Blue Violet

chapter 18

“You little idiot,” Ellie heard Alex mutter, although his voice came from far away. She was snuggled up against something warm and solid, and yet she was floating.

“What were you thinking?” he continued, his voice more tender now and closer to her ear.

It suddenly occurred to Ellie that he was carrying her. Since being held in his arms so closely aligned with where she truly wished to be, Ellie decided not to open her eyes just yet. Some part of her recognized that he wasn’t touching her skin.

As her consciousness returned in slow waves, Ellie reveled in the feeling of being exactly where she was supposed to be. Being held by him just felt too wonderful to pass up. She didn’t want the moment to ever end.

Carefully, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. Burying her face in the crook of his neck, she breathed him in. Alex smelled of clean soap, a subtle tangy aftershave, and something essentially him. She sighed as his arms tightened around her, pulling her in closer.

They made it back to the house too soon. Once inside, he laid her gently on the couch in the living room. Reluctantly, Ellie unwrapped her arms from around his neck, her eyes still closed. Alex gently smoothed the hair back from her face. Knowing she couldn’t avoid reality any longer, she opened her eyes with a resigned sigh, looking directly into Alex’s silver-blue gaze.

“You’ve got a pretty big bump on your head,” he observed.

With his words, pain finally broke through the fog in Ellie’s head. She winced as she reached up and felt the egg-sized lump on her forehead. “Ow,” she groaned.

“I’d point out that you brought this on yourself, but you’ve been banged up enough for your trouble, in addition to giving me a heart attack, so I’ll restrain myself. Just… please don’t ever do something like that again.” His gruff concern warmed her slowly from the inside out.

“How bad’s the car?” she asked with another groan.

“Probably totaled.” His face looked like a solemn mask. He sat back on his heels and ran his hand over his face.

Alex couldn’t share with Ellie his horror of watching her car hit the tree and then skid toward the treacherous cliff. If her car had gone over, she would never have survived the impact. He’d had to use his powers on her, and hadn’t even stopped to consider the potential consequences. If someone had seen him, they would’ve seen him lift his hands, and the next instant, the car frozen in place. Even the snow falling stopped in time. It’d been a stupid move. I couldn’t just sit there and watch her die, he thought.

“Griffin’s gonna kill me,” Ellie groaned.

Alex frowned. “Who exactly is Griffin?”

Ellie ignored the question. “He’ll be here any minute. And he’ll be furious with me.”

“He can get in line.” Alex looked sternly at her as she wiggled down on the couch to try to get more comfortable. “What on Earth were you thinking?”

She returned his look with a glare of her own. “I was thinking I had to get away from you.” She paused for a second, forcing herself to calm down. A repeat of the last few minutes was a really bad idea. “And you really should go,” she finally insisted.

Griffin was close. He was already telepathically communicating his wrath to her. He’d seen the crash in his mind, and now he was scolding her mentally before he could finish the job in person. Ellie put her hand to her head, which was now starting to ache for many reasons.

Alex noticed the gesture. Concerned, he reached out and gently touched the lump just above her eyes. Ellie flinched at the pain, although she was able to at least control the shocking sensation.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “You should go to the hospital.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Well, I should at least get you some ice for that,” he insisted. But he didn’t move. He just sat and looked at her for what seemed like an eternity. And Ellie couldn’t break the contact. Didn’t want to.

Alex reached out again, this time to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. He trailed his fingertips along the smooth skin of her jaw.

Ellie’s breath caught in her throat at the look in his eyes. A confession trembled on the tip of her tongue… to tell him who and what she was.

The sound of Griffin banging into the house had the two of them jumping guiltily apart.

Alex looked up as Griffin entered the room. His jaw clenched, and a pained look crossed his face. She didn’t need Griffin’s mind reading ability to know that Alex assumed that Griffin was her boyfriend. She was about to set him straight when she heard Griffin’s voice in her head.

“Let him think what he’s thinking.”

She gave her brother a confused glace.

“He’s too involved with you, Ellie. It’ll help keep him at a distance.”

