Out of the Black - Lee Doty [165]
He was in the dark, the power and speed of the Loom lost to him. Then he was in the deeper black of the Overworld.
He opened his eyes and saw Kaspari about two meters away. "Had to try..." he said with a shrug.
"Yeah." Kaspari nodded.
They both looked around at the destruction. Behind Kaspari, Ping lay on the floor. The extended sword was close to his hand. Between Kaspari and Alex, the two Feds stood braced but indecisive before their friends on the gurneys. They both looked like they were really missing their weapons. Elena pulled out her badge. "Federal Agents... freeze?" They all had a good laugh. It was strange how good it felt.
Alex turned to Rae, only to find her gone. He turned and saw one of her legs protruding from under Anne's sprawled form. "Rae!" He shouted, and stretched down into the Loom. As its heat and light enveloped him, he was already organizing a weave to get Anne off of her.
Alex shouted like he'd been burned. He fell to his hands and knees, breathing heavily.
Kaspari wagged a finger at him, shaking his head slightly. But then he rolled his eyes as Alex crawled toward the two women. "Hey!" he shouted. Alex looked back over his shoulder.
"Excuse me," Kaspari said, somewhat annoyed.
With obvious effort, Alex pressed to his feet. He turned to face Kaspari, but his eyes moved again to Rae's protruding foot.
"Fine." Issak said, exasperated. Though he made no external sign of concentration, wiggled no fingers in magical sigils and spoke no rhymes or Latin, several things happened almost at once.
Free, Anne leapt to her feet. She turned with the lithe motion of a hunting panther toward Kaspari.
The blood stopped flowing down Ping's face and the wound on his head closed. His eyes fluttered open. His left hand went to his head and came away red. "More head trauma... figures." he muttered to himself, looking at the blood. His right hand wrapped around his sword. He struggled into a sitting position.
Rae coughed and sat up. "Sorry." Anne said with a small shrug and a self-conscious grin.
Alex took two steps and extended his hands. Rae took them and pulled herself up. "What I miss?" She said, rubbing her head.
"Me taking the beat-down again."
She moved into his arms. "But you won, right?" Then she saw Kaspari over his shoulder and stiffened slightly.
"Does 'beat-down' mean something else to you?" He tried a reassuring smile as she moved back to look into his face.
On her gurney, Hawthorne stirred. Kyle Mendez groaned and shifted in his isolation wrap. Elena turned as his eyes opened. "Hey." He croaked.
She smiled back. Emotion made her voice unreliable, so she didn't use it.
Kyle's eyes widened slightly as he remembered more. "Honey, what are you doing here?"
"Rescuing you." She covered the catch in her voice with a smile.
"So I'm not dead?"
"Not for at least another few minutes," she glanced around quickly, but her eyes returned to him and lingered.
"You know," he said with a dreamy smile, "I heard that angels come to you in the form of those you love most."
"Yeah, that's how we first met." Elena's hand went to his cheek.
"Just to be clear... not dead? I'm pretty sure angels aren't supposed to use even the white lies."
She shook her head and leaned in close. Behind Elena, words floated, hanging briefly in the air before winking out like stars at sunrise. They were the soft sounds of falling rain outside the warm shelter of their reunion.
"Chief?" Miranda turned her head, still keeping an eye on Kaspari.
"Hey, Mira... I just had the weirdest dream."
"Me too, boss." Miranda put a hand on Hawthorne's shoulder, "Me too."
"Whoo... I feel like I've been shot twice and left for dead..."
"Don't be silly boss. We'd never leave you for dead."
"Where's Derry?" Hawthorne asked. Miranda's face darkened.
Anne's stare was unwavering,