“But you’re saying it is possible. That I could be…”
Joe sighed. “Yes, Alec. I suppose the possibility is out there.”
“So, what does that mean?” Johnathan asked. “What happens to the… offspring? What does that make them?”
“You’re all getting way ahead of yourselves here. I think we should all get some sleep.” Joe yawned again, patting his mouth with his hand.
“No. I want answers. There’s no way I can sleep after this.” Alec’s legs bounced up and down at a jackhammer’s pace.
“I’m not exactly sure about the offspring. I’ve heard different accounts. The most likely is that they are just normal boys or girls, with a little bit of their father’s… tendencies… or talents, I guess.”
Seth leaned forward. “I’ve read accounts that say the offspring of an Incubus kills the mother when it’s born, and feeds off her body. And, they grow at an impossible rate, like they’re full adults in like a year or something. And, they’re beasts that can’t satisfy their needs—”
“That’s all folklore, Seth,” Joe said. “The truth is, I’ve never knowingly met the child of an Incubus, but I’ve spoken with people who have. The only consistently different thing about them was that they were all orphans. And, very attractive to the opposite sex.”
“Well, both of those things describe me perfectly,” Alec said. “Especially the one about being very attractive.”
I worried that he seemed to be warming up to the idea his dad might be a horrible monster.
Joe shook his head in disbelief. “Look, Halli’s falling asleep on the couch. We could all use some serious sleep. Let’s each go find a room and we’ll talk about all this later.”
“I’m not asleep,” Halli mumbled.
I was all for getting some rest. Several days without a full night’s sleep had started to catch up to me. Plus, healing Joe had sapped much of my remaining energy. And, the pain of getting my eyesight back still exhibited itself in the pounding of my head.
“Sleep is a grand idea,” I said. “Come on Hal, let’s go find some rooms.”
Johnathan stood and helped me to my feet. “I’ll come with you. I want to make sure it’s safe.”
There were six bedrooms just in the upstairs alone. I didn’t even go into the basement; I’d already experienced living underground. I wanted a window, especially now that I had my sight back.
Halli and I chose two smaller rooms with full sized beds and a shared bathroom with a jetted tub. The thought of soaking in the tub, jets massaging my sore muscles, followed by a long sleep in a warm and comfortable bed brought tears to my eyes. “First dibs on a bath,” I yelled to Halli, as she jumped on her bed. She had apparently caught a second wind.
Johnathan snooped around the bedroom, sniffing everything like a dog. He had already blasted a picture of Trey into tiny bits. There had been a picture of him in every room we’d been in so far, and Johnathan had blasted every one of them.
Everyone stayed away from the master bedroom. Joe closed the door and we all left it that way. Johnathan and Joe chose rooms just down the hall from me and Halli. Seth and Alec picked rooms downstairs, already dubbing the entire floor the bachelor pad.
By the light of several candles already in the bathroom, I enjoyed my soak in the tub, but not as much as I thought I would. I was dead tired and kept nodding off. I finally decided to give in and just go to bed after my nose slipped beneath the water and I breathed water into my windpipe. I coughed so hard I nearly vomited.
I wrapped a towel around me and found some mouth wash in the medicine cabinet. I thought about Johnathan not wanting to kiss me until I’d washed all traces of Trey away. I gargled until my eyes watered, and then gargled some more.
I peeked in at Halli. She was curled up in a tiny ball, sound asleep. I really didn’t want to put the same dirty clothes back on to sleep in. I snooped in the closet and found it full of men’s clothing. I bet every closet in this house if full of his clothes. He probably never wore the same thing twice.
I grabbed a long-sleeved, silk, dress shirt and slipped it on over my underwear. The hem came to my knees and I had to roll the sleeves up about three times. I crawled under the cotton sheets and down comforter and felt like I was in Heaven. I extinguished the star-bright sitting on the small table next to the bed and closed my eyes. Then I opened them. What if getting my eyesight back was just a trick? What if, when I wake up, it’s gone again? I didn’t think I could handle that. I was afraid to close my eyes.
