AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  "Ethan's really alright?" I asked.

  Taylor frowned. "You can ask him when we're wrapped up here. It's the whole doctor-patient thing."

  It was my turn to frown. "You've given us reports on the Lost before."

  "As an AIR agent, you have certain authority granted when it comes from people from other dimensions. In this case, it doesn't extend to humans."

  "I guess that makes sense," I said with reluctance.

  "Let's start with where you hurt the most.”

  "In the body area," I said.

  He gave a hint of a smile. "Let's get to it then. Undress and tell me, step-by-step, each thing that may have caused damage."

  Some people may think that having someone as gorgeous as Taylor telling them to undress would be a fantasy come true. When Taylor was in doctor mode, the thought would never cross my mind. He was a consummate professional. As I undressed, I told him everything that happened. Using Gran's bed as an examining table, he went over everything from a possible concussion to cracked ribs. For each event, from Einar grabbing me around the neck, to me lashing out, he asked for more specific details. It was exhausting.

  "I'm making it sound much worse than it was," I said.

  Taylor raised his eyebrow, but didn't look at me. "I'm pretty sure the contusions and muscle damage tells a different story. Where did these bruises come from?" Taylor was examining my knees and legs. "Nothing you've said so far would lead to this type of bruising."

  "I kicked and kneed him a bunch of times."

  "Which account for these," Taylor said, pointing to marks on top of my knees, "but not the ones on the bottom of your knees."

  My mind felt muddled when I tried to think back. I hated to admit how long it took me to remember how those bruises may have come about.

  "Oh. Those may have come from earlier in the day."

  When I left it at that, Taylor crossed his arms and waited for me to continue.

  "Ugh. Fine, but promise you won't tell anyone?" I said. "Maybe file it under doctor-patient confidentiality?"

  "I'd rather not agree to something like that. If someone did this..."

  I rolled my eyes. "Someone did. I took a self-defense class."

  It looked like it took Taylor a moment before that sunk in. "You're taking classes?"

  "I took a class," I stressed.

  "What type of class?"

  "Krav Maga."

  "You can get dressed now. I think Krav is an excellent idea." Taylor looked pleased by the notion. "Why is it a secret?"

  "Any number of reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that I should have started ages ago."

  "Are you worried about what your partners will think?"

  I shrugged, and then winced, before putting on my shirt. "I don't want them to think I'm worried about the job."

  Taylor nodded. "I'm fairly sure Logan wouldn't think that, but I can't say the same for your other partners since I don't know them as well. Logan, however, might think that he could help train you, which may end badly."

  While I continued to dress, the confusion must have been plain on my face.

  "Elves think a bit differently about fighting. Their instincts and reactions don't always mesh well with what your natural reactions might be. That, and when they teach fighting, they do it by fighting at nearly full strength from the start."

  "Last fall I saw him start to train Jonathan. I never really thought about it before, but it was, well...more enthusiastic than I would have expected."

  Taylor laughed. "It's a shame we don't live closer. We could train together."

  "You know Krav?"

  "Hold out your arm. I'm going to wrap both of them. Keep the bandaging tight. Compression is necessary.” After I nodded Taylor continued. “Krav uses a mixture of martial arts for real life situations. I've practiced similar methodologies and even trained a few people in my time."

  He made it sound like he'd been alive longer than he appeared. Every now and again, I got the feeling that he was much older than the thirty or so he looked.

  "Maybe when I'm around the city, you could give me some pointers," I said.

  "I'd like that." He sounded sincere. "In fact, it would be my pleasure. For now, though, you are going to need to take a few days off from training."

  "It wasn't the first thing on my list of stuff to do after tonight," I admitted.

  "In your line of work, I would suggest sometimes going in even when bruised or sore from work. That's what you'll be facing in the line of duty. It's not ideal for your first week, though."

  "What's the verdict?" I asked, picking up my shoes instead of putting them back on.

