Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2) (24 page)

BOOK: Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2)
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Her eyes narrowed and her lips became a thin white line beneath her nose.

“Or… I guess you can blame me. But, I only have eyes for you.”

I felt the tug of magic like he’d used on Heather… like Trey had used on me. Mariah’s eyes dilated and the stern look on her face softened as her frown turned into a smile. I was really surprised she wasn’t drooling down her chin. She reached up and touched Alec’s face. “Ahh. You’re so sweet, Al.” She leaned in and kissed him in a way that wasn’t really appropriate in the middle of a group of people—not that I had any room to talk.

Halli cleared her throat once, twice. The third time she slapped her hand on the small table in front of where the kissing was taking place, and heating up. Alec had to forcefully push Mariah’s face from his to break the lip-lock she had on him.

I shook my head and sat on Johnathan’s lap since all the other seats were taken. He wrapped both arms around my waist and hugged me against him. He put his lips to my ear and whispered, “We aren’t that disgustingly annoying are we?”

I shrugged. “I don’t really care if we are.”

His breath on my ear and neck sent a shiver through me.

Mariah laid her head on Alec’s shoulder. Alec looked at me. “What else does that paper say?”

I found the spot I’d left off and continued reading. “Visitors must leave personal items in their car or placed in lockers provided. At discretion of staff, visits can be terminated for any inappropriate interactions.” I looked at Alec and raised my eyebrows at him. “Another thing I noticed that might be a problem was the metal detectors. Our magic could wreak havoc with those things.”

Seth grinned. “You can’t exactly use your ‘natural’ talents on a metal detector, can ya Alice?”

“Ha, ha. Funny Seth,” Alec said. “We’ll tackle that problem when we get to it. Anything else, Paige?”

“Nope, that’s about it. You just need to remember you’re over eighteen.”

Joe leaned against the small sink, stretching his long legs as far as he could in the cramped quarters. “So, what else did you find out?”

Alec answered. “She’s there. We can’t see her today, we had to get on a list and her treatment team has to okay the visit. We can come back tomorrow night during visiting hours and see if we’re cleared.”

“And, if you aren’t?” Halli asked.

Alec leveled a steely gaze out the window facing the Forensic building. “I’ll get in to see her one way or another… tomorrow. I’m not waiting any longer than that.”

ariah had to get back to Moab because she had to work the next day. We got a couple of rooms at a hotel within walking distance to the hospital and ordered pizza delivery. Mariah hung out with us until late, when we all started talking about going to bed. She kissed Alec and lingered at the door a little longer. “Are you sure you don’t need me to come back and pick you up in a day or two?”

“Naw. We can just portal back.” Alec gave her one last quick kiss and Joe handed her enough cash to make it back to Moab. “See ya’ in a couple days.” Alec closed the door behind her.

Halli and I hung out in the boys’ room for a while after Mariah left.

I sat next to Johnathan on the dresser, leaning against the mirror. “So, it appears Alec has another talent we didn’t know about,” I said.

Joe’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, really? Do tell.”

I blocked the pillow that came flying at me from where Alec sat on one of the double beds. “He got a little something from his dad’s side of the family.”

Johnathan stiffened. “What does that mean?”

I squeezed his hand. “Relax, John. Alec just used a little
persuasion
on the girl behind the desk at the hospital. He used it on Mariah in the camper, too, when she was mad at him. What he has referred to all this time as his chick-magnetism, good looks, and charm, has actually been a bit of Incubus-infused spell casting.”

Johnathan looked ready to pounce. “You’re like him? Like an Incubus?”

“Johnny, man, I didn’t know I was doing it. Paige told me afterwards that I was emitting something similar to… to the Incubus. I don’t think it’s the same thing, though.”

Johnathan looked at me. “Was it the same?”

I touched Johnathan’s face. “Not exactly. The girl was already well on her way to succumbing to his natural charms, he just gave her a little magical push. And, I believe him when he says he didn’t realize he was doing it. The shock on his face when I told him was real.”

Johnathan looked back and forth from Alec to me. “What kind of influence did it have on
you
?”

I rolled my eyes. “None whatsoever. Eww. The spell was just familiar to me—I recognized it for what it was. Relax. Alec
is
the offspring of an Incubus. That doesn’t mean he’s like his progenitor.”

Johnathan rolled his shoulders and relaxed his grip on my hand.

“Yeah,” Alec said. “I’m not like my pro… what Paige said. I mean, I like girls and all… a lot. But I want them to like me for me, not because I coerced them. It did come in handy at the hospital, though.”

“Just keep your special talent away from Paige,” Johnathan said, steel in his voice.

Halli piped up, “Keep your voodoo charms away from me, too.”

Everyone laughed and Alec threw a pillow at her, which she promptly karate chopped to the floor.

“I’m pretty sure we’re immune to his
charms
, Hal,” I said, laughing.

I slid off the dresser and pulled on Johnathan’s hand. “Let’s go walk some of that pizza off.”

We grabbed our jackets and headed out into the clear, cold night.

