by May, W. J.
“You got this, Rae,” Molly chimed in from the grass several yards away. “Just don’t mess it up. And do you think you could conjure me a blanket before you go? It’s really cold out here.”
Rae shot her a look as Julian began counting down the seconds on his watch. “Yeah, you’re not the one about to jump into the ocean, Molls. You can live with it for another sixty seconds.”
“…nineteen, eighteen, seventeen…”
“Whatever you do, don’t just jump in,” Devon warned, finally accepting that he was outnumbered and shifting his focus instead to help. “It’s not a straight shot down; the rocks stick out from every angle. They’ll rip you up if you jump.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Rae exclaimed, feeling nervous for the first time.
“…twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight…”
“Make a rope and we’ll lower you down,” Devon said quickly. “You’ll find the piece no problem once you’re there. The only trick is to pull you back up before the time runs out, or…”
“…or what?” Her mind ran through a hundred scenarios, all of them ending terribly. She couldn’t die, but what if she was paralyzed because of a jagged rock slicing her back? What if she lost feeling and couldn’t control her tatùs? She swallowed hard.
“Don’t worry. We’ll pull you back up in time.”
“OR WHAT?!”
“Rae,” Julian interjected, “go now!”
Before she had time to think about it, a rope was in her hands. She looped one end quickly around her waist, while the boys took the other. Then, with a silent prayer, she was lowered down into the darkness as fast as she could.
If the chill on the surface was getting hard to take, it was nothing compared to what it was like in the little cave. Rae started shivering uncontrollably as she held up a hand with her mother’s fire, illuminating the jagged, black rocks on every side. The night sky seemed very far away now the lower she went, and after only a few seconds she heard a loud tear.
“You know,” she shouted up, “you could have warned me about what we were going to do before I put on this ridiculous dress!”
One of the boys shouted something back, but she was unable to hear it over the deafening rush of the foaming sea. A briny smell of salt and rust filled her nostrils, and she coughed loudly before tugging suddenly on the rope as her toes dipped down into the water.
“I’m down!” she called, raising the light in her hand quickly to look around the claustrophobic cave.
Well this is just…perfect.
There was no device. There was no fragment or shard of it. There was quite simply, nothing down there but rock.
“Guys!” she screamed to make herself heard over the swelling tide. “It’s not here!”
They might have shouted something back, but it was lost over the steady crescendo pouring in from just beyond the cliffs.
Okay, think, Rae. Think.
By her estimation, she only had about ten seconds left. If she was going to get this piece and get back up before she was dashed to smithereens against the rocks, she’d have to do something now!
But just then, as she was beginning to lose herself to hypothermic panic, the strangest thing happened. There was a subtle shift deep inside her body, and something warm buzzed to the surface of her skin. She took a second to recognize it, before closing her eyes in relief.
“Of course…” she breathed.
If Gabriel could manipulate metal, then he could surely sense metal as well.
She lifted out her hand, scanning blindly in the dark, only to find the piece very quickly. It had apparently fallen from its original perch, lodging itself several feet below the rising tide, but it flew up into her hand as if she’d called for it by name.
The next second, the water began to overtake her.
She opened her mouth to scream, but an icy wave caught her in the face, pouring down her throat and freezing her insides. The rope went temporarily loose in her hand as she tried to keep her body from locking down in shock.
“Get me—” she spluttered and choked. “Pull me—” Another wave caught her and dragged her momentarily down before slamming her into the shards of rock. The taste of blood filled her mouth as she tilted her head back to the sky and full-out screamed. “DEVON!” She had no idea if she’d done it in her head or actually screamed. It didn’t matter; she didn’t have time to think.
The next second, she was flying into the air, straight back up the way she’d come.
Clutching the precious piece of metal tight in her shaking hand.
Chapter 7
“You…flew.”
Rae was dripping a small pool of salt water onto the hotel room carpet, as Devon sat across from her, dripping a small pool of blood.
