PHENOMENAL GIRL 5 (34 page)

“Wh-what?” I had at least shocked Luke out of his rage.
He glanced back at her. “I don’t…I mean, it’s not like…It’s out of the question; she’d never…”

Wesley gave me a warm look. “Sounds familiar.”

Then he motioned me over and I knew what was coming. But if it would help, I’d do it. “Sorry about this, my love,” he said.

I didn’t get a chance to brace myself as he reached out for me. The pain hit me harder than it had before, coursing through as one solid wave. I grabbed hold of the table for support, choking back vomit and tears as my head pounded. I could hear Wesley chanting in Italian, and my skin vibrated as the magic took effect.

I focused on Luke. “When Mindy wakes up, you should tell her. Better yet, don’t say anything, just take her on this table.” I heard Wesley snort. “She’ll appreciate it, trust me.”

Luke shook his head. “It’s not like that at all, Lainey. We’re more like brother and sister.”

I didn’t have the strength to argue with him. “Fine, be more stupid, Luke. I’m going to take a nap now.”

I heard Wesley snap, “Well, grab her, Luke!” before I passed out.

I woke several hours later in my own bed with Wesley beside me.

“Did you hit me with a spell and take advantage of me?” I asked, giving him half a smile.

He brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “I wouldn’t need a spell, now would I?”

“No.” I lifted the covers. “I seem to remember passing out fully clothed, though.”

“I just wanted to make you comfortable.”

“Then I’d be in a sweatshirt and pants.” I tried to sit up and found I still felt too dizzy. “Is Simon okay? What about Mindy?”

He sighed. “I couldn’t heal Simon completely, but he is
alive, which was touch and go for a while. His senator father has him being looked after by the best doctors in the country, so I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’ll live to hold his beloved press conference.”

“He did help when he was needed,” I reminded Wes.

“True. He has potential
—
if he would just get over himself.”

“I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” I admitted. “What about Mindy?”

“Toby found some sort of healing orb the aliens gave her, so that helped a lot. It’s a good thing, because I was pretty tapped out after Simon. But she’s good and resting. She’ll probably have to take it easy for a bit.”

My stomach flipped again. “This is all my fault.”

Wesley frowned. “How so?”

“If I hadn’t been here, he wouldn’t have gone after them. He was trying to draw me out.”

“You can’t do that, Lainey. You can’t blame yourself. If it wasn’t the Dragon, it would be someone else
—
you know how this life is. And maybe, if you weren’t here, the Dragon might have already cast the world into darkness by now. You may be the only thing holding everything together.”

I gulped. “No pressure or anything, Wes.”

“You’re doing fine. Better than fine, actually. You’re wonderful.” He kissed me softly.

I held on to him and kissed him back, taking strength from his presence and his love. And then I noticed something.

“Wes, did you feel the need to get comfortable as well?” I said, moving a hand in between us, finding bare skin and more bare skin.

His smile was mischievous. “Maybe.”

“Wes?” I moved my hand lower.

“Yes?”

“I think you have more making up to do for not talking to me for so long,” I said, kissing him again.

Maybe it was selfish to lose myself with my love after everything that had happened to my friends today, but I felt like Cassandra, doomed to see her people’s downfall and unable to stop it. I needed something to live for, and he had just what I needed.

Wesley had been looking jittery all morning—not that I blamed him. But there was something new to his obvious discomfort, something other than the fact that two of our colleagues were sleeping off grievous injuries from the day before.

“We just bought the coffee, why is it you look like you’ve drank ten espressos already?” I asked, sipping the caramel latte the barista had just handed me.

Wesley held his espresso but didn’t drink it. “It’s tension.”

“Yeah, you do look tense,” I agreed, frowning as I took another sip. “It’s the stress of always being on guard for the Dragon. You’re not doing enough meditating.” I gave him a saucy look.

“It’s more than that,” Wesley said, not catching the joke. “I can feel the tension in the magic.”

“The tension in the magic?” I raised an eyebrow. “Cue the overly dramatic scary music.”

“Now is not the time to be making jokes,” he snapped.

