked him again, feeling like she was just full of questions.
He nodded, “Yes, I’ve stayed in it before. Mostly when I was in college, when I would come home during the breaks, I’d stay in this apartment. It’s always been my favorite” he told her as the elevator doors finally opened. They got into the elevator and waited while it climbed up toward his floor.
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