“I didn’t actually…uh…fly, per se.” He grimaced painfully as Molly did her best to pop his shoulder back into place. “But you got the piece. That’s the part we should be focusing on.”
Rae blinked. “No! I’d like to focus on the other part for a second, if that’s okay.” She cleared her throat and started again. “You flew.”
“I told you, it wasn’t—shit, Molly! Just do it already!”
“I can’t,” she grimaced apologetically, “I’m not strong enough to pull it all the way. Jules, can you?”
“Yeah.” He lifted himself off the couch and crossed the room, laying his hands skillfully on his friend and popping his shoulder back into place in one swift motion.
“Son of a—” Devon’s eyes snapped shut as he swore at the ceiling, but when he opened them again he was able to manage a smile. “Thanks,” he panted in pain and relief, twisting it tentatively in front of him to test its range of motion. “Now if I could just get some antiseptic—”
“YOU FLEW, DEVON!”
Finally incensed, he threw up his hands.
“Of course I flew! You were about to get crushed and the rope was broken. What was I supposed to do?!”
“So you jumped off a cliff?!” Rae didn’t know exactly why she was angry or why they were yelling, but aside from her nearly drowning, something of great significance had happened here and she was lost, trying to make sense of it.
“Of course I jumped off a cliff! To get to you!”
“Just hoping that you could fly us both out without KILLING yourself in the process!” She could eternally survive such physical battery. In fact, her wounds had already healed.
His had not.
“Well, actually, I—” He cut himself off suddenly, looking almost guilty. His face flushed a pale pink, surprising, considering how much blood he’d lost, and he dropped his gaze to the floor.
Rae’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You didn’t know that would happen. Did you?”
He glanced up for a second, before slowly shaking his head.
Her heart clenched ice cold in her chest. “You jumped off a cliff without knowing what would happen to you? Thinking you would just fall?”
“I thought I could catch you first,” he murmured, “shield you from it. Then I guess…I guess my body just did what it had to do to save you.”
For a moment, everyone was quiet.
Molly swooned in the background as Julian’s eyebrows shot to the ceiling. “That’s one way to progress your powers,” he said quietly. “Life or death adrenaline.”
Rae just stared silently, her blue eyes wide with tears.
“In all fairness,” Devon tried to shift everyone’s attention away, “I don’t think I actually flew. I think it was more like I was able to jump really, really high. Launch myself off the rocks.”
“Oh, so it’s really no big deal then,” Molly joked nervously, trying to lighten the mood. Her eyes flicked anxiously to Rae, before landing on Devon’s mangled chest.
His shirt had been ripped open and one side of his rib cage had been torn in bloodied strips from where he’d covered Rae with his body, letting himself get smashed into the rocks.
“Um…Rae, why don’t you make Devon some of that morphine y
ou made for Julian back in the airport? We should also probably get some rubbing alcohol—”
But Rae was stuck on a loop, staring at Devon like she’d never seen him before. “You jumped off a cliff…without knowing what would happen to you.” Without another word, she rose mechanically and headed to the nearest room. Away from everyone. The second she was inside, she shut the door behind her, collapsing against it and silently hyperventilating, like she was still back in that cave.
No, they were never going to have normal lives.
They were never going to be normal.
Not even close.
* * *
About an hour later, there was a soft knock on the door. Rae looked up silently from the bed as Devon opened it and slipped inside. There were fresh bandages around his chest and the smell of antiseptic hung heavy in the air. Julian had obviously run out to the nearest hospital to pick up supplies. Rae eyed him a bit guiltily as he sat down on the edge of the mattress, rubbing her ankle.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
She threw back her head to stop the automatic tears. “Am I okay? Are you kidding?” When his face blanked, she continued. “Devon, I can’t die. You can! And you threw your body off a cliff!”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” He grinned but his gaze was cautious.
