Chase Tinker & The House of Magic
Page 27
"He was using teleprojection," she explained. "It's one of his powers."
"Teleprojection?"
"It's like an out-of-body thing. He was able to project himself to the waiting room, but still remain here physically."
"But he's unconscious!" said Chase, looking like he was trying to understand some strange, foreign language. "How did he know what was going on?"
"I don't know."
Chase stared at Grandfather's sleeping face. All this time he'd been worried Grandfather might be too old to protect them enough. Man, he'd sure been wrong about that. "I never realized Grandfather was so powerful," he murmured.
"Yeah," said Persephone.
Chase looked up. She was staring straight at him. They were so close, he saw himself reflected in her bright-green eyes.
"And, apparently, so are you," she said.
Chase lay sprawled on his back on the cool linoleum floor in the bathroom at Doctor Dan's. It was late, way after midnight. He should probably go home, but he didn't want to move. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to feel anything. Staying here forever was definitely his best plan yet.
Loud knocking at the door jerked him out of his stupor. "Chase? Are you okay?" called Persephone, sounding worried. "You've been in there a long time."
"Yeah, yeah," he answered. "I'm just…resting."
"I wanted to let you know Andy was asking for you. He wants to know what happened after he was knocked out."
"Tell him I'll tell him everything later. I—I can't talk right now."
"And your dad—"
"I don't want to talk to him right now either," he cut in.
He heard her heave a loud sigh. "I'm here if you need to talk about anything—anything at all."
"No!" he answered, with a little too much force. "I'm fine, okay?"
"Oh, all right," she said in a small voice. "I guess I'll leave then."
He didn't mean to be rude. He only wanted to be left alone. The sound of her footsteps faded away down the hall. Now all he heard was the quiet whirring of the ceiling fan mingled with the humming in his mind. He just couldn't stop that humming.
Was Persephone right? Was he, like Grandfather, more powerful than he ever imagined?
And, did this happen to every Tinker, or just him? He barely remembered the rage that had taken him over and caused him to use his ability with such force. It was like he'd been moving on instinct alone. At that moment it had been way too easy to send Roland Marlowe off to who knew where.
He shifted on the floor, finding another cool spot. Thank God Andy was going to be all right. His dad had also survived Maven's attack with nothing more than a bruised elbow from his tumble to the floor.
His dad. He was home at last, but he'd been here all along. Right under their noses and they hadn't even realized it. It scared the heck out of Chase to see his dad attacked by the Marlowes. But, even after all that, he still didn't have it in him to forgive Benjamin. Maybe one day…but not tonight.
And Aunt Clair was—dead. It sure didn't seem right that they had to lose one person to gain another. Chase's eyes burned as he stared at the ceiling fan. He watched the blades rotating, round and round and round. It was rather hypnotizing.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. So much had happened this summer; much more than he'd expected, or planned. In just two short months, he'd found, and lost, more than he ever would've imagined. He definitely wasn't the same person who'd first walked through that magical front door at the beginning of the summer. No way would he ever be able to return to being just a plain-old-every-day kid again. And, no matter what his parents said, he was not leaving the Tinker house to go back to New York.
This is where I belong, was Chase's last thought, right before he fell asleep.