Magic of the Wood House (The Elemental Phases Book 6) (23 page)

The boundary between the possible and the impossible
was no longer to be distinguished.  The adventurers in an unexplored country…
peopled the air, the earth, and all the elements [with] invisible agents
destined to connect together all the facts which they knew, and all those which
they hoped to discover.

John Playfair- “Physical Science“

Christmas
Afternoon

“Sullivan!” 
Teja’s voice invaded the cocoon of peaceful darkness.  It was impatient and too
loud and beautiful.  “Sullivan, wake up!”  There was a sharp slap against his
cheek, like she was trying to bring him around.  “
Wake up
.”

He
let out a groan, prying his eyes open.  “Why are you hitting me?”

“You
passed out, you idiot.”  Her worried hazel eyes met his.  “You’ve been asleep
for hours.  Are you okay?  Are you hurt?”

“
Yes
,
I’m hurt, because you
hit
me.”  His jaw felt like she’d hit him
a lot
,
in fact.  “Jesus.”  He pulled himself onto his elbows, looking around.  He was
lying on the carpet of his living room, with Teja kneeling beside him.  Randa
was still sitting on his sofa, a concerned expression on her face.  Everything
came rushing back to him.  “Okay, something weird just happened…”

Teja
cut him off.  “It was a memory sharing.  All Matches have them.  We see images
from each other’s pasts.  We don’t usually pass out from them, though.”  She
glanced at Randa.  “Get him some human pills, will you?  He feels hot to me.”

Randa
nodded and headed off towards the kitchen.

“Hot? 
It’s like I’m on fire.”  Sullivan muttered.  Inside, he could still feel that
energy
and it seemed too big to contain.  What was happening to him?  “You saw it,
too?”  He asked, focusing on Teja.  “Like, some kind of… replay of your life.”

“I
saw a replay of
your
life.”

“Wonderful.” 
That was exactly what he
didn’t
need to hear.  “Which parts?”

She
kept her eyes on his.  “I saw that your father is lucky Parson killed him
before I got a chance.”

Sullivan
looked away.  Damn it, he hated her knowing all that shit.  It made him feel
dirty.

“What
did
you
see?”  Teja pressed, sounding concerned.

“I
saw you.  Falling.”  He reached up to rub his temple.  His brain was throbbing
in his skull.  “I did something to stop it.”  He admitted.  “I don’t know how,
but I did
something
and there was suddenly this big bed of…”

“Moss.” 
She finished softly.

“Moss.” 
He agreed.  As insane as it was, he knew that it had been real and that he’d
made it appear out of thin air.

Christ,
he really was losing his mind.

Teja
sat back, a strange expression on her face.  “I always wondered how that happened.” 
She said in a distant voice.

“Join
the club.”

“Or
maybe I
didn’t
wonder.”  Teja’s head tilted.  “I
felt
you that
day.  You were there and I knew it.  My God.”  The words were dazed.  “Do you
know how rare it is that a Phase can do
anything
in a memory sharing,
Sullivan?  I mean, being able to whisper to me like that is basically impossible.”

“I
was mostly shouting, actually.”

“But,
I heard you.  Maybe not the exact words, but I
felt
you there.  And then
you used your powers to make that moss, too?”  She ran a hand through her hair. 
“It’s just
impossible
.  It’s not a matter of being strong. 
No one
can do what you did.”

“Hey,
you don’t have to convince me it’s weird.  I already know.”

“No,
I don’t think you
do
know.  Maybe that’s
why
you could do it.”  She
sounded like she was reasoning it all out to herself.  “You can accomplish what
most Elementals wouldn’t even
dream
of trying, because you’re outside our
box.  You never had any formal training with your powers, so you use them in
unique ways.  Backdoors and new ideas.  No one ever told you what was supposed
to be impossible.”

Sullivan
shook his head.  “This whole thing seems impossible.”

