After all the time he’d spent making her wonder what the hell was up with him, he could handle another two minutes of their roles being reversed.
Right now, she didn’t owe anybody a goddamn thing.
She stripped out of her shirt, which was pretty much nothing but rags at this point after all the fighting and the blackhorn fire. Everything else came off and got flung into a pile in the corner, then she rifled through her dresser and grabbed the first shirt and pair of pants she touched.
A shower would have been the icing on the cake at this point, but she’d settle for a fresh change of clothes for now. They’d made it through the Gateway again without getting their asses beaten to smithereens—mostly—but there wasn’t a whole lot of time for making one Laen’aroth and one seriously confused bank steward wait while she washed an entire Xaharí nightmare off her skin.
Fully intending to head right back out into the hallway, she had to stop when she finally took in the state of her bedroom. That was definitely a new lamp on the bedside table. Her couch had a brand-new skintight cover in almost the same shade as its original gray. Her dresser hadn’t been completely replaced, but the chips in the wood had been filled in or at the very least stained to hide them. The picture of her and Mel had a new simple black frame, and instead of the plain blue pot in which she’d kept her bamboo plant in the bay window, there was now a bright-pink pig on the window seat with her slightly crooked plant sprouting from a hole in its back.
A pig.
And yes, there was a new door affixed to the bathroom. The old one had most definitely been as broken as her blue ceramic pot.
Shaking her head, she opened her bedroom door and closed it immediately behind her.
Leandras and Ben glared at each other. Actually, the fae glared at Ben. Tabitha’s godson stared back with wide, terrified eyes and looked like a rabbit staring into the eyes of a fox.
“I didn’t tell you to fix up my stuff.” Jessica raised her eyebrows at Ben until he realized she was talking to him and turned his terrified stare onto her instead. “Were you bored?”
“I... Well...” He swallowed and glanced quickly back and forth between the magicals waiting for his reply. “Yeah. I guess I just needed something to keep me busy. I thought you might appreciate—Shut up. Just because you said it doesn’t mean it’s true.”
She smirked. “Let me guess. The bank told you I’m not a fan of people touching my stuff.”
“Yeah, he did, but I... Jessica, your bathroom didn’t have a door.”
“No, I appreciate that part. Okay.” She waved him forward. “Hand it over.”
“What?”
“The pendant, Ben. We’re back. We’re in one piece. You obviously didn’t destroy the place, so it’s time to hand the bank back.”
He stepped backward and jumped when his back thumped against the wall. “W-what are you gonna do to me?”
“Um...relieve you of your temporary position. And send you home, I guess.” Jessica turned toward Leandras and shrugged. “Seems like the best way to handle this, right?”
“I couldn’t agree more.” He shot Ben a feral smile and raised his eyebrows.
“Okay, hold on.” Ben lifted his hands in front of him. “You guys aren’t going anywhere else? Like that wasn’t just some pre-trip...trip or something?”
“Nope. We’re back for good.” God, she hoped so. “Why are you stalling?”
“I’m not stalling.” He tried to laugh, but it came out as a nervous snort and apparently made it hard for him to catch his breath again. “I just thought I’d have more time.”
Jessica wrinkled her nose and nodded. “Yeah, I knew it was a bad idea to name the bank. We have a lot to do now, Ben, and I need that pendant to help make it happen.”
“But I...” He stared at her and pressed himself farther against the wall when she walked toward him. Even when she reached out to lift the pendant over his neck and head—where it caught behind his ears and made them wobble back into place as she finally removed it—Ben didn’t even blink.
She couldn’t have said exactly why or even how she knew it would work this way, but the pendant offered no resistance at all. So she slipped it over her head and braced herself for the mind-numbing shock of icy Winthrop & Dirledge magic to make its jolting leap from temporary steward to permanent Guardian.
