“I’m good,” I said. It came out a little quiet, but not too bad. She gave me second look, the kind of expression moms get when they’re deciding if their kid is lying about being too sick for school or not.
I must have passed the test because she headed back to the car with the man, Brant.
“We should take her to the hospital,” Zay said.
“No,” I said a little stronger. “We should not.”
“Allie. You need a doctor.”
I glanced at the man who had taken my pulse and checked my eyes. “How am I doing?” I asked.
“Your vitals are normal. I think you should see a physician. Just to check things out.”
“I can see Dr. Fischer. Is she still at Kevin’s?” I glanced up at Zay. He just frowned at me.
So I tried the woman Maeve had asked to stay with us. “Irene, do you know where Dr. Fischer is?”
She shook her head. “I could call.”
“Please.”
The EMTs were done checking me over and were typing the results into their handhelds.
“If you’re going to scowl at me,” I said, “could you sit here next to me so I don’t have to squint against that streetlight to see you?”
Zay didn’t move for a moment. Then he sat down next to me on the bumper of the ambulance.
“I’m tired,” I said, taking his hand. “But breathing. That’s good, right?”
He let go of my hand and put his arm around me. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. I could feel every confusing emotion rolling through him.
I’d died.
I couldn’t blame him for being a little overprotective.
“She’s at Mr. Cooper’s place,” Irene said. “She said she’d be happy to see you there, or meet you at a hospital.”
“I’ll see her there,” I said. “After we find out if Shame and Terric are okay. Maybe we should send the ambulance down for them?”
Just as I said that, the SUV drove up.
Zay stood, and I stood with him. He kept his arm around me, and I was grateful for it.
Maeve stepped out of the car. “They’re fine. The Veiled are gone and the well is locked. You’re done. All of you. Is she all right?” Maeve asked.
The woman nodded. “Wouldn’t hurt her to be seen by a doctor. But she checks out.”
“Come back with us,” Maeve said. “Dr. Fischer is there, Zayvion. She has all the equipment needed to make sure Allison is well.”
“Let’s go,” I said when Zay didn’t move.
That’s when I realized it wasn’t just me who was hurting. He was in a fair share of pain too.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I thought about making the EMTs check him out, but we were at the car door by the time that whole idea came together. And all I really wanted was a place to sit and close my eyes for a few minutes. I didn’t think Zayvion was in a deadly amount of pain. We’d be at Kevin’s soon. So I let it slide and got into the car, hauling myself across the middle seat.
Terric and Shame were already sleeping or passed out in the backseat. They were both leaning against opposite windows, each of them pillowing their heads with one hand. Their other hands were still clasped.
I didn’t see magic around them. At all. Hell, I didn’t see any magic, not even around Stone, who finally decided to crawl up into the SUV and plant himself in the space between the driver’s and passenger’s seats.
Eleanor was sitting behind Shame, her back against the seatback, facing out the rear window.
Zay stretched one leg out beside Stone, and then draped his arm over the back of the seat. I didn’t even bother with the seat belt. I leaned into Zay, inhaled the familiar, comforting scent of pine, and gratefully closed my eyes.
Chapter Sixteen
The short nap in the car turned into a longer nap, curled up beside Zayvion in one of the luxurious beds at Kevin’s place. I heard Dr. Fischer come in and check on us. I suppose she ran some tests, though I didn’t feel a thing, nor did I care to.
I really woke up to the sound of Zay snoring. I pushed at his shoulder to tell him to roll over. He didn’t move. So I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling for a couple of minutes, listening to him breathe.
From the light coming in through the window I could tell it was morning. Still pretty early though; the light washing the room fell in tepid blues.
I knew I should push myself out of bed, get an update on Leander and Isabelle, check to see if Davy, Sunny, or Collins had checked in. Maybe find out if the people sick from tainted magic were doing any better.
You know, be a leader.
Instead, I rolled over and put my forehead into the side of Zay’s arm, holding on to him.
I’d died.
I’d walked toward that light willingly, not caring what I was leaving behind. Not caring who I was leaving behind. I would have lost him, left him alone in the middle of a fight that we hadn’t even finished preparing for, if it hadn’t been for the promise he had anchored inside me.
“You didn’t leave me,” he said softly.
I must have been thinking too loudly.
“If Shame hadn’t stopped me, I would have,” I mumbled into his arm. “I’m so sorry.”
He wiped his face with his other hand and checked the bedside clock.
“I would have come for you,” he said. “I would have brought you home.”
“Is that what you and Shame were arguing about when I woke up?”
“At the crypt? Yes. I knew I could open a gate, pull your spirit out of death.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Roman has all the gates locked down. No one opens a gate—a real one, not technologically created with whatever sort of thing Collins used—until Roman’s spirit crosses, finally, into death. It’s one of the final things a Guardian of the gate can do. Lock all gates in their city so that no one can get in, or out.”
“Sounds like Collins made a gate.”
“He created a hole in space.”
“That’s different?”
“Yes.”
“What if we wanted to open a gate? Or needed to?”
