The bend in the tunnel was approaching, and Nicole could feel her body slowing down.
“How sharp a turn is it?” Coolidge called to her.
“Pretty sharp. I won’t be able to get around it lying flat like this.”
“Can you see what position to get in to make it around the corner?”
“I think so. How does it work—do I just bend and hope my clothes let me?”
“That should be fine. If I can sense which way you’re going, I’ll try to give you slack.”
“Okay, starting my bending now.” Nicole slowly rolled onto her right side, watching below and above herself to make sure she wasn’t at risk of touching any surfaces. As she continued forward, she pulled her knees to her chest a little at a time until she’d cleared the corner.
“All through,” she called back.
Coolidge didn’t respond.
“I’m through!” Nicole shouted.
“Good,” he finally yelled.
Nicole knitted her eyebrows, realizing he was already struggling to hear. Great.
The end of the tube was only four feet away, but would she make it? She was slowly moving upward more than she should be.
“I’m going too high,” she shouted.
No response. She yelled it back again, and again, Coolidge didn’t answer her.
Nicole panicked, her breaths coming in gasps. What to do? What to do? Her head was only a foot from the top of the tube now. She glanced down, making sure her shoes weren’t about to hit the bottom. She still had about two, maybe three feet.
Why, oh, why did Coolidge have to lose his hearing when he overdid it? Why couldn’t he lose another sense?
Nicole was nearing the top of the tube. It was only a few inches away now. She dropped her head as far as it would go, barely clearing. But now her shoulders were in danger of hitting it.
Suddenly, Nicole’s body changed direction. Coolidge must have figured out he was leading her off course. She sailed out of the tube without brushing any part of it. The room she’d entered was long and narrow—maybe twenty feet.
“You can stop now!” Nicole yelled back before remembering he wouldn’t hear her. As she expected, she continued forward. Not only that, but she was speeding up. Was he losing control completely?
She was going fast—too fast. The opposite wall was coming up quickly. She’d be crashing into it soon.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Nicole shouted.
No response.
An idea suddenly hit her. He was controlling her clothes, not her body! As fast as she could, she started undoing the Velcro that held on the tank top. The last strap came off with a rip, and Nicole realized her mistake too late. She should have undone her pants first. The top half of her body rushed downward, banging and dragging her head against the cement floor while her lower half hung in the air, still moving too quickly toward the wall.
She struggled with the Velcro on her pants, trying to see through the pain and the stars that glittered her vision. It was hard work, keeping her head from dragging while dealing with the pain of it slamming into the floor. She wished she’d worked out her abs more to make this easier. As it was, her stomach was pinched over the straps, making it difficult to undo them.
Finally, and just before she smashed into the wall, she got the straps undone, then yanked her feet out of her shoes. Her hips wriggled free of the tight fabric, and the weight of her body pulled her clear of the pants.
She fell to the ground, rolling to a stop and watching as the now-empty clothes slammed into the wall and pushed against it, practically bouncing over and over, hanging in the air.
That was far too close.
She lay on the cold cement in nothing but her underwear and socks, breathing deeply, trying not to cry with relief that she’d actually made it through.
Wow. She’d made it. The realization of this caused her to jump up and shout with joy before the pounding headache took her breath away. She calmed herself, not wanting a high heart rate to add to the pain, then glanced around. Where was the Alerter?
The room was empty, save for a clown in a box in the corner. It grinned at her, motionless, inanimate.
After looking around the room again, Nicole approached the clown. Was it guarding the Alerter?
“What is your name?” the clown suddenly asked, making Nicole shriek.
“What is your name?” it said again.
“Nicole.”
“Are you an Arete?”
“Yes.”
“Very well.”
The clown’s head dropped back, away from her, its mouth opening until it gaped grotesquely. An oblong item rose inside its throat, the top of which had a small ball attached with brass snakes coiled around it.
Nicole pulled the Alerter out of the clown, feeling weird doing so. She knew the clown wasn’t going to gag, but still. It was kind of gross.
The moment the Alerter was in her hands, the lights in the room flashed off and on several times, finally ending in an even more brightened state. Nicole heard something behind her and turned—all the sand had fallen to the floor of the tube. Did that mean it was safe to go back through the tunnel? There wasn’t another way out of this room that she could see.
As Nicole pondered the situation, her Kevlar clothes finally dropped. Maybe the flashing lights had caught Coolidge’s attention.
With a gasp, and realizing that Coolidge might be coming after her, Nicole raced back to her clothes and thrust them on as fast as she could.
Coolidge jumped out of the tunnel just as Nicole finished doing up the straps on the tank top.
“You got it!” he shouted, obviously still struggling with hearing. “Hallelujah!”
Nicole nodded. “Without a problem.” She didn’t want to tell him he’d nearly slammed her into a cement wall, which had forced her to undress to prevent it. Awkward.
He held out his hand and she passed him the Alerter. “Curious object,” he said, his voice still abnormally loud. He fingered the patterns that ran along the handle leading to the spherical top with the snakes twisting around it. He glanced up. “Do you mind if I keep it for now? Until we get to the airport? I’d like to continue learning as much about it as I can.”
