The Catalyst

Chapter 51

His throat felt like it had been rubbed with sand. He was cold, every muscle ached, the skin of his chest pulsed, and his temples throbbed.

"Dharkan, I think he's waking up!"

Wait, he knew that voice. Noah's eyes cracked open and he saw her, watching him.

"Am I dreaming again?"

Her black lips formed a smile. "No more dreams. Welcome back, Noah."

He glanced around, wincing at the throbbing behind his forehead. He recognized the cave and the paintings, saw his and Dharkan's bags, blankets and meager snacks scattered across the floor next to the remnants of a fire. Shivering, he propped himself up on his elbows, and looked back at Kili. She was wearing his spare clothes – buckskin trousers and a long-sleeved shirt that was way too big for her.

Could it really be her? He'd been so sure she was gone. 

Dharkan stomped in from the cave's mouth and came to sit beside Noah. "You took your bloody time, didn't you?"

He passed him a waterskin and Noah drank eagerly, only stopping to ask, "What happened?"

"See, I was hoping you'd tell me." Dharkan ran a hand through his hair. "You had me worried, you know? You were burning up, like you had a bad winter flu or something. We thought you might die on us."

"We?" Noah turned to Kili. "He can see you?"

"I can see her all right," Dharkan scoffed. "Hell of a secret you've kept all these years. If she's a spider, then I'm a bloody unicorn."

Noah sat up completely, the numerous aches suddenly forgotten. She seemed to hold her breath as he inched closer. She looked the same – same porcelain skin, same spider web tattoo above one ear, same playful glint in her eye. But she was also different, she was breathing, she had a bit of red on her cheeks, she was . . . in his arms suddenly, wrapping herself around him, her face pressed into his neck.

He held her back fiercely, one arm around her small waist, tangling his other hand in her soft, wavy hair. Her hair color always reminded him of a pine tree in twilight. She warmed him up, and her breath tickled his neck. It seemed too good to be true, and that scared him. He pulled away so he could look at her.

"How's this possible?" He tucked her hair behind her ear, and it was insane how amazing such a little gesture made him feel. The realm of possibilities overwhelmed him. All the things he'd always wanted to do . . .

"When you bonded with the catalyst," she explained, "it split us apart. I have a body now, in this world. I'm no longer connected to you. I'm alive and I can be killed."

"I won't let anyone hurt you," he said.

"You just survived a really bad fever," she went on. "And the catalyst . . . well, it's better if you just look." She gazed down at his chest, and he did too.

Oddly, the first thing Noah noticed was that his black marks were gone. Then, he saw the flat, silver-white stone – a perfect circle of about two and a half inches diameter, with a missing sliver in the shape of a crescent moon. This was somehow embedded in the middle of his chest. The skin around it was lightly bruised.

"Okay, that is weird," Noah said.

Dharkan chuckled wryly. "Yeah, no shit. Good luck explaining that one to Mikael."

A burnt-black, skeletal body flashed behind Noah's eyes. He shuddered. What the hell was that? He couldn't make sense of it, couldn't remember if it meant something. Leftover weirdness from the feverish dreams, maybe.

"Can't we remove it?" Noah asked.

"I tried," Dharkan grumbled. "When it got in there, you were losing a lot of blood, so I figured I'd better take it out. But it wouldn't let me."

"It wouldn't let you?"

"I don't know, it pushed my fingers away," Dharkan said. "Whatever magic you've got there, man, it's strong shit. And it wants you to have it."

"The elves created it," Noah mused. "To protect us from some . . . evil? Man, I wish the dreams had been more specific."

"Evil does sound pretty vague," Dharkan agreed.

Kili seemed very tense, and she hugged herself, as if cold.

"You're looking at it," she whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Noah asked. He wanted to pull her close again, hold her tight. He still couldn't believe she was here, really here. He kept expecting to wake up, and cherished every moment he didn't.

"My memories have been coming back," Kili said quietly.

Noah reached out to hold her hand, which seemed to give her courage.

"Well" – Dharkan slapped his thighs and got up – "I don't need to hear this again. Brace yourself, man, it ain't pretty." And he strode out of the cave.

The second they were alone, Kili leaned in and kissed him with warm, soft lips, leaving him breathless and craving more. The moment had the surreal quality of a fantasy come true.

"I had to do that," she explained with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes.

He hugged her again, and as he closed his eyes he could feel her heartbeat against his chest. "I can't believe you're actually here."

"You'd better start believing it, because I'm not going anywhere."

After one more kiss, they pulled the blankets and huddled against the wall, shoulder to shoulder.

"It's strange not to hear your thoughts," Kili said.

"Seems only fair though. I could never hear yours."

"True." She took a few deep breaths, as if steeling herself. "Are you ready to hear my story?"

Noah pressed himself closer and dropped a soft kiss on the hairless, tattooed skin above her ear. "It's all I ask."