Magic Gale - Part Six

The younger Bruce man looked over at the small brunette sitting on the couch. There had been a protest when they’d had to get her into the elevator. She tried to insist that she would be perfectly fine taking the stairs all the way up to the penthouse. Everyone had laughed until they realized that she was completely serious, refusing to step foot into something she insisted was far too small. Rysta was finally convinced to use the device by Yule, who suggested that just the two of them go up first and the rest of them follow so she didn’t feel quite so crowded. By the time the rest of the team joined them, Rysta still looked shaken and pale, and Yule wasn’t looking much better. Michael was getting concerned about his father but he knew it really wasn’t the best time to have a confrontation about the older man’s health.

Michael had watched Rysta silently as she’d inhaled her meal while she talked to Yule about the ins and outs of magic as if she expected the older man to understand everything she was saying. Yule did a lot of polite nodding but didn’t say much.

Aardrin started acting peculiar once they were all up in the penthouse, although the elevator hadn’t unnerved him the way it had Rysta. The tall healer had been avoiding the windows and generally trying to keep his eyes on the walls. Sara finally realized that he was having problems with how high up they were, so after dinner they had shown him to one of the interior rooms.

Aardrin was now resting in the guest room with the biggest bed. Yule had left the main floor, claiming he had another headache, to lie down as well. Sara had gone off looking for things for Rysta and Aardrin to use for the night. Melody and Ravenswood had gone home to try and get some sleep before they had to go into work the next morning. This left Michael in the company of this petite and yet potentially dangerous young woman. He’d offered to get her a drink, which she’d declined, and he’d come back into the room to see her staring off into nowhere looking very lost.

He stood in the doorway and watched Rysta surreptitiously.  She was definitely not completely relaxed, although she seemed more so in Yule’s company, which surprised Michael. Her legs were curled under her but Michael could tell she’d be up on her feet in a second if she thought it necessary. He saw her eyes move over to the hallway where Aardrin had disappeared, as if she were thinking about joining him. Michael cleared his throat and she immediately turned her head toward him, completely on alert again and eyeing him suspiciously.

“You should try and relax.” He sighed and handed her a glass of water, which she took and sniffed before drinking. “You’re absolutely safe here.”

She grunted and stared straight ahead and not at him, “Tiernan always told me that no place is absolutely safe. If someone wants to get at you they will find a way, so you always have to be on the alert.”

Michael glanced over at the woman as he joined her on the couch. She really was paranoid. “Tiernan? Who’s he? I remember you mentioning him earlier.”

Rysta slumped just slightly, “He . . . he was my teacher. A very powerful Wizard. He took me in and taught me everything I know.” She bit her lip as if trying to keep something from slipping out. “He was Aardrin’s grandfather as well.”

“But, wouldn’t that make him your grandfather too? Since you and Aardrin are siblings?”

Rysta shook her head, “Aardrin and I are siblings in name only. I don’t have any living blood relatives, so Aardrin and Tiernan sort of adopted me.” She shrugged and gave the impression that she really didn’t want to talk any more about it.

Michael sipped his drink, “You sure you don’t want any wine?” He then paused and looked at her again, “How old are you anyway?”

Rysta gave him a suspicious look and scooted away from him, “Twenty. Why?”

Michael rolled his eyes, “Because around here you’re not supposed to drink alcohol until you’re 21, so I shouldn’t be offering you wine anyway.”

“That’s ridiculous! I’ve been drinking alcohol since I was 14! Well, not a lot . . . but the occasional bit of wine and ales.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, I’m really not interested in drinking. The water seems fine. At least it tastes clean.” She took another sip and made another slight slide so that she was up against the armrest.

“Oh for Pete’s sake! I’m not going to do anything to you.” He gave her a little space, scooting himself to the other side of the couch. He didn’t trust her to not lash out at him if she felt threatened. The silence became awkward and he cleared his throat again. “I hope you’ll find the guest room comfortable . . .”

She made a dismissive noise, “Anything is more comfortable than dirt ground and blackberry branches. But you don’t need to go out of your way; I could sleep just as comfortably out on one of these.” She tested the couch’s softness by pressing her fist into the cushion, leaving a small, temporary dent.

Michael frowned. He didn’t like the idea of her sleeping out here with access to everything. The guest bedroom could be locked down if necessary and it was farther away from the areas he’d rather no one but the team knew about. “I don’t think that would be very polite of me to let you sleep out here.”

