Force (An Alex Warren Novel)

by Logue, Shawna

  “Déjà vu,” I mumbled, feeling a smile creep across my face.

  “Can you see?” he asked, fear ringing in his voice.

  I hadn’t realized my eyes were still closed. Now that I did, I wasn’t sure I wanted to open them. I heard the beeping sound increase exponentially as I felt the fear of what he was asking. He wanted to know if I was blind.

  Carefully and slowly, I forced my eyes open. Light streamed in, stinging my weary gaze. I took a second to focus, but soon enough I was able to make out where I was. It wasn’t the hospital room I remembered at Mobius though.

  “Alex?” Connor asked, squeezing my hand.

  I turned in his direction, and I could see worry all over his face. He had several stitches intersecting his forehead, and involuntarily I reached up to touch it. He winced.

  “What happened to you?” I asked.

  He laughed, finding this more amusing than I had intended. Taking my hand from his forehead, he brought it down to his lips, closing his eyes as he kissed it. Then he took it and rested it against his cheek, pressing his hand against it so it wouldn’t fall away. He felt warm, and the heat radiated through my arm.

  “Did we win?” I whispered.

  He nodded and spoke quietly, “You really scared me, you know?”

  “We were losing,” I replied, just as quiet. “I had to do something. I had no choice.”

  “There’s always a choice, Alex, but in this instance, everyone seems to think you made the right one.”

  “Everyone except you,” I added, sensing his tone.

  “I thought…” he hesitated, looking down. “I thought I had lost you. Again. When I saw you fall, I wanted so badly to reach for you, but I couldn’t. I had to continue fighting.”

  “Did it even work?” I asked.

  He sighed heavily. “The power you gave me was more than I have ever been able to access at any one time, and yes, it worked. In fact, it worked a little too well. My spell exploded faster and farther than I had expected.” He still never looked up, but also never released my hand.

  “Is everyone okay?”

  “We got quite a few, including two of our own in that last explosion.” His voice rang with guilt.

  “I’m so sorry, Connor.”

  He sighed, “I didn’t expect that much power.”

  “What about the stone? Nic? Peri?”

  “The stone is with Nic. He’s taking it somewhere safe, though I don’t know where. Peri is with him. I don’t know that we’ll see them for a while though, at least until things calm down.”

  “Why do they need to hide? It sounded like you got them all in that last blast? Isn’t the threat over?”

  “At least one got away,” he sighed.

  “Casper?”

  “No.”

  I felt queasy as I comprehended what that meant. “Who got away?”

  He finally looked at me, his gaze penetrating mine. “Merlin.”

  The monitor beeped faster again. “What?”

  “The man you saw casting spells, that was Merlin.”

  “Merlin? Like Arthur’s Merlin? You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Morgan recognized him as soon as you pointed him out.”

  “Why on earth could he possibly want to help Casper?”

  “I suspect he wasn’t helping him at all, merely using him to get to the stone,” he replied calmly.

  “Isn’t he a good guy? Why does he want the stone?”

  “The same reason Casper did, I presume. For the power.” He paused, cocking his head at me and smiling. “I am so glad you are okay,” he said, clearly in an effort to change the subject.

  Just then, a nurse walked in. I shot a glance at Connor, who squeezed my hand in response.

  “You’re awake!” she beamed. “How are you feeling?” Her voice was filled with a fake cheerfulness as she checked the various screens plugged in around me.

  “Where am I?” I asked cautiously, more to Connor than to her, but she responded anyway.

  “Victoria General Hospital, honey. You were hiking, and had a bad fall. You hit your head. It’s a good thing you’re boyfriend was there to carry you down the trail,” she said, motioning at Connor. I noticed Connor smile at her use of the word boyfriend.

  “Hiking?” I mouthed at him in confusion.

  “Don’t you remember?” he said, and I could hear the amusement in his voice. “We were hiking up at Mount Doug when you slipped.”

  I furrowed my brow in confusion, and he squeezed my hand in response. “Oh, yeah,” I replied hesitatingly.

  “It takes a strong man to carry someone that far,” the nurse continued as she wrote on my chart, glancing up wistfully at Connor.

  “Strong indeed,” I murmured, and it was my turn to squeeze his hand.

  “I’m going to get the doctor to check you over. I think you should be ready to leave here by tonight.”

  “Thank you,” Connor said politely as she left the room.

  “What was all that about hiking?” I whispered, not sure if she could still hear us.

  “You didn’t think I was going to tell her the truth did you?” he mused.

  I shook my head at him, smiling. “Why aren’t we at Mobius?”

  “Mobius is a bit unstable at the moment,” he said, and I remembered how Bob and I had crashed through the roof. “It’s being rebuilt. Too bad about that earthquake though,” he winked.

  “Seriously? An earthquake? People believe that?”

  “Alex, the rumbling from the dragon crashing through the building was felt for blocks. It wasn’t my story, the public made it up all on their own.”

  I thought for a moment. “So, where do we go now?”

  He smiled at me. “I was kind of hoping you’d know, seeing as my house is burnt to cinders. It’ll be another week or so before I can get it rebuilt.” He caught my skeptic look and winked. “We wizards have ways to make things speed up.”

  “So, you want to come to my place? But I thought it wasn’t safe?”

  “I think everyone’s safe for now. Merlin’s not going to try anything after he saw the kind of power I- er, we had out there.”