“Don’t joke! This is serious. This could not be more serious.”
“And I’m taking it seriously.” His eyes grew distant for a moment, reliving scenes from the past. “Rae. Even I couldn’t hear much down there, but when I heard you scream my name…” He shuddered painfully at the thought. “We don’t know everything about your immortality. We’re going off the word of a psychopath. We don’t know if there are limits, conditions. But whether or not you can die, we know you can get hurt. You could be trapped, drowned, swept out to sea.” He leaned forward and laced his fingers around her hand. “You’re the only thing that matters to me. My other half, my reason to breathe. You have to know that I would—that I could never let that happen.”
“So you jumped off a cliff—”
“Yes, I jumped off a cliff. Get over it already.” He slid closer with a grin. “No part of me can lose you. When are you going to get that? And despite what those beautiful eyes are screaming at me, that’s not a bad thing.”
“It can make you jump off a cliff…”
He took her face gently in his hands. “It can make me fly.”
* * *
Julian slept on the couch that night.
Rae and Devon stayed together in the next room. Not kissing, not sleeping, not saying a word. Just lying together, entangled in each other’s arms. There was lust, but this was true love. Rae knew it. Love harder than any pain you ever felt.
That’s what Devon had done.
When the sun’s first light shone across the distant hills, he kissed her gently on the forehead and got stiffly to his feet. “Come on,” he said with a gentle smile, “it’s time to go.”
Molly and Julian were already up by the time they pulled themselves together and wandered out to the living room. After gulping down cups of hastily-conjured coffee, they climbed into the rental car and headed back to the airport, the device piece tucked safely in Rae’s bag.
In only a few hours later, they were already speeding back through the Scottish countryside, on the way back to Rae’s grandparents’ farmhouse.
On the way back to my house, she mentally corrected herself. First a penthouse in the city and now a farm in the heart of Scotland? If she ever got to stop flying all over the globe for a second, those actually might be nice places to settle down.
The car slowed dramatically as all four of them squinted in disbelief at the shiny black sports car parked in the driveway. Devon, in particular, looked less than amused.
“You have got to be kidding me…”
“Rae! Rae!” Beth was out of the house before they’d even pulled to a complete stop, both Carter and Gabriel hot on her heels. “You came back so fast, honey. Did you find it that quickly?”
Rae shot a glance at Devon, who was pulling himself painfully out of the car, eyeing Gabriel up and down with obvious dislike. “Uh…yeah. In a matter of speaking.”
“Nice job, Julian. Molly. Devon,” Carter congratulated, shaking each one of their hands in turn. But when he got to Devon, he suddenly stopped, scanning the young man’s face with years of practice and concern. “What is it?” he asked quickly. “What’s wrong?”
Devon’s eyes flicked almost imperceptibly to Gabriel before he muttered, “Nothing, I’m fine.”
Carter gave him a look of blatant disbelief. “You’re fine? Really?” He shook his hand again, pulling it towards him a bit, and Devon wasn’t able to stop from gasping in pain.
“What the hell happened?!” Both Carter and Beth exclaimed at once.
Beth stopped hugging Molly and rushed over, lifting up the corner of Devon’s shirt with motherly concern before he could stop her. “Honey, what’s the…” Her face turned white when she saw the gashes and painful discoloration spread across his body. Even Gabriel offered a sympathetic grimace as he leaned forward to get a look. “Devon…” she murmured, “what happened?”
“It’s nothing,” he said again, a little louder this time as he yanked down his shirt. “We got in and out, recovered the piece, no one was the wiser—”
“Devon jumped off a cliff,” Molly interrupted, grinning proudly at her friend.
“And then he flew back out of it,” Julian added, beaming with the same pride.
Beth and Carter exchanged a quick glance, before she ventured, “And why did he do that?”
Everyone fell silent for a moment, before Rae quietly cleared her throat.
