by Meg Cowley
Together, we called the magic forth. Sparks rushed from us, through us, and around us as the room illuminated with the warm, familiar glow, and the hum of energy reverberated around our bubble. We used every ounce of our combined knowledge and power to construct a seal for Pandora’s Box — one that would contain it until we could return it to London.
It hung in the air as we made it, a glittering web of glowing lines that crisscrossed each other, half visible and completely insubstantial. With every push and every spell, new lines were added to it, slowly and painstakingly. They would touch or affect nothing but the box. It would be a challenge to get close enough. I pushed back thoughts of having to touch Pandora’s Box to apply the seal, to touch that malevolence again, and poured my energy harder still until the construct lit every corner of the room.
The most difficult part would be to transport the seal. We would need a vessel to contain it. I happened to be wearing a silver pendant. I slipped it off and held it before me. Slowly, the chain slipped through my fingers, but the necklace did not fall. It hovered, drifting closer to the seal. Our magics pushed them together and it sunk into the construct. A moment later, it flashed blindingly bright and the golden web of the seal began to shrink, falling inwards upon itself, and the pendant gobbled it up. Its golden glow faded until there was nothing but the silver pendant left, now with tiny runes etched upon its surface.
I plucked it from the air and set it around my neck once more. It sat on my chest like a warm weight with a heartbeat of its own, slow and deep and powerful.
A wave of exhaustion rolled over me and I slumped forward as Jamie did the same. For a moment, our foreheads rested together before we straightened. I had no idea how long it had been. As I looked outside, the sky had darkened. Had it been long? My body felt ready for bed.
My spine cracked as I arched my back and rolled my shoulders and neck.
“I can feel that,” Jamie said, cocking his head. I opened my eyes to find him staring at the pendant on my chest.
“Oh.” I realised he was right. In the safety of our wards, it was undetectable, but once they were removed, it would be a beacon of magic. I sighed and called the magic forth. It trickled slowly, reluctantly; I was too tired.
“Let me,” he offered. He raised his hand, palm towards me, and his own magic caressed me with warmth and light as it settled upon my chest and shrunk into the metal. The necklace’s magic diminished into nothing; or appeared to, as Jamie’s wards hid its power.
“Thanks,” I said with a tired smile. “I hope this works.” At an unspoken agreement, our shields disintegrated around us, no longer needed.
“Why wouldn’t it?” He leaned on a hand, uncrossing his legs and stretching them out beside him. I mirrored him, my stiff legs protesting as I straightened. “This’ll be easy. No problemo. We have our seal, we have an inside guy, we’re Magicai, we know where and when the box will be making its appearance. We couldn’t be in any better position, except for tomorrow night when we’ll have the box and be on our way back to London.” He grinned, a trace of his usual cocksure attitude shining through his own exhaustion.
His confidence and positivity were infectious, I had to admit. They soothed my own doubts that things were never so easy, or black and white. “I hope you’re right.”
“I’m always right,” he said almost indignantly and winked.
I stifled a chuckle. “We’d better go for dinner.”
Jamie wrinkled his nose. “That involves effort. Fancy room service?” He lifted an eyebrow.
Room service did sound much better, I had to admit.
“Food, drinks, and terrible foreign television?” he offered suggestively.
I laughed. “You had me at terrible TV. Deal.”
It was terrible TV, but the food was good. Meals always tasted better when they’d been earned, and to wash them down with a refreshing cocktail – or several – felt even better.
We lounged on the sofa with our feet propped on the dressing table chair, soaking in the replenishing energy of the ley lines now that we had full stomachs. We might have channelled the magic through us, but it still took our own energy to do it, and that had been sorely depleted by the hugeness of our task. To craft magic that could contain something as hugely powerful as Pandora’s Box for even just a short time was almost beyond our strength.
As my eyes slipped shut repeatedly, refusing to stay open. The noise of the television sunk into an intelligible murmur in the background.
