Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
“Cress?”
She stalked beside me down the corridor, her lithe, sexy catwalk gait completely at odds with the rotund cop she appeared to be. “Yes, Chosen?”
Up ahead, at the far end of the floor, I watched as Donovan walked slowly out of the meeting room. He turned and saw us coming. The tension on his face eased. He leaned up against the wall and waited.
“I think I’m about to have a proper breakdown.”
“Another one?”
My lips twitched. “Don’t be a bitch.” I walked a little slower. “I’m being serious.”
She let out a long sigh. “What is it this time?”
“I didn’t think any of this was real,” I whispered.
She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
I held my breath as we approached Donovan, waiting for us in the corridor beside the meeting room. As we passed the open door, I glanced inside. Richie was there, huddled in the corner. Moaning softly, rocking, hugging himself, eyes squeezed shut, tears pouring down his cheeks.
He looked real. He sounded real.
Donovan waited until we drew near, then stepped aside, moving to his usual position, just behind me, with Cress just in front. We walked into the elevator bank. Woodenly, I hit the down button. All the elevators were stuck upstairs.
Cress pushed the button again. And again. “What were you saying, Chosen?”
I hesitated for a brief moment. “All this time, I assumed you guys were hallucinations.”
“Really?” Cress looked amused. “Why on earth would you think that?”
“Well, for starters, because magic is not real.”
“Of course it is,” she replied. “Look at me. This is a simple glamor charm, and it fooled your employer.” She hit the button again.
“I must admit I was a little shocked at how well that worked. In this realm, anyone can put on a uniform and sling a couple of firearms on their hips, and the rest of your people roll over and show their bellies like scared dogs.”
“You don’t even need a uniform,” Donovan rumbled softly, still on guard, eyes flicking left and right, checking the exits.
“You don’t need a uniform,” I said, turning to face him. “What did you do to Richie?”
“Nothing. I merely continued to emphasize my displeasure that he would dare to speak to you in such a manner. Or at all.” Donovan turned away from me and muttered something else under his breath.
“Sorry? What was that? I didn’t catch what you said.”
He turned back. “I said I may have also broken several of his fingers during the conversation.”
I pinched my eyes shut and counted backwards from ten. When I opened my eyes again, Donovan was still there in front of me, massive shoulders tensed, guarding all the exits.
Cress was still pushing the elevator down button. “That doesn’t make it come any faster, you know,” I said, my voice faint.
“No?” She swiveled to face me, outraged. “That’s absurd. Why not? How else will it know that someone requires its services urgently?”
“It doesn’t work that way. It’s, uh, technology. It doesn’t work the same way as…” I hesitated and swallowed. “Magic.”
Damn, I really was going to entertain this. “If this is all real, why isn’t magic out in the open in this realm? Why don’t humans know about it?”
“Witches do. Sorcerers, oracles… They are a breed apart, but still mostly human.”
“Yeah, but… what about everyone else? How come nobody else knows about magic? And why don’t witches flaunt their powers?”
“They keep their magic secret for the good of the whole Middle World. To protect the other realms within it from humans.”
I didn’t understand. “But… but humans don’t have any power.”
“They don’t have magic. But they have weapons, and too many bodies to act as shields.” She wrinkled her nose. “Humans breed like rodents.”
My head was spinning. “So magic is a secret to protect the other realms? That doesn’t make sense, Cress. If humans can’t do magic, what’s the point of keeping it a secret?”
She let out a delicate snort. “Please, Chosen. I’ve read your history books.
I know what humans are like. The other realms within the Middle World are not only rich in magic, but they’re also rich in natural resources.
” Her lips thinned. “You give a human a whiff of oil on an anthill, and they’re going to invade, kill the creatures inside it, colonize it, then rewrite the history books to show that they’ve always been there.
” She pressed the elevator button a few more times.
“The centaur realm in particular has endless plains with rare minerals buried just under the surface. And it’s an easy realm to get to from here.
If any of your governments ever got wind of it, within two new moons, it would be nothing more than a giant quarry, and centaurs would be nothing more than mythical creatures. ”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. “I suppose that’s fair enough.”
Donovan turned his head to meet my eye. “You really thought you had gone insane?”
“Not gone. I am insane.” My chin quivered; I willed it to stop.
“I have a whole list of medical diagnoses. I’ve hallucinated things before.
I’ve become paranoid and violent, and I assumed this was more of the same.
But you just made my worst enemy piss his pants, and Cress just used magic to impersonate a cop so my boss wouldn’t fire me. ”
She shrugged elegantly. “You seemed very insistent on maintaining your employment. It was the least I could do, considering everything you achieved today.”
I looked at my soggy shoes. It was too hard to imagine that the trip to the mermaid realm and the battle with the sea witch had been real. “I don’t know what to think now. Oh, God.” I clapped my hand over my eyes. “If it is real, that means I actually flashed my boobs on stage at the Karaoke Cove.”
Donovan stared at me. “This whole time… everything you’ve done so far. You thought you were hallucinating?”
I nodded.
He gave one sharp nod. “Now I understand. Your bravery in confronting the sea witch was incomprehensible to me.”
“Not brave,” I muttered. “Just nuts.”
“But it worked,” he said quietly, almost in an undertone. “You skillfully negotiated with a monster, and it worked.”
I took a deep, calming breath. It didn’t help. How was I going to know for sure? How would I really, truly know that this was real?
The elevator dinged, and the door slid open.
Bart stood there. He spotted me, and his huge teddy bear body sagged with relief. “There you are, Susan! I heard you went AWOL at lunchtime. I was worried about you! I had to borrow Luis’s lanyard to get up here—”
Donovan moved closer beside me, emerald eyes flashing.
Bart saw him and gasped, clutching his chest as if he was about to have a heart attack.
There was a long, long moment of silence.
Donovan nodded. “Shifter.”
Bart dropped into a swooping bow, going down on one knee. “Your Highness.”