I gave him a sideways glance as I hit the elevator button to go back upstairs. “Now is the time for you to switch to decaf, Mr. No Sense of Humor.” I took another sip of coffee. “I think the milk is off; this tastes weird. Try it.”

“You need to take this Dragon threat seriously, and if you think it’s off, why do you need me to taste it? Am I your
food taster now?” He punched the elevator button again and sighed.

I almost snapped back at him. “I
am
taking the Dragon seriously. That’s all I’ve done from the day I got my soul eaten! People keep getting hurt, including my friends, somebody wants to impregnate me with a demon baby…all because some nutjob wants to blow up the world? The only thing decent in all of that time has been this.” I motioned back and forth between him and me. “Us. The Dragon’s assault will come any day now, according to all those moldy books upstairs you and Rath have been translating, and I’d like for us to not fight each other. I’m sorry for making jokes and trying to forget that dark, lurking evil is, well, lurking. Ready to pounce at any moment.” The elevator appeared and we stepped inside. “And maybe I just have morning mouth or something, and that’s why the coffee tastes off, which is why I wanted your opinion. I’d hate to throw it away and waste four bucks.”

“I have enough money to not worry about your wasting four dollars, love.” He took the cup from me and sipped. “And it tastes fine, except for that awful caramel syrup you have them put in it.”

“See, my taste can’t be trusted.” I took the cup back. “And you may have more money than the Swiss National bank, but I don’t.”

“You will once this chaos is over.”

“Is there a cash reward for saving the world from the apocalypse or something?” It occurred to me then what he might be driving at, considering how close he’d acted toward me lately. It was as close as a someone stuck in his own world like Robert or Wes would ever act, and I loved him for it. “Oh, my God. You did not just propose to me in an elevator!” The doors dinged open.

“Alright, I didn’t.” He stepped out.

I followed. “Without even a ring!”

“What, like this one?” He turned and snapped open a jewelry box.

I stared. “Wow. That is truly a rock.”

He snapped it shut again. “But since this conversation never happened…”

I caught his arm. “When I tell this story to our kids, it will be infinitely more romantic.”

“Roses, champagne, and no apocalypse?” He put the ring on my finger.

“Something like that.” I kissed him by way of saying yes to his unanswered question.

It seemed like reality shifted under us, but not in a good way. A wave of dread and revulsion swept through me, and what felt like an electric current tingled in my spine. Wesley turned pale and I knew he felt it too.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

“It’s the reason for all the tension,” he answered.

Then the alarms proved him right, howling to life, and we headed toward the war room, everyone else appearing in our wake.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Mindy and Rath sat the monitors, looking terrified.

“This is it,” Mindy said.

“The Dragon?”

“Power level’s off the charts,” Rath said. “It’s as if a bomb went off, magically speaking. And the timing is right.”

“He’s opened a portal,” Wesley said from behind us. “It’s leaking out all kinds of nightmarish things.”

I glanced back at him. “How do you know?”

“I can feel it.”

I wasn’t going to argue with magic hunches.

“He’s right,” Rath said. “The Dragon’s opened a gateway—not the big one he intends as a final destruction of the world, but something almost as bad. Every team in the country is heading for the site, but you’re the only one that can close it.” He looked at Wesley.

“I don’t know if I can anymore. My power’s been depleted, remember?”

“A couple of other minor magic users are heading that way as well,” Rath said. “Together you may all be able to close it, but you’re the only one with the knowledge to actually do so. You’ll just have to boost your power.”

I sighed. “Oh, thrill.”

“I’m calling Fantazia. It’s about time she got involved.” Wesley looked around. “Who’s going to stay with Lainey?”

“We’re going to need most of the team to help with the cleanup,” Rath said.

“
Someone
has to stay. This is exactly the kind of distraction he needs for the main event. And we know time is running out.” Wesley picked up the phone and dialed, probably calling one of Fantazia’s bodyguards.

Rath shrugged in surrender. “I’ll stay, along with Paul and Toby.”

“They’re our heaviest hitters!” Kate said, walking up. “The rest of us aren’t exactly long-range.”

“Mindy, load them up on weapons,” Rath said.