“To save me,” she murmured, keeping her eyes on the ground. This time, the silence stretched on even longer. She finally brought her gaze up to look at the PC crew.
Gabriel’s sympathy had vanished to sullen resentment, Carter was staring at Devon with almost paternal pride—thrilled his powers were developing—and Beth?
It was hard to understand exactly what was going on behind Beth’s tear-filled eyes. She looked Devon up and down for a long time, occasionally glancing at her daughter, before she finally cleared her throat and said, “You flew?”
“Oh, I am not listening to this conversation again,” Molly said as she picked up her bags and headed inside.
Julian was quick to follow. “Yeah, I’m out. But I’ll put on some coffee.”
Gabriel glanced once between Rae and Devon before turning on his heel and abruptly disappearing inside behind the others, leaving the two couples standing awkwardly in his wake.
Devon’s gaze flicked between both Carter and Rae, looking for help; Carter was staring intently at Beth, and Rae was still a bit misty-eyed herself, kicking her boot almost childishly against the gravel in the drive. Eventually, he had nowhere to look but her mother.
“Can we…can we just write this off as one of those crazy things kids do and—”
“You jumped off a cliff for my daughter?” Beth interrupted. Her voice sounded almost stern, and Devon stood automatically a little straighter, ignoring the stabbing pain that followed.
“Um…yes. A bit. Only a little.”
Beth stared at him for another moment, before she abruptly lifted her arm, wrapping it carefully around his bruised back. “Come on inside. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
She brought him inside, Carter and Rae following slowly behind. Beth took Devon carefully up the stairs to help bandage his wounds.
Rae tried listening to the noises upstairs and then stopped herself by switching tatùs to give her mother and Devon privacy. If she wanted to complain about not having a normal life, then she needed to make the effort to be somewhat normal as well. She and the others were halfway through a long breakfast by the time Beth and Devon wandered back down the stairs. Both were rather subdued, but smiling. Whatever marathon talk they’d just had must have done the trick.
And on t
hat note…
What did my mom say to you? Rae demanded, employing Maria’s telepathy the second Devon sat across from her at the table. His eyes flicked up the moment he heard her voice in his head, but his lips twitched into an innocent smile and he lifted one shoulder in an inconspicuous shrug.
Oh no! You do NOT get to keep something like this from me. What did she say? What did you say? Why were you guys up there so long?
With that same little smile, he tuned her out completely, helping himself to some sausage rolls and a proper English breakfast as he started to join the table’s ongoing conversation.
You can’t ignore me forever, she insisted, her eyes narrowing. I can keep this up all day. See if you can maintain another conversation with me SCREAMING IN YOUR HEAD LIKE THIS—
“Rae, it is impolite to use telepathy at the table,” he said suddenly, giving her a look of mock disapproval before turning to her mother. “Don’t you agree, Beth?”
Much to Rae’s horror, Beth smiled. “I do indeed. Rae, stop being nosy. Eat your breakfast. Keep your voice out of other people’s heads.”
Beth? He called her Beth?! Whatever happened upstairs, Rae was not impressed. Not one bit.
As she sullenly dug into her eggs and bacon, Molly turned to Julian with an enthusiasm made possible only by the five empty cups of coffee in front of her. “So we got the piece from Ireland; what’s next? Where’s the other one you guys hid?”
Julian’s eyes flicked across the table to Carter before he answered in a would-be casual voice. “It’s, uh, it’s in London.”
“London?” Her face lit up and she turned to Rae. “Well that’s perfect! Maybe we can finally spend the night in that penthouse we started renting ages ago!”
“Yeah, it’s where it is in London that’s the problem…” Devon glanced at Carter as well.
Rae looked nervously between them. She was starting to get that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The same feeling she had long ago learned not to ignore. And they were obviously not sharing the news with Gabriel. Funny how he had been so quiet since they’d returned. Probably listening like a hawk. Planning ways to annoy Devon and make my heart sputter when he’s around.