Maggie continues, “The nudges that you’re sensitive to are not comfortable, but place you where you are required to be. You may regret going down to the caverns because it caused Kalos to leave, but it’s what needed to happen. Kalos would have avoided his other half out of fear for you until it produced a truly dangerous situation if you hadn’t done what you did.”
I scoff. “I thought that situation was plenty dangerous. Thank you very much.”
Maggie raises a brow and I sigh, because yeah, it could have all been much worse. It doesn’t make me feel any better that some compulsion is what instigated the fight we had.
Kalos has to deal with his dragon, and I have to deal with being a conduit of fate.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Maggie presses her shoulder to mine in affection. “But you can handle it. You were always meant to be the one to push Kalos from his comfort zone.”
“He doesn’t want to be pushed,” I say before pressing my lips together. Dark emotions gather like storm clouds when I think about Kalos. Thankfully my intuition is taking up most of my contemplation because the quagmire of my emotions around Kalos feels like it has the power to break me.
Maggie’s smile is rueful. “No one wants to be pushed, but it’s not a decision for us to make.”
What will be, will be. The sentiment is sour on my tongue. I don’t like it, but I can make it useful. I can be ready to act when whatever bad thing my nerves are trying to warn me is on the horizon comes for us.
WHEN THE FIRST EXPLOSION HAPPENS, it’s cathartic.
Which is not what I’d expect from the experience, but the encroaching intuition has drawn my muscles to the point of pain over the day. Having a name for what I’m experiencing helps some… but it mostly makes me impatient.
So the boom that rattles the house nearly has me collapsing in relief. The relief is gone in a flash. Something is happening. Is someone attacking the manor? A gas leak? That one is unlikely. Whatever it is, it’s time to leave.
I pick up my bag from its spot under my easel and look around.
“Griffin?” I call out. He was just here! My eyes start to water, and I run down the hall to Kalos’s room. It’s his favorite place to spend the day. Each step makes my heartbeat thunder faster and harder in my chest.
I need to leave… but I can’t leave my cat.
My throat tightens at the idea of leaving everyone else, but Maggie said that she wasn’t experiencing the same type of intuition. I’m the one who can’t be here if the wards fail.
Or fate is sending me somewhere else… let’s not think about that right now.
But that thought has my stride slowing. If I’m supposed to go somewhere else because of that bitch, Fate, wouldn’t it be better for Griffin to stay?
I can’t give up on him that easily. I finally get to Kalos’s room and burst in. I can barely breathe through the constriction of panic in my chest.
“Griffin? Where are you? Here kitty kitty!” There’s no croaky meow, and I forcibly cut off my sob. The room is empty.
I have to go.
I glance to the ceiling in time to see a giant ball of fiery orange hit the artistic dome. The house rattles, and I almost lose my footing. The wards hold, but this is their weakest point. Whoever is attacking the mansion must know that, because another ball of fire lights the room from the outside.
This time the crash is deafening. Static runs over my skin as the wards above snap and the glass shatters. I scream, covering my head from the glass shards raining down.
There’s a distant howling sound, but I ignore it to clutch my necklace. I’ve run out of time. My fingers find the small metal charm and it crumbles when I press down, setting an intention and releasing the magic that resides there.
It’s time to rely on all my skills.
It’s time for me to disappear.
37
KATARINA
THE FALLING EMBERS BLUR, and everything shifts around me at nauseating speed. The lush colors of Kalos’s bedroom morph into the familiar laminate lines of my apartment kitchen. I tremble and hold in my sob as I brush shards of glass from my hair. The air doesn’t smell like smoke here.
I’m safe.
Maggie. I bite my lip to keep the tears at bay. Ben. Jensen. My vision blurs. Griffin.
They will be alright. They have to. I can’t be distracted. I won’t be safe here for long. I need to head to the real sanctuary I have in mind once I pick up my supplies. I’ll have to use a ride-sharing service to keep from burning through my last portal charm.
I suck in a breath and center myself, wiping my eyes. They will be alright.
With my eyes clear, I frown. This is my apartment, but it doesn’t feel right.
A sound has me spinning toward my tiny couch. A familiar person sits there, feet resting on the coffee table while he scratches his scalp. He doesn’t seem at all surprised by my appearance.
He uses a remote to turn off the television that sure as hell wasn’t here when I moved out, before standing with a stretch. His gray skin looks paler than I remember it being, and the scent that wafts over to me makes me think he hasn’t washed his clothes in days.
“Nemo?”
“Took your damn time,” he grumbles.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, but I blink at the sink full of dishes, the stack of magazines on the table, and the new flatscreen. “You’ve been living here?”
“I needed a place to lie low for a minute. I would have asked if you answered any of my calls.”
My cheeks heat in a mix of embarrassment and frustration. The distraction from witnessing part of Kalos’s home destroyed is welcome, but him helping himself to my place is not. “So you thought you’d just make yourself at home?”
“It’s not like you were using this place anyway, not with you staying with the dragon.” The skin around his eyes wrinkles as he squints at me.
“How did you know I was staying with Kalos?” I ask, awareness edging out my embarrassment.
He shrugs. “You could have just told me you had an arrangement going with the guy. You didn’t have to screen my calls.”
The emphasis he puts on the word leaves little room for me to wonder what he thinks I’ve been doing with Kalos. I push down the urge to touch my stomach. The hoodie I’m wearing is baggy, the pockets poking out and hopefully disguising my belly. Nemo has never been good at noticing things where I’m concerned.
“You weren’t listening to me. I don’t want to take any more jobs,” I say with a shrug, trying to keep from moving at an angle that would highlight my new silhouette. Nothing good can come from Nemo knowing about the baby.
“Why would you?” His sneer is ugly. “You’re living in the lap of luxury, getting fat, while I’ve struggled. We could have made great plans.”
The fat comment rolls off me like water on a duck. Me gaining weight is just one more thing for him to gripe about because it affects his ability to use me to slide through windows.
The answer to how he knows where I’ve been connects in my brain. He’d “checked over” all my equipment before that job.
“You put a tracker in my phone,” I say, my voice full of disbelief.
His upper lip curls. “It’s a simple thing. You should have checked for the spell. It’s not my fault you’ve gotten rusty.”