I decided I had to see Johnathan’s face one more time before I fell asleep, just in case. I slipped out from under the covers, out the door and down the hall. I knocked lightly on Johnathan’s door. He didn’t answer, so I assumed he was sleeping. I decided I needed to see his face anyway, so I slid the door open and peeked into the room.
Johnathan wasn’t asleep. He stood, staring out the window at the red rocks that rose for miles behind the house.
“John?” I said in a quiet voice.
He jumped a little then turned his head just enough to see me peeking in the door before returning to his former position of staring out the window. “You should be sleeping.”
I entered the room and closed the door behind me. I walked to his side, slid my hand into his, and laid my head against his arm. “I wanted… needed… to see you one more time before going to sleep. I’m scared.” I whispered the words that were so hard for me to admit. I didn’t want anyone to see my fear, especially not Johnathan.
He looked down at me, surprised. “Of what?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Of waking up to darkness again. Of this just being one big joke, giving my sight back just for the sheer demented joy of taking it again.”
He wrapped his strong arms around me and hugged me to his chest. His heart pounded, the rate increasing, as did mine, when I snuggled closer. “That won’t happen. I won’t let it.”
“Well, just in case, I want your face to be the last thing I see before I fall asleep.”
He tilted my chin up with a gentle touch of his hand. The moonlight shone brightly through the window. I smiled and said, “I gargled for like an hour after my bath.”
His lips turned up in a sad little smile. He stooped to kiss me. It was tender and sweet—and short. He rubbed his hand up and down my back then stopped. He pushed me away so he could look at the full length of my body.
“What are you wearing?” His voice was touched with hurt.
“Just a shirt I found in the closet. I didn’t want to put my dirty clothes back on after my bath.” A bit of defensiveness crept into my voice.
“You’re wearing one of his shirts.”
“Yeah, and I’m sleeping in one of his beds, in his house. And, so are you.”
He dropped his hands from my arms and turned back to look out the window. “I can’t deal with this right now, Paige. Every time I close my eyes I see him kissing you. I see you kissing him, the desire in your eyes—like you were going to die if he didn’t…” He growled and balled up his fists.
“John, I—”
“I know,” he whispered hoarsely. “You couldn’t help it. It wasn’t real. I know all that. It just doesn’t help how it made me feel. It’s too new. It was only a few hours ago that I saw him touching you like you belonged to him. I just need a little time, please.”
My throat tightened at the rejection. I couldn’t speak. I nodded and ran from the room.
Back in my room, I ripped the shirt off, the buttons popping and falling to the floor. I put my jeans and T-shirt back on and sat on the bed. The tears flowed as I lamented my life. Why did we have to choose Moab? Why did Trey have to choose me? Why can’t Johnathan and I catch a break?
As tired as I was, I couldn’t fall asleep. I found myself wandering quietly through the house. In the library I found a picture of Trey that Johnathan hadn’t blasted. I studied the face in the picture. He was looking off to the side of the camera with a dazzling smile on his face. I didn’t feel one bit o
f longing or desire as I looked at him. Without him here in person, the spell he’d held on me was broken. Yes, he was a very handsome man. But that alone wasn’t enough. In the photo, I could see the emptiness in his eyes. I could see through his façade. I only wanted Johnathan. I hoped with a desperation I had never known that he would be able to get past this. That our love would be strong enough to weather this storm.
I looked at the picture and tried to see any resemblance to Alec. Their eyes were different colors—Trey’s were ice blue whereas Alec had golden-brown eyes with little flecks of hazel in them. The colors differed, but the shape was the same. More than that, they had the same mischievous look. His jawline and nose were nearly identical to Alec’s. The resemblance wasn’t blaring, but I could see it, strong enough to convince me of the possibility that Trey and Alec were related in some way.