Instead, a fizzle of blue light raced up Ben’s legs all the way up to his head, then leapt away with a squeaking pop and arched right into the glowing blue pendant. The shock of even that much magical transfer was nothing compared to what she’d expected. The sight of that blue energy racing across her chest and down her arms to crackle briefly at her fingertips, however, felt like coming home.
‘You stubborn, glorious, idiotic little witch bag.’ The bank actually squealed in excitement, making her blink at the pressure behind her eyes, then burst out laughing. ‘If I had lips, believe me, I’d be kissing you.’
Glad you’re not.
‘I’d probably punch you too, ’cause if I had lips, I’d have hands. Probably.’
Jessica grinned.
Good to hear you too, bank.
‘Yeah, you missed me. I can already tell. And—’ The exaggerated gasp cracking through her mind made her close her eyes. ‘Look at all this new crap in your head! Oh, I’m gonna go through this like a woodpecker through a nail gun.’
What?
‘What? Oh. Sorry. I tell you what, witch. Hanging out in that peabrain’s head makes your crazy-ass brain look like a straight freaking line. He’s so twisted up, I couldn’t tell last week from preschool. Look at him. Just look at this guy. Does he look like someone I’d enjoy being stuck with while you went on your ass-kicking walkabout?’
Ben did, in fact, look like the complete opposite of someone who had a clue what he was doing. Especially now that his light-brown hair stood completely on end beneath the static of the bank’s magic flying from him and into Jessica Northwood.
Yeah, I missed you. A little.
She huffed out a laugh and set a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Thanks, Ben. Really. I’ll find a way to make it up to you. Once we’re done with...you know.”
‘Nah, he doesn’t know shit.’
You didn’t tell him?
‘And fry his puny brain? Kinda needed someone to run the power here, Jessica, and this guy was the only option you gave me.’
“It’s a pretty long story, actually,” she added, trying to look reassuring. “But when there’s time, I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know. And find a better way to thank you.”
More than anything, she just wanted to get Tabitha’s godson out of here so she and Leandras could get down to the next part of the plan. Whatever it was.
‘You know, I would love to hear why you’re trying so hard to hide that part from me right now.’
I just got back. Can it for a sec.
“You really don’t have to do that.” Ben glanced at Leandras again, who stood there completely shirtless in the hall with his arms folded. His flexed biceps were almost more intimidating than his scowl and the quick flash of silver behind his dark eyes. “I-I’ll get out of your way.”
“You’re not in the way. Trust me. We couldn’t have done this without you. No matter what the bank might’ve told you.”
“Yeah. I’ll just...go have a few beers and try to forget about this whole thing.” He headed stiffly for the stairs, then spun around again and grimaced. “Are you sure you don’t need anything else? I mean, you guys were in pretty bad shape when you...landed. Maybe I can help?”
That last part was definitely a question. Ben Cready clearly didn’t want to stay any longer than he had to, but it seemed his conscience had forced him to offer anyway.
“Not in bad shape anymore, though.” Jessica lifted both hands and flipped them back and forth as proof. “We’re good now. Thanks.”
“Uh-huh...” He swallowed thickly, spared one more glance at Leandras, then flew down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
> The bank cackled wildly when the sound of Ben slamming his hands against the front door reached them. Then the dangling bell jingled, and pounding footsteps down the sidewalk outside cut off abruptly when the door shut again, followed by the click of the bank locking up all on its own.
‘He ran. He actually ran away from us! I had a running bet with myself about that one, and look at that. I won.’
Cut him some slack. He pulled us out of a really tight spot.
‘Yeah, yeah. I know. But seriously. The last three days have been a hell of a lot more entertaining than I expected.’
Jessica cocked her head and stared at the staircase’s first square landing.
Three days?
‘Yep. You went in, bam, bam, bam, you came back. Honestly, Tabitha’s skittish whatever-he-is wasn’t alone in that one. I thought you’d take longer too.’
“Well that explains why he was still talking out loud to you,” Jessica muttered.
