Force of Nature

by Shawna Logue

  He sighed. “What am I going to do with you?” Tentatively, he clasped my hands, relaxing when I held on to my energy. It took some effort, but not so much that I wasn’t able to concentrate on him.

  We sat for a few more minutes, and then, as if on some unspoken cue, both rose and headed for bed. We were silent the whole way, though he still held my hands. As I was already in pajamas, I crawled into bed while he changed.

  “Things are different now, aren’t they?” I finally asked.

  He crawled in beside me, and I rolled over so my back pressed up against his chest. He pulled me tight to him. After a moment, he finally spoke.

  “Yes, they are.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  A lone tear trickled down my cheek as I closed my eyes to think about his response.

  “Why, exactly?” I said, composing myself before turning back to face him.

  “You’re just much more powerful than I ever imagined,” he smiled. “It’s a bit humbling. It’s going to take some getting used to.”

  I laughed, relieved. “Do I detect a hint of jealousy there?”

  “Not jealousy,” he answered thoughtfully. “It’s more like a big reality check, I guess. I’m a bit used to being the only big fish in the sea around these parts. Now, I have company.” He pulled me in closer as he spoke. “Mind you, the company sure is enjoyable.”

  “I’m hardly a big fish. I’m more like a tadpole.”

  “You still don’t see it, do you?”

  I smiled. “Nope. And I don’t really want to. It’s overwhelming enough as it is. Can’t I be naive for a little while longer?”

  He brushed a piece of my hair to the side of my face and kissed me lightly. “At least until tomorrow. For now, try to sleep, okay?”

  “Now that I am good at,” I laughed as I closed my eyes. Sleep came quickly.

  When I woke up, I felt more rested than I had in months. Connor snored quietly beside me, which was an unusual sound because he was always the first one awake. Knowing Connor though, he probably hadn’t slept well since the fight in the woods. I decided to let him sleep and got up quietly. I peeked out the window. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the pale pink glow of the sky told me it would soon.

  I decided I would shower later; I didn’t want the noise to wake him up. Instead, I pulled on a pair of Connor’s too-big sweatpants (thank goodness for drawstrings) and a t-shirt before padding downstairs.

  I hadn’t spent much time in this house since it was rebuilt, and the time I had, I hadn’t been keen on sticking around. Still, the place felt familiar and comfortable. I could see many of my own tastes reflected in the decorating. I ran my hand along the large fireplace, tracing the stones in the mantle, before sitting on the hearth to look around. I knew Connor had always wanted me to be comfortable here, knowing how guilty I felt about causing the destruction of his last house. He had gone to great lengths to make the atmosphere homey. There was a lot of small details to absorb, everything from the colour of the area rug, to the microfiber blanket hanging off the side of the couch. It was nice to take it all in without his watchful reaction.

  Except that someone was watching me.

  “Good morning, Dermot,” I called into the kitchen. “You’re not particularly stealthy today.”

  “Wasn’t tryin’ to be. Merely wanted to give you some space. You seem contemplative.”

  “Just taking this all in, I suppose,” I sighed. I really did love Connor for doing this. I felt home.

  The nimble leprechaun sprang lightly over to me and offered an arm. “Let’s walk.”

  I held up a finger to pause him and headed over to the front door. I frowned when I got there. “Where are my shoes?” I asked.

  Dermot looked up to the ceiling and waved his hand. “Give them a second.”

  I nearly burst out laughing when I saw my sneakers practically skipping down the stairs. “You sure like to make a show of things, don’t you?” I giggled as I laced them up.

  He pointed to his chest, where a name tag appeared, reading: Hello, My Name is LEPRECHAUN. I laughed again and reached up for his arm. We headed out the back door to the path to the beach.

  We walked in a comfortable silence until we reached the beach, where we found a nice log to sit on while we skipped rocks into the sea. I was lucky to get two skips, whereas Dermot’s stones seemed to skip until they were too small to see.

