Out of This World

I looked at Kel. It was just him, beautiful, passionate, wonderful Kel. I looked at his bloody shirt, but I couldn’t see through it. Still, somehow I knew his heart was beating steady as a drum. “I’m not in a coma, right? Or… dead?”

His eyes flashed with emotion, and his arms tightened on me. “Neither, though I might kill you myself for that little stunt.”

Stunt? Stunt?

“I mean, what the hell were you thinking, pushing me aside and leaping headfirst into that bolt of lightning?” he demanded.

“I was thinking of you.”

He just kept staring at me as if he couldn’t believe I was all in one piece and unhurt. “You might have gotten yourself killed.”

“But she didn’t,” Serena pointed out, peeking over Kel’s shoulder at me. William nodded with her. “No one did, except the bad guys.”

“Right,” Kel said, so much of his soul and gut and heart in his gaze, I could scarcely breathe. “And you’re alive,” he whispered. “Alive is damn good.” He hauled me against him again, then sucked in harshly.

“The bullet exited,” Marilee said, looking down at him. “Painful, I’m sure, but you’re not still sporting steel, so that’s a relief.”

“Wait.” I blinked, looked at all of us. Me, Kel, Axel, Marilee, Serena and William. “Where are Curly and Moe?”

Serena and William looked at Marilee.

Marilee looked at Kel.

Kel looked at Axel.

Axel spread his hands out in front of him. “They won’t be bothering anyone anymore.”

“Because…?”

“Let’s just say, I’m more handy with this thing than I let on.” Axel lifted the Blackberry. “I sent them to another plane.”

“It was very impressive,” Serena said.

I looked at Kellan, who was…squinting. “Your eyes,” I said very softly. “Why can’t you see?”

“Because he threw himself in front of you,” Marilee said.

“Marilee,” Kel said in soft warning. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what? Sing like a canary?” She shook her head. “And he took that lightning bolt right in the chest-”

“Damn it, Marilee.”

“Shut up, Kellan. Rachel, I’m telling you, it’s a miracle he’s alive. It was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do.”

I couldn’t tear my eyes off Kellan as it all sank in. He’d been the one to take the direct hit, not me. Which meant…I looked at William and Serena, who looked…normal. Their odd glow hadn’t returned. I looked at Axel, who’d been able to handle Moe and Curly. At Marilee, who’d taken one look at Kel’s dark shirt and been able to tell the bullet had exited.

“You two!” They had the glow! “You got the abilities in the swap!”

Marilee smiled grimly. “Accidentally, I assure you. When we saw Kellan leap forward, we went after him and got in the way.”

“So you got your abilities back!”

“Well, not ours.” Axel looked at Serena and William, who smiled serenely, still happy without their abilities.

Axel hugged Marilee. “And we’ll owe all of you for this forever.”

Marilee sniffed, and buried her face in Axel’s chest. “God, it’s good to be back, to be going back.”

“You’re going back?” I asked.

Looking thrilled, they both nodded. “But no worries about Hideaway.” Axel said. “William and Serena want to run it, and trust me when I say this; You’ll be better off with them doing so.”

Serena and William stood arm in arm, looking ecstatic.

“You do?” I asked. “You really want to stay here?”

“So much,” William said.

I was happy for them, but…I turned to Kellan, who was clearly hurting like hell and looking worse for wear. “I wanted to step in front of you, damn it.” I fisted his shirt in my hands and hauled him nose-to-nose with me. “I wanted to prove how much I love you.” I let out a huff of air. “Damn it.”

“You already said that.” He was staring at me, his gorgeous eyes blinking as slowly as an owl’s, trying helplessly to focus in.

I sighed, and reached into his breast pocket for his glasses. Opening them, I stuck them on his nose. “There.”

He pushed them up higher. “Thanks. But back to that other thing.”

“Which? Where you stole my thunder?”

“No, the other part. The I-love-you part.”

“Oh, Kel, I do. I love you so much. But for once, I wanted to put my heart on the line. I wanted to be the one to risk something.”

“But you did,” he said, sounding a little awed. “You risked a hell of a something. You risked everything.”

“It doesn’t count when you beat me to the punch.”

“Oh, it counts,” he said very softly, and hauled me back onto his lap, burying his head in my hair, breathing me in, then pulling back again to look into my eyes. “So it’s true then?”

“All of it,” I promised, cupping his face, never more sure of anything in my life. “I love you. You. Just as you are right now.”

“Without the strength.”

“Yes, without the strength. Look,” I said with a choked-up smile, “I couldn’t have afforded replacing all those doors you’d have kept breaking anyway.”

“I’m blind as a bat,” he warned.

“I love your squint.” I gently pushed his glasses farther up his nose. “And they have this newfangled contraption called contact lenses.”

He let out a half-laugh, half-groan. “I’m serious, Rach.”

“So am I. Look, I’ve loved having you as a good friend, loved knowing you were in my life. But I held back because I was afraid. After all, good things never last, right? But you know what? Good things never need to last. It’s the great things that need to.” I drew a deep breath. “And we’re pretty great, Kel.”

He looked staggered. “Rach.”

“We’ve been through so much. And now I know what real fear is. Fear is knowing we could die and I’d held back. Maybe I needed to go through everything we did here because I needed to be led to this minute, to you.”

He smiled, his eyes shiny. “I’m growing quite fond of this minute.”

“Believe me, Kel, I won’t ever hold back again, that I can promise you.”

Looking touched beyond belief, Kel lowered his forehead to mine. “God, I love you. So damn much. I would have died a little inside if, when we got back home, things went back to the way they were.”

I tightened my arms around him. “The way we were was nice. But this is nicer.”

“Nicer.” He made a face. “Let’s throw that word out along with ‘fine.’”

I laughed. I don’t know how he did it, but he always could make me laugh. “How about amazing?”

“Better, I guess.”

“Fantastic?”

He eyed me, a smile lurking around his mouth. “Keep going.”

“Incredible. Extraordinary.”