Chapter 10
Getting Comfortable Together
The silence stretched out as she stared at him, and he stared at nothing. Bunching the blanket up in her fist, Astrid asked, “What did you say?”
“I said that that was the last thing your brother said to me.”
“No,” she said and shook her head. “I got that. I mean, how did you respond to him?”
He just shook his head.
Astrid swung her legs over the bed, which seemed to distract him from what he was thinking.
“Please, stay in bed. Your body hasn’t fully recovered. Don’t push it right now.”
Even before he said it, she knew he was right. Her heart was beating a little too quickly, and the room was spinning a bit. She placed one hand on her chest and the other hand on the bed to steady herself. The man didn’t move to help her.
“How long will it take?” she asked, looking over at him.
“How long did it take when you got hurt as a child? Because that’s probably one of the best indicators.”
“Oh, weeks, I think, actually.” She tilted her head to the side as she thought about it. “I think it was about six weeks. I was a child. Time did not move the same back then.”
He nodded but didn’t look at her. “It definitely did. I don’t suppose there are any medical records to verify your claim.”
“No, there definitely aren’t. Dad and Evan took care of me.”
He flinched at her brother’s name.
“Look, I know that you believe that knowing you kills people and that a lot of people around you have bought into it, but there’s no evidence of that.”
“My whole life is evidence of that. I was trying to help the Sextons’ father when he died. He was a good man. That’s why my family came out here, thinking they could use my connection to the family to build up their reputation. It worked, but after the Sextons learned about my curse and connection with their father, they refused to have anything to do with me.”
Astrid let out a growl. “The more I hear about the Sextons, the less I like them.”
“They are good guys who’ve already lost a lot. I don’t blame them at all.”
“Well, I do, so they can suck it.” She pushed off the bed and pitched forward, anger propelling her off the bed and gravity pulling her toward the floor.
The man moved impossibly quickly, catching her before she hit the floor. “Astrid, you have got to stop pushing yourself. Notice your heart. If you keep up this ill-considered activity, it’s going to get you killed.”
“It’s good that you can admit it would be my fault.”
He scoffed, then lifted her and placed her carefully back on the bed. Astrid watched his back as he moved to the other side of the room. Her thoughts went in circles as she tried to remember his name—everything else about him seemed to have returned except that one detail.
Then, an idea came to her.
“Take me home.”
“It’s not safe for you there now, so no. I won’t return you for another round of electrocution.”
“No, I mean my home in Louisiana.”
“Now that sounds like a good idea.” He pulled out his phone and started typing on it. “I’ll set you up with a flight in a day or two, and in the meantime, I’ll work to stabilize you. You’ll just need to remain as calm as you can.”
“No, I don’t mean to stay. I mean to do research.”
He looked up at her. “I don’t follow you.”
“Well, you’ll have to because I’m not letting you do anything to heal me until I look into how to undo the curse.”
With a heavy groan, he dropped his head back. “We aren’t having this argument.”
“That’s right.” She felt her heart beating far too quickly as she got upset. “We aren’t. You are going to take me there to do some research. I can’t imagine a better place to look into it than a place where voodoo is still practiced.”
He just looked at her. “My curse wasn’t a voodoo curse.”
“My dad couldn’t control water, yet here I am, able to manipulate it.”
“You know that’s not the same thing.”
“No, I don’t. All of you have this set way of thinking. You are so boxed into certain ways of t looking at things that you fail to see real solutions.”
“Astrid, I’m really not comfortable with you—"
“I don’t want to hear it. If you want me to relax, you will have to just deal with your disappointment that I’m helping you, whether you like it or not.”
“I can’t stand the idea of you dying. Do you not understand that?” There was clear pain in his voice.
“And I can’t stand the idea of you living a life completely cut off from everyone. I mean, I lived a pretty isolated life, but at least I always had my dad. Yours ensured you were cursed so he could profit. No, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to just let this go.”
Her heart was beating so rapidly that she was starting to have trouble breathing, but Astrid wasn’t about to let that stop her. As she started turning a bright red, she pointed a finger at him. “Either you stay and help, or you leave and feel guilty for the rest of your life.”
“Please, Astrid, calm down.”
“Not until you—have to swear —you will help me.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Then, I can’t lie down and relax.”
His voice was raised as he asked, “How can you be so stubborn and dismissive?”
“Apparently, as easily as you can be about yourself.”
“Fine! Fine!” He threw up his hands. “I’ll stay with you, but I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
She looked at him. “Really? You aren’t going to fight me on it?”
He shook his head.
“Ok, great,” she said and smiled, her green eyes shining in her victory. “Now, we need to go to Louisiana and—"
“No. We aren’t leaving here. Something happened, and they found you. Have you used your abilities recently?”
Astrid sat back and tried to remember. “I think so… The dead grass—yes, I used my abilities to circumvent the broken sprinkler system.”
The man dropped his head into the palm of his hand. “You gave yourself away to make your yard look better?”
“Hey, I didn’t know that was a possibility.”