“Where do you want to go?” Johnathan asked, gripping my hand in his.

“I don’t care. I just wanted to be alone with you for a little while. Let’s head toward the mountains and just see where we end up.”

He smiled and kissed me on the lips before starting to walk. “This reminds me of our patrols in Seattle. I wanted to be alone with you so bad back then. I just didn’t know how to go about it. And, I didn’t know if you felt the same way about me.”

“I’ve loved you since day one, Johnathan.”

“Me too. From the first time I saw your beautiful blue eyes. You looked so scared and lost. All I wanted to do was take you in my arms and protect you forever. That’s still all I want to do. Especially the taking you in my arms part.”

The streets of Provo were all but deserted as we made our way past the University campus. The air was crisp; we could see each puff of breath.

“It reminds me of our patrols, too, except there aren’t a lot of alleys to hide in. And, it feels safer here.”

“Don’t let that feeling fool you. I’m sure it is safer here, but there are bad people and bad things everywhere. Don’t ever let your guard down.”

We walked until we reached the base of a mountain then we hiked up to where we found cover in a small grove of Quaking Aspen trees. We lay on the leaf strewn ground and looked up between the bare branches to the stars above.

“There are so many stars here. I never realized how the lights of Seattle obscured the stars. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked.

Johnathan pulled me tight against his side and I laid my head on his arm. “It is an amazing sight,” he said. “But I know something much more beautiful.”

He rose up on his elbow and laid his other arm across my abdomen. He looked intently into my eyes. “I love you so much.” His mouth closed on mine and I lost myself in the kiss, in the feeling of his warm lips pressing into mine, his arm tightening around me, pulling me closer against him.

The soft touch of Johnathan’s tongue as it traced first my upper lip and then moved slowly to the bottom one, brought waves of butterflies from my stomach all the way up into my throat.

I felt a wisp of something fall against the side of my face. I raised a hand to swipe at it and pulled away from the kiss when my hand met a nearly invisible barrier.

“What’s wrong?” Johnathan said, eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

I tried to move again, only to finally see the spider-web thin net that completely covered both of us.

“What the…?” Johnathan said as he noticed it, too. He tried to sit up but the edges of the net were pulled tight and he was forced back down next to me.

A voice reminiscent of a Munchkin crossed with an angry alley cat cackled with giggling laughter. “Kissers! We got some Kissers.” This was followed by disgusting, wet, kissing noises. We were surrounded, as other voices joined in with mocking laughter.

I conjured a
star-bright
in my hand bright enough to make out a couple of our captors. They were small, about the size of four or five year old kids. Their smashed noses—dripping with green slime—large misshapen ears, sunken eyes and hairy chins were all evidence that these were definitely not children. They were, in fact, full grown Goblins. The most mischievous of mischief makers in the magical world. And, they weren’t even trying to hide what they were from us—neither of us had our
sight
open.

“Ooh! Magickers! We caught us some kissing magickers! Hehehe!” The Goblin who spoke did a little dance—wiggling his hips and kicking his short little legs—much like the celebratory dance of a cocky football player.

“Yep. We’re magic all right,” Johnathan said, low and growling. “And you little thugs have no idea how much trouble you’ve just gotten yourselves into.”

I took that as his signal to act. Neither of us bothered with the net, there would be time for that after we rid the Earth of the miniature gangsters surrounding us. I shot lightning bolts over Johnathan’s flank and he shot a spell from his hand that lay over my body. I struck the heckling, laughing Goblin first. He instantly vaporized into a pile of green ichor. I didn’t even pause as I picked off three more of them before they could so much as turn to run.

The net loosened around us and I flipped over so my back was against Johnathan’s chest, blue sparks still shooting from my fingertips. He hadn’t left me anything to shoot at. I wasn’t sure what spell he used on them, but it was an effective one—the trees around us were splattered with steaming droplets of Goblin goo.

I tilted my head back to make sure there weren’t any more behind us as Johnathan surveyed the area around our feet. We’d taken care of the lot of them in less than five seconds.

I relaxed back against Johnathan and forced the thrumming bolts of electricity to subside from my fingertips. “Got ‘em all,” I said. “Now let’s get out of this net.”

Before Johnathan could reply, musical laughter filled the air from high up in one of the surrounding trees. “Thou most certainly got them, didn’st thou?”

Johnathan tensed. I attempted to sit up, but the net frustrated my efforts. Another tinkling laugh came from a new direction.

As fast as a couple of hummingbirds darting between sweet blossoms, two Faeries alit on opposite sides of the net. They each reached a delicate hand down to touch it, and said a quick spell in Faerie-speak.

I felt something change about the net. “What did you just do?” I asked, touching it warily with my fingers.

Johnathan and I both attempted to lift the net. The spider web-like material stuck tighter against us and I could see where the edges were somehow pinned to the ground to the sides of us.

The musical, tinkling laughter filled my ears again. “Thou shall find out what I did if thou usest thy magic. Go ahead, tryeth.”

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