He hung his head. “It is almost the truth.”
“What does that even mean? This is worse than any quest I've EVER been on in the game. Neither of you can ever answer my questions. You ALMOST know the truth.” She leaned on the windowsill for a moment and then turned back to them. Henri held his breath. “I think perhaps it’s time you tell me everything you know about why I’m here, or I’m leaving. I cannot waste any more time here waiting for someone to tell me the truth.”
“Oui, you are right, and I will.” It no longer mattered if Valentin could hear him. It no longer mattered if this was the right or wrong thing to do. Em and Lex would escape, and he would stay here to answer for telling them the truth. And even if she was right, and he had become ultimately part of the game, at least she would be safe. “The game that Val and I were working on was this one. He was trying to create Arcstone, even back then in Montmartre. We didn’t have the equipment or the knowledge then, but by the time I had moved to the United States and married your mother, I heard from Val again. He was furious that I’d left, and claimed that I had betrayed our friendship by leaving, betrayed him by giving up on our dream of creating Arcstone.
“Sounds like you two were more than just boyhood friends.”
Henri raised an eyebrow as he grinned wryly at Em. “You are more clever than I expected. There was a time when we were young when we were as close as brothers. Perhaps closer. But that was only until les demoiselles noticed him. Val was a handsome one - golden blonde hair and green eyes. Quite the ladies man, even as a teenager.” He paused for a moment as Val’s image floated through his mind. Young Val, smiling at him, laughing happily. Henri shook his head to clear it. “We could have been lovers, I suppose, if things had been like they are now. But that is not the point of the story.”
“This is not news.” Lex nudged Em, and she frowned. “Sorry. Go on.”
Henri smiled at her. “Val had trouble for years working out the bugs in his game. There was always something else that he wanted to add to the game, another feature, another quest. He surpassed my coding ability several times over, so even when he contacted me, I wasn’t able to help him.” He considered her for a moment, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her face as she listened to him. A memory surfaced of Maddie as a little girl, listening with that same rapt attention as he read to her from Le Petit Prince in French. It was her favorite story for most of her childhood - had someone read it to her after he had to leave? Was that memory - were any of his memories even real? Henri focused and went back to telling the story. “He was so angry. He threatened to come to South Carolina and force me to work on the code for the game. I was afraid that you and your mother would be hurt, so I agreed to come to Paris and help him. I thought that was the only way to keep you safe.”
Em’s face darkened. “When Dad went on the last trip to Paris, probably about a year ago, he and Mom had a horrible fight. I wasn’t there - she called me and told me about it later. He had been making periodic trips to Paris over the years, and he would never take her. I didn’t even know that he was taking these trips - he never told me, let alone came to visit. She just got tired of it, I guess, of being left behind. I can’t blame her. They hadn’t been in love for a long time - she told me that after the first trip he took to Paris, he came back different.” Em’s mouth snapped shut and formed a thin line. “He was coming over to work with Val, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, I did, Madelyne. I came to Paris to work with Val on Arcstone, and after the trip you just mentioned, I ended up here. I have been here ever since. And for what? You are still here! Val couldn’t settle for just taking me. I don’t know what he wants with you, ma fille, but I do not intend to let you stay here long enough to find out.”
Em
Thirteen
The sun was rising as they dozed off. First, Lex fell asleep, so Em and Henri moved off the bed and onto the floor by the fireplace. He told her all about his childhood in Montmartre, and she told him about where she lived in Yorkshire. They spoke in a mix of French and English, just as she had with her father when she was younger - before he had grown cold and sullen. Before he was traveling to Paris, presumably to meet with Val. Before he was taken? Swapped? No, that was like a bad B movie. And further, how could something that was no more than a page of code move out of its framework and into the real world? Clearly, if this story was to be believed, Henri had never come back from that last trip to Paris and had been in Arcstone ever since - she had fallen asleep wondering if she was going insane.
