The flight attendant cleared away our dinner dregs. Adam dimmed the lights and romantic starlight twinkled in the black abyss. The flight attendant carried in mugs of coffee on a tray, and the scent of caramel mocha nearly launched my pulse into the next galaxy.
“How’d you become a VP at such a young age?” I sipped my ambrosia.
Shadows hazed Adam’s eyes for a second. “My father died last year from an aneurysm. I was next in line when my mom became CEO.”
“I’m so sorry.” I smoothed my hand over his knee. “Which parent do your fae genes stem from? Is anyone else affected?” I whispered discretely.
“It’s a mystery.” He smiled ruefully. “As far as I know it’s just me. My mother hasn’t seen me recently since she’s been in Ireland opening up a new factory.”
Steam wafted from my coffee. “Aren’t you curious?” I gently blew into my cup. “Maybe she knows…things.”
“She was adopted. So was I. Plus, she wouldn’t know a fairy from a dragonfly. I’ve tried to track down my real parents, but the trail is deader than dead. Almost as if I didn’t exist, as if I just popped out of the Rift after the quakes.”
My eyes bugged out. Could it be true? Had other sorcerers, fae, or doppelgängers oozed through the gateway from the Realm of the Void? Were they roaming the world trying to figure out what’s wrong with them and who they are?
“Who or what else skipped through the Void and is playing in our sandbox?”
“No telling.” Leaning forward, he sized me up with an intent look. “You know, if we figure it out, we may close the Rift, secure it again. I’m hoping Melisande’s tablet has new info Ronan’s never seen.”
Shock cooled the warmth of the coffee sliding down my throat. I straightened my spine, planted my feet on the floor. “Don’t you start popping circuits too. Shouldn’t we open the Rift, let the pure magic out and deal with the consequences later? Isn’t that the only way to heal you two? What happens if we close the Rift, even if it’s possible? Will you disappear…or worse?” I swallowed hard. We hadn’t really discussed goals beyond stopping Ronan’s sperm donor and rescuing Zoe. “Why wouldn’t we want sorcery restored and usurp the Abolishment laws enacted by pea-brained humans?”
“It’s dangerous. We don’t know what will happen when the Rift opens and Forbidden magic is fully unleashed. We have no clue what will come out. Plus, it’s illegal to practice magic.”
“NUW won’t have a choice but to lift the Abolishment and change the laws against magic.” Excitement started my foot tapping. “It’d be wicked cool living next door to fairies and sorcerers.” I set my empty cup aside.
He gawked at me as though I’d opened a demon gate, sprouted horns and a scaly tail. “Not if Ronan’s father has his way and nabs all the Thirteen sorcerers for his world domination goal. They’re supposedly the strongest, or will be, of their descendants. Residual magic’s been building and regenerating throughout the years, probably more so since the quakes. What happens if others have the same ideas once magic escalates? We’re talking world chaos.”
“Then we go back to the incubation box. It’s best to toss out the dumb laws, anyway.” I gave an annoyed sniff. Silent, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “FYI…Ronan’s rubbing off on you.” He might have a teensy, tiny point, but I wasn’t ready to play the acceptance card. “With magic unleashed, groups such as Dominion Research won’t have a donut’s chance in a police station.”
His pale eyebrows drew together in a V at the bridge of his nose. “Who’ll control the Forbidden from destroying the human race once magic becomes rampant again?”
“Okay.” I swished my hand in the air. “We’ll need ten boatloads of cash to buy all the clues.” My thoughts resurfaced in morbid land. “What if the Rift continues to crumble naturally? It’s already been fractured from the quakes and Ronan messing with it.”
“We’ll need to focus on that problem ASAP.” A silken edge of warning rose in his lackluster voice. “That’s even worse to imagine depending on how fast the tainted magic has already infected the world.”
“God, Adam.” I thrust forward and threw my arms around his neck. His strong arms embraced me in comfort, regardless of the unnatural heat of his body temperature. “I wish I could heal you.” I buried my face against his shoulder. “And Ronan.” You can’t walk in with a short shelf life and leave me to tackle this on my own.
