The Haunted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 5)

Chapter 7: Fatal Alliance

The air was thick and fragrant, almost cloying, but if Sabrina put her head down on her arms and filtered the air through the corner of her sleeve, she could almost pretend she was lying in an Earth meadow. It was warm, and Ford was drowsing next to her on their picnic blanket, his hazy thoughts growing dim as he drifted gently on the edge of consciousness. This was their first time alone since Malvarak had whisked them away from Earth, and it was so tempting to let her guard down and relax, but Sabrina knew that Malvarak hadn't left them alone for their own good. He was up to something he didn't want them to know about, and she must not nap when she ought to be thinking up ways to counter his next move.

She glanced up at the chartreuse sky and grimaced. Her brief sojourn on Earth had made everything else seem strange again, and while a month ago she would have found this out-of-the-way planet charming, she now just thought it smelled and looked funny.

"I can change the sky, but it would be simpler to change your perception of it," Ford murmured, eyes closed and only a faint hint of amusement hovering in his mind.

"Don't mess with my perceptions, please," Sabrina replied. "I like to think I can trust my own senses. If you take that away, I may well end up in the corner babbling to myself."

"We're in a field. There are no corners."

"I was speaking figuratively, as you well know."

He did know; she could feel his amusement more clearly now. Ford had always liked to tease her, but the part of him that was still the Emperor was unused to banter and certainly to scolding. He seemed intrigued by her refusal to humor him; she suspected he was working up to goading her into a full-blown quarrel. How far Ford's good humor would extend under those circumstances was a huge and vital variable, and Sabrina was terrified of pushing him away from her toward Malvarak.

"I wish you would stop lying there fretting. It's very unrestful," Ford complained.

"Stop listening to me, then," she suggested, a bit more sharply than she intended.

"I'm merely remarking that it would please me if you would stop thinking about what would displease me."

"That's a nice incomprehensible sentence."

"Don't play stupid. It's useless and irritating. I can hear that mind of yours whirling, so I know you understood me."

Sabrina shifted onto her side and propped her head up. "If we understand each other so well, why do we have these conversations?"

"Because they amuse one of us. Unfortunately we don't seem to agree on which parts are amusing."

"I don't really find any of this amusing. Malvarak is up to no good and you want to lie here and soak up the sun. Why can't you admit I might have reason to worry instead of scolding me for it? If you want to be free, you have to think for yourself, you know."

"Why? You and he seem to want to do it for me, so I can be saved the bother. It might be more convenient if you agreed on any given thing, but perhaps then we would all be bored."

"You have that fantastic brain going to waste over there. It's not just a shame, it's criminal."

"Stop it. This isn't about me. This is about you and your insecurities. I wish you would realize once and for all that I'm not going to leave you on the next planet like some broken toy. Malvarak advises me. That doesn't threaten your position."

Sabrina sighed, rolling back over onto her stomach and fiddling with the odd powder-blue grass. "I think you're going to find you're wrong about that. Whatever he's planning, I'm not going to like it."