“I assume you’re still not referring to me,” Leandras said.
“No.” She huffed out a wry laugh and turned to face him.
The fae man instantly unfolded his arms and lowered them at his sides, chucking out his intimidation tactics now that it was just the two of them.
‘Just the three of us, you mean. Like old times, huh?’
Not exactly.
Jessica sighed and tried to wipe all expression off her face. “Apparently, in this world, we were only gone for three days.”
“Three.” Leandras narrowed his eyes and scratched the side of his face. “That’s far less than I would have guessed.”
“Yeah, it sure felt longer, didn’t it?”
She hadn’t meant it to come out so sharp, but the flicker in the corner of the fae’s mouth and his gaze dropping to the floor told her she’d hit home again.
‘Ooh, trouble in Guardian paradise, huh? Seriously, Jessica, whatever walls you put up around this missing chunk here in your memory box, feel free to take ’em down. Anytime.’
She didn’t have any walls. As far as the bank was concerned, Jessica Northwood was an open book. With notes in the margins.
‘Not with this. Okay, look. I didn’t wanna say anything before, but now this is apparently what it’s come to. If you found another bank in that creepy other world and got a little too cozy with it, I might have a mental breakdown.’
Jessica snorted and shook her head.
Leandras frowned. “I’m not sure I understand the humor of our situation. Currently.”
She stuck her thumb out toward the wall of the hallway. “The bank’s jealous.”
‘No. That is not what I said.’
“I...” Leandras licked his lips and blinked as he stared at the wall. “Jessica, this isn’t—”
“Yeah, I know. Not funny to everyone. Okay.” She clapped her hands together and raised her eyebrows. “First things first, I guess.”
No idea what came first, but she’d been acting like she was in charge since she’d let the fae tag along across a dead world with her, and it was probably better for both of them if she kept that up.
“Yes.” He stepped toward her, his eyebrows creasing in concern, but stopped quite a bit farther away than usual.
Which was to be expected.
“First, Jessica, I want to...” Leandras sucked in a sharp breath and glanced down at his bare chest, running his fingers down his own flesh as his jaw clenched.
Yes, it was an idle gesture; he was probably thinking about what the fiery fallout of vestrohím magic that would have taken him into an early second grave. Despite everything, Jessica couldn’t help what her eyes told her brain. He was being serious, and she was way too distracted by the half-naked fae stroking his own chest.
‘Oh, I see, I see.’ The bank tittered. ‘Starting to put the pieces together. Does this by any chance have something to do with this chunk of blank witch-brain I’m looking at?’
Jessica ignored the newly returned voice in her head and waited for Leandras to continue.
“Thank you, Jessica.”
She swallowed.
Just like that, revenge fantasies ruined.
‘Revenge?’
Not now.
“Look, I’m...” She sighed. “I’m sorry that turned out as badly as it did. Honestly, I’ve never done that before where there was even a small chance of...you know. Survivors.”
“And I’m incredibly grateful for even a small chance.” Leandras dipped his head and held her gaze, though he didn’t try to approach any closer.
‘Okay, wait, wait, wait. You did that to him? All the burning and oozing and—’ Another gasp made Jessica grit her teeth. ‘Holy shit. Screw the missing chunk of time, witch. I’m getting way more here than I bargained for. Get that slippery fae shithead out of me.’
Plastering a tight, bitter smile across her lips, Jessica lifted a finger. “Will you just...give me a second?”
“Are you all right?”
“Totally. Yeah. I’m just not into being watched while I have a few words with another voice no one else can hear. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Of course. I—”
She was already slipping into her room and closing the door briskly behind her before she leaned back against it and sighed.
Two minutes, bank. I’m giving you two minutes to go through everything that happened and catch yourself up, because I seriously don’t have it in me right now to relive that entire experience.
‘And then...you’ll take down the wall?’
What wall?