Nicole nodded again. She pointed to the tube, a questioning expression on her face.
Coolidge glanced at it. “Yes, let’s go now.”
It occurred to Nicole that Jerry might have an alarm on the clown—he might know that they’d removed the Alerter. Should they wait around to talk to him or leave as soon as possible?
Probably leave. Nicole didn’t want him to have any opportunities to try to take it back.
She followed Coolidge through the tube, gathered up her clothes, then they passed through the other rooms and up the stairs. The house was still empty, and without a backward glance, they shut the door behind them, got in the car, and drove away.
At first, Nicole was worried about Coolidge driving while he couldn’t hear, but she realized none of his other senses had been removed—he could still see and make decisions—so she relaxed into the seat and let the stress of the morning eke out of her system.
The clock on the dashboard said it was only eleven. They’d taken three hours to get through all of the traps. It was Saturday, and they wouldn’t be flying back until tomorrow morning. Nicole didn’t want to stay away from home for that long, but she also knew that canceling their flight and finding an earlier departure would be a wasteful expense.
They were just pulling up to their hotel when Coolidge sighed in relief.
“Can finally hear again,” he said. “I hate it when that happens.”
“Does it happen often?”
He nodded. “I’m constantly pushing myself to the edge of my limits.”
Nicole frowned. “But didn’t you and Austin say that doing so would cause eventual—or even immediate—brain damage?”
“Yes,” he said as they got out of the car. “But there’s a way to know if you’re going too far. Generall
y, once your sense has left, you have thirty seconds more before permanent damage happens. As long as you keep track of those seconds, you’ll be fine.”
Nicole’s shoulders tensed. She’d come very close to that point of damage on more than one occasion. “Unless something’s currently hurting, it’s hard to know when I’m no longer feeling pain.”
“I’ve considered that, and yes, yours is more dangerous. It’s unlike hearing or eyesight, where you know the moment it’s gone.” He glanced over at her as they entered the hotel. “I have a friend who loses the same sense as you. Whenever he’s about to use extreme amounts of power, he puts a special bracelet on his wrist that constantly causes him pain. It measures the amount of adrenaline in his system and increases the pain as the adrenaline goes up, thereby allowing it to be near the front of his thoughts at all times. I could look into finding one for you, if you’d like.”
Nicole’s stomach turned at the thought of using something like that. Like most people, she hated pain. But if it was the only way, she might have to get one. “Has it scarred his wrist?”
“Not that I know of—it doesn’t actually puncture the skin.”
“Then how does it cause pain? And how does it measure his adrenaline?”
Coolidge smiled. “Magic doesn’t need to follow medical science, remember?”
Nicole chuckled at herself. “Yeah.”
“As for the pain, it sort of shocks the nerves. Delivers an electrical pulse.”
“That sounds awful.”
“Yes, it does.”
They paused outside their separate rooms. Coolidge pulled out his phone, probably to check the time. “I’d like to go visit a friend, but I hate to leave you here alone.”
“I brought homework. And if I need to get out, I can walk anywhere. I’ll be fine.”
“Very well. I’ll be in late tonight or possibly not until the morning, so I’ll see you right before we leave. Call or text if you need anything.”
With the day decided, Nicole knew she could still enjoy herself even though she wasn’t home with friends. She showered first, then got caught up on homework. Once she’d done that, she decided to watch movies and eat pizza. It was the first time in a while when she’d enjoyed being alone, and it felt really good.
Sunday morning, Nicole got up and packed. She and Coolidge drove to the airport, where they dropped off the rental car, then boarded their plane.
Chapter Six
Toby was waiting outside Nicole’s apartment with a huge bouquet of flowers when she got home. She gasped in delight and gave him a hug.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “They’re beautiful.” She unlocked the door and let them in. Lizzie wasn’t there—she was probably out with friends.
Toby took her suitcase from her and wheeled it down to her room while Nicole pulled out a vase for the flowers. She was arranging them in fresh water when Toby returned.
“How was your trip?”
Nicole smiled. “A success.”
“Good. Was Coolidge able to help much?”
Nicole hesitated, unsure exactly what to say. “Yes, a lot. If he hadn’t been there, I would’ve failed.”
“I’m glad he went, then.”
Toby seemed distant, and Nicole remembered two conversations she’d had with Coolidge. The first that crossed her mind was about Austin—how he’d wait however long necessary until he and Nicole could get back together. But the other conversation—the one about Toby—pressed more urgently on Nicole’s mind. She really hadn’t given the guy permission to kiss her or even hold her hand.
But he’d made it obvious that he would welcome those sorts of developments, with a frequent hand on her back, a quick touch of her elbow, and even the one time when he’d slipped a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.
Nicole took a deep breath. Austin would wait for her . . . but would that ever work out? They had no guarantee that it would, and no way to overcome the influence of the elixir. And the elixir was simply too important for her to toss aside. Could she hold on to Austin forever when they couldn’t be together? Was she willing to live her life—however much of it remained—alone?