“I’ve missed this, Zoe,” Jamie murmured beside me.
“Mmm?”
He leaned his head on mine. “You know I like you. A lot. I always have.” He sighed. “I hate that you push me away. I miss things being this easy between us.”
I tilted towards him. Somehow, I hadn’t noticed that his arm had slipped around me. I have no idea what came over me. Perhaps, it was the alcohol, or my tiredness, or something else. But when he leaned in to kiss me, I didn’t pull away. His lips were warm and soft, tentative at first. And when mine opened, his other arm encircled me in a warm embrace as his lips parted too with a low moan.
My hand tangled in his hair as he kissed me again, harder and deeper, with a need that had me breathless and melting. His body pressed against mine, closer and closer until it felt like we’d become one. I’d missed this, too. It had been so easy the last time, and as his hands travelled down my sides and caressed my thighs, every touch electric, it would have been so easy this time too, to give in to temptation. The scent of his aftershave, the raw desire, and his solid, reassuring presence almost had me yielding as his weight shifted onto me and his hands slid inside my top, up my back. For a moment, I nearly did.
And then the rush of icy-soaked fear drenched me.
I froze like a rabbit trapped in headlights. I tore myself away, away from those soft lips, warm hands, and the betrayal of my own body. In the dim light of the TV and the lamp, I saw his bewilderment as I shoved him back and fell off the sofa in my haste to put space between us.
“What…?” he started to say. He rolled over and propped himself on an arm.
“I can’t do this. Not again.” My breathing was ragged. I scrambled from the floor and backed into the corner with my arms wrapped around myself. The physical shield they offered could not banish the warm, lingering ghost of his touch upon me.
“I don’t understand.” Deep brown eyes were darkened under his creased brow. I didn’t need more light to see his confusion or his hurt.
“We tried this before. It didn’t work. I can’t do it again.”
“But why not? You’re clearly attracted to me, too.” He dragged a hand through his already ruffled hair. “You know how I feel about you,” he said in a low voice. “I might come on strong sometimes, but you have no idea how hard it is to want someone who doesn’t seem to want you back, who refuses to let herself go like that.”
He stood, slowly, and approached me. I backed further into the corner. His hands rested on the outside of my arms and I closed my eyes, a barrier as useless as my crossed arms from my own raging emotions.
“We’re too different. It would never work.”
“You don’t know unless you try.” His thumbs stroked my bare arms.
“No!” I said, more forcefully than I intended. He stilled. “I can’t do it. If I… If we… I have worked so damn hard for my job, Jamie. I won’t sacrifice that; not for anyone. You live in a whole different world to me. If we tried to make a go of it, I’d lose the thing that’s most important to me. And I won’t do it for anyone. Not even you.” I refused to look him in the eye because my own burned with hot, frustrated tears I did not want anyone to see, least of all him.
“So, if I worked above board, you’d think differently?”
“It doesn’t matter. That’s not going to happen.” And I didn’t want to let myself get hurt by walking into that knowing it would never work. I shook off his hands and strode out, not caring that it was freezing cold outside and I had no jacket.
“Out,” I replied as it slammed.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I needed to get away. I returned a couple of hours later to a dark and silent room, having spent a cold few hours in a corner of the empty hotel bar drowning my sorrows. I heard his breathing; he was awake, but he didn’t say anything as I stripped and sunk between the sheets.
Neither did I.
~
The next morning, we didn’t speak of what had passed, but it hung in the air between us. The awkward silence made for the most uncomfortable breakfast as we ate without a word.
Friday.
The day was upon us, but somehow, I had never felt less ready than I did then for such a huge job.
“We should scout the hotel again today,” I said in a monotone, my attention on the last of the scrambled eggs on my plate.
“Sure,” he replied in an equally bland voice.
He didn’t say another word until we’d almost reached the Ritz.
“We need a glamour. The receptionist might recognise us.”
