Shift

TWENTY-EIGHT.2

Blaze swallowed and looked down at Kayden, who was blinking drowsily. She glanced towards the opposite end of the couch, and then back at Blaze. Her green eyes looked foggy, the remnants of sleep still clinging to them like cobwebs. "Where's Lexi?"

Blaze shrugged. "I just got in. I don't know."

Kayden frowned at the TV, which was displaying some show about non-ers planting a garden, and she wiggled around until she found the remote. She clicked it off.

Blaze felt the strongest urge to bolt from the room. "You look tired," he said. "Do you want to get back to sleep?"

"I'm fine. I didn't mean to drift off. I think it's just a combination of no sleep last night and then not being able to move this foot."

"Did you break it?"

"No, just a sprain. I took two Motrin earlier and it's kicking in finally. Lira said she couldn't use any magic on it until everything's been triple-checked." She raised her eyebrow in question.

Blaze shook his head. "I haven't heard anything. I was just downstairs cleaning up the rune. But uh... I think this is a good sign." He held up his bare wrist for her to see, pulling aside the sleeve of his suit.

She glanced down at her own wrist. "Ahh." Kayden looked up at him with a slightly confused expression. Blaze wondered what she was thinking. Finally she said, "You can sit down if you want. I'm not going to bite."

He glanced at the couch, which she was almost entirely taking up. "You've kind of hogged that one," he said.

She smiled wryly and bent her knees so that there was more room. "Lexi was able to fit here before I fell asleep."

"Lexi's tiny. She probably weighs like 110 pounds."

She snorted. "I doubt you weigh anymore than she does."

Blaze laughed and sat down on the small piece of couch she had cleared. "So what did you think of the casting?"

"Before or after I tackled Naven?"

"Before."

"Well." She paused. "It felt pretty powerful. I just hope it worked and things are going to get better. For everyone," she added a second later.

"I wish I had my laptop so we could log onto some forums and see," Blaze said. "Or we could turn on the potestas news station—"

"I'm sick of that channel." She looked over at him from the opposite end of the couch. Only the length of her body separated them, and Blaze found it hard to look away. She was still wearing the emerald dress from earlier. The sleek fabric outlined her slight curves.

"Kayden," he said, the words slipping out before he could stop himself. "Remember when we talked today... right before the spell casting? Out in the hallway?"

"Yes." She looked at him evenly. Her face was nearly expressionless, but he could see the curiosity in her eyes.

Blaze took a deep breath. His heart thudded heavily in his chest. "I know we're still not one hundred percent positive that the spell worked, but right now... I feel the same way I did back in that hallway. I still have feelings for you." He looked down at his hands for a moment, unable to look her in the eye. "I guess, for me, the spell had nothing to do with it. I don't know when it happened, or how. I just know that I still feel it now. It didn't go away."

His throat felt dry and he didn't know what else to say. He looked up at Kayden who had been lying down so casually. Now she moved. She sat herself up, carefully moving her leg so that it was off the couch, dangling near the floor.