She
stared at him for a long moment.  “I saw my grandfather in your memories, you
know.  He was talking to Parson.  Oberon said you glowed brighter than the
ordinary Phases.”

Sullivan
snorted at that.

“He
was
right
, Sullivan.”  She continued quietly.  “It’s impossible to stay
frozen in the past when you’re around.  You change everything.  Just as I think
I’m getting used to how special you are, I’m amazed all over again.”

“Anything
special that happens to me, happens because I’m mixed up with you.”

“I
didn’t save me from that fall. 
You
did.”

“I
know I did, but…”  He trailed off.

…But,
he didn’t want to consider the ramifications of
how
he’d done it.  It
would lead to answers and he wasn’t sure he wanted to ask the questions.  Something
had changed inside of him.  Walls were missing and now there was something
unleashed.

Goddamn
it.

He
struggled to his feet and the whole room spun.  “Jesus.”  He steadied himself
on the fireplace mantle.  “Okay, so let’s say I’ve been infected with this
Elemental energy.”

“It’s
not sexually transmitted, moron.  You were
born
with it.”

Deep
down, Sullivan knew she was right.  Forgotten scenes from his own life were
coming back to him, as if the memory sharing had unlocked them.

Memories
of magic.

God
damn
it.

“Even
if that’s true, I’m not sure I’m supposed to be
using
this power.”  He
muttered.  “When I tried, I knocked myself out.  I still feel like crap.”

“That’s
completely normal.”

Sullivan
gave a harsh laugh.  “Oh, yeah.  Totally fucking normal.”

“For
an Elemental, it is.  I’m guessing you redlined every drop of power you have. 
That always washed us out.  No wonder you were out cold.  It’s amazing you’re
conscious, at all.”

“Again,
not to nag, but it was hard to sleep through you
hitting me
.”  He
massaged the base of his neck, trying to relieve the tension in his head.  “And
I’m not an Elemental.”

“You
sure about that?”

No,
he wasn’t sure.  If fact, he was pretty positive of just the opposite.

Damn
it, damn it,
damn it
.

Teja
stood up and moved closer to him.  “Thank you.”  She said, stopping right in
front of him.  “I would’ve died without your help and I didn’t want to die.”

Sullivan
froze, pulled from his mental freak out.  His eyes met hers, his mouth slowly
curving.  The woman was so damn beautiful it hurt his heart.  “I didn’t want
you to die, either.  I’m getting a little attached to your weirdness.

He
would die himself, a thousand times over, before he saw her hurt.

Jesus,
what the fuck was he upset about?  The whole Elemental DNA thing he could
figure out later.  The truth of that had been sneaking up on his for so long
that Sullivan wasn’t even that surprised, just… uncomfortable.  It didn’t fit
with how he saw himself.  But, whatever Sullivan was and whatever he’d done, it
had saved Teja.  That was the only part of this mess that mattered.

She
was the only part of
anything
that mattered.

He
took a deep breath.  “So being a Match means we’re married, huh?”

Teja
was instantly on the defensive.  “How was I supposed to know that you didn’t
know that? 
Everybody
knows that, Sullivan.”

“Oh
obviously.  It was all so clear.”

“It
was
.”  Hazel eyes narrowed at him.  “I
told
you having a Match
was a permanent thing.”

“Then
you dumped me.”  He retorted.  It pissed him off that she would try to get rid
of him when he loved her so much.  “So, what are we divorced now?”

Teja
blinked.  “I have no idea what that word means.”

“It
means, are you still planning to walk away for my own good?”

“Renouncement?” 
Teja crossed her arms over her chest.  “Funny you should mention that.  I’ve
got a new theory about what went wrong last night.”  She arched a brow.  “You
know how I said that maybe I wasn’t your Match, because our energies didn’t
connect?  Or maybe you were somehow not choosing me, because you’re human and you
didn’t want me?”

“Do
you
seriously
think that insane conversation slipped my mind?”