“Right.” We threw on separate glamours that would subtly change our facial features, hair, and eyes, and make us difficult to remember.
I turned to him. His warm, brown eyes were gone. Now, they were cold blue chips like my own. I’d changed mine to green today. His brown hair was cropped closer to his head now. Gone were his signature tousled locks, and mine was darker, almost black.
“I supposed we’d…” I trailed off.
He stared at me, inscrutable.
I swallowed and dropped my gaze. “Well, we’d better not look like we hate each other, anyway.” I realised as soon as I’d said it, that hate had been a poor choice of word.
His jaw clenched for a moment. He turned and walked away, and I scrambled to keep up as we rounded the bend to see the glamorous entrance before us.
I’d already researched the hotel and determined where the locations of that evening’s events were, but there was hardly any need because the flurry of activity led us right to the relevant places.
“Sir, Madam, I apologise, but this area is off limits today whilst we arrange an event,” a red cheeked, huffing man informed us as he waddled past, weighed down by an ornamental shrub in a pot. By the time I thought to reply, he was gone.
Jamie and I shared a look.
I cleared my throat. “Want to take a look?”
“Of course.”
We managed to sneak past the main ballroom where the charity auction was to occur and found the other one empty.
“She’s keeping it low key for an event at the Ritz,” I observed.
“Yeah.” Jamie frowned. “I guess it’s here, so grand enough, but then, she won’t want to draw extra attention? Who knows. Let’s have a look.”
“Be quick,” I warned. The noisy activity along the hall had me alert, and every sound jarred my nerves. I slipped after him, warily scanning to check we were not going to be seen.
Jamie opened the door a crack and slipped inside.
It was lavish. And that was an understatement. I could have easily stepped into a Disney ballroom with the gild and chandelier. It was ostentatious and hideously opulent.
“Bigger than I thought,” Jamie said.
“Problem?”
“If there are not many people here, we have less room to hide and more room to be spotted.”
“Glamours, then?”
“We’ll have to.” He frowned and took a look around the room. “There’s nothing else here... yet, perhaps. Maybe they’ll set this room up later.” After the first, much larger event. I surmised the same. We knew where it would be, at least. I suppose it would have been silly to expect Pandora’s Box to be waiting there for us. I was sure I could sense it close by, though. It unnerved me.
“Shall we?” I gestured towards the door.
“Wait.” He started towards me and checked himself. “I have to know. I have to ask. If I quit what I do now. If I do the same as you: legally, above board. Would that change your mind?”
I stilled. Now? We had to do this now? “You had that chance last time, Jamie. You could have walked away then. And you didn’t. What’s different now? It’s clear you don’t want to, otherwise, you would.”
“It’s not that simple. I’ve been in trouble. It’s hard to get back in the good books.”
“No, that’s not it. You know that doesn’t matter to me anyway.” Because I knew he’d done what he’d done for the right reasons, even if it had put him on the wrong side of the law. I shook my head. “You’re like me. What you do is too important to you, and you don’t want to do it my way, just like I don’t want to do it your way. You don’t want to be held back by the red tape. I get it. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice that for me, just like I won’t sacrifice what I do for you.”
It was the most bluntly I’d put it, and I could see the light die in his eyes as if I’d punched his heart. It felt a little like I’d punched mine, too. “Look, we have to go.” I had the feeling we’d lingered too long already.
I turned towards the ajar door, my hand outstretching for the handle when I heard footsteps on the other side.
“Hello? Is someone there?” a voice called. We couldn’t be here. We couldn’t be caught. Not like this.
I whirled on Jamie and did the only thing I could think of that would get us out of there without arousing suspicion. “Follow my lead,” I hissed. I yanked him towards me, stumbled back into the wall, and crushed my lips against his.
For a moment, he resisted like stone against me, and then he softened, and pushed me against the wall with the full length of his body, pinning me there with his arms as he parted my lips and dove in. I closed my eyes and let him, clutching his jacket and tugging him closer as the door clattered open.