Zay rolled over, propped his head on one hand, and brushed my bangs away from my face. “I’d take care of it.”
“What? Just you?”
“Yes. Guardian of the gate. I’m the only one who can open the lock that Roman’s soul set on the gates when he died.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good.”
“It is. And I’m not going to open the gates, so Leander and Isabelle will have to get here the old-fashioned way. Car or plane. We’ll know when they’re coming. We’ll have warning.”
“That’s even better.” I shifted closer to him, wrapping one leg over his and scooting so I was pressed against him.
“God, you feel good,” he said.
“So do you.”
He slipped his hand away from my face, and slid it up under my shirt instead, his palm warm and calloused, stroking across my stomach and ribs, and then resting beneath my breast. “How good?”
“Mm.” I tipped my face up and kissed him. It felt like it had been forever since I’d kissed him, since we’d touched. I got lost in that, lost in the sensation of being here with him, of being alive, warm, and needful.
A lazy stroke of heat pushed down my chest, my stomach, and slid between my legs.
I wanted more than a kiss. Much, much more.
Zay shifted onto his back so I could straddle him and get my hands up under his shirt. Why was he even wearing a shirt in bed? Wasn’t that against some kind of guy rule?
He chuckled, catching my thought, then half sat so I could pull his shirt off over his head.
“Hey, lover,” I said, softly, resting my hands on his bare chest.
“Hey.” He gently massaged his thumbs over my hip bones. I was still wearing my jeans. Not for long.
The door burst open. “Allie, Zayvion,” Kevin said. “Sorry to wake you but we have news. Oh.
I should have knocked.”
I took a deep breath and let it out, not looking away from Zayvion.
He was still looking at me too. But we both knew that was all the time we were going to get for a while.
“Would have been nice,” Zayvion said to Kevin, or maybe to me.
I smiled softly, agreeing. “What news?” I asked as I eased off of Zayvion’s lap, trying not to get tangled in the blankets.
Zay fished around for his shirt, found it, unwadded it, and pulled it back on.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and tried out my first standing maneuver. Landed it. Go, me.
“It’s Eli Collins.” Kevin held out a cell phone. “He wants to talk to you, Allie.”
I stayed where I was, holding on to the bedpost, and stuck out one hand. Kevin crossed the room and handed the phone to me.
“Really,” he said to Zayvion, “sorry.”
“Forgiven,” Zay said. “Did he tell you anything?”
“Just that he had to speak to Allie. Immediately. Sounds like he’s on the run.”
“This is Allie,” I said, thumbing it on speaker so Zay and Kevin could hear too.
“We have Michael and Lark. It took some…convincing.” He paused to breathe for a second. “They’re willing to come with us. I have a place I’m taking them. Safe. I’m dumping the phone after this call. I have one more stop to make.”
“Understood.” The stop was probably another set of Soul Complements. “Is everyone alive?”
“No casualties. The Overseer is in total control. Everyone in the Authority, in the world, believes she is still Margaret Stafford. She told them the Authority has been infiltrated and compromised by a man who is controlling Soul Complements to bring the organization and magic into his control.”
“Who?”
“Daniel Beckstrom.”
“What the hell? They know he’s dead. Everyone knows he’s dead.”
“Listen to me, Allie. They believe her. They believe anything Leander and Isabelle say while they are wearing her skin. If she says Daniel Beckstrom, one of the strongest and most brilliant magic users of our generation, found a way to cheat death, they’ll believe her. She sent teams to lock up Soul Complements until she can be there personally to kill them.”
“Holy shit,” I said. “Where is she now?”
“She’s been through New York and Chicago. As I understand it, she’s on her way to Nebraska. We’ll try to get there first.”
“Good. Be careful.”
“Wait,” he said. The phone crinkled with static, as if he had to drop it, or hide it, and then pull it up to his mouth again. “She has an army. Poised in every city. Magic users waiting for her signal.”
“Signal for what?”
“To blow Portland, Oregon, off the map.”
Chapter Seventeen
“They want to destroy us with magic?” I asked Collins, who was still on speakerphone.
“Yes.”
If they really wanted to blow up the entire city, magic was the worst way to do it. For one thing, all those deaths carried a huge price to pay. For another, a well-placed bomb would do just as much or more damage.
“Do you know any more on that?”
“No.”
“Stay safe and stay out of the way,” I said. “Keep the people with you safe, got that?”
“Allison,” he started. “I thought I’d have time. To talk to you. To explain some things.”
“You will. After this is all over. Don’t do anything stupid. Just do the job, okay?”
“In case we don’t have time…this isn’t how I hoped the world would be. I wanted a chance to tell you, I’m sorry. For our past. I was an idiot. I never should have doubted you. I never should have turned away.”
“Later,” I said, not knowing what the hell he was talking about. “If you can get us word that you’ve secured Nebraska, do so.”
“Good-bye, Allison,” he said.
It sounded strangely permanent. What a drama queen.
“Good-bye, Eli.”
I hung up. During the phone call, several people had walked into the room. Maeve, Victor, and Detective Stotts. I was really glad I was wearing clothes.