  “Cheater,” I mumbled as I watched another of his skip over the waves effortlessly. He merely shrugged. I gave up. “You know,” I said, looking at him a little more closely in the morning light, “I like this look for you.”

  This was the first time I had seen him in normal clothes. Normally, Dermot wore the stereotypical garb of a leprechaun, complete with buckled shoes. Today he was wearing a long sleeved, brown shirt with a hunter green t-shirt overtop. His dark jeans looked barely worn, but still comfortable, and instead of the shiny black shoes he had a pair of black and white skate shoes on. Finally, his normally smooth, youthful face had a faint rough shadow of crimson beard that made him look more mature. “So, why the change?”

  His eyes widened. “You actually like these rags?” he laughed. “Connor created them for me. Me clothes were ripped to ribbons on the astral plane.”

  “Can’t you just make your own?”

  “Soon, but I’m pretty weak right now, magically speakin’. I’m only really up for little tricks. I need a week or so to get back to full strength.”

  “And Connor wouldn’t make you your traditional clothes?”

  He giggled. “He can’t. All-powerful wizard gets stumped sometimes.” I gave him confused look. “Me clothes were imbued with me own magic, so only I can make a new set.”

  “So why do they have to look so… traditional? Why can’t you make normal clothes, when the times comes? I mean, you would certainly look less conspicuous.”

  He cocked his head at me. “Really? You don’t think I look like a Gobshite?”

  “You look good.”

  I laughed as his face turned redder than his hair. He was so human sometimes.

  “You look good, too,” Dermot said, and there was something truly honest about how he said it that made me match his blush.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled.

  “I think magic suits you,” he continued. “Connor probably had somethin’ to say about your hair, mind you, but I think that was a one-off.”

  I punched him playfully in the arm. “I only just woke up. I haven’t even brushed it yet! Give a girl a break!”

  He laughed. “Not that. This.” He reached up and pulled a section of hair from behind my ear and let it fall in front of my eyes.

  My normally puddle-brown, bone-straight hair was clearly a rippling wave as it cascaded across my face. On top of that, it was no longer brown. Instead, it was now a stark white that practically sparkled in the morning light.

  “What happened to me!” I shrieked at the silvery strands. I didn’t want to be any more of a freak than I already was, and now I was going to stick out like a large snowy-haired thumb. I ran my hand through the tangles at the back of my head, and pulled at the loose strands. Relief washed over me as I saw the chocolate colour I was used to.

  “It’s just in one spot,” Dermot said, more cautious now. “I didn’t realise you ‘adn’t seen it yet. I think it looks cool.”

  I was still in shock. “I need a mirror,” I said as I stood up and turned back to the house. I practically sprinted there, but of course Dermot beat me, holding the door open with a smile. “This isn’t funny,” I warned him. He kept smiling.

  I raced up the stairs and into the bathroom. Sure enough, there was one large streak of white hair rippling through my unusually wavy hair. I grabbed a comb and yanked it through my hair, ignoring the pain as it tore through the knots.

  As I reached up to pull the comb through once again, a hand caught my wrist.

  “You know, I’m really a fan of you with hair. I’m not sure I could handle it if you were bald.” />
  “Connor, what is this?” I said a little too angrily as I held up the white stripe.

  He sighed, gently taking the hair from my fingertips and tucking it behind my ear. “Just a side effect of using too much magic too fast. You had a lot of power flowing through you. Some of it escaped through other means than you could control.” He had the comb now and was gently untangling my tresses. “It’s really quite beautiful if you look at.”

  I stared into the mirror, trying to gain some sense of calm. When I really looked at it, I could see it was almost diamond-like in its brilliance, if it caught the right light. The rest of my hair rippled down my shoulders in perfect waves.

  “Wow.”

  “I told you,” he whispered. “Beautiful.”

  “I’ve never had wavy hair.”

  “I wasn’t talking about your hair,” he smiled, scooping me up into his arms easily and carrying me back towards the bed. We didn’t get far.