  "Before you go to sleep, take this. It's for the pain. It might even help you sleep through the night, but your bruises aren't going to make that easy."

  I stowed the pill in my pocket while Taylor continued. "I would love nothing more than to tell you to spend the next two to three days in bed. But I know you well enough to assume that you wouldn't listen to that advice."

  "Door number two?" I asked.

  "I'm going to give you a muscle relaxer. It will probably make you tired, so no driving until you know how it'll affect you. Take one before you go to sleep for the next few days and tomorrow morning. You have several strained muscles, but none that appear to be torn. It's still going to take some time to heal."

  "Sure," I agreed.

  "Tomorrow, however..."

  I groaned realizing I wasn't going to get off that lucky.

  "And tonight," Taylor continued, "you're going to need to rest and ice the muscles in your arms."

  "You know I can't take a day off in the middle of something like this."

  "I'm not saying take the day off, but a day of research may be in order."

  "About that..." Logan's hesitancy to research through AIR was bouncing around my head. "AIR still doesn't know about the souls of the Lost inside me. They don't even know about my powers being different from what they were a year ago."

  "I thought that might be the case when Logan asked me to come here tonight."

  "Well, this thing. We don't know what it is, but it seemed to...I don't know. Take an interest in me beyond the usual, ‘I want to kill you’ reactions I usually get."

  Taylor frowned. "You're still getting those?"

  Thoughts of the cop that tried to shoot me surfaced. "Yeah. Still there."

  "You and Logan are worried about what might come out if this person turns out to be a Reader," Taylor said.

  I hadn't really thought of that. "It would look bad for me," I admitted.

  Taylor started packing up his things. "Still have the laptop Neil gave you?"

  "Yes."

  "Use that. It'll give you access to MyTH research."

  "Thanks. How is Neil doing?" I asked as we left the room.

  "You were actually a good influence on him. He stayed clean for a while. After a week, though, he couldn't take it." Taylor shook his head. "It's all or nothing with that kid. I’ve barely seen him around.”

  "I should have kept in touch."

  "Well, he wasn't the best influence on you I'm afraid."

  I felt so sorry for Neil. There had to be a balance for him somewhere between extreme genius and frying himself on drugs.

  "He'll come around," Taylor said. "He won't be this young forever. Insufferable forever, yes, but this stupid? He'll outgrow it."

  "Let me know if there's ever anything I can do."

  "It'll be good for him to hear from you."

  "I'll call tomorrow," I said as we entered the kitchen.

  "Better wait until the late afternoon. Usually that's the best chance to reach him."

  "Everything good?" Logan asked.

  "I'll be good as new in no time," I said.

  Logan cocked his head and waited for more.

  "I need to take it easy tomorrow. Research, that sort of thing. Taylor's going to let us run our research through MyTH," I said.

  "That's mighty nice of ya, Doc," Logan said.
/>
  "I know it's late," Taylor said, "but if Jonathan's around, I thought we'd go over a few things."

  Logan nodded, but it seemed like the old elf sagged a bit at the request. "He's pretty gung-ho to get started. He'll appreciate the visit."

  "Get started?" I asked.

  "Jonathan's found himself a new job," Logan said, keeping his voice even. "After what happened with Paula, he feels he needs a fresh start. Once he's wrapped up his school year, he's going to work with MyTH."

  Chapter 14

  "I'm sorry, Logan, I didn't know. Jonathan never said anything to me about leaving," I said.

  "Well, he's hitching his wagon to a good team," Logan said, getting to his feet. "Come on over, Taylor. I'm across the field. You two need anything tonight?"

  "We're good," I said to Logan.

  Logan nodded. "Rider and Vincent are on site. They'll be stopping by tomorrow to let us know what they've found. AIR knows there was an altercation and the clean-up team is ready to step in once Rider has done what he can. But we can deal with the paperwork tomorrow."

  I nodded. "Thanks for your help tonight, Taylor. If you see Neil, let him know I'll get in touch."

