Chapter Twenty
I’m conscious of Rose tiring quickly as we move through the shadows of the ever darkening city. There are few people out, making it easier than usual to move about without being seen. The first bit of luck in a while.
Although I know Rose won’t say a word about needing a break. I’m also sure she must do so soon or else she will collapse. Without the dark magic spurring me forward and with the added weight of Lou, I’m about ready to drop as well.
“We’ll stop soon.” Rose doesn’t reply. She keeps her eyes forward and continues moving. “The storage rooms we used before aren’t far from here. We should be safe there for now.”
“Until Sin’s caught you mean,” she says.
I wish there was some magical word I could say in order to make things okay for her, but I can think of nothing. So I stay quiet. It’s safer that way.
We make it to the warehouse full of locked storage rooms of various sizes. We discovered the place during the last few months of chasing wizards and living wherever is most convenient at the time. Last time we were here I’d noticed each space is filled with anything from a couple of pieces of furniture to an overwhelming heap of what can only be described as stuff.
I wish I could remember which ones we’d tested last time. But the locks have all been long since replaced and the darkness was in control most of the time we were here. All I can remember are brief images of dark rooms and piles of objects.
Rose takes over and chooses a room, seemingly at random. Without a word, she draws my sword and easily cuts through the metal lock on the door. She shoves the door up enough for us to duck under and then closes it behind us.
Once the door is closed, the lights from the corridor outside are completely shut out and we’re left in darkness. Rose taps a button on the wall next to the door and a single source of light on the ceiling illuminates the room. Amazing what these people have come up with in the absence of magic.
The room is decent sized. Bigger than mine at home. Mostly empty, though there’s some covered furniture neatly piled in a corner. They must be trying to save space so they can add more items later. It’s the only reason I can think they’ve kept all of their items tucked into one area.
When I notice a thick mattress leaning against the boxes, I use my foot to shove out the bottom and let it drop to the floor. Once it’s down, I gently set Lou on top.
“Well,” Rose says, “At least Lou will be comfortable.”
I take my time to rub some of the stress out of my face before facing her.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I know this isn’t what you imagined things would be like when you followed me.”
“What I imagined?” Rose’s face, particularly around her eyes, reddens as she fights to hold back tears. “You’re right. I can’t say when I imagined us running for our lives, hiding in dark, dingy spaces with only one bed you’d be bringing along another girl. And she would be the one you’d fall in love with.”
Dealing with the nervousness of being chased by The Sword is nothing to what I’m feeling now. I close my eyes with the hope when I open them this conversation will be over and everything will have gone back to being normal between Rose and me. Somehow I’m not surprised when I open them and find things worse than before. Rose has lost control of the tears and they’ve started streaming down her cheeks. I have no idea how to deal with crying. Leaving is the only solution I can think of, but I know doing so will only cause more trouble later.
“I love you.” She stops, and a half-laugh tumbles from her lips. “I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to tell you. Aldric, I am in love with you.”
“I know.” I press my hand against my eyes once more. Her dismayed expression tells me I’ve said exactly the wrong thing. “I mean, I didn’t know. I had no idea until Lou told me.”
“Lou,” she says.
And I’ve just made things much worse.
“I’m so sorry.” It’s the safest thing I can think to say.
Neither of us speaks for a long time. I force myself to look at her. As hard as it is to see her cry, I need some indication of what she’s thinking.
I expect anger, sorrow, frustration, many things. I don’t expect her to look exhausted. Her tears have stopped, and for the first time when I look at her, I see her as the seventeen-year-old woman she is, not the girl I remember from our childhood. She has a quiet maturity to her I never noticed before. And her eyes hold intelligence beyond anything I’ll ever know.
She seems as reluctant to look at me as I am to look at her.
“There’s no chance of you changing your mind?” she asks. “I could be good for you.”
This is it. Whatever I say now will forever change Rose’s and my relationship. I was foolish to think things could go back to how they were. Things will never be the same.
“I will always love you,” I say. “You are as much my sister as Loraine.” Tears burst out of her, but she doesn’t run. She needs to hear the rest as much as I need to say it. “But I’m sorry, Rose. I will never feel that way about you.”
Her sniffs are long and ragged as she takes the time to control her tears once more.
“I’ve known all along,” she says. “But I thought maybe things would change. Maybe enough time away from her would make you forget.” She quickly rubs her running nose on her sleeve and nods once. “Thank you for telling me the truth. I’m sorry, I need...”
She turns and leaves, unable to finish telling me what exactly it is she needs. I’d warn her not to go far, there are still people following us, but I keep my mouth shut. If anyone knows how to keep out of sight of The Sword after all of this time, it’s her. She’s been doing it for months with little to no help from me.
I feel drained. I can only hope Sin is in better shape than we are right now, or else she might already be caught.
A thought keeps tugging at the edge of my mind, and no matter how much I try to ignore it, I can’t make it go away. After what happened between Rose and me, I can’t believe I’m thinking it at all. I really should be worrying more about sparing her feelings than encouraging mine.