He looked up at her. “Evander used to worry about how you never listened and kept using your powers, so I know you were warned a long time ago not to do anything to expose them. And both Elliott and I have been warning you since you got here that women like you keep getting taken.”
Feeling sheepish, Astrid sank down on the bed a little. “Ok. I probably should have put that together. I think I was just preoccupied with everything else.”
For the first time since she woke, the guy laughed. “Jump first, assess later.”
“Don’t make fun of the patient,” she said and pulled a sheet up to hide from the embarrassment she felt at that moment. “Is it possible to get my work stuff? Because the project doesn’t have much longer, and I can’t afford to be offline for a day.”
“Um, I don’t think that is a good idea.”
“Why?”
He let out a long sigh. “Because they trashed the place after I got you out safely. Your devices are destroyed.”
Astrid turned away, her mind working quickly. When she looked at him, she had an idea. “Do you have devices I can borrow?”
“Sure. But, um, I’m pretty sure they’ll notice the changes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Elliott has upgraded most of my devices, and I’m now completely reliant on a few things he’s designed.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a geek, for lack of a better term. He builds tech all the time, just out of boredom. It’s very obvious when you start to use it, and it makes it difficult to return to the old stuff.”
She shrugged. “If I give you the money, could you get me a few devices?”
“I can send someone to get them for you, sure.”
“Ah, right. You aren’t letting me out of your sight.”
“Nope. People have never died in front of me, so at this point, I’m really not willing to risk something happening.”
Things were quiet as he pulled out the strange-looking tablet. Astrid tried to get a better look at it as he worked on it. When he finished and walked over to her, she asked, “Can I try it?”
“I’m serious; it will be hard to use other devices.”
“You seem certain.”
He smiled, “I thought I was high-tech until I met Elliott, and I used to build secret networks for a few companion organizations. So, yeah, I can honestly say it’s pretty much impossible to use human tech after using what Elliott has designed.”
She narrowed her eyes and tried to hide a smile. “Is that why you still have business cards?”
He sat in a chair next to her, his head moving back and forth. “No, like I told you, that’s for safety. Although, I’m not sure how much his equipment would be bothered by electrical pulses and the like.”
“Oh, right, the explosion.”
“Yeah, the explosion. Anyway, the stuff will be here this evening. And I told Levi he can just call you when we get your new phone.”
“Wait, what happened to my phone?”
“It was on your person when they shocked you, and it didn’t survive the aftermath.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“The hallway is pretty charred. I’ll make sure to have it fixed so that you don’t lose money for it.”
“Wait, I have to go back at some point. Otherwise, where am I supposed to live?”
“I’m not sure right now, but we can consider that later. Right now, we need to get the shock out of your system.”
“And figure out how to break the curse,” Astrid said insistently.
He turned to look at her, a defeated smile on his face. “If you insist. But I can’t go to Louisiana.”
“Why?”
“Because I have to work.”
“But how am I supposed to do the research if I don’t go?”
He thought for a moment; then he started tapping on his tablet. Once he finished, he handed it to her. “I’m warning you; this is going to ruin things for you.”
She giggled. “I think it’ll be fine.”
Looking at the screen, Astrid started to understand a bit about what he meant. It looked more like she could just walk through the screen. Her eyes went up to the man who was watching her. Unable to help it, she tapped the screen with her finger. “It almost looks like I’m there.”
“I know. It’s not quite the same as being there, but you can get around virtually. You can see what’s in books and stuff by touching them onscreen. I have no idea how he did that, but apparently, he’s been using that for a couple of decades for his research. I also think he’s working on a headset, but it’s not a priority, considering.”
“Considering what?”
He smiled. “It only takes us about 45 minutes to get around the world. If we want to go somewhere, we just go.”
“Well, that’s very… handy.”
“We still have to be careful not to be seen.”
Astrid turned her head to the side. “What about planes and governments?”
“We don’t worry about them. Most of us can either cloak or fly too high to be noticed.”
Astrid thought about that for a few moments. “You don’t really need any other abilities, huh?”
“No, dragon shifters really don’t. It’s kind of a nice bonus.”
Astrid settled into working on the tablet, and it didn’t take long for her to understand the warning. Going back to her old devices was going to be very much a downgrade.
She quickly moved around a few of the streets and got information from a few promising books, which she was able to copy.
Over an hour later, she put the tablet down and looked over at the man who was watching her passively. “Well, I don’t think I’ll be trying to do anything on a regular computer again.”
“You were warned.”
“I guess I should have listened.”
“It doesn’t sound like listening has ever been your strong suit.”
She laughed. “No. I’ve been told that most of my life, and I’m pretty set in my ways.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Oh,” Astrid said and stopped to consider it. “My heart is still beating a little fast, and my legs and arms feel a bit tingly still.”
He stood up. “Ok, let me work on you again.”
She smiled and leaned back against the pillows. “Are you going to fix me?”
“You don’t need fixing, just a little healing.”
When he put his hands on her, Astrid felt warmth spread down her body, but she didn’t think that it was just because of the healing power he was channeling into her body.