It was clear that the shadow could not control Max at every moment. If it could, then Max wouldn’t have just done what he had.
… This meant something, didn’t it? If I could just find the conditions that bolstered Max and protected him from the shadow’s influence, maybe I could save him.
I brought my hands together in my lap and locked my fingers so tightly, I could have pulled my knuckles free from my tendons.
“Why don’t you have any choice in the matter? How come you’re not like an ordinary fairy?” I continued.
Max’s jaw stiffened, and a memorable flare of anger burnt deep in his gaze. As it did, the shadow grew and elongated.
“How many times do I have to tell you? There’s only so much I can remember about my past. Questioning me won’t help.”
That was most definitely the shadow speaking. It wasn’t just the angry tinge to Max’s gaze – it was everything. His tight, defensive tone, the fact his hands locked so tightly around the steering wheel he could have pulled the damn thing off.
I paused, reassessing the situation. What exactly had I done wrong? What exactly had I done to initiate the shadow Max?
As silence filtered between us, Max quickly lost his defensive edge. I heard him sigh heavily as he brought a hand off the wheel and patted it through his hair.
“Thank you,” I suddenly said.
This got his attention. He frowned as he shifted around to face me. “For what?”
“For being here even though you don’t want to be. Thank you for being my magical bodyguard. I may not always be the easiest person to be around.” I laughed abruptly. “Okay, I’m definitely not the easiest person to be around. But thanks for sticking by my side.”
Silence. Dead silence met that sudden comment.
I’d been absolutely honest in what I’d said. This wasn’t some ploy, some game to try to get Max to tell me what he knew. This was me speaking from the heart. And that was a pretty rare occurrence. My life had taught me to keep my heart tucked well and truly within my sternum. Wear your heart on your sleeve, and it will just fall off.
And yet, it worked.
I watched Max take a breath, one that drew his previously tense shoulders down a notch. “You’re right, I’m not an ordinary fairy,” he answered, voice low, small, almost as if he were worried it would carry. But there were only the two of us in the car, so who could it carry to?
… Could… could Max know about the shadow? Could he have a suspicion that there was something occupying him, controlling him?
I may have gotten away with asking the questions I had, but I seriously doubted I’d be able to ask that one. I still didn’t know if the shadow was aware that I’d seen it – that I knew what it was. But I could bet that if I faced it directly, it would push back.
So I had to play things carefully. Play things carefully….
I swallowed. “Max, is there any way to save you?” I suddenly said, and goddamn if it wasn’t the most honest question I’d ever asked.
It took Max a long time to react, because it took Max a long time to turn to face me. I watched as his whole body stiffened in a wave of tension. Yet it wasn’t with anger, wasn’t with hatred.
Just the opposite.
As Max faced me, he did so with a completely unguarded expression. His eyes were so open, I saw flecks of hazel I’d never noticed before. I picked out little wrinkles I’d never seen, sun spots, smile lines. All of it. All because for the first time since I’d met him, Max wasn’t wearing a mask around me.
… And maybe I wasn’t wearing a mask around him, too, because his gaze kept flicking across my face.
Was he reassessing me? Coming to some new conclusion about the lying little witch he’d been forced to work for?
We were having a moment. The kind of moment that stretches and stretches until you realize that time really is an illusion. The kind of moment that opens not just your mind but your heart to new possibilities, to new futures.
I was never someone who’d believed in destiny, despite the fact my entire job was meant to be reading other people’s. For me, you made your own life. To date, I’d been doing a pretty shoddy job of it, but the fact remained that your future was in your hands.
… But how could I reconcile that fact with this – the way my heart was beating so hard, the warm, pleasant tingle spreading through my chest, the expectant energy in my lips? How could I reconcile the fact that Max felt like my destiny when I didn’t believe in destinies at all?
Finally, Max answered. “You can’t save me, Chi. That’s not how this works. I’m here to save you.” His voice was so quiet, it was little more than the tiniest exhale of air.
And yet the effect it had on me was like a battering ram.
My heart skipped a beat.
Max was still looking at me, but it didn’t last. He nodded forward. “We’re here.”
There was no more time to contemplate destinies. For now, it was time to save a life.
Chapter 7
So this was it, ha? We reached the university.
It was downtown, sprawled across a large campus with all sorts of different buildings from different ages. From the little I knew about the university, it had been started some 150 years ago. As it had sprawled, its architecture had changed. There were mottled brown brick buildings from the ‘20s. There was awful brick cladding from the ‘70s, and a few new, modern, gleaming structures that would have cost a packet.
Max pulled
