Chapter 13

Madds’ place was odd, to put it mildly. But if you could get past the guards on every level, the half-collapsed walls in some of the rooms, and the rats sniffing about, it wasn’t all that bad.

At one time it had been an office building, maybe? But the original use of the building had long since disappeared with Madds’ mad decorating skills. On our way to the barracks where we were spending the night, we had passed rooms with doors hanging open and filled to the brim with what looked like copious amounts of junk piled almost to the ceiling. Other rooms appeared to contain just books and paintings. I wanted to stop and poke around some, but the two guards and Zoe walking ahead of us were very intent on getting us to our destination without any stops.

Six floors later, and me gasping like my lungs had been ripped out with a fork, we were shown to a dark room that hadn’t seen a coat of paint since before I’d been born. The gray, peeling walls were lined with cots, three to each side, and piled high with blankets. The cots made me almost do a jig in excitement. Mattresses. We seriously got to sleep on a mattress tonight.

As Starke poked around the room, Jill and I plopped down on our cots of choice. I laid down, almost groaning in pleasure as my body sank into the softness underneath me and I closed my eyes. I rubbed the spot on the inside of my elbow where Madds had extracted his vials of magic. The extraction had taken its toll. I was tired.I was going to sleep like a baby tonight.

“Here.” Zoe’s voice interrupted my moment of bliss. I pried open an eye as she dropped a couple of articles of clothing on the cot next to me.

“Clean clothes. Nothing fancy, but they should work.”

I sat up and watched as Jill unrolled a jumpsuit similar to what Zoe wore, only these were topped with red as compared to her all black. Hmm. Red. As in expendable crew member red.

“Showers are through there. Towels are—"

“Shut your mouth,” I cried in disbelief as I leaped to my feet, my tiredness forgotten. “Did you just say showers? As in hot water and soap showers?”

A line puckered between her brows as she stared at me. “Uh, I was trying to say that until you cut me off.”

“Oh my God, I could kiss you right now.”

“Yeah, don’t.” She backed up a couple of steps like she was scared I would actually try it. “Towels and soap are over there in those lockers. Word of advice? You probably should take those showers as soon as possible.”

I crossed my arms and raised a brow. “Are you saying we stink?”

“Yes.” The girl was blunt. “The hot water doesn’t last long so unless you don’t mind ice cold showers, I’d make it quick.” She placed her hands on her hips and looked around the room. “The lower levels are off limits during the night. Everything is sealed and alarmed, so if you’re aiming to go get a midnight snack, you’re out of luck. There is a nice rooftop patio, though, if you need some fresh air. Just make sure you let the guards know you’re out there. Don’t want them to shoot any of you by accident. Too messy. Okay, that’s everything I guess. Try and get some sleep.”

“Thank you, Zoe,” Starke spoke quietly from across the room.

She stiffened at his voice. Obviously, she still hadn’t warmed up to Starke like the rest of us.

“For what?” she asked.

“For accepting your destiny and aligning with us. Being an elemental is not always easy. The lives of so many rests in our hands. Not all are up to the task. You, I believe, are.”

She showed no emotion as she stared him down. “Let’s get one thing straight. I’m not doing this for any of you. I’m doing this for my world and my people. I’m doing this for me. I want to be there when your mother takes her last breath. And if I’m the one to make that happen? Even better. So keep your platitudes to yourself. I don’t want to hear them.”

“Matters not if you do not wish to hear what I say. My words still ring of truth.”

She strode from the room, her back rigid in anger.

“Woah. Harsh.” Jill muttered at her back.

“Yeah, she’s not one to mince words is she?” I slid a reproachful gaze Starke’s way. “Doesn’t help that you talk like an uptight, royal asshat most times.”

“Well he is, so…..”

Starke ignored Jill’s remark as he stared after Zoe. “She’s afraid. Just as we all are. But together we are strong. We can do this.”

I sighed as I settled back down on the cot. “So you keep saying, but I’m starting to have my doubts. There is so much more to do.”

“Agreed. But look how much we’ve already accomplished, Jette.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you ever get sick of always being the ‘glass half full’ type of guy?”

His eyebrows knitted together. “Glass half full of what?”

“Oh geez. Never mind.”

“You two are so weird,” Jill yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted toward the door. “Calling first dibs on the shower.”