He caressed my hair. “I know, Blondie.” The air conditioner kicked on. Despite my layers, I shuddered. Adam needed the cool temp to alleviate his perpetual fever, to provide him a skosh of relief from the faulty magic burning him from the inside out.
I settled back into my seat, needing distance from his aura wrapping me in the feel of him. “How did you and Ronan find each other at the Rift?”
He took a swig of coffee and set the mug aside. “I was on a business trip in Seattle when Ronan went back to the Rift after his first attempt to open it with his father. He tried to close it on his own. I had the bizarre idea to go hiking in Washington Park. My fairy connection to the earth—or to Ronan—was working, I guess.” He shrugged. “Not that I knew it at the time. But strange energy drew me to the Rift where I found Ronan, his heart barely beating. I thought he was dying.” His legs tensed. “He was out of it, babbling weird things.”
The jet flew into a patch of clouds, rocking us side-to-side. I grabbed the armrests as Adam steadied our mugs. As swiftly as the plane escaped the roiling clouds, his mood soared and starlight swept a tender curve to his mouth.
“What strange things?” I eased up on the armrests before they absorbed my hands.
“Stuff about my life. Things no one should know. Later, I had visions about Ronan’s life. Anyway, we found no link to prove we might be related other than our research on doppelgängers.” He raised his hands, dropped them.
“Do you still have visions?”
“No, but our auras are intertwined now. At first, we were able to draw energy from each other. Not anymore.” He propped his feet on the edge of my seat. “Hey, tell me how your telekinesis works.”
My telekinesis had always been difficult to define, something I’d taken for granted since I always believed I was alone with the ability. Now I knew the mother ship had opened its hatch.
“You know, telekinesis, the ability of the mind and body to manipulate matter, time, space, or energy. My abilities have soared radically since I was a teenager.” I wasn’t ready to cough up how much energy I absorbed to enhance my innate energy. Such a secret might keep me alive longer. I held my pendant, rubbed the enameled pattern. “The unexplainable part is how the number thirteen affects me. It basically causes bad luck when I’m not paying attention, sometimes sneaks up on me. When I sense it, which is when my aura starts to tingle around me, my head aches or my pinkies twitch, I can usually stop the bad luck from hitting me by counterattacking it with my telekinesis. I use my necklace as a focusizer. It acts as a conduit of aural energy. Whenever the number thirteen’s around me randomly, it usually precipitates a bad luck event.”
“But you wear a number thirteen on you.” His eyebrows lifted up.
“Its base metal is copper beneath the enamel. Copper’s a bridge for energy, or magic. It provides protection and is a conductor that draws away negative energy.” I fluttered my hand, sketched numbers on the outside of my coffee cup. Adam rubbed his leg against mine provocatively. My mind drew a blank, all thoughts flying out into the ether.
“Go on.” He chuckled, stopping his flirtation.
I blinked rapidly, dispelling the fluttering in my lower abdomen. “That’s it. What else is there?” Every sore muscle in my body stretched painfully tight. “What did Ronan tell you?”
“He’s telekinetic. Like you, it’s natural, inborn. Things happen around Ronan when the number’s present. Since he’s a descendant of a Thirteen sorcerer, he’s been trained from the Illuminaria to use his internal energy, brain waves, to manipulate elements, people, and events. He’s regained some of the magic his
sorcerer ancestor possessed. He tattooed the number on his arm, creating a focal point to negate bad luck, similar to your pendant.”
I frowned. “But then how does his tattoo negate bad luck? There’s no copper in it.”
“Exactly. He hasn’t relied on it since he was fourteen, and mostly has control over his power, enough to thwart his bad luck. You probably never needed your necklace with the kind of power you have.”
I scoffed. “Seriously? I get hit with bad luck every day. How else do you think I’m still alive if I don’t drive it away?”
“Did you ever think your necklace might be drawing it to you?”
“Hell to the no way. I lived nearly sixteen years without it. My unluck was ten times worse before.”
“It’s all in your head, and now it’s all in your strength and control of your telekinesis, the older you grow.” Adam reached forward and uncurled my fingers from around my pendant. “Take it off.”
