Chapter 20 Whitney #2
I expect Xolotl to argue with her. He is, after all, death himself, even if he’s retired. To my surprise, he just drops his head and says, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Gabe taught you well.” Mom reaches way up to pat his head.
She pats his head.
I’m just. . .floored.
We wait until Mom has to pee an hour later, and then we scoot outside. “What if this doesn’t work?” I whisper.
“Then I think we’re both going to be stuck here at this ranch until we die,” he says. “Your mom’s terrifying.”
I laugh. “You have no idea. That’s her nice face.”
Before I have time to get nervous, wind whips me into Xolotl’s arms, and death powers or not, I feel safer here than I’ve ever felt anywhere else. We both fly up, up, up, and then. . .POP.
We burst out above the chasm that I assume used to be a normal-looking fault line. This gaping hole in the earth would make the Grand Canyon jealous.
“Good news, you can still portal,” I say. “But bad news, there’s no way you can fix this. Maybe we should’ve listened to my mom.”
Xolotl lights within a dozen yards of the edge of the canyon, and then he sets me on my feet. “Hold on to my shirt as tightly as you can. Things may get a little bumpy.”
I grab his face with both hands, and I pull him close. “No,” I say. “Please don’t. You could hurt yourself. It’s too big.”
He kisses me then, his mouth covering mine hungrily. His hands wrap around my waist, and he pulls me closer, forcing me to lean against him, my hands pressed against his hard, sculpted pecs.
I sigh in satisfaction. I wish we could do this forever.
Then a huge creaking noise coming from the chasm pulls us apart. “What are you planning? And how can you promise it won’t be too much for you?”
“I used to be powered up by death,” he says. “Now I’m not sure where my magic is coming from.” He frowns. “But I can feel my energy level, and I won’t deplete it too far.”
“Do you think they gave you just enough magic to repair things?”
He shakes his head. “You persist in thinking that natural disasters and war are the worst thing that can happen, but they change humans, and the whole reason we come here is to learn and grow. To become more. Trials and troubles refine us.”
“Then why are you even doing this? Just let the state fall into the ocean and we can all learn from it.” I point. “I concede. Let’s go back.”
He brushes a hand over my hair. “I’m doing this because it distresses you that you were involved with it.” He releases me, lifts into the air, and I’m forced to watch as he reaches out with both light and dark energy.
I can see both.
I never could before.
“It’s because I’m bonded to the part of you that you work hard to grow now,” he yells. “Your light energy.” He’s smiling when he turns back.
I’m biting my nails as I watch. Large amounts of magic migrate outward, and suddenly, the creaking and grinding noises amplify, the sides of the chasm drawing together again.
The sound’s like the growling of worn-out gears, but magnified a thousandfold and spread out over the entire miles in either direction around us.
It’s nearly done when Xolotl drops to the ground, clearly exhausted. He collapses, but he keeps channeling magic. With one last groan, the two sides of the earth rejoin, and he finally closes his eyes. I cradle his head in my lap. “You did it.”
“I’ll recover, too,” he says softly. “Just give me a bit. Now I regain energy from living things, too.”
But judging from the sound of the screaming jets overhead, we may not have any time.
Sure enough, no more than five minutes pass before I hear the sound of military jeeps, followed closely by the rumbling of tanks.
Jets shriek overhead again, and I realize the other problem my new boyfriend created has found us.
Xolotl struggles to his feet.
“You need to recover,” I say. “Just wait.”
“He can’t see me looking like that,” he says. “The people I choose, I choose for a reason. General Barrera’s an expert at seizing opportunities when they present themselves.”
“What would he gain by killing you?”
“Right now he thinks he’s doing all this for me, but if I’m weak, he’ll quickly decide to do it for himself instead.”
Duh.
“Xolotl.” General Barrera pops out from one of the jeeps. “It is you. You’ve repaired the chasm.”
My boyfriend stands and inclines his head an inch toward his insane general. “I decided it was interfering with your efforts here, giving humans an excuse to run.”
“I liked it,” General Barrera says. “I wish you’d checked with me, but what you just did is nothing short of miraculous. Had you given me a heads up, I could have done more with it, but even so, I got some great footage we can use to bring troops to our cause.”
“Not that you need troops,” the soldier next to Barrera says. “Not with Xolotl on our side.”
“Leading us, you mean,” General Barrera says. “Though if I might say, you look a little. . .tired.” He steps closer. “Have you been sleeping well?”
“He’s fine,” I snap.
“You must be his human,” Barrera says. “He said I should follow your orders as if they came from him.”
I nod. “That’s me. His pet human.” I glare at Xolotl just a bit, but I don’t actually care. I know he meant well when he told him whatever he did.
Still, I already feel a little pathetic, surrounded by all the high-powered people.
That’s when it hits me.
Before, I had powers thanks to our bond. He still has magic, so can I still pull on it? And will my pulling on his magic deplete his already low abilities? Or is mine different somehow? Could I protect us while he’s weak?
I wish I’d thought to ask, but here we are.
“We need some food,” I say. “I’m starving to death.”
“What do you like?” General Barrera asks, still eyeing Xolotl with too much curiosity for my liking.
“Burgers,” I say. “We need a whole platter of the best burgers you can find.”
A barked order and five minutes later, Xolotl looks more himself when the platter of hamburgers comes.
“Half have both cheese and everything else. Pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, onions. The others are plain. I wasn’t sure—you didn’t specify what you wanted, sir.”
It takes a moment, but I realize Barrera’s calling me sir. “Oh, that’s fine,” I say. “This is perfect.”
I eat two burgers—I’m surprisingly hungry for having done nothing at all—and Xolotl polishes off fifteen. When he straightens, the color’s returned to his face. I’m about to suggest he give Barrera new orders when a unit of soldiers appears from behind a copse of trees and immediately open fire.
Barrera doesn’t look surprised.
I block the bullets with wind, but it’s hard. At least I can do it. I’m not sure Xolotl’s up to it yet.
“What was that?” Xolotl stands. “Are you not in control here?”
“He is,” I say. “He ordered that to see how weak you are right now.”
“Hit him with everything,” Barerra says, proving he’s every bit as ambitious as Xolotl feared. “He barely parried the last hit.”
I block the first volleys of bullets, but then I tap out, and my attempts with wind, always feeble, fail. The missiles streaming at us hit their target dead on, connecting with Xolotl’s massive chest.