Em startled and realized she was on the floor on a rug with a thick duvet from the bed pulled over her. She closed her eyes for a moment, rubbing them with the heels of her hands. The images that Henri painted for her with his stories lingered in her mind – they combined with how he thought Val trapped her in Arcstone. She had asked him several times about Lex, but he would not answer. He merely said that Lex would have to figure out his own truth.
She rose from the floor and pulled the duvet around her shoulders, turning so that her gaze fell on Lex, still asleep on the bed. He looked so peaceful as he slept - his tattoos barely visible because they were not pulsing light or color. Em wandered closer and sat down carefully on the bed, studying him. She ran a hand down his arm and jumped as his fingers closed around hers. His eyes fluttered open, and when he saw her looking at him, he smiled. “Hey, sleeping beauty,” she whispered.
“Hey yourself,” he said, his hand still clamped around hers. Em didn’t pull away, and he smiled his fangy smile as he pulled her closer and down onto the bed with him before wrapping his massive arms around her. She snuggled into his embrace and sighed. This was what she had imagined being with Alex would be like - warm and safe, known - heard. Understood. Loved. Lex ran one of his hands over her hair, finally settling at her chin as he rolled on his side. He tilted her face up and looked down at her. “You are more than I could have ever dreamed, Em.”
“Backatcha.” Her smile faded as she remembered that there was still more to talk about. “Lex, please. Tell me about you. Tell me what you remember about being here.” He sighed loudly and released her as he rolled onto his back. She was determined not to fall for whatever that mojo was coming from his tattoos - still glowing purple even now - and pressed on. “Remember the night that I got here? The night in the woods by my house, before the rain - remember, I was outside?”
“Yes.”
“Did I tell you why I was outside?”
“No. I assumed you needed air.”
“Well, yes. But I - well, I heard something buzzing and then noticed a light blinking outside the kitchen window. It reminded me of something that I had seen somewhere else, but I couldn’t remember what.”
“The mailbox.” Lex was nodding. “Of course, you would recognize that - I sent you enough of those messages that I’m honestly surprised that you had any room for new mail.”
Em laughed. “You did, and I still have every one of them in the archive.” She felt her face flush at the twinkle in his eyes. She considered him for a moment -it was bizarre that so many of the other races were afraid of the Prophis. His chiseled features were so fearsome when he was angry. The long black hair that was customarily pulled back into a ponytail or braid now flowed freely over his shoulders like an ebony waterfall. How was it always like that? Em was suddenly self-conscious about her own appearance - she had not been anywhere near a shower or a hairbrush since she arrived through the mirror. She smoothed her hair back into a makeshift bun and stabbed it with a hair stick that she somehow knew would be in the pocket of her trousers. This world would never cease to amaze her.
“Why are you suddenly...nervous?” Lex caught her hands in his to still them. Em felt the adrenaline release in her chest as he held her that way - it was familiar and yet not. She pulled her hands back.
“I am not nervous.” She rose from the bed. “I just realized I must look a fright because I haven’t showered or anything in at least...two days?” It was so hard to tell time here
- she never thought she would miss the smartwatch that had taken over her life recently. Lex climbed out of bed, and Em found herself unable to look away from him - all he was wearing was a long tunic. She let her eyes wander over his shoulders, down his arms, and to those hands again and found she had to concentrate on breathing.
Lex closed the space between them and took her in his arms. As he looked down at her, Em could see the reflection of the purple tattoos in his eyes, and she allowed herself to melt into his arms. “Before, at your house…” Lex pulled her up close to him and positioned his lips just below her ear. “Em, I’m sorry if that was too far.”
Her head snapped back. “Why would you say that? Lex, I would not have done that if I didn’t want to - your mojo doesn’t work THAT well on me.”
He chuckled. “What is this mojo you think I’m using on you?”