Did a stupid ghost possess him the last time I blinked? A Baja sandstorm seized my mouth. “What?” I scrunched against the sidewall, but he wouldn’t relinquish his hold on my chain. “No. I can’t do anything without it. Bad luck will kill me.” The lie rolled of my tongue. I don’t know why I said it, why I was hiding my abilities, my last bastion of normalcy.
“Please, Aria. I want you to try something.”
“You think I don’t know what I can and can’t do?” I retorted. Without a focusizer, I got lost within my own head. It wasn’t a pretty picture. I hated not having control. My abilities were growing and it frightened the crap out of me, especially since my aura wasn’t entirely mine. I always wondered if all the energy I absorbed might have a lasting detrimental effect on me. Or land me in jail.
Adam pushed up from his seat and grasped the armrests, pinning me between his steely arms. “Everything’s different now.”
“Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.” I tossed my head and eyed him with flinty triumph. “The Rift crumbling doesn’t affect me.” After everything they’d told me, I knew it had. What else explained my soaring abilities?
“I think it did.” Adam’s voice dropped an octave. “As I weaken, you grow stronger. I feel it in your aura.”
I’d noticed a difference, but I chalked up my recent souped-up power to our eerie threesome bond. What he suggested was three sorcerers short of the Forbidden Thirteen. I shook my head vehemently. “I’m not stealing your magic. Don’t put that on me. If anyone, Ronan’s stealing it.”
“I didn’t say that.” He crouched, his arms caging me in, blotchy aura cloaking me. “You’re keeping our magic alive, feeding us through our shared bond.” His opaque hair quivered over his shoulders, a drifting mantle of snow.
“You’ve snapped a bolt. Let me go.” I elevated my feet on the seat to push against his confining arms. Fin trotted over and uttered a short, happy yip as if I held a steak bone…or her bestie, Ronan, had materialized on the plane.
“Do you think your abilities are normal for a telekinetic? Think, Aria. You and Ronan are deriving your powers from the leaking Rift—from what’s left of the Forbidden, from magic that shouldn’t exist.”
I shook my head so hard brain cells packed their bags and hopped on a cloud. “Get real. I’ve had these abilities all my life.” The lies continued to snowball off my icy tongue.
“We both know that’s not entirely true. You were born with the blood of a Thirteen sorcerer. As the magic leaks out of the Rift, you channel it and unleash it through your own breed of telekinesis.” He drew closer, his heat flickering around me.
For the trifecta of my scorn, I gave him my evil eye, a glare, and a scowl. “Did you sneak a bottle of tequila in the galley?” I asked feebly, knowing the truth was staring me in the face. I couldn’t escape it. Adam and Ronan knew too much.
“Some of the abilities you possess are unheard of. They’re powers only a Thirteen sorcerer exhibited, as far as sketchy ancient texts explain.”
“I’m not a fairy or sorcerer or whatever else existed in ancient Whack Job Town.” My aura rose defensively, suppressing my roadmap of body aches. I raised my hand to grip my necklace. Adam beat me to it, yanked the chain off my neck, and hurled it toward the galley in one dumbass move.
I skidded off the runway. Hands on Adam’s shoulders, I shoved him flying backward to land against the couch across the aisle. Air held him down, and I sprang toward him.
Eyes glowing, he attempted a crappy mesmerism stunt to compel me to freeze. He exuded the illusion of freedom, rising from the couch, but I hacked through his newly minted illusion powers as if he were an ESP wannabe. Wind swirled his hair into knots as fast as his livewire hair untangled the snarls.
The violet glow in his eyes winked out and empathy tightened his lips. Air held him immobile. “You just proved my point,” he said softly.
“Shut. Up.”
His aura had gone to ground, ripping a piece of my soul out of me. Heat swept over me, despite the cabin’s frigidness, stabbing some sense into me. What had I done? What had I become? An unholy panic buckled my knees. My aura fizzled to nothing in the wake of my meltdown. Adam hauled me into his arms, and I buried my face against his chest. His aura bent around me, then shifted back to mingle with mine.
I grabbed a handful of his polo shirt. “Why me? I’m not a plain old telekinetic, am I?” I’m not Aria Walker, little ole college student, am I?