Tekgrrl nodded. “We’ll be linked up, sir.”

“I’ll stand by,” Rath said as they exited to prepare for battle.

Wesley put his arms around me. “Be careful, Lainey.”

“I think I’m the one who should be saying that, not you. You’re the one going off into battle.” I was worried. I wanted to be there if he was going to risk his life against demon hordes. And I couldn’t forget the prophecy, and the mention of a noble sacrifice, and the fact that he had just proposed to me…

“You’re not safe, either.”

“One of those magic hunches?” I joked.

“I’m not taking all of the power you can give me, just in case. Fire spells are always helpful; if you need to, use one. And keep that circle of protection on you at
all times
.”

I pulled the chain out from under my shirt to show him. “It’s right here. It always is.”

“Good girl.” He pulled me to him and kissed me lingeringly. For some reason, his kiss scared me. As if he thought one of us was going to die…

“Sorry, my love,” he said, and I felt the familiar pain of the draining spell. I swayed, but didn’t fall. He hadn’t taken enough to weaken me, just to make me dizzy.

“Wes, you need more.” I was worried. He’d never be able to close the portal with that, and he also needed to be able to defend himself.

“I’ll get more.” He looked over my shoulder, and I turned to see who he was looking at. Rath. “Sorry, Ben, but I can’t leave her completely defenseless. I know how hard this is on you.”

Rath sighed. “It’s alright. Go ahead.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’re a magic-user?” I sputtered.

Rath shook his head. “Just barely. I’m like you, I have enough power to do a few low-level spells, but it weakens me. And since my power comes from him as his child…”

Wesley walked over to him, and I saw Rath sway under the spell. “I’m sorry, Ben.”

“I said it was alright,” Rath snapped, and I reached out and grabbed him before he could fall.

“Be careful,” Wesley said, and then he picked up a transporter, sliding it onto his belt. He keyed in the coordinates of his destination and looked at me again, as if he wanted to memorize my face.

His behavior was freaking me out. “Wes?”

“Yes?”

“Nice costume.”

He looked down at his dark pants and shirt and shrugged. “I told you, I don’t wear them. Wait.” He said something in Italian, and his black leather coat appeared. “Better?”

“It’s very badass,” I agreed.

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“Definitely.” We shared a moment of staring into each other’s eyes.

Rath groaned and straightened himself. “I’m leaving before the sexual tension gets too thick.”

As soon as the door closed behind him, Wesley grabbed me and kissed me as if the end of the world was coming.

“Damn,” I breathed when he finally released me. “That was a life-altering kiss.”

He held me tight against him, so close I could hear his heart beating through his shirt and coat. “In all of my many lives, I never had someone affect me like you do. I love you more than any other woman across all of time.”

“I love you, too,” I said, clutching him. I felt tears run down my cheek. “But don’t do this. It makes it sound like one of us is going to die, and we’ve both survived that once already.”

“We’re not so lucky to do it more than once.”

“Hey, we just got engaged, remember? You’re not getting out of it that easy,” I teased. “Go save the world.”

“If something happens, do me a huge favor.”

“Anything.”

“This time, tell me we’re in love instead of leaving me to guess.” He gave me a rueful smile. “And my journal is on your bookshelf next to my book of poetry. This time I wrote down the important things right off.”

“Computer passwords, for one?”

He smiled. “I love you.” Then he shimmered and disappeared.

“Love you, too,” I whispered. My heart felt like it was going to break. I couldn’t help but think, because of that stupid prophecy: he was going to have to sacrifice himself to stop the Dragon. I knew he would do it in an instant, because that was the kind of hero he was, even if it truly meant the end of his long life.

Stop
, I ordered myself. I would always worry about him in
battles, but death had less of a sting with him. He would always be back.
Always
.

But
I
wouldn’t. Eventually, one day, I would be gone. And he would have to go on. Find someone else. Like he had since the dawn of time.

With those dark thoughts, I turned to watch the monitors.

Rath walked back in with Paul and Toby in tow. “He’s gone?”

I nodded. “Now we get to watch from the sidelines.”

An hour later, I felt like we were on the sidelines of World War Three.