  "Ice those muscles before you sleep. Let me know when you're in town." Taylor waved and followed Logan out the back door.

  Once they left, the kitchen was so quiet it was almost deafening.

  "Can I get you anything?" I asked Ethan, trying to fill the void.

  "No. Thank you, though."

  After a few more silent moments ticked by I got myself a glass of water to give myself something to do. "You're okay, though, right?" I asked.

  "More bumps and bruises than I'd like. How about you? When Logan brought you out, I thought...well, it looked bad."

  "Bruises and sore muscles. Sorry I worried you," I said.

  "You all act like it's another day at the office, but for me, the last few days have been more than worrying. It doesn't help that I feel like I've been left hanging out in the dark with nothing but my drawers on."

  I blinked and my lip curled up. "Can you say that last part again?"

  Ethan grinned and shook his head. "It's something my grandpa used to say. I'm serious, though. I've been taking a lot of things on good faith, but I opened fire on someone tonight. In my world, that's a rare occurrence."

  "We don't go around shooting people. I don't even carry a real gun most of the time. We carry tranq guns mostly," I tried to reassure Ethan.

  "Speaking of tranquilizers, why did your partner knock you out?" Ethan appeared to be trying to keep his voice level, but I could tell he was trying to add two and two together and getting five every time.

  "It's really complicated."

  "Trust me when I say I believe that, but I think it's time you fill me in. It might also help to know why, when I shot a man, nothing happened. And why you appeared to be replying to it when it hadn't spoken. At least for starters."

  Crap. I looked at my glass of water and tried to figure out where to start.

  "I see," Ethan said. He sounded dejected, and he stood up. "I should go."

  "No, wait. I'm only trying to figure out where to start." Ethan didn't make a move to sit back down. "Please stay."

  "You're going to explain it all?" Ethan asked.

  "You have to understand, there are some things that I can't talk about."

  Ethan tensed and gripped the back of his chair.

  "I can tell you anything you want to know about me." I glanced out the back door and back to Ethan. "I'm pretty sure there isn't an issue with me telling you about the case, but some things aren't my stories to tell."

  "Anything about you?" His lips curved up with a hint of a smile.

  "I'll tell you. I'm not sure what you'll think of me once it's all out in the open."

  "You’re really worried about that, aren't you?"

  "I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise to you that I like you. The last person I let in was my former fiancé, Zander. You see how well that turned out." Ethan's brow furrowed and he started to say something, but I quickly continued. "I don't think you'd be like him. You already know things aren't quite normal, but things were much less complicated back then."

  "I like you as well. Us working together isn't quite like I thought it might be, and you're right, I'm nothing like the guy I met tonight. I'm not saying everything is going to come up roses, but I've seen enough to know you're not crazy."

  "Where do you want me to start?" I was resigned to jump in and get this over with.

  "I heard Dr. Taylor mention ice?"

  "What? Oh, yeah, for my arms," I said dismissively.

  "Let's start there, and you can tell me why your partner knocked you out and refused to take you to a hospital. Dish towels?"

  "I'll get them."

  "Sit back down. I've got this." He smiled and winked at me. "I don't want you to get distracted."

  I pointed out the drawer. "It does look bad, doesn't it? I promise you it's for a good reason."

  Ethan grabbed the towel. "Freezer bags? And those reasons are?"

  I pointed to the cabinet. "It'll be best if I start back further and work my way up to tonight."

  Ethan put ice in a bag, along with a little water, wrapped it in a dishtowel, and then came over and sat down next to me.

  "What are we icing?" he asked.

  "My arms."

  "Both?"

  "Yeah."

  "Hold on to this one, I'll make another. You can start wherever you're most comfortable starting."

  I wanted to soak this moment in before spoiling everything. It was even tempting to reach for the Path to see how he really felt, and see what changed as I told him as much as I could, but that would be intrusive.