  “Oy, somethin’s ‘appenin’.”

  Connor dropped my legs so quickly I barely had time to catch myself. “Sorry,” he muttered before turning back to Dermot. “What? Where?”

  “Calm down. It’s nothin’ major. It’s just, big?”

  “What is?”

  “I just get the feelin’ you need to go to work. That’s all I can tell you.”

  “Dermot! Come on! I don’t have time for this! What is going on?”

  “Hey!” I interjected. “Cut him some slack. He’s not the Great-and-Powerful Oz you know. He’s been through a lot.”

  Connor’s face softened. “I suppose you’re right. Sorry, Derm. I guess I’m a bit jumpy.”

  “A bit?” he laughed. “Anyway, I don’t think you be in danger. Just somethin’ is gonna ‘appen is all. This afternoon, I thinks.

  “Okay,” he said, turning to me with an uncertain expression.

  “I’m coming,” I answered before he could tell me otherwise. “Like he said, it’s not dangerous.”

  “Still… I-”

  “Would be more comfortable if I stayed here? That’s nice, sweetie, but I think I’m done with that.” I stepped up on my toes to kiss him so he knew I wasn’t upset with him. On the contrary, I was a bit flattered that despite his admission of my incredible power, he still felt the need to keep me safe. “Do I have time to shower?”

  “Dermot giggled. “Yeah, I think you’ll be fine.”

  ******

  Half an hour later Connor and I were on our way to Mobius. Maria and the others hadn’t woken up yet, so Dermot agreed to stay behind to fill them in on our whereabouts.

  “Why are we driving?” I asked as we pulled out onto the highway.

  “What do you mean? Would you like to walk?” he smiled.

  “No, you nerd. I just mean, we aren’t we phasing? Wouldn’t it be quicker?”

  Connor looked at me with one cocked eyebrow and a crooked smile. I wasn’t worried about him not watching the road. Surely he had some sort of magical autopilot that was working for him.

  “What?” I asked, when it seemed like he wouldn’t answer my question.

  “Oh, I’ve often wondered how long it would take you to ask me that.”

  “How long?”

  “Well, considering how long you’ve known about magic and phasing and everything, I was wondering how long it would take before you would wonder why we spellcasters didn’t do it all the time.”

  This was true. I first saw Connor phase back in January, but I hadn’t really thought about it since then. I hadn’t ever been phased myself until recently, so I guess I never thought about the benefits of it.

  “Well?”

  “Well what?” he smiled. He was finding this far too amusing.

  “Well, why don’t you do it all the time?”

  “I’m not too sure about everyone else, but I can tell you my reasons.” He paused for effect. I prodded him in the arm. “For one, I like driving. But more importantly, for you.”

  I scrunched my face. “I don’t get it. You’ve phased me before. Did something happen that now I can’t?”

  He laughed again. “No. Nothing happened. I just prefer spending as much time with you as possible. Phasing is just so instant, whereas driving I have for so much longer.”

  I thought about that and frowned.

  “What?” he asked, suddenly worried.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I think that’s sweet. But wouldn’t you have rather taken this time somewhere where you didn’t have to have a gear shift between us. I mean, we could be in your room right now, alone, until the last second, then head to work.” I blushed slightly at the implication.

  He turned back to the road to hide his own blush. It was adorable. “I never thought of that,” he smiled.

  “So we don’t know what we are waiting for?” I asked as he pulled into the underground parkade.

  “Dermot couldn’t be sure. He thinks it is a message. He seems certain that it is important though, and that I need to be here for it.”

  “Do you think it could be from Nic?”

  “That is what I am hoping for. It’s been too long since I’ve heard from him. I can’t imagine it being anything else.”

  “But we won’t know for a couple hours?”

  “He couldn’t be sure. He seems to believe within the next hour or so. It’s difficult seeing him second guess himself like this.”

  “I can’t imagine what he must have went through trapped on that plane.”