Em tilted her head to the side. “I know you are doing something. You calm me down with it. In large doses, it puts me to sleep.” He looked away, face flushed, but she caught his chin and guided his gaze back to hers. “Never try to subdue someone that has fought alongside you for so long, silly.” Giving in to her need to touch him, she ran her fingers down the side of his face and onto his neck, again tracing the tattoos. Lex shivered under her touch. “These are so amazing.” The pulsing light intensified, and Lex tightened his grip on her, turning her with him and leading her back to the bed. Em felt drowsy like she couldn’t keep her eyes open, but she was not going to give in - not at this moment. “What were we talking about before?”
“The love letters I sent you.” He seemed to be everywhere at the same time as he drew her down into the covers with him. His lips were burning the skin of her neck. His hands slid down her back as she straddled him, settling on her lower back and pulling her into him. He was hard in spots and soft in others. It was overwhelming.
“They weren’t exactly love letters - oh, Lex…” Em threw her head back as she pressed her body as close to his as she could. His fingers were in her hair, pulling the stick free and tossing it across the room.
“Better,” he whispered, his voice husky in her ear. “I like it better down.”
“Right, the letters...the mailbox…” She was cut off by his lips on hers, his arms pulling her back in tightly, and she gave in. The questions could wait.
Fourteen
Her eyes fluttered open as Em struggled to draw a breath. Something was holding her down by the chest. Pressure. A remarkably dense weight. She tried to push whatever it was off her but couldn't. Too heavy. Em could feel the panic rising inside her. Trapped, she felt trapped. Desperate to free herself, she realized she could use magic. Wind. Force. Em called up the strongest gust of wind she could and hurled it up and away from her - and then she was frozen in fear as she saw Lex's naked form fly upward and bounce off the ceiling.
She rolled to one side so that when he plummeted back down, he wouldn't hit her, but she didn't move far enough.
As he landed on top of her, Em screamed out in pain, sure her arm was broken. She tried to wiggle her fingers, but there was no response in her hand. Big, hot tears sprang to her eyes and poured down her face as the pain spread up her arm in a searing wave. Lex's voice bantered about at the edge of her consciousness, but she couldn't understand him - the pain was that bad for a moment. When she tried to tell him that she was okay, that it was just her arm, all that came out was a strangled growling sound. The edges of her vision were starting to dim and blur, and she felt cold and clammy. Shock, she was going into shock, like that time she fell off a merry go round and broke her arm. The white-hot pain, the grinding of bones together against jagged edges, it was just too much…
And just before she let go and coasted into unconsciousness, the pain stopped. Em opened an eye, fearing that her arm had been completely removed from her body. It was still there, fingers and all, and Lex was bent over her arm as she lay on her back. The words he was murmuring as he held his large hands over her elbow were familiar. She should have just focused her attention there because the cold and nausea started to come back when she saw the utterly unnatural angle at which her elbow was lying on the bed. She breathed in sharply, catching Lex's attention for a moment.
"Oh, no, Em, don't look, it's still pretty bad." He moved into her field of vision, so she shut her eyes and returned to mindful breathing to stem the tide of nausea she was riding. "I'm going to move it back into place, but that may hurt. Hmmm…" Em opened her eyes and saw Lex digging in his bag. "I have an idea, it will alleviate the pain of your break, but it will be a...permanent solution." He looked at her, questioning.
"Are you going to cut off my arm?" Em knew she was squealing, but she also knew that she wanted to keep her arm if possible. What had he retrieved from his backpack?
"No, of course I'm not." Lex smoothed her hair back with one hand as he held out his other hand, his index and middle fingers extended toward her now-exposed neck. "I'm going to give you a magical mark that will help you bear the pain."
Was that all? Em almost laughed out loud. And here she thought he was going to pull her arm out of the socket like a turkey wishbone at Thanksgiving. "Of course you can do that! I mean, it will hurt, right?" Lex nodded. "Can't be as bad as it hurts now. Just do it." The darkness was creeping in around her vision again. Em squinted and could almost make out Lex's face.