  How would a man react if the woman he’s seeing has a broken soul? Worse yet, having a bunch of other pieces of souls stuck inside her.

  I guess I was going to find out.

  Starting with being a Reader was the easy part. He already knew a little bit about it.

  Ethan pressed the new ice pack to one arm while I held the other and talked.

  "That explains a lot about what I saw at the construction site," he said when I paused.

  I blinked at him. "That's it?"

  "Well, I assume you're not done. You haven't said anything that would give Logan a reason to knock you out. Unless you tried to take things too far. I'm assuming that's what happened early in the day. And why you went home?"

  "There's definitely more. It’s just that..." I shook my head and couldn't help but let a small smile escape alongside the hope that was welling up. "Well, what I told you was all that Zander knew. The rest is new territory for me."

  Ethan surprised me by putting his hand on my cheek. It was cold, but I leaned my head into it and closed my eyes.

  "That guy is an idiot," Ethan said.

  I nodded in agreement and opened my eyes, looking into Ethan's concerned face. Then I kissed him, basking in the warmth of his lips. He returned the kiss, but I stretched back after a moment. I tried to shove the hope back down, but it stayed put.

  Next came the shredding of my soul.

  "Workplace accident?" Ethan's concern was mingled with shock. "What kind of place do you work at?"

  "That's a whole other story." I yawned and caught the look in his eye. "One that I'll tell you," I assured him. "Not everything. Not specific cases or people, but enough that you'll know what I do."

  "Did it hurt?" he asked.

  "No, but I should tell you that it's the reason the officer almost shot me the other day."

  "I'm not following."

  "Do you remember the first time we met?"

  "At the station, yeah."

  "Do you remember how much you liked me at first?"

  Ethan frowned. "I remember it had been a rough day." Then he started to grin. "As you left I remember thinking you were cute, and I was kicking myself, thinking I should have asked you out, but then figured I'd never see you again."

  I laughed. "Yo
u almost dodged the bullet there, but I came back. Do you remember how the rookie officer acted that day?"

  "Yeah." Ethan was turned inward now. "And the DEA when you came back. Our first few dates were pretty odd, too. You were almost shot over this? That must be hell."

  "It makes it pretty hard to make a good first impression. Luckily, most people get over it pretty quickly."

  "So, the officer the other day, him almost shooting you, that wasn't his fault?"

  I raised an eyebrow at him. "Have you seen anyone else try to kill me? I wouldn't say it's entirely his fault, but something’s not right there if he was using his weapon so freely."

  "Yeah, I guess you're right." He didn't sound entirely convinced, but I let it drop.

  "That leads us to this spring. Around the time we met. This is where things get...strange."

  After yawning widely, which Ethan picked up and mimicked, I gave him the briefest of overviews about not exactly being alone inside my own body.

  Ethan's face paled. My heart constricted.

  "I'm not sure I understand. You somehow ended up with other people's souls inside you?"

  Feeling like a giant freak, I went for broke. "People, yes. Human, not exactly."

  "I'm still not following."

  I cleared my throat. "You asked who I worked for. The agency is AIR, the Agency for Interdimensional Regulation. We work with the Lost, Mythological creatures that come from other dimensions."

  "I'm— what?" Now Ethan looked like he was adding two and two and coming up with frog.

  "Elves, werewolves, fairies, gn—"

  "Hold on."

  Knowing I had pushed too far, I shut my mouth and waited.

  "What you're talking about...those are kid stories," Ethan said.

  "Well, yes and no. People made up stories over the years about what..."

  Ethan held up a hand and I stopped again. He appeared to be struggling hard.

  We sat in silence for a few moments before I took the ice pack from Ethan's unresisting hand and went to the sink to hide my face.

  "You're telling me that these things are real, and you think they're inside you?"

  "People, not things." I didn't raise my voice, and I couldn't bring myself to address the second part of his question.

  "What?" Ethan sounded more confused than angry, but his frustration was definitely there.