“Well,
there
is
another possibility:  A Phazing can’t happen if one half of the
equation is so strong that he’s blocking all his powers.”

Sullivan
saw where this was headed.  “Teja, I’m telling you I didn’t…”

She
cut him off.  “You didn’t
let go
, that’s what you didn’t do.  And
that’s
why we didn’t Phaze, Sullivan.  You didn’t trust…”

“Found
it.”  Randa came back in carrying a bottle of aspirin.  She gave the pills a
rattle in their plastic container.  “These are the kind you use at the office, when
you say the Cult is giving you a headache.”

“Which
is every damn day.”  Sullivan took the bottle that Randa handed him and popped
the lid off.  “Thanks.”  He dry swallowed two pills, then took another just for
good measure.  Talking to Teja just made his headache worse.  She was
apparently still fixated on the idea that he’d done something to screw-up their
Phazing.  Or
didn’t
do something.  She wanted to walk away.  He had to
change her mind.  He couldn’t lose Teja.

She
was where he belonged.

Teja
flashed Randa a scowl.  “Why are you still here, anyway?  Shouldn’t you be off
typing something?”

“Chief
Pryce and I are friends.  I’m here to help him deal with his fugitive status.” 
She arched a neatly shaped brow.  “And to make sure that the Fire House doesn’t
harm the poor boy.”

Teja
made a face.  “I’m hardly going to hurt my own Match.”

Randa
gave a humorless smile.  “People do all kinds of things to their Matches.”  She
looked back at Sullivan.  “You
do
know that you’re a Wood Phase, correct? 
Before you go any farther with her, you should think hard about your future.  You
come from a very good bloodline.  Some of the noblest warriors and greatest
leaders in our realm.  …And the Fire House are basically just mobsters.”

Sullivan
snorted at the idea that he was somehow a great catch for Teja, the
supernatural supermodel.  “Yeah, but they make a hell of an eggnog.”

Teja
chuckled at that deadpan remark.  “God, I love your sense of humor.”

It
was the first time he’d heard her laugh and the sound hit him like a sledgehammer. 
All his life, he’d thought it was his instincts talking to him.  Maybe the
Elementals would tell him it was actually his powers at work.  But, Sullivan now
knew it was more than both of those explanations.  The whispers were the very
deepest part of him.

And
they told him that his connection to Teja went straight through to his soul.

“Teja?” 
They all turned to see Freya standing in the bedroom doorway.  The doctor
looked rumpled and annoyed, but she was on her feet.  “What in the world is
going on?”

“You
brother is framing the Fire House for blowing up the Cold Palace.”  Teja told
her.  The woman wasn’t great at breaking news gently.  “To be fair, though, I
don’t think he intended for you to get caught in the crossfire.”

Freya
blinked.  “What?”  It took her a second to process that and then she was
shaking her head.  “No.  That’s impossible.”

Sullivan
frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose, more memories flooding back.  “Shit. 
I was in the Cold Kingdom.”  He could recall everything, now.  “That Eian guy said
he was going to attack you, Teja.  Or
you
were going to attack
him
,
but…”

“That’s
impossible
.”  Freya insisted, cutting him off.  Her hazel eyes were
wide.  “Eian would never attack our own kingdom and he certainly wouldn’t frame
the Fire House for it.  Why would he?”

“Because,
he hates me.”  Teja explained.  “Because, he wanted to steal my Match and give
Sullivan to you.  Because he’s working with Vandal, of the Light House.”

“Vandal’s
in a coma.  In fact, he’s probably dead, unless you got him out of the
hospital.”  Freya looked around, like maybe Vandal was sleeping on the couch. 
“Did you get him out of the hospital?”

“No,
I didn’t get him out of the hospital.”  Teja snapped.  “I’m betting he wasn’t
even
in
the hospital, by the time we showed up.  Vandal and Eian planned
this whole thing to cover his escape.  They probably thought you’d turn Vandal
in the second he ‘woke-up.’”