Chapter 11 #2
She hopped to her feet with surprising energy and started searching her shelves, muttering under her breath as she shifted and moved more and more things around, obviously unable to find what she was seeking.
She turned and glared in his direction with a hand on her hip. “Did you hide my papers again?”
It took him a moment to realize that she was talking to the bird still perched on his shoulder.
“Raven!” she repeated, a little more forcefully. “Where are my papers?”
The caw with which Raven answered sounded almost like a laugh. “It’s mine. Good Raven.”
“No! Bad Raven! Where are they?”
The bird snapped his beak at her. “Make it work.”
With a frustrated huff, Darby threw her hands in the air. “Fine, I will.” She shoved a few different turnscrews into the pocket of her coveralls before returning to her spot on the floor before him.
“Does he really understand everything you’re saying?” An amused smile pulled at the edges of his mouth, and, for the first time since the ambush, Fitz was starting to feel more like himself.
She grabbed his hand and a turnscrew no longer than her palm and talked while she worked.
“I’m not sure if Raven actually comprehends everything that I’m saying, but he’s about as intelligent as a two-year-old.
He understands basic commands and prompts—though whether or not he listens is an entirely different matter.
” She grinned up at him ruefully. “He’s also as mischievous as a toddler, so you never know what he might be up to when he’s quiet.
One day he stole all of my tools and lined them all up on the top shelf just far enough back that I had to go in search of a stool to reach them.
It’s not the first time that I’ve had papers or projects go mysteriously missing for a while. ”
“So you’re saying that sometimes he’s a rather fowl friend.”
Darby’s hands stilled. Her jaw dropped, then slowly spread into an elated smile. “Why, Fitz. You do have a sense of humor.”
He could feel the blush that must be coloring his face, and Fitz ducked his chin, unable to look into her sparkling eyes any longer. “Sometimes.”
She chuckled as she resumed working. “I get funny looks from people when they learn that Raven is my friend, but it’s not nearly as bad as how they would react if he brought a whole group of his crow friends around here.”
“Why is that?”
“Because,” she spoke slowly and dramatically as she lifted her head, “if he did, this place would be a murder scene.”
Fitz snorted a laugh. “How often do you get to make ‘murder of crows’ jokes?”
“Not nearly often enough. Alright.” She pocketed the turnscrew. “I think I made the necessary adjustments. I want you to try squeezing my hand.”
He did, and the action came so much easier this time around that Darby yelped in pain as his metal fingers clamped around her fist. He immediately pulled away, revealing dark red marks on her pale skin that were already starting to bruise.
The levity and ease of the moments before immediately evaporated.
You are a monster. You can’t even move without hurting her.
“That was great!” Darby smiled widely as she shook out her hand.
“How can you say that? I hurt you.” The words caused an ache deep in his chest that had nothing to do with his clockwork heart.
She waved the words away. “It’s fine; there’s nothing broken. Besides, did you see how easily you were able to move your fingers?” She stuck her fist out. “Try it again.”
Fitz shook his head vehemently and pulled as far back as he could without falling over, using his legs to push himself so that he was leaning against the wall. Raven, unimpressed with this change of position, flew from his shoulder to the desk. “I don’t want to hurt you again.”
“It’s fine. Now that I know, I’ll be ready.”
“I can’t control it. I don’t even know what I’m touching, so there’s nothing to tell me when to stop. I’m not going to risk it.”
A thoughtful expression passed over her face. “I wonder…” She reached for his right arm.
Her calloused fingers were warm and gentle, and Fitz didn’t resist as she pulled his arm straight to match the other. She adjusted her grip, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze before curling her fingers into a fist underneath his palm. “Grip this hand.”
“This side isn’t the problem.”
Other than the fact that he couldn’t remember the last time he had held a woman’s hand, and it was making his heart rate climb again.
“I never said it was, silly. But I want you to focus on the movement—think about how much pressure it takes, the speed that you move your fingers, the moment that you meet resistance. Good. Now.” She presented him with her right hand again. “I want you to squeeze them both at the same time.”
Fitz hesitated, but one look into Darby’s wide green eyes looking up at him with a mixture of sympathy and trust had him buckling. He moved as slowly as he could, so focused on the minute movements that he didn’t even realize he was holding both her hands until she let out a cheer.
“You did it!”
He blinked. “I did it.” He slowly uncurled his fingers.
“We’ll have to keep practicing, of course. It will take a while before your brain and the magic work together to solidify new neural pathways, but this is all really promising. I’m so proud of you, Fitz.”
Darby stood, throwing a hand behind her to catch herself on the desk as she wobbled. Fitz was instantly on the alert.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, just stood up too fast.” She shrugged as if it were nothing. “It happens sometimes.”
He studied her, noting again the dark circles under her eyes and the pale color of her cheeks. He had kept enough extended watches to know sleep deprivation when he saw it, and he kicked himself for not noticing before.
“When was the last time you slept?”
“Eh, I grabbed a few snatches here and there.”
Thanks to her coaching, he was finally able to cross his arms. “That’s not enough.”
She shrugged again, infuriatingly unconcerned with her own wellbeing. “It had to be. For a while, my magic was the only thing keeping you alive, and I can’t maintain it while I’m sleeping. And I can’t exactly sleep while I’m at work.”
“Why didn’t you go home when you were done?”
“Because I came here.”
Fitz shook his head slowly in disbelief. “Go home, Darby.”
She twisted her face in a sassy expression. “And I will, once I check your heart one more time.”
He sighed, conceding defeat. “Fine. If that will get you out of here and asleep faster, please do.”
She sat on the cot beside him, listening to his heart from both the front and the back and sending goosebumps down his arm every time her warm fingers brushed his skin. “Everything still sounds good.”
“Excellent. Now go.”
“I will. Just give me a moment.” She turned and rested the back of her head on the wall beside him, and her eyes drifted closed. “Now that I’ve sat down again, I need to mentally prepare myself for the thought of all those stairs.”
“Darby, just—” His words were cut off as the sudden weight of Darby’s head fell onto his right shoulder, the soft, even breaths evidence that she had already fallen asleep. He shook his head, even as a fond smile pulled at one side of his mouth. He met Raven’s eyes from across the room. “What now?”
The bird nodded. “Make it work.”
He breathed out a laugh as he looked at the head of soft red hair on his shoulder. A spark of hope ignited in his chest.
“You know, as long as she’s here, I think it just might.”