The man spluttered. “Excuse me!”
Jamie pulled away slowly, reluctantly – and I understood why, because it would be the last time and he knew it – and smiled in his usual roguish manner at the porter. “Sorry, we, uh… fancied a quiet moment.”
I didn’t have to fake the blush spreading across my cheeks.
“Out, out now, please!” snapped the porter with the barest ounce of politeness in his irate tone. We left at once, practically jogging out.
“You had to pick that moment?” I whirled on him the moment we were in the clear.
“It seemed as good as any,” he said, glowering at me.
“You know what, this is your problem. This is exactly what you always do. You put your own selfish desires above whatever else is going on and you endanger everything. We could have been caught by someone much more dangerous than a hotel porter, because you picked the wrong place for a heartfelt chat. Did the thought not occur to you?”
“I was a little distracted, alright?”
I scowled. “I made myself clear last night.”
“Did you? Because one minute you were all over me. I’m pretty sure we could have gone a lot further – heck knows, I wanted to, and it seemed like you did, too – and the next, you’re off, like a hot tap gone cold. What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” I snapped. “I just have more important things to think about than my own desires, and unlike you, I put what’s important first.”
He laughed a mirthless bark. “And I don’t? I’m in Tel Aviv, in case it had escaped your notice. Wearing a bloody MI5 tracker implanted inside my arm. On the hunt for Cleo and that damned box, and my friend for God’s sake. If ever I was going to prove to you I put what’s important first, this would be it! So what if I want some fun, too?
“Maybe you could loosen up, instead of being such a damn ice queen all the time. You know, it doesn’t make you better than the rest of us! You can still do your job and have a life. No wonder you’re always alone and miserable; you’re impossible to get along with, impossible to love. Loosen up!”
Anger spiked through me and my hands balled into fists as his words struck a nerv
e. “What the damn hell do you know, Jamie? At least, I’m not as free and easy as you — as selfish and short-sighted. Why would anyone want to be with someone like you? The way you’re going, you’ll never achieve anything except going back to prison for who knows which crime in who knows which country.”
Jamie stepped back, breathing heavily. His jaw was clenched and his face white. “Well. Nice to know how you truly feel, Zoe.”
We didn’t speak at all on the way back to the city centre. I’d cut him as deeply as he’d cut me, and we’d both gone too far. Too far to apologise, and we couldn’t unsay a word of it. I suppressed the twinge of guilt at what I’d said. He’d said just as terrible things to me. We still had a job to do, and I wasn’t going to blame myself for the fact he couldn’t separate work from his personal life, or take no for an answer.
But, I didn’t know how we were going to pull this off because right then, I didn’t think we’d ever speak again.
Chapter Six
Regardless of our argument, the show had to go on. We dressed in silence, glamouring ourselves with another new appearance. I went for long, blonde hair, and he for short, mousy brown, styled and swept with gel.
He looked amazing in his suit, though I wouldn’t admit it. Gone was the scruffy, careless Jamie Oxford I knew, and in his place was a suave, handsome man that reeked of confidence. His eyes lingered on me, too, though I couldn’t tell why. Attraction, curiosity, dislike; it could have been any.
I dropped my gaze, self-conscious. The blue dress hugged every curve as it fell in a shimmering net all the way to the floor. Jewels dangled at my wrist, my throat, my ears, and my hair swept over one shoulder in a bundle of magic-made curls.
I looked in the mirror. For perhaps the first time in my life, I looked like a lady. I stood awkwardly, unused to having to carry myself as someone who wore this dress would. I looked as out of place as I felt.
“Stand up straight,” was all Jamie said as he turned to leave. Before he could open the door, Nick’s phone rang.
Our attention snapped to it, discarded on the dressing table, and Jamie vaulted over the bed in his haste to answer it.