# # #

By the time I exited the shower I felt like a frozen popsicle. Zoe hadn’t lied. The shower had gone ice cold within minutes, but the feel of water sluicing away the layers of dirt and grime from my body was just too enjoyable. I stood under the freezing water far too long, trying to wash away the dirt and the horrible thoughts bouncing around my head. I may have exited a frozen popsicle, but I was a clean frozen popsicle.

I wandered back into the barracks, towel drying my hair. Jill was already asleep, her slight snores vibrating around the room. Man, I’d never seen anyone fall asleep as easily as her. I was totally jealous, since as tired as I’d been earlier, the shower had totally woken me up. And having the things Zoe had told us earlier about this world knocking around in my head wasn’t helping either. I glanced over at my cot. Nope. May as well forget it. I wasn’t going to sleep. No matter how hard I tried.

My eyes wandered to Starke’s cot, wondering if he had managed to tackle sleep, but all I saw was his own black jumpsuit sitting there. He was not in the room. Where was he? Not the lower levels, obviously, according to Zoe. That was out of the equation. The only place to go was up. Maybe he couldn’t sleep either. Maybe he wanted some fresh air. Didn’t sound half bad actually. The way my mind was racing, fresh air may do me a world of good.

I stuck my head out the door. The two guards at the end of the hallway both came to attention at my appearance.

“Have you seen the big guy? Is he on the roof?”

“Yes.”

I exited the room and sauntered on bare feet toward them.

“Think I’ll join him.”

The bald guard frowned. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. Stay under the metal canopies. You don’t need to be scanned by any of the drones flying overhead.”

“Got it,” I nodded.

They stepped aside, allowing me access to the concrete stairs leading up to the steel door. A blast of cool air shot through my thin coveralls as soon as I pushed the door open and stepped out onto the roof.

Although Starke was hidden in the night and totally blended in shadow, I knew exactly where he was. I sensed him. He had an energy that called to mine and made me want to be close to him. To reach out and touch him. The electricity tingling in my wrist led me straight to him as my body attuned to his before my eyes adapted to the dark. I was starting to get used to this having magic thing.

He turned his head at my approach but remained silent. I joined him at the waist high metal edge of the roof’s overhang. The city lay spread out on all sides like a lit blanket. Eerily quiet. No vehicles honking and blaring. No yelling. No background noise at all other than a murmur from an open window or an occasional dog barking. Not the kind of city I was used to.

“Spooky, huh?” I asked as I hung my folded hands over the overhang wall.

“What? The quiet? I kind of like it.”

“Yeah, you would, ‘cause you’re a weirdo like that.”

His low chuckle washed over me as we both took in the cityscape topped by the crescent moon peaking from behind its cloud cover.

“How was the shower?” He asked, breaking our companionable silence.

“Oh Lord, so effin good,” I moaned.“I mean, it turned ice cold after a couple of minutes just like Zoe said, but seriously, it was fantastic.”

“That good, huh?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Better than sex?”

I coughed, choking on my own spit.

“What?” I squeaked.

“You said it was good. So, was it better than sex?”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake. Where the hell are you learning these sayings? From Jill?”

“No. Since I met you, I took it upon myself to study human axioms in preparation to understand your odd speech a bit better. That is one of the things you say when you enjoy something, yes? Better than sex?”

I chuckled a bit uncomfortably, glad for the darkness so he couldn’t see the heat in my cheeks.

“So that’s why you’ve been saying all this weird shit? Yeah, I mean that is something we say, but dude, it sounds so wrong coming from you.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? It just does, okay? Don’t say it again.”

He turned his body to face me. “You’ve used it before?”

“Yes. I guess.” I shrugged at him. “I don’t remember.”

“And did you mean it?”

I blinked at him. “Huh?”

“Was whatever you were talking about actually better than sex? Because if so, maybe you humans copulate wrong, since I feel nothing can be better than physical intimacy. Maybe…”

“Okay, word of advice?” I held up a hand, interrupting him. “Don’t ever use the word copulate in a sentence, okay? Forget you learned that one. Don’t use it unless you want people to think you’re a weirdo.”

He snorted. “It never fails to amuse me how you humans are so frigid when it comes to talking about sexuality.”

“We are not,” I retorted hotly. “We’re just not obsessed about it. Not like you Fae.” I rethought my words. “Well, maybe that’s not true for everyone, but what I meant is we don’t like to discuss it as openly as you.”

His quiet hmm floated on the breeze. “Like I said. Frigid.”

“Will you shut up already,” I snapped. “This conversation is done.”

“Fine,” he agreed amicably. “You don’t want to talk about sex. I get it. You’re uncomfortable.”