But then it’s hard to ignore a beautiful woman lying in the most comfortable looking bed I’ve seen in months.
I don’t have to lie down for long. Just a few minutes will be plenty, and I’ll be up long before Rose gets back. I edge the few inches over to the bed.
After a final check to make sure I don’t hear Rose returning, I slowly slide into a spot next to Lou. Lying on my side so I can see her, I tuck my arm under my head and allow myself to relax.
Her eyes flutter open and she smiles.
“Hey,” she says.
I grin back. “Hello.”
And then I clue into the fact I’m lying down next to her, uninvited, in a strange place, alone, and watching her sleep. Moving as quickly as I can manage, I sit and stare anywhere else in the room but at her. This has not been the best day for me where girls are concerned. All I can hope is I haven’t completely scared her off.
She sits up at a much slower pace than me and takes her time to look around. Her hand runs through her hair, flipping a few locks to the wrong side of her natural part. I clench my fist to remind myself not to reach over and fix it. And then I realize I’m gawking again.
“I take it you no longer feel like killing me?” she asks.
I feel the color drain from my face as scenes of her running to avoid blast after blast of magic flashes through my mind. No matter how much I try to convince myself I didn’t have control, it wasn’t my fault, I can’t get over the fact it was me attacking her. There was no one else. By all rights, she should hate me.
“It wasn’t you,” she says as though reading my mind. “I know that.”
I stand and walk over to the door. There are more important things to worry about than whether I should or shouldn’t be forgiven. Putting some space between myself and Lou helps me think about them.
“We can’t stay here long,” I say. “If yo
u’re up to moving, we’ll need to leave when Rose gets back.”
“Rose?” She takes in our surroundings and looks appropriately confused. “Where are we? What about Sin?”
I wish I didn’t have to be the one to tell her what’s happening. She has enough reasons to hate me already without adding more. Eventually something is going to be the last straw and she’s going to decide I’m not worth the trouble I cause. Maybe she already thinks as much.
“Victor is using Sin’s creatures to track us down,” I say. “She believed, and I agreed, our only chance to keep you safe was to split up. They will continue following her, giving us the time we need to...” To what? Escape? No, there’s no chance of that. Once a wizard decides to go after someone, they will hunt them until they either find them or die. “...run,” I finish.
“Sin’s on her own?” When Lou attempts to stand, she wobbles for a minute before collapsing onto the bed once again. “We have to help her. Who knows what they’ll do to her when they catch her.”
I don’t have any doubt what Victor will do. It’s the same thing he’ll do to me if and when he catches me. There is only one punishment for wizards who turn against their own kind. Death.
“She’s doing what she has to in order to give you a chance,” I say. “I would do the same if I thought there was any chance to save you. I saw what they did to the sorceress at the portal. I won’t let that happen to you.”
“Then what?” she asks. “Run away? I remember what you told me before, wizards don’t stop chasing. Am I supposed to run the rest of my life?”
I cringe and focus on the door to avoid her glare. “Only for the rest of his life, which I promise will be cut short as soon as I have an opportunity to do anything about it.”
Although she’s still shaky, when she attempts to stand again, she succeeds. She manages to walk to me and place her hands on my crossed arms.
“Running isn’t a solution,” she says. “You know it isn’t. And you also know I can look after myself, or at least you should by now.”
I do not like where she’s headed with this. “What other options do we have?”
“We need to bring the fight to them.” Exactly what I didn’t want to hear her say. “Listen to me, you know I’m right. If what you said is true and they’re going to try and combine our two worlds, then we need to stop them. We can’t run away from a problem this big. Whether they catch me or not, they will find a way to complete what they’ve started and it will be all over.”
Trying to convince her going after Victor is suicide would be pointless. She won’t listen to me. I can tell by the stubborn set of her jaw she’s already made up her mind and she’s not going to give in.
“Your sister is risking her life to keep you safe,” I say. “You should respect her and stay hidden.”
She starts to argue, so I place my hand over her mouth.
“However, you’re right. We do need to stop them.”
The corners of her eyes crinkle in a smile and her lips tickle as she says, “Thank you,” through my fingers.
“Don’t thank me yet,” I say. Her eyes narrow with suspicion. “You’re in no condition to fight anyone right now, let alone the most powerful wizard alive. I’ll go and figure out a way to stop what Fitzroy has already started. And you are going to continue to follow your sister’s plan and keep running.”
Chapter Twenty One
The door rumbles as it’s lifted from the outside. Both Lou and I jump back and reach for our swords. When Lou comes up empty handed, I realize I forgot to grab it for her before racing out of the last building.
When Rose slips through the opening, we relax, though only a little.
“My sword.” Lou reaches into her magic pocket once more to make sure she didn’t somehow miss it.
“I’m sorry.” Another screw up. How many more will I stumble through before the day is over? “I must have left it when we ran. I should have paid more attention.”
“You know what that means don’t you?” She puts out her hand, palm up, and gives my blade an expectant look.