I lay back on the soft cushions of the couch and closed my eyes. What would it mean—to Alec and to the rest of us—if he was the son of an Incubus? I remembered then that Joe had said something before, after my first encounter with Trey, about Merlin being the son of an Incubus. Merlin, the most powerful wizard I’d ever heard of—not that I knew of many other wizards. Maybe it wasn’t such a tragedy. It would answer a lot of questions for Alec. Maybe his magic would be stronger. Or… maybe he would turn into a monster like Trey. He did, at times, seem to have struggles with integrity. But, I couldn’t forget the multiple times he’d come to my defense when he thought Johnathan or someone was treating me with less than the utmost respect. Alec was a flirt, no doubt about that, but I’d never seen him cross the line from flirt to downright rogue.
Those thoughts clouded my mind as the exhaustion finally won out. I fell asleep on the couch in the library.
don’t know how long I slept there. Only one window graced the walls of the library and it was covered with thick curtains that blocked out any light. I slept the deep sleep of the dog-tired, no dreams, no position changes.
I awoke to Johnathan’s voice and soft touch on my shoulder. “Paige, what are you doing in here?”
I opened my eyes, too in love with his voice to remember to fear that my sight might be gone again. I smiled up at him. I lifted a hand to his face and something dropped from my chest to the floor.
Johnathan bent to pick up the framed picture of Trey. He frowned. As the realization of what he held hit him, the frown turned to a flash of anger.
“My face was the last thing you wanted to see before you fell asleep, huh?” He flung it across the room, the glass frame shattering as it hit a shelf of books.
He jumped to his feet and ran from the room before I could even find my voice to explain.
“Ugghh,” I groaned, punching the couch. “I can’t take this anymore!”
“Take what? What’s wrong?” Alec stepped into the library.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong,” I huffed.
“Yeah, sounds like it.” He plopped onto the couch next to me.
“Disney lies, that’s all.”
“Huh? Now I’m really confused.” Alec shook his head.
“You know, the whole ‘happily ever after’ thing. Relationships are hard. I just want things to be easy for a little while. I can see again. The Incubus is gone. John is no longer tainted by a Demon. And yet, things are worse now than ever.”
“What’s the problem now? Do I need to have a talk with Johnny?”
I sighed. “He’s just having a hard time getting over the Incubus thing. I don’t blame him, I’d be hurt, too…”
“But, none of that was your fault. He can’t hold it against you. You were under a spell… right?”
“I was under a spell. Johnathan knows that, it’s just still hard, what he saw last night. That kinda stuff is hard to erase. Then he… misunderstood… something, just now.”
“What?”
I hesitated. Would Alec be mad that I was looking for similarities between him and Trey? Probably not. He hadn’t seemed too freaked out about the idea last night. “I fell asleep while I was looking at a picture of Trey. I was just trying to decide if I could see any resemblance with you. Johnathan woke me and the picture was still in my hand. He got the wrong idea and stormed out of here before I could explain.”
“So, did you see any? Resemblance?”
I laughed. Leave it to Alec to pick out only the part about him. “Maybe. Would you be upset if I did?”
He shook his head. “Nah. If being the offspring of an Incubus is good enough for Merlin, it’s good enough for me. It would be nice to know for sure, though.”
I smiled and punched his arm. “I would have guessed ‘Troll’ for your dad before Incubus.”
“Troll, huh?” He lunged for me, but I anticipated it. I rolled off the couch and into a crouching position. He missed me by a hair and tipped the couch over with the momentum he carried. Before he could untangle himself from the cushions I jumped over the upturned couch and landed on his chest. He was too much stronger than me to pin him down using strength, so I threw a binding spell at his arms, they stuck to the floor like super glue.
Alec bucked me off with his hips. I rolled to the side and stood in one fluid motion, taking a fighting stance. While his arms were still stuck to the floor I smiled wickedly and said, “Oblimo,” which is, ‘to cover in slime’ in Latin. I’d looked it up specifically for an occasion such as this, and specifically for use on Alec.
Slime, the color and consistency of moss mixed with snot, mixed with mud, splattered him. It. Was. Awesome. He turned his face just in time to avoid a mouthful, but otherwise, it covered him head to toe.