“I’d be fine and I already swore to Ulyss . . . er . . . Yule, that I wouldn’t steal anything. I’m no thief; not by trade anyway. It was a simple act of desperation and it won’t happen again.” She pouted. “There’s nothing here I’d want anyway. I just want to get home and you have nothing that’s going to help with that.”

Michael sighed and gritted his teeth, trying not to snap at her, “I wasn’t worried about you stealing anything. I just thought you’d be more comfortable in a room on a bed.”

Rysta stood up and walked toward the windows, obviously having no fear of heights like Aardrin did. “I would feel more comfortable in my own world.” She rested her forehead against the glass her fist coming up to lightly hit it. “I don’t belong here. I need to get back.”

Michael thought she was being overly dramatic and rolled his eyes again, “You also need rest. Aardrin said you were ill and worn out. You were unconscious for the entire trip to the warehouse and even before that. Could you just show a little gratitude for the fact that you’re a guest and I’m trying to be considerate?”

Rysta spun around and glared at him, “Considerate? The only reason I’m here is because you and your team don’t trust me or Aardrin, despite the fact that I swore to Yule that I would behave! This is nothing but a fancy prison as far as I can tell!”

“Well, I suppose we could have left you in the park.” Michael stood up and glared right back at her, “You deserve to be in a real prison! You’ve committed enough crimes to warrant being in one!” He pointed toward the guest room where Aardrin was and raised his voice slightly, “You’re only here because your ‘brother’ pleaded your case to Sara and she managed to convince the rest of us that you shouldn’t be taken to the nearest police station and that you might manage to find a way to make up for your criminal acts!”

Rysta stared at Michael in stunned silence for a moment, as if the simple accusation of being a criminal was the worst insult she could have received. Her mouth and eyes then narrowed at him and he thought he saw the hint of tears in her eyes, which surprised him. “What choice did I have?!  What would you have done in my place, Lord Dark Torrent Super Hero?” She pointed an angry finger at him, “I think you would have done anything you could have to get home from a strange and potentially dangerous world or you would have died trying! Just like me!”

There was a quiet voice behind them, “Ris, you know I wasn’t going to let you die. What good would that have done either of us?” Michael turned to see Aardrin standing there with a hurt look on his face. Sara walked up just behind him and it was obvious that both of them had overheard the argument.

Rysta didn’t turn around, but looked stubbornly out the glass door past Michael her fists clenched and shaking, “Drin . . . I’m sorry . . . I was just . . .”

“You were just being your usual focused, stubborn self.” He crossed his arms. “But not anymore. You’re going to let that amulet you made charge. While we wait, you and I are going to help Team Torrent in any way that we can until we are able to use it to get home.”

Rysta rubbed her eyes and turned to look at Aardrin, ignoring Michael’s presence deliberately, “Help Team Torrent? How?”

“If nothing else you’ve shown a talent for sneaking into places.” Michael growled out grumpily and got a sharp look from Sara. He took another sip of his wine and took a deep breath to get himself calmed down before he added, “I’m sure we can come up with something.”

Rysta sniffed and rubbed her eyes again, taking a deep shaky breath of her own, “I will talk to Yule and see if he has any suggestions. I guess it will be mostly me doing the work, won’t it?”

Aardrin grimaced, “Unless there’s some use for horses that I’ve not seen in this world, then yes. Do horses even exist here?” He directed his question to Michael.

Michael responded, a little more snappish than he intended, “Yes, horses exist! I have my own stable of them.”

“Well, then maybe I might be able to do something.” Aardrin shrugged, “I wouldn’t be able to heal anyone as a horse though, that I can only do when I’ve got two legs.”

“How long do you have until you change back into a horse?” Sara looked concerned.

Aardrin turned slightly to include Sara in the conversation, “I’ll change back at exactly the same time tomorrow. I get one full day as a human and then I have to wait for my amulet to charge to be able to change again.”

Rysta added quietly, facing Sara and still ignoring Michael, her voice more subdued, “But because of the lack of ambient magic here, we don’t know how long it will take for the amulet to charge. If it will at all.”

“That’s why it was so urgent that you get this settled quickly.” Michael blinked in sudden comprehension.

“Aye.” Aardrin gave Michael a direct and searching look, “Despite appearances to the contrary, we are neither criminals nor are we ungrateful for your assistance.”

Michael winced inwardly at hearing his own accusations thrown back at him but didn’t show it, returning Aardrin’s gaze without flinching, “Actions do tend to speak louder than words.”

Aardrin merely raised an eyebrow and put a very firm hand on Rysta’s shoulder as he spoke to Michael. “They most certainly do.”