“I’m not uncomfortable. That’s just not something I want to randomly talk to you about.”

“Understood. What would you like to talk about?’

“I don’t know. What makes you think I want to talk to you about anything? Why can’t we just stand here in silence and enjoy the view?”

His teeth gleamed at me through the dark. “You forget our connection, Jette. I can feel your unease. Your restlessness. Something is bothering you.”

I shrugged, kind of irritated that he could read me so accurately.

“Yeah well, we are on an overwhelming mission to save the multiverse. I think that’s a little unsettling, don’t you?”

“You’ve known that since day one. That is not what is bothering you tonight. There is more.”

I sighed and stared out over the city. He was right. “It’s nothing, really. Just my messed-up brain doing what it does best.”

“Which is?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” I turned back to stare over the city, but he placed two fingers under my chin and gently turned my face back his way.

“I do want to know or else I wouldn’t have asked.”

I swallowed a couple of times and sucked in some cool air.

“I…I’ve been thinking. Maybe…” How do I say this without sounding like an uncaring witch? “Maybe the multiverse doesn’t deserve to be saved.”

His shocked quiet after my comment spoke volumes. Then, “How can you believe that, little rabbit?”

“Heck, how can I not believe it?” I paused for a moment, trying to gather into words what I was feeling.“This is the fourth world I’ve been in in the past couple of months. And all I’ve seen in every single one has been the same. Hatred and fear. Fighting and death. I haven’t seen much to give me faith that what we are trying to do is a good thing. Maybe we shouldn’t be trying to restart the prism. Maybe the universe is telling us to do the opposite.”

My words shocked even me. I hadn’t even realized I felt this deeply about it.

He studied me for a few moments in the dark, his head cocked to the side. I held my breath. I had no idea how he would react to this.

“I realize how you must feel, Bridjette. You’ve been yanked from all you know and thrust into a universe that you never even imagined existed. A universe in the midst of war. And yes, saturated with hatred and death. But that’s not all there is. That’s not all it can be. It can be a universe filled with beauty and love and kindness. Worlds where all can live peacefully as equals, human and magical beings alike. The prism is asking for our help to make that happen.”

His soft words and his gentle heart brought tears to my eyes. How could I have ever thought him like his mother?

“Do you truly believe that?” I asked. My breath caught in my throat.

“I have to believe it. I refuse to believe that so many have already died in vain. If I don’t believe then their deaths mean nothing, and no one deserves to die without meaning. I trust in the prism, Jette, just as I trust in you and the other elementals. The prism chose you all for a reason. It knew you were all strong and capable of bringing the worlds together. I have faith in you.”

To my horror, tears fill my eyes. “But I’m scared. Scared that I’ll fail the prism. Scared that I’ll fail you. I don’t know if I can do this, Starke.” I sniffed and wiped angrily at my eyes with the back of my hand. “Geez, and now I’m blubbering like some spoiled, rotten little kid. I’m sorry.”

The wetness won out. I glanced away in embarrassment as a tear leaked out and trickled down my cheek. Before I could wipe it away, Starke gently erased it with his thumb. I held my breath at his touch, my eyes locked with his as they pulled me in with their intensity. His touch left a trail of hot lava over my skin.

“Don’t ever apologize for showing emotion. It makes you human.”

“It makes me weak,” I responded, angry at myself. I had lost track of how many times that had been bashed into my head over the years. Those out to hurt me or humiliate me, used my tears as a weakness. So I stopped giving them the ammunition. I’d built up a protective barrier with my brash behavior. Not daring to let anyone close. If they couldn’t find your weaknesses, they couldn’t hurt you. How he had managed to break through the barrier in such a short time scared me to no end.

His hands gently cupped my cheeks before sliding down to rest on both my shoulders.

“You? Weak? No. You are the strongest and most caring person I know.” His head tilted to the side. “Also the most irritating, but that is another matter.”

“Ha,” I sniffled, praying to the heavens above my nose wasn’t running. “Strongest and most caring? Then you don’t know the meaning of those words, my friend.”

One corner of his mouth lifted as he nodded. “Yes, I think I do.” A hand moved up my neck to lightly touch the stud in my lip. “And anyone who has been through what you have in your life and can still care for others? That is pretty kickass in my opinion.”

My brow quirked and I snorted, even as I fought against the jolts shooting through my lip and heating my blood.

“Kickass? Really? You learned that word from your studies too?”

“Hmm, no. That one came from Jill.”