Ellie battled with that thought. She didn’t want Alex at a distance. He was her te’sorthene, although Alex didn’t appear to have come to that conclusion yet. And while the thought scared the bejeezus out of her, she couldn’t ignore the instinctual pull to be with him. She reluctantly recognized that Griffin was right. It wasn’t time yet. Soon though.

She felt Griffin relax as she came to her decision.

“Ellie, what happened?” Griffin asked. He could be a master actor when he needed to be…he already knew exactly what happened. “I saw your car smashed against a tree out in the road.”

“I had a little accident. But I’ll be fine. This is Alex by the way.” She introduced them with a general wave in Alex’s direction.

The two boys nodded to each other silently. Each regarding the other somewhat coolly. Each sizing the other one up.

“I’ll be okay now, Alex,” Ellie said quietly, laying a hand on his arm. “Thanks for getting me back to the house.”

Alex regarded Ellie with a solemn face. His whole body practically buzzed with everything that had gone on in the last half hour or so.

He’d come here this morning in a furious state, intending to confront her. But that confrontation had gone all wrong. And then he’d watched as she had her horrifying accident…as frightening as if it were happening to him. And somehow the anger and resentment that had driven him here had faded into relief when he’d realized she wasn’t dead. He could even ignore the twinge of jealousy he felt toward Griffin now.

Ellie was alive. And she was okay. That was all that mattered.

“You should get her to a hospital,” he muttered as he stood up and headed towards the door.

“I will,” said Griffin.

Alex turned back to Ellie, regarding her with solemn eyes, and with a final nod he left.

*****

“Close one,” Griffin said under his breath.

Ellie fell back on the couch with a thud. She snorted inelegantly. “Which part? The part where he clearly suspects I’m not who I claim to be? Or maybe the part where I could’ve killed him if I’d morphed? Or the part where I idiotically rammed my car into a tree? Of course, there’s also the part where I was this close,” she held up her hand with her finger and thumb millimeters apart, “to kissing him.” Ellie buried her face in the couch.

“Huh. You have been busy, haven’t you? You’re forgetting the part where you discovered that he’s your te’sorthene.” He watched her for her reaction.

Ellie blew out a long breath and then said softly, “I’m not ready to talk about that yet.”

Sitting down at the end of the couch, he nodded. “You’re also forgetting the part where he saved your life.”

Ellie frowned. “What’re you talking about?”

Silently he took her hand, their link always at its strongest when they were both able to access her ability to use others’ powers. Ellie watched Griffin’s view as Alex had run out of the house after her. He’d stood in front of the car, leaping aside as Ellie had gunned the engine. She saw the look of dawning horror on Alex’s face as he’d watched her slam into the tree. And then, the flash of panic as the car had started skidding toward the steep drop.

Alex had lifted his hands, grim determination etched in every line of his body. Without moving, he’d focused completely on her car as it started to tip over the edge. Suddenly, it had frozen in place. And then slowly, and with a horrible screeching sound of metal on rock, the car had inched back on to the pavement, gradually crossed the road, and ended up back on her property. Only when the car was safe and stable had Alex lowered his hands.

Ellie sucked in a breath through her teeth.

“How’s the head by the way?” Griffin asked as an afterthought.

She gave her brother an aggravated look. “I’ll survive.”

“I’ll get us some breakfast, and call a tow truck for the car,” he stood up, heading toward the kitchen.

“What happened to taking me to the hospital?” she grumbled.

“Do you really need it?”

She paused and pressed her lips together. “What do you think?”

“Hmmm… I think I’ll keep that to myself,” he teased.

“Just get the breakfast, Griff,” she mumbled, lying back on the couch and closing her eyes. Immediately her mind turned to Alex and everything that had just happened. Ellie hoped Griffin wasn’t listening. She was just too worn out to try to block his telepathy.

Ellie and Griffin spent the rest of the day hanging out at home. They discussed the wolves several times. It still wasn’t clear if the Vyusher were involved or not. But if they were, Ellie and Griffin worried about when to expect the attack…the question was when, not if it was coming. It felt too much like the last time.