No, she wasn’t. And no matter how much she loved Austin, Toby was an excellent guy. He treated her well, he was intelligent, they had a lot in common, and he was cute. All important things for a successful relationship. And she knew she really hadn’t given him a chance—not like he deserved.
“Lots on your mind?” Toby asked, glancing sidelong at her from where he leaned against the counter.
Nicole turned to him, putting a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry. The weekend was pretty crazy and I’ve had a lot to think about.”
“That’s fine.” He gestured to the flowers. “I’m glad you like them.”
“I do.” Nicole stepped to him and put her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Thank you again.”
Toby encircled her with his arms, and Nicole closed her eyes, willing herself to take the jump. She knew he wouldn’t reject her, that he’d been waiting for something like this to happen. And she really did need to instigate it. But why was it so hard?
Finally, realizing that Toby was probably wondering what was going on, Nicole slowly pulled back until she could look into his eyes. “You’ve been very patient with me. And I really appreciate it.”
Toby reached up and brushed a finger down the side of her face. “You’re worth the wait,” he whispered.
Nicole hugged him again, then pressed her lips against his cheek, trying to get up the courage to do the same on his lips.
Toby’s intake of breath told her he wasn’t expecting that. He held perfectly still, whether from shyness or because he was afraid to scare her away, she couldn’t tell.
Nicole finally made it to his lips, finding them warm and supple, inviting. She kissed him gently, searching, trying to see how she felt about what she was doing.
Toby didn’t give her the chance to think for very long. Suddenly, his arms tightened around her, one hand encircling the back of her head, holding her close to him. He hungrily took control of the kiss, his lips exploring her face and jaw before returning to her mouth.
Nicole sighed, feeling her shoulders relax. She raised a hand to his hair, knotting her fingers in it as his kiss intensified. A random thought crossed her mind . . . that this was nice. That she was enjoying it.
Whoa. She was enjoying it? She couldn’t believe that. But it was true.
Toby’s urgency slowly dissipated and his kiss turned gentle again. Then he pulled back, placing his hands on her cheeks. “Thank you,” he said, gazing into her eyes.
Nicole nodded, smiling up at him.
“So, are you up for a date this weekend?”
“Sure,” Nicole said. “Anything special happening?”
“A . . . uh . . . friend, I guess that’s what she is, is asking someone out who she’s wanted to go with for a long time. She knew that you and I were, um, dating.” He sent Nicole a questioning expression, and she nodded, making him grin. “Well, she figured it would help her break the ice with this guy if another couple was there.”
“Sounds fine. I haven’t doubled in a while.”
“Me neither. I’ll pick you up at six on Saturday?”
“That’s perfect.”
A dreamy expression crossed Toby’s face, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her, his lips finding hers again. Then he released her and said goodbye, leaving the apartment.
Nicole unpacked in a daze, not knowing what to think. She heard Lizzie get home but wasn’t ready yet to tell her friend what had happened. The kisses really had been nice, and she was surprised to find that she really was attracted to Toby. It wasn’t nearly as much as her attraction for Austin, but it might grow into something like that eventually.
She scolded herself. She needed to stop comparing Toby to Austin. It wasn’t fair to herself or either guy. They deserved to be judged on their own merits and not against each other.
Besides, wit
h what was going on with the Great Ones and the Tarians, it seemed unlikely Nicole would be able to date Austin ever again.
Lizzie knocked on the door and Nicole invited her in. They sat on Nicole’s bed for several hours, talking about the events of the weekend and Nicole’s few minutes with Toby that evening.
“I can’t believe you kissed him,” Lizzie said, a somewhat accusatory expression on her face.
“Oh, so now you’re disappointed?”
“Austin—”
“And I can’t date. And for who knows how long.” Nicole reached over and grabbed Lizzie’s hand. “I need my best friend to understand. I’m lonely, Lizzie. I need support and encouragement right now. We have no guarantee that any of us will be alive after this year is over. And Toby is a great guy. He deserves a chance.” Nicole playfully swatted Lizzie. “Besides, like you’re one to talk. You have a new boyfriend every week.”
Lizzie snorted. “Only because I haven’t found The One. You have.”
“That might be true,” Nicole said, “but he might be lost to me.”
“Oh, Nicole, don’t be melodramatic. Don’t give up hope—we’ll get this figured out eventually.”
Nicole nodded. “I’m going to give Toby a chance in the meantime. He really does treat me well.”
“And you enjoyed the kiss?”
Nicole felt her cheeks redden. “Yes. More than I thought I would.”
Lizzie squealed. “Tell me about it!”
And so Nicole did. After another ten minutes of giggling and teasing, Nicole finally begged for some sleep, and Lizzie retired to her own room.
Nicole had just finished brushing her teeth when a spider appeared next to her, announcing Rebecca’s arrival. Nicole rinsed her mouth and put her toothbrush away before turning to find the woman sitting on the edge of the bathtub.
“Hi, Nicole.” She sent her granddaughter a smile, which Nicole returned. Rebecca got to her feet and followed Nicole to her room. “How have things been?”
Observe, Mosaic Chronicles Book Four Page 8