His eyes stared into mine and the laughter died on my lips. Those eyes. They had to be the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen. It wasn’t fair for a man to have such pretty, thick lashes and mesmerizing eyes. He could have straight up been a model. Which was part of the reason why I couldn’t understand my attraction to him.Male models did nothing for me. And they certainly didn’t go for weirdos like me. But his magnetism was off the charts, and dammit, he knew it. Even as my body leaned into him, my mind tried to pull me away. My heart thudding in my chest and threatening to break a rib or two, I took a quick step back.

“Oh, look, a shooting star.”

I pointed over his shoulder at the comet-like brilliance sprinting across the night sky. He broke his eye lock with me. I ignored his amused grin as I sucked in a lungful of night air, grateful to be able to breathe again. Why did he have such an effect on me?

He turned and lifted his gaze to the sky. I shivered, as much from the cool air as his proximity. He noticed the quiver and before I could protest, his solid arms wrapped around me, pulling me back tight to his chest into a cocoon of warmth.

My body instinctively tensed, but he whispered in my ear.

“It’s okay, Jette. We’re just looking at the stars.”

The tension in my body relaxed as I melted against him, letting his heat seep into me. Being in his arms felt so natural, and damn scary all at the same time. But at this moment in time, I truly didn’t care.

“Another,” I whispered as I pointed in awe.

“Guardians of the prism,” he muttered against the top of my head.

“What does that mean?” I questioned.

“You call them shooting stars. We call them guardians of the prism. Legend has it that in the beginning, the prism realized its evolving worlds were in disarray. Human or supernatural realms, all were in a mix of primordial chaos. It wished to do something to bring about enlightenment and well-being to the people of all worlds, so it sent the guardians to teach the beings all of the various arts: astronomy, mathematics, magic, alchemy and agriculture, and much more. The teachings were passed down and expanded upon to become our modern worlds. Many believe the guardians are still seen in the sky as a sign of hope from the prism. A promise to assure us we are being watched over and protected.”

“Aww, really? That is such a beautiful story. But you do realize a shooting star is nothing but fragments of meteorites and dust particles from bodies in space in the proximity of earth. The meteorites get attracted to planets through gravity and streak through the atmosphere and burn up. So basically, it’s just a cosmic fart. But I like your story much better.”

His laughter rumbled against my back.

“Your beliefs and my beliefs are quite different, apparently. Although I do love the way you prattle nonsense. It amuses me.”

My heart quickened in my chest at the ‘L’ word.

“Glad I amuse you,” I squeaked.

“You do.” He twisted me in his arms, so I was just inches from his face. “You also amaze me and fascinate me. I’ve never met anyone quite like you, Bridgette O’Hare.”

Oh Lord! What was he trying to do to me? I was shivering again, and it wasn’t from any cool air this time. He leaned down and pulled me into him. His half-crooked smile was the last thing I saw before I gave in to my urge and closed my eyes as his lips met mine.

The moment we connected, my body combusted. Heat curdled in my stomach, sending flames shooting through my legs, my arms, all the way up my neck. The flames must have fried my brain since I felt my fingers wrap around the back of his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. It was like my body wasn’t under my control anymore. It knew what it wanted and was going after it, no matter the warning screaming in my head that this was not a good idea.

His fingers tangled in my hair, almost as if he was scared I would run. I wasn’t going anywhere since you needed oxygen and strength to run, and I possessed neither of those at this precise moment.

He growled as I pressed myself against him, wanting to feel his rock-hard body under mine. The growl thrilled and scared me at the same time.

So not the time, Jette.

The nagging voice in my head warned me. I tried to brush it away, but it insisted.

Stop before you can’t.

“Starke,” I breathed the second I was able. “Maybe this is not such a great idea.”

His eyes so close to mine, glittered like they had a thousand fireflies trapped inside.

“What are you afraid of, little rabbit?”

“I’m not afraid,” I squeaked.

“Hmm. Your voice and face are positively littered with evidence to the contrary. You have no need to fear me, Jette.”

“Jette! Starke!”

The yells came form the doorway. We broke apart guiltily as Jill and Zoe fell through the door onto the rooftop. I knew right away something was wrong.

“What is it?” Starke growled, his voice throaty and breathless.

“Trouble, that’s what it is.” Zoe stared at us with wide-eyed fear. “Madds just got a message through the coms from one of his people. A massive Preserver patrol has been spotted en route and they have every reason to believe it’s on its way here. Someone ratted us out. We need to go, now.”