‘Yeesh. Okay. A little touchy. I get it. Looks like you had your fair share of life-threatening fun over there, so I tell you what. I’ll cut that time in half. Nah, in four. Hang tight. Maybe hold your breath.’
Jessica rolled her eyes and whispered, “What are you—”
Her entire body grew rigid as the bank rifled through everything that had happened over the last three days here and what felt like three months in Xahar’áhsh. The memories didn’t pull themselves up in her awareness like they had under Ocaiye’s violent scrutiny, but not being able to move was almost just as bad.
Her eyelids fluttered, her breath caught in her throat over and over again, and then the bank released its hold on her and was completely silent.
“Jessica?” Leandras called from the hallway. “Are you—”
“I’m fine.”
He cleared his throat and said nothing else.
So?
‘So what?’
She frowned across her bedroom, but it didn’t matter what part of the bank she looked at in order to keep up a little conversation.
So...any thoughts?
The bank whined in hesitant contemplation. ‘Yeah, I’m gonna need a minute. I think you might puke.’
With a deep breath, she smoothed her hair away from her face and stepped back into the hallway for a second time. Fortunately, there was only the fae man to deal with now.
“Okay. Where were we?”
Still shirtless—still clearly more concerned about her than his own bare chest—Leandras clasped his hands behind his back and nodded. “I was thanking you.”
“Don’t.”
“I can’t help it.” His lips twitched. “I realize accessing the right emotions wasn’t difficult for you, but our attackers perceived it as an opportunity to gain the upper hand. Which they clearly did not. It was a bold move, Jessica. One I would not have thought of myself, given the circumstances.”
Accessing the right emotions. Yeah, that was one way to put it. She hadn’t faked a bit of it trying to fool their ambushing party, but at least she’d been able to use it to her advantage.
‘Uh-huh... I’m picking up on a whole bunch of crazy right now. You don’t trust him, but you can’t kill him. Sounds like a tough place to be.’
Do you have anything to say that I don’t already know?
‘Nope. Just trying to weigh in. Damn, it’s good to have you back.’
Blinking quickly, Jessica shook her head. “I
could have killed you.”
“If you’d really wanted that,” Leandras muttered, “I believe you would have let me die on this floor. Whatever your reasons for not doing so, I am in your debt.”
He placed a hand on his chest again, and Jessica ended up staring at the glowing violet light of the rune on his pectoral peeking out from beneath his fingers.
“I don’t wanna talk about debts right now, okay? Or decisions. Or...anything that’s already happened.” She nodded at the sack of artifacts lying in front of the Gateway door—which was completely dark and silent, like the raging battle on the other side had never existed.
“Of course.” Leandras moved to grab the artifacts, then stopped himself and gestured for Jessica to claim her prize instead.
He was really trying, wasn’t he?
Still not enough to convince her it wasn’t just an act.
She headed down the hall toward the artifacts anyway, but her gaze kept returning to the door.
How had they gotten through?
‘Oh.’ The bank giggled. ‘Yeah, you’re welcome.’
That was you?
The crackle of blue energy around the Gateway’s floating outline at the top of the stairs. The door flying open before Jessica had the chance to try it on her own.
It made sense.
How did you know?
‘Aw, come on. You asked, I answered. Simple as that.’
You heard me without the pendant. And from a completely different world. What part of that is simple?
‘Easy. I...’ The bank was oddly silent as Jessica knelt in front of the canvas sack on the floor. ‘Hmm. Yeah, I guess I didn’t think that one all the way through.’
She couldn’t help a small smile and studied the studded iron door one more time.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
‘I know. Confusing. I don’t like it either. You can thank me later.’
Fortunately, she could smile as much as she wanted with her back to Leandras and this small bit of privacy at the end of the hall. So she did.
The bank was annoying as hell, but they were a team. Jessica had a feeling that made all the difference in the world now that she was back in one piece. She already knew the rest of what she had to do couldn’t be done alone.
The Spellcast Gate (Accessory to Magic Book 5) Page 19