  “What about Dermot?” I felt a little guilty I hadn’t thought of him before.

  “He’s around. He’s not a fan of the city. He’ll probably keep to the forests for a while. I know it’s hard for him to keep a distance from me, but he’ll manage.”

  “Oh.” I felt a bit bad that I was causing difficulty for Dermot. “He doesn’t have to stay away all the time. I can pick up some Guinness or something for him, if he wants.”

  Connor laughed. “I’m sure he’d love that.”

  It was another two hours before a doctor came by to release me. I tried not to sleep while I waited, not wanting to lose a second with Connor, but I drifted off twice, each time waking up hoping he hadn’t caught me sleeping. He had, and he seemed to find me quite amusing that I would wake up feeling upset at myself for sleeping.

  When the doctor checked me over, I was surprised that I wasn’t worse off. I really didn’t have any noticeable wounds, aside from a large cut on my arm, where the marble had sliced me, and a few little cuts on my palms, from my own fingernails. My knees were bandaged, but I couldn’t see them, and Connor told me I had six stitches in the back of my head. He wouldn’t let me reach up to touch them though, so I suspected there were more.

  We sat in the car for a moment, Connor drumming the wheel nervously. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. As if in response, he turned to me.

  “I don’t know where you live,” he admitted. I laughed, and told him the address. It seemed weird that he hadn’t been to my house before. I felt so close to him, like we had known each other forever. It was all too easy to forget how long it had really been.

  My apartment wasn’t far from the hospital. As he pulled into a spot on the street, he reached back behind the seat and pulled out a small black gift bag.

  “What’s this?” I asked
.

  “It’s for Maria,” he smiled, handing it to me. I peeked in, and saw a shiny, kitschy Big Ben clock. “You didn’t think I’d let you come home from London empty handed, did you?”

  “This is perfect,” I laughed. It was. This was totally her kind of thing.

  I felt nervous as we walked up the stairs to the tiny apartment. If I really could have had my way, Connor would not be here. I wished I had time to go in ahead of him to make sure it was clean, but he was close behind me, and I knew that there was no way he’d let me do that.

  As I opened the door, I heard a familiar squeal. “Alex!” Maria cried, running at me at full force. Her hug nearly bowled me over. I cringed as she squeezed at bruises I hadn’t discovered yet. When she finally let go her eyes went immediately to the small bag in my hands. I thrust it at her.

  “Where’s your luggage?” she asked, noting the emptiness of my other hand.

  “It’s in the car,” Connor lied smoothly.

  His response took Maria by shock. I got the impression she hadn’t even seen Connor standing there until he spoke. Typical Maria, I thought.

  “Connor,” he said, sticking his hand out towards her.

  “Maria,” she stuttered, shaking his hand slowly. She looked him up and down, giving him her most critical stare. Then she made a very obvious glance to me, indicating her approval of the man standing in the doorway, and my face flushed in response. She turned her attention back to the bag, squealing again when she realized what it was. “This is perfect!” she chirped, wrapping it back up in the tissue paper and skipping over to a large box marked “Trinkets”. As I looked around, I could the apartment was stripped bare, save for a few things of mine.

  “Maria?” I asked, motioning to the only two boxes left.

  “Oh, Alex. I’m sorry. I meant to tell you. Justin and I found a place, and it was available immediately so we took it! Don’t worry, I can’t give notice until February, so you have well over a month to find a new roommate.”

  I didn’t know what to say. “Congratulations?” I squeaked, hoping she wouldn’t catch my questioning tone. This seemed to be enough for her, as she jumped up and hugged me again.

  “I knew you’d understand! Thanks sweetie!” A car honked outside. “That’s Justin!” she cried excitedly. “Oh, Alex, I’m so glad I ran into you today. I wish I could stay longer to hear all about your adventure, but I have to go! I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” She reached for one of the boxes, struggling against its weight.

  “Let me help you,” Connor offered. I had almost forgotten he was here. He stacked the two boxes on top of each other and lifted them with ease, following her out the door. She gave me one last show of approval before skipping down the stairs.

  I stood for a moment, slightly shocked at the flurry of activity that is Maria. I looked around. The place felt so much larger than it did before, now that Maria’s clutter was removed. I spun around once, arms outstretched, reveling in the space. I spun a bit too quickly, though, and I stumbled with dizziness.

  Two strong arms caught me, scooping my up off the ground. I hadn’t heard Connor return. I threw my arms around his neck, pulling my face up to his and kissing him on the cheek.

  He carried me into my bedroom, gently placing me on the bed. I felt a bit embarrassed at the clutter I had left out, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was staring at me with his penetrating eyes. I couldn’t stand it. I pulled him closer to me, kissing him softly. It wasn’t like before, it wasn’t rushed, and there were no hidden goodbyes spoken between our lips. This was different. He kissed me back, and I felt it from him too. We moved slowly, every second passing in an eternity. His fingertips lingered on my face, gently tracing my cheekbones, as if to check if I was real. Not sure of reality myself, I opened my eyes, and I saw he was staring at me, lost in a thought.

  I pulled away, though it took every bit of my strength to do so. “What is it?” I asked quietly.

  He looked at me, his eyes twinkling. “It’s just,” he hesitated, “if I had known I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, I would have started a lot sooner.”

  My face flushed, and I barely had time to smile before his lips crushed against mine, and we were quickly lost in bliss.