I open my mouth to say something, but find I don’t have the words. She can’t seriously expect me to give over my sword. But then again, she does look very serious. And after everything I’ve done wrong, it would be fair.
My shoulders drop in defeat and I spin the blade around to offer her the hilt.
Instead of taking it from me as I expect, she lets her hand drop and laughs. “I’m not taking your sword from you,” she says. “I’m not cruel. But you will need to find me a new one. Preferably one untouched by other disgusting wizard’s magic. And trust me, it’s much more difficult thing to find than you might think, especially in this world. Swords apparently cost thousands of dollars, or they’re incapable of keeping an edge.”
“Great,” Rose says with no enthusiasm. “You’re awake. So what’s the plan now?”
Things have definitely not gone back to how they were before.
I give Lou an apologetic look. The fact Rose is ignoring her is in no way her fault, and I hope she doesn’t think it is. But I also know there’s no way for me to convince Rose to behave. At least not today. Maybe after she has a bit more time to adjust she’ll be able to act civil once again.
“I’m going back to stop what Fitzroy has started,” I say.
“And I’m going to help,” Lou adds without a beat of hesitation.
Smiling would only encourage her. But it’s hard not to admire her determination.
“You hardly have any magic,” I say. “You have no sword, and you can barely stand. You are not going anywhere.”
As much as she might want to argue, she must understand she’d be more of a hindrance then help right now.
“I’ll go with you,” Rose says. Before I have a chance to argue she raises a hand to tell me to listen. “You need someone to watch your back. You can’t take on the number of wizards we faced before alone. You know that, or else why did you teleport us out last time?”
I shift uneasily. Telling her I’d been shot and was close to death probably won’t convince her I should go along.
“I know I don’t have the fighting skills you two have,” she continues, “but they also don’t see me as a threat. I’ll be able to move around into areas without them ever looking twice at me.”
It would be nice to have someone around I could trust when throwing myself into the den of my enemy. But I also have no more interest in putting her in danger than I do Lou.
“I need you to stay,” I say. “You have to look after Lou and make sure she stays out of trouble.”
She doesn’t argue. Not one word of protest. I know she’s always been good to do as I ask, but after what happened between us earlier, I expect her at least to argue a little. Especially since I’m asking her to look after Lou. The fact she has nothing to say makes me more than a little suspicious.
“And don’t follow me,” I say. “You won’t be helping if you do.”
“Fine,” she says. “I’ll stay here with Lou. And we will patiently wait for The Sword to track us down and kill us.”
I feel my head throbbing. Fighting Victor will be simple after trying to deal with these two.
“Rose, I—”
“I understand, Aldric.” Her stance relaxes. “I really do. I’m just being difficult. Go. Save the worlds. I’ll make sure we stay safe.”
I have no idea what to think any more. They both seem to have given in. Lou has gone back to sitting on the bed and Rose looks like she’s ready to join her. Neither of them appears to have any plans of following me the moment I walk out the door. Then again, it’s become very clear to me I have no idea what women are thinking.
“Stay safe,” I say. “Both of you.”
“And you come back in one piece.” The twinkle in Lou’s eyes shifts and she gives me a serious look and, for an instant, I’m almost convinced to change my mind and stay with her. “I’ll never forgive you if you don’t.”
I leave before I ca
n think of any logical reasons not to. I know there are plenty; I’m just not letting myself think of them. If I stay, I’ll be protecting her from one small danger. I might even be able to save her from having her magic stripped from her once again. But saving her power will mean nothing if they succeed in bringing the worlds together and she dies in the aftershocks of the collision.
Going is the right thing to do. I know it is. The problem is, going and succeeding are two different things.
Lou
Awkward silence is too kind a description for the hush between Rose and me after Al leaves. She watches the closed garage door for a few minutes after he goes and then sits on the bed next to me.
We both develop nervous twitches as the silence looms over us.
Finally I blurt out, “Want to go?”
“Yes, please.”
We are both on our feet in an instant and making our way out of the storage room.
I’ve no idea how they found this place to hide in, but it’s pretty clever. There aren’t many spots where you could find a bed without breaking into someone’s house or a store. And having the bed rather than the car or the hard, dirty floor of the abandoned hospital did wonders for me. I actually feel somewhat rested.
“Aldric shouldn’t have gotten too far ahead,” Rose says. “We should be able to catch him quickly.”
“Actually,” I say. “I have a different location in mind.”
I hope she doesn’t get annoyed at me for trying to tell her where to go. She seems even more irritated with me than usual at the moment. But instead of arguing or getting mad, she gives me a curious look. I smile back.
“If we follow him,” I say, “you know as well as I do he’ll simply order us to go away. But if what he said about wizards using portals for their evil schemes is true, there is one other portal we need to check out.”
“You mean the one in your sister’s house?” Rose does not sound particularly happy about my plan. “The one Victor and Rilla came through? The place Victor and Rilla are trying to bring you back to so they can use your magic to bring our worlds together?”
The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword) Page 42