He grazed his hand up and down my back. “You’re growing, changing. You’ve probably been able to do that for a long time.”
I stiffened, recalling the first time I’d noticed odd sensations and occurrences when my emotions dove overboard and I couldn’t redirect the energy. The day Mom died.
He swept tendrils of limp hair off my cheek. “You’ve noticed, haven’t you?”
“I thought thirteen was jinxing my luck.”
“Ronan noticed his ESP footprint shift last year too.”
“Ronan’s changes are a train wreck.”
His hand stilled in the hollow of my back. “We thought you’d feel the same.” He laughed, a grim humorless noise. “Instead, you’re changing for the better.”
“Better?” I grazed my chin along the contours of his pecs. “I thought my Catwoman superpowers arose from our aura meld. Maybe my doppelgänger is still in the Void.” It seemed weird saying that. “Do you think?”
“That would be my guess, if one existed. Somehow the tainted magic isn’t affecting you.”
“Prepare for descent.” The pilot’s booming voice through the speakers nearly sent me leaping to the ceiling. A perfect excuse to put distance between us.
Adam tracked down my broken chain. The flight attendant cleaned up and headed to the galley. I slunk to my seat and strapped in. Fin hopped into her carrier and curled up for another pup-nap. Lucky bum.
Adam handed me my chain and pendant. “Forgive me? I’ll replace it.”
In dismay, I inspected the broken chain, hating that he’d resorted to brute tactics. It made me wary of him, despite my head and heart begging to trust him. What new secrets had my brain bribed my heart with?
I jammed the charm in my jeans front pocket and tossed the chain at him. He caught it easily. “So you won’t forget.”
“I won’t forget to replace it.” He clicked the seat buckle, the snap a loud definitive sound.
I gave him The Look. “That’s not what I meant.”
Adam’s face hardened as if I’d slapped him. “It’s a damn chain. I needed to prove a point.”
Stripping off my personal belongings mirrored Ronan smothering my mouth outside the casino. The last two people to smother my will were permanently napping six feet under. Not by my hand, mind you, but dead nevertheless. I’d always thought my bad luck caused their deaths so long ago. They deserved punishment, but not death. I recoiled, and hastily sank the Gruesome Twosome into my mind’s dungeon.
“Points are for ice picks.” The plane dipped into the clouds, wobbled up and down. My ears po
pped as we sliced through the dense, roiling shroud. Waves of multi-hued lights below illuminated the huge city, jewels in a sea of the black unknown.
Fin whimpered in her sleep, probably dreaming of the big dogs pounding their will into her pretty little body. The plane began its final descent, and I braced myself against the seat for landing. A wintry hand grazed my heart.
Adam’s soft voice pierced my frenzied thoughts. “Something good did come out of the Rift.” His fingers brushed my thigh and I flinched.
“You, probably. What else?” I could tell he wanted to touch me but feared my reaction. Even I feared me.
“Fin.”
I met the challenge in his stony, alien eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Fin came through the Rift. She hasn’t grown an inch in six months.”
Chapter 12
The silent heat of epic astonishment severed the wintry grip on my heart. I contemplated Fin’s soulful eyes, the thin web of energy wafting off her.
“You’re not surprised?” Adam asked.
“I thought only magic cruised through the Rift.” I unbuckled my seatbelt before the plane hit the ground. Arrest me for being a rule breaker.
He shrugged his hands. “We found Fin sitting on the ground in the Rift opening after Ronan screwed it up the second time. You have to admit she’s not normal.”
Point taken. We needed faster microprocessors in our brains to process Forbidden info overload. Or some Einstein cells.
The jet’s wheels bounced on the tarmac. The pull of the brakes sucked me forward, and I clutched the armrest, grasping at reality again. I was raring to rescue Zoe. I even missed Ronan, although I couldn’t fathom how he’d gotten under my skin so quickly, Thirteen connection and doppelgänger bond notwithstanding. He had and I did. Enough said.
I rose, rubbing away the sharp pain in my lower back. Fin molded her small body against my leg, leaving black fur on my pant leg. When the furballs at home got a load of this, I was so dead.
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