Out of the Black - Lee Doty [137]
"How'd you know how to free Alex?"
He took a moment to consider. "I thought it was the most likely thing that he'd been... whatevered... spellified. He checked out in the middle of our escape with no wounds. Then the kit and the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him. I couldn't see any other way we could free him, he obviously wasn't going to come around again on his own... at least not before we were discovered here."
"How'd you know the blade would break the spell?"
"I didn't for sure, but I'd seen Dek use one like it to shred Garvey's spell in the library. He cut clean through it... knocked Garvey off his feet with whatever backlash it caused. Afterward, the blade was traced with some kind of glowing pattern. Later, Dek told me my sword would cut through anything the Loom could weave."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
He couldn't read her expression. Concern? Hurt? Anger. "What if it didn't work? I've already killed good people with my poor judgment..." He broke off; tried again. "I'm as damned as I'm gonna get."
The silence lengthened between them.
"You know Detective, before a couple days ago, I hadn't killed anyone. The library, that really hurt, you know?"
He nodded. He knew.
"But you know what? Over the last two days of lying low, I've had a lot of time to think."
He made no indications he'd heard, so she continued, "I didn't kill to make my life easier, not even to make it longer... I killed to save Alex, to save you." She paused again, "I didn't do the work of death. I did the work of life, Detective. So did you."
His smile was bitter. "Nice speech, Rae."
"Did it work?"
"What was it trying to do?"
"Get you to stop missing the point."
"And what point is that?"
"The one on top of your head."
"Wha?" he turned to look at her over his shoulder.
She smiled that beautiful smile that Alex had helped him see. "Only suckers waste time hating themselves for doin' what's right." Her hand snapped out quickly, smacking him painfully in the shoulder. "Even when bad stuff happens."
"Man, that was beautiful." Alex groaned from the bed.
They both turned to face him. "Now what, chief?" Ping asked, looking sideways at Rae and rubbing his bruised shoulder.
"Check this out!" Alex said, holding out his arms. After a few seconds, he raised perhaps ten centimeters off the floor. He smiled like a kid with a new toy, floating around the room. Like a slow-motion superman, he made his favorite man-of-steel poses.
Watching the spectacle, Rae turned to Ping, "Geeks should not have superpowers."
"Evildoers beware." Ping muttered.
Finished for the time being, Alex touched down on the floor and gave a small bow. If he was expecting applause- and he was- he ended up disappointed. After a pause to allow them to change their minds about the adulation,he moved on. "We don't have long. They'll be in the building any minute. Once they get here, they'll probably knock down the hospital's net and head straight for us."
Ping and Rae exchanged glances. "What?" Alex said.
"Babe... the net went down maybe five minutes ago now."
The blood drained out of Alex's face. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You were too busy showin' off!"
"How did you know they were coming? That they'd kill the net?" Ping asked, subconsciously checking the positioning of his holsters.
"Elfin magic... didn't think it would be so soon."
"So you did your little flying demo before you warned us?"
Alex looked guilty. He smiled sheepishly, "It was pretty cool... no?"
They were not impressed.
"Time to go." Alex moved toward the door.
"Wait!" Rae said. "Why did you bring us to this hospital? Why not the three others closer to where we were hiding out?"
"Dek's here. The tracker stopped moving earlier tonight, so I used a little power from your cameo to hack Ping's medkit." He turned and ran for the door with Ping and Rae close behind.
"You're saying you've been aware all this time?" Rae said as they sprinted down the hall toward the elevator banks.
"Sensible underwear." Alex said, hitting the call button.
Rae winced. Alex