“Did you get most of that?” I asked.
Everyone nodded.
“We have magic locked down, right?” I asked.
“Yes,” Victor said. “All the wells are closed.”
“Then we need to know what resources we’ll have against their attack,” I said. “If they’re traveling by conventional means and they’re in Nebraska, we only have a few hours at best before they’re on our doorstep. Let’s take this somewhere else other than the bedroom. Someplace where enough of us can talk this out.”
Nola showed up at the door with a bed tray of coffee and two covered plates. “Oh,” she said. “I didn’t realize there was a meeting going on.”
“Just started,” I said. “We’re moving to a different room. Kevin, want to lead the way?”
“Sure.” Kevin took his phone back and started out the door.
I was the last out of the room, having taken the time to shove my feet into my boots and grab up my coat from the back of the door. Zayvion took the time to do the same.
Before I stepped out into the hallway, he caught my hand.
“Is there any way I can talk you out of being in the middle of this?” he asked.
“Weren’t you the one who voted me into the middle of this in the first place?”
“Yes, I was. That was before I knew magic was killing you. That was before I knew they were going to name your father—in you—their target. That was before I…lost you.”
I studied his face. Zay was always so careful not to let too many emotions show, always so careful to be the dutiful and upstanding Guardian of the gate, protector of the city. But the man before me was more than just a soldier in the fight. He was my lover, my soul. And he looked so very worried about me.
I stepped in closer to him and brushed my fingers over the lines across his forehead. “I’m going to be okay. But I can’t just walk away from this now. At least now we know they want Dad dead. That’s something, right? Maybe it will help us anticipate their actions, give us an advantage.”
Zay drew his arms around me. “I could take us away. Open the gates. We could run.”
“For the rest of our lives?” I searched his eyes. “That’s what we’d be doing. Running forever. Even if we found a way to exorcize Dad from my brain, Leander and Isabelle aren’t going to let any Soul Complements live. And who’s going to stop them if we’re gone?”
“I didn’t expect you to say yes,” he said quietly.
“I know,” I said.
He kissed me and I lost myself to that—to the awareness of him, alive, holding me, loving me, his heart beating so strong I could feel it against my chest. I refused to believe this would be the last time he and I would be together. We weren’t going to lose this fight. We couldn’t.
When he finally drew away, I wanted to tell him I’d changed my mind. That maybe we could just run for the rest of our lives. Instead, I pulled my shoulders back and walked down the hall toward whichever meeting room Kevin was headed to.
Zayvion hesitated. Long enough, I almost slowed to see if he was following me. Finally, I heard his footsteps on the carpet behind me. And then he was beside me.
At his touch, my heartbeat settled into a more normal rhythm. I did not want to do this alone. Didn’t want to even think of doing it without Zayvion beside me.
It was time to make plans. And I needed every resource we had.
Including my father.
Dad? I thought as we walked down the curved staircase to the main floor.
I’m here, he said.
He may still be in my head, but he sounded very, very weak. I could usually feel his presence, sense his thoughts. But he was nothing but a disembodied voice.
Are you okay?
Allison, he said, irritated, I’m dead. Of course I’m not okay.
He didn’t sound any stronger, but at least I knew he was in his normal humor.
Kevin walked toward us across the ballroom floor. “I’ve put us up in the first meeting room.”
“Is there coffee?” I asked, falling into step behind him.
“And breakfast. Nola’s made sure there’s plenty for everyone.”
I smiled. That sounded like her. “Good. I’m starving.”
The meeting room was probably half the size of the ballroom. There was a small stage at one side of the room, but the rest of it was set up with tables. Nola and a crew had brought in restaurant-style warmers filled with food and were serving up plates. Cody Miller was beside her, chatting with people and dishing up eggs.
I got in line, Zay right behind me.
Stone, Dad said.
What about him?
Where is he?
It was my turn in line and I held my plate for Nola. “You’ve been busy,” I said.
She nodded. “So have you. Are you okay?”
“Now that there isn’t a speck of magic left accessible in Portland? Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good.”
Which was true. Nonmagic and me were getting along splendidly right now.
“Plus, I got your cookie.”
She placed a pile of silver-dollar pancakes on my plate, then added several strips of bacon.
“They called the ambulance for you,” she said as I moved down to Cody and eggs, and Zay stepped up for pancakes and bacon.
“They overreacted. I was knocked out. That’s all.”
Nola looked a question at Zay.
“We did not overreact. She wasn’t breathing.”
“You shouldn’t even be out of bed,” Nola said.
“Dr. Fischer cleared me, right?” I nodded to Cody, who spooned spiced scrambled eggs next to the bacon.
“Yes,” Nola said hesitantly.
“Then I’m okay. For now. Trust me, when this is all over, I’m going to sleep for a month.”
“Is that enough?” Cody asked. Then, “Eggs. Is that enough eggs?”
It was still a little strange to talk to Cody now that both parts of his mind had been rejoined. Sometimes, he still seemed young and uncertain. Other times much older. And then there were times, like this moment, when he seemed his age—somewhere comfortably in his twenties.