“Oh. You’re dead.” Alec struggled to free his arms.
I turned and ran out of the library. I looked behind me to see how close he was and I ran into something hard… Alec.
“How in the heck?” I said.
He smiled before he easily took me down and put me in a head lock. I snaked my hand between his arm and the side of my head then activate my shield bracelet, thrusting his arms away from me. I scrambled on the hardwood floor, but he grabbed me by the ankle and dragged me over to him. I swung an elbow at his slimy face. He evaded and my elbow hit the floor. Ouch.
“What are you two doing?” Halli ran up and tried to separate us. “And what is this nasty stuff all over you?”
Alec and I both started laughing.
“I figured the son of a Troll would enjoy being slimed,” I said between laughs.
“I must say, you surprised me with that one,” Alec said.
“And you surprised me with… whatever you did to get in front of me just now. How did you do that?”
He shrugged, fake hubris oozing off of him like the slime. “I portalled. I’ve been practicing. It works for offensive attacks and defensive retreats. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Super cool,” I said. I added in a whisper, “Thanks Alec. You’re a good friend.”
He whispered back, “I’ll go have a talk with Johnny Boy. Don’t worry, he loves you, he’s just more prone to losing his mind than the rest of us.”
“Go take a shower. That stuff reeks.” I shook a blob off my wrist. I looked down at my slime covered clothes and sighed. I didn’t have a change of clothes here. I’d have to go back to the cave to get them. “Hal, do you feel like walking back to the cave with me to get our stuff? I need some clean clothes.”
“I’m just gonna borrow some clothes from my long lost papa,” Alec joked. “I can portal out to the old homestead and get your stuff for you if you want.”
“No. I think the walk’ll do me good. Plus I want to see it. I want to see everything. You with me, Halli?”
“Yeah, I’m always with you, Paige. Let me go grab my jacket.” She started down the hallway but turned back to add, “You have to teach me that slime spell. Awesome.”
I walked with her back to our rooms so I could get my jacket, too. I touched Johnathan’s closed door as I walked past, pausing for a moment to see if I could hear him. No sound came from inside. I moved on to my room a
nd retrieved my jacket. I almost decided not to wear it because when I whisked it around my shoulders, I caught a strong odor of the leaves from the trees Johnathan had destroyed. I braced myself against the wall as a small wave of dizziness swept over me. I cringed as thoughts of Trey, thoughts I would rather have stayed buried, came to my mind.
After a short recovery period, I decided it would be stupid to freeze just because of an odor. The fresh air will get rid of the smell. I put my arms through the sleeves and met Halli in the hall as I fastened the buttons.
“You okay?” Halli asked.
“Yeah, fine. I’m excited to see everything. Let’s go.”
I hurried past Johnathan’s door without a second glance.
The early afternoon autumn sun felt good on my face. The chill in the air felt good, too. I couldn’t believe the beauty of Moab. The mountains, rocks, and dirt really were red. Main Street looked much as I’d pictured in my head—small souvenir shops interspersed with hometown restaurants, a book store, small hotels, and lots of jeep rental places.
It didn’t take long to get outside of town. I was surprised I found this landscape beautiful, having come from the Pacific Northwest where you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a forest of trees. There were no real trees in sight, only an occasional scrub oak clinging desperately to a cliff face or growing in the cracks of a huge, ancient rock wall. Sagebrush was even sparse there. But, the red sand and the striated rock-mountains were beautiful examples of ancient life. How many thousands of years did it take to create each band of color flowing through these rocks? It was like an artist’s paintbrush had created the landscape surrounding me.
Halli led the way to our cave home. I was a little shocked. Even though she and the others had tried to explain to me what it looked like, it was not what I had expected. The sight that met my eyes truly was just a humongous pile of enormous boulders in the middle of a flat expanse. Some of them looked like they’d grown from the ground and others looked like they’d fallen from the sky. I freaked out a little as we entered. I looked up at the boulders that seemed to be precariously balanced upon one another and wondered when one might shift and bring the entire thing down on top of us.
Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2) Page 8