“How do you two talk when you’re a horse, Aardrin?” Sara suddenly interjected, hoping to defuse any more arguments by changing the subject, especially since Rysta was still looking upset. “I know I heard Rysta talking to you and it sounded like you were answering.”

Aardrin chuckled and broke eye contact with Michael, guiding Rysta away from the blond man at the same time and closer to Sara, “Magic. Tiernan cast a spell that allows us to talk mind to mind when I’m a horse.” He amended when he saw Torrent’s eyes widen at the possibility. “However, it only works when I’m a horse, and only with Rysta.”

“Still, that’s a useful thing to know. Especially since your magic seems to mess up all electronic communications.” Michael looked thoughtful, “We’re going to need to test the range of the scrambling side effects, eventually.”

Aardrin grunted. “Yes, well, perhaps once Rysta’s had some more sleep?” He raised a finger when she looked like was about to protest. “No arguing! You’re still recovering and you obviously need more sleep if your behavior is any indication. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.” He pushed Rysta closer to Sara with a questioning look.

Sara took Aardrin’s hint and put a gentle hand on Rysta’s upper arm but pointed an accusing finger at Aardrin, “You too. You look exhausted. I imagine you need more sleep than she does right now.”

“Fine.” Aardrin sighed in resignation as Rysta gave a small smirk at him getting the same treatment he’d been giving her, “Me too.”

Sara showed Rysta to the other guest room that was near Aardrin’s while Michael gave Aardrin a quick run through of how the bathroom worked. Michael found it awkward to explain it all to someone who obviously had never seen a flush toilet and only had a minor grasp on the idea of indoor plumbing with running water; not to mention the novel concept of hot water coming out of the same place the cold water did. He was just thankful he wasn’t having to do it for Rysta too. That would have been far more awkward.
Aardrin was remarkably polite and thanked Michael for every bit of information, going out of his way to continue to express his gratitude for all his help in the matter. Michael felt like Aardrin was being deliberately overly polite to make a point, but how do you make an accusation like that without sounding like a complete jerk? There really wasn’t any good way to say anything about it, so Michael did his best to act like it wasn’t annoying him as much as it was.

After Sara had assisted Rysta with the bathroom and the two “otherworld” visitors were settled in the guest rooms, Sara spoke to Michael and insisted that they take the pair out to get clothes and to show Aardrin around before he became a horse again. Michael reluctantly agreed with the understanding that he didn’t have time to do it himself. Sara assured him that she could handle the task and had the time, then retired to her room in the tower so that she could make sure their visitors had someone around when they woke up.

Michael went back into the living room to finish his drink. What in the world had they all gotten themselves into? His instincts were still screaming at him that this was a bad idea, but he was outnumbered for the moment. He sat and looked out the window until he was too exhausted to keep his eyes open and finally forced himself up the stairs and into his room, giving one last look toward the guest bedrooms as he set the proximity alarms so that he would be alerted about any movement.

*********

Yule sat down at the conference table, head in his hands.

He’d told everyone he had another headache and that he was going to go to bed. Well, he did have a headache, but he had no intention of going to bed just yet.

Something was off and it was disturbing him. The second he had seen Aardrin in the warehouse holding Rysta he felt like everything went haywire. There were moments where he felt like he’d just entered a conversation, even though the person speaking to him seemed to think he’d said something that needed to be responded to. Then there was the stabbing incident. He couldn’t really remember his reasoning behind attacking the healer and he most certainly didn’t remember pulling out his knife and stabbing the man in the leg, but it had happened. Everyone had seen it. Sara was livid and even Michael had expressed surprise at Yule’s actions. Yule couldn’t come up with one good reason why it even happened.

The elder Bruce stared at the wall, trying to make sense of all of it. He had a notepad in front of him where he had tried to trace the events in the warehouse from what he could remember and what Sara and Michael had said. There were a lot of gaps. He set the pen down and stared at the incomplete timeline in front of him. Was he losing his mind?

He rubbed his temple with his right hand and then looked back down at the paper in front of him. He was holding the pen in his left hand and on the paper, over the top of his previous notes, was written the word “No.” in neat, bold printing.

Yule stared at the word. He hadn’t written that, had he? It didn’t even look like his handwriting. Certainly not that neat if he wrote it with his left hand. He dropped the pen and frowned at the paper; then tore it off the notepad, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the trash on his way to the infirmary. Time to check a few things out. He didn’t like mysteries and this one needed to be solved before his own odd behavior started causing problems.