“This will hurt, Em, ready?” She nodded and then nearly came up off the bed as his fingers touched her skin, searing it. It didn’t just hurt - whatever he was doing was reaching down into the core of who she was, as Em and as Maddie. This magic was reaching for her center, where Em kept her magic and where Maddie kept her soul, and it was hungry.
“Lex!” she hissed through clenched teeth. “What is happening?”
He didn’t answer her. He was murmuring in that language again, and Em noticed that his tattoos were flowing between blue and purple. Calming. Concerned. The sensation continued, and Em found that she didn’t mind so much and wasn’t worried about what it was doing. She closed her eyes and thought again of what Henri had told her about Lex. He had to figure out his own truth. What was his truth?
“Finished.” Em’s good hand flew to her neck where he had been working, and as soon as her fingers brushed her skin, she could feel a fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach. She looked up at Lex to see that he was observing her as a smile threatened to tug up the corners of his mouth. The second thing she noticed was that she felt no pain, at least not like before. A cracking noise caught her attention, and she tried to look around at Lex, but he had repositioned his body so that she could not see what he was doing. “Don’t look, Em. Just close your eyes.” His tattoos pulsed, and she felt immediately calm and content. “Em?” She forced her eyes back open and saw a red glow matching pulse with the blue and purple.
“What? Did I do something wrong? Why are you angry?”
“Those are YOUR tattoos, Em, not mine.” Em’s hand again flew to her neck, and that weird fluttering feeling returned. This time it was prickly and hot, rather than fluttery like before. “It’s beautiful, but we will get to that in a moment.” Suddenly Em was very aware of the fact that Lex was moving her arm’s bones back into place and working some healing magic to start them knitting again together. She touched the tattoo on her neck and no longer cared about the arm. “There, done.”
Lex leaned back for a moment, and Em noticed how tired he looked. Then she noticed that she could feel her other arm and that it didn’t hurt. She lifted her hand to his face, smoothing the lines on his forehead. “Thank you.”
He was frowning and wouldn’t meet her gaze. “But I did this to you. Of course I had to fix it. I’m just sorry that you had to bear a mark for your arm to be fixed. I should have called Henri -” Lex blanched. “Oh, Henri is going to kill me for doing that to you!”
“Which part? The tattoo? Falling on me? What happened...before?” Their tattoos pulsed purple in unison, and Lex placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“We
need to go, Em. Valentin is on his way here, and you are not healed enough to face him. We need to be somewhere else when he gets here.”
Em raised an eyebrow. “I will agree to that if you tell me how you got here.” Lex frowned. “I mean it, Lex. Every time I ask, you are either conveniently asleep or luring me into bed.”
“Fine, I agree. But we need to go soon, Em. How are you feeling?”
“Good enough. Let’s do it.”
Before long, they had packed up and left the room at the inn. Em lingered for just a moment in the doorway, memorizing every corner of the room, remembering everything that happened in the short time they were there. The time spent with Henri talking in front of the fire. The time spent with Lex - Em’s eyes lingered on the bed, and she felt her face flush. She really did love Lex, and she hoped that he trusted her enough to tell her the truth about himself.
“Em?”
“Coming.” She closed the door, one of her hands laid palm to the wood on the door, hoping that she would open that door again.
Henri was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. “Must you go, ma fille? Lex, can you not leave her here where she is safe?”
“Not even if I wanted to, Henri.” Lex held out his hand, and Em took it with a squeeze that made him smile. “I have to get her away from here, you know that. This is the first place he will look, and I need to get her somewhere safe until I am certain she is ready to face him.”
“I need both of you to stop talking about me like I’m not here.” Em pulled her hair up and fixed it with the stick, forgetting about the tattoo. Henri's eyes bugged out of his head.
"Alexander, what did you do?" The old man was glaring at Em and Lex, like a father who just discovered his child sneaking back in a window.
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