  “Don’t try. That astral plane is a harsh place. No one should spend any time there beyond a quick pass through. It would be torturous.”

  I shuddered at that thought as we entered the elevator. We started to rise, and I tried to put it out of my head. As I watched the floors zip past I had another thought.

  “Connor?”

  “Yes, love?”

  “I don’t know what I am supposed to be doing at this company anymore.”

  He smirked. “Well, last I heard, you quit.”

  I didn’t laugh at his joke.

  He turned and placed both hands on my shoulders. “I’m kidding, Alex. Your job is yours if you want it.”

  I nodded. “I do want it, but what will I do? I mean, what exactly does a consultant do for Mobius? I can’t just sit around all day. What does everyone else do, now that the stone isn’t here?”

  “Most of them do what they are good at. We still handle a lot of supernatural legal matters. Some work on restoring historical documents, others on researching new magical spells and items. What would you like to do?”

  The elevator slowed and came to stop. We exited the doors, but Connor stopped and turned to me. “I kind of hoped that if you stayed with Mobius, you might want to tackle the library. It’s a bit of a mess since Casper left, and well, I know you really like it in there.”

  I nodded and smiled. “I’d like that.”

  He kissed me on my forehead, but as he pulled away, his eyes were wide with shock.

  “What is it?”

  “I think our visitor is already here.”

  I followed his gaze past Phoebe’s empty desk and into his office. I could see a haggard silhouette standing next to the window, looking out. My heart sank as I realized this person was far too tall to be Nic or Peri. Connor stepped protectively in front of me and headed into his office.

  “May I help you?” Connor asked as we crossed the threshold.

  I took in the figure as she slowly turned to face us. Her hair was wild and tangled. Her clothes were dirty and torn, and hinted at once being expensive. Her skin looked thin, and stretched across her face, and was covered in sooty burns and scars. One knowing eye looked directly at me, and where the other should be, was only an empty socket.

  “He’s coming,” her strained voice whispered. “For Alex.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Morgan! Look at you, you’re walking!” I cheered, then abruptly shut up as I processed her words.

  “What happened to you?” Connor asked, crossing the room to exam
ine her more closely.

  She held a hand up. “Please, don’t.” She turned back to me, and I could see a fear trembling in her eye. “Yes, I can walk. He removed the curse, but not before removing this.” She pointed to the scarred, dark area of her eye socket. “He also took the seal.”

  “He has the harpies,” Connor hissed. It wasn’t a question.

  “He does, and so much more. Now that he has my ring, he has an entire demonic army under his control. All bent on one thing: Alex.”

  Connor stiffened. “We’ll fight him.”

  Morgan shook her head. Her limp hair barely moved with her. “No, you won’t. Connor, Merlin is more than we ever knew.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Though he takes his name from my time, he has been around much longer. He has many names, and none of them truly describe what he is.”

  We both waited silently for her to finish.

  “Merlin’s quest for the ultimate magical source isn’t just because he’s a crazed wizard. He is magic.”

  “Sorry?” Connor asked, clearly confused. I was glad for once I wasn’t the only one.

  “He is magic. He is the embodiment of magic. He is magic in the most primitive sense. Before he took my eye, I had a vision. I saw his pure self. He isn’t human, elf or any other physical being. He is entirely made of magic. And not just arcane, he has Elven, faerie, and several other forms I hadn’t ever seen before.”

  “Are you certain?”

  She nodded resolutely. “I’m more certain of this that I am of my own being. I know, Connor.”

  “So, because magic is becoming extinct, he won’t lose his power, he will lose his entire being?” I postulated.

  “Yes. And he seems to think you are the key.”

  “He won’t get her,” Connor growled.

  Morgan shook her head at his stubbornness, which only made Connor more tense.

  “Um, wouldn’t I only be a temporary fix? I mean, if he destroys me, what happens when that power runs out?”

  Connor whipped his head back to me, clearly not happy with my train of thought.