Katie Chandler - Damsel under Stress Part 25

Marcia got up and went over to her briefcase, from which she took a notepad and pen. "Okay, let's get to work on pa.s.swords to start with. And I want a complete list of contact information for everyone."

While she grilled everyone on secret info to use for ident.i.ty verification, Owen edged over to me and put his arm around me. "That went better than I hoped," he said.

"Yeah, I'm kind of surprised, but I guess I shouldn't have been. They seem to take everything in stride."

Once Marcia had her phone list and secret pa.s.swords, Owen took off for the night. I followed him out into the hallway. "Thanks for helping with this," I whispered so neither my roommates nor my neighbors would hear us.

"You handled it pretty well on your own. I just provided the proof."

"In your usual dramatic fashion."

He ducked his head and blushed. If I had to name a mannerism that defined him to me, that would have to be it. It had been one of the first things he'd done when we met, and it was still something I could count on him doing regularly, even though he did it less often as he grew more comfortable with me. Watching him, I felt my heart swell in my chest. I hadn't had the chance to prove definitively how strong my feelings for him were the way he'd proved it to me the night before, but I knew now that if our positions had been reversed, I'd have probably made the same choice he'd made. We could fight the bad guys again some other day, but I couldn't replace him. It might be early to start thinking along these lines, but I was pretty sure I was falling in love with him, if I hadn't already fallen.

"You should probably take tomorrow off," he said. "It's not quite your front porch or hammock, but it would be a chance to unwind and recover-and get your immunity back."

"Good idea," I said, nodding.

"Okay, then, I guess I'll be going." He turned to leave, but I caught his arm and pulled him back. Then I stood on my tiptoes and gave him a very thorough kiss. It took him a second to recover before he kissed me back. He wrapped his arms around me and held me like he had in those tunnels, after he'd saved me from the fire. "I'm glad you're okay," he whispered. "If something happened to you..."

"I'm glad I'm okay, too, thanks to you," I said. I forced myself to break away from his embrace. "Take care of yourself."

"I try," he said with a crooked grin before he turned to head down the stairs. I watched him until he disappeared to the floor below, then I went back into the apartment.

Philip was getting his coat on and preparing to leave as I entered. Once he was gone, I sank into one of the kitchen chairs next to my roommates. "So, magic, huh?" Gemma said after a while.

"Yeah, magic," I said, nodding.

"Wow.""And your boyfriend turns out to be a grown-up Harry Potter," Gemma said."Nah, he's cuter than Harry," Marcia said."I don't know, Harry's pretty cute for a kid. You can tell he's going to be a knockout when he's all grown up."

"Movie Harry is cute, but I don't get the impression from the books that he's supposed to be all that gorgeous," Marcia argued. "Besides, Harry has green eyes in the books, and Owen definitely has blue eyes. Plus, Harry wears gla.s.ses."

"Owen wears gla.s.ses sometimes," I said. "But most of the time, he wears contacts. No scar, though."

"And didn't you say something about him being an orphan?" Marcia asked.

"Yeah, but he doesn't know who his parents were, so it doesn't look like they were killed by the bad guy. The people who brought him up were strict with him, but they're basically good people and it doesn't sound like they made him sleep under the stairs." I pondered it for a moment, then said, "I think he's more like Superman, except for the part about being an alien and the exact kinds of powers. And maybe being a bit shorter."

Gemma nodded. "Yeah, the dark hair and blue eyes fits that, as well as being brought up by good people who aren't his parents."

"And I'm his kryptonite," I said with a deep sigh.

"What makes you say that?" Marcia asked. "Is it something like your immunity cancels out his powers?"

I shook my head. "No, not like that. But I'm afraid I may be his weakness. Owen chose to rescue me instead of catching the bad guy."

"Well, of course," Gemma said. "He's crazy about you."

"But it was his big chance to catch this guy who's been causing all sorts of trouble and find out what he's up to. Because of me, he didn't."

"At least you know for sure how much you mean to him," Marcia said. "That's something very few people get to have demonstrated for them in such a vivid way."

"I'm afraid I'm holding him back, though. I don't want to be what stops him from doing what needs to be done. I'm his biggest weakness."

"I think you also give him strength," Gemma said. "Saving the world is an abstract concept, but making the world safe for you is something he can care about. That boy needs you, no matter how powerful he may be."

That thought made my head spin. It was a real paradox. How could I manage to be both Owen's greatest strength and his greatest weakness? It was too much for an ordinary girl like me to cope with.

I slept so hard that night I didn't notice my roommates leaving for work in the morning. When I finally woke up, I was as tired as if I'd stayed up all night.

I put on my robe and slippers and stumbled into the kitchen to make some coffee. While the coffeemaker went to work, I looked out the front window. It had snowed again during the night, but after the rush-hour traffic, the snow had already turned to gray slush that piled up in the gutters and on the edges of the sidewalks. The gray slush matched the gray brick of the buildings and the gray sky above. The only color I could see through the window was the yellow of taxis. Even the row of trees down the street looked gray, their winter-bare limbs bleak and silvery, with no sign of life.

This was the downside of winter in New York, once the Christmas lights were gone and everything returned to normal. As I recalled, I'd nearly packed it up and gone home at this time last year. Mimi had been going through a particularly nasty spell, and the grayness had been almost too much to bear when I saw on the weather report that it was sixty-five degrees and sunny back in Texas.

Now home sounded good for another reason. It was the most normal, safe place I could think of. I'd have my choice of front porch or hammock for plenty of relaxing and reading, and while we might have the odd cold, gray spell, it would only last a day or two before we saw the sun again.

I poured myself a cup of coffee, then went back to the window. I doubted my immunity had returned, so I had no way of knowing if the people I saw on the sidewalk below were what they seemed to be. Were there creatures lurking in the trees or hovering outside my window?

Were Idris's henchthings waiting for me outside, ready to grab me now that they knew I was Owen's Achilles' heel? If they'd bothered me before, I could only imagine what it would be like now that they knew Owen would do anything to keep me safe. That was bound to be a distraction for Owen. How could he focus on what he had to do if he had to worry about what the bad guys were doing to me? It figured. I finally found a great guy who liked me, and our relationship threw a monkey wrench into his life's work. And since his life's work was saving the world from bad magic, our relationship had bigger potential consequences than just keeping him off the corporate fast track.

That was when I knew what I had to do. Actually, I'd known the night before. It had just taken me awhile to convince myself. I got dressed, got my laptop bag, and headed out into the cold, gray day, taking the subway downtown to the office. Sam was in his usual spot at the front door. "Hey, doll," he said in greeting. "I didn't expect to see you here today."

"I just want to wrap up a few things," I told him. I then went straight up to Merlin's office, hoping desperately that I didn't run into anyone else I knew along the way. I knew it would be far too easy to be blown off course. To do this, I'd have to focus on my resolve, and I couldn't do that if I had to face anyone I really cared about.

"You're right on time," Trix said to me as I entered Merlin's tower suite. "Go right in." Merlin's office doors opened for me, and I took a deep breath before crossing the threshold.

"Good morning, Miss Chandler," Merlin said when he saw me. "How are you faring?"

"I'm okay. Still tired. My roommates took the news about magic pretty well, and they don't seem to have any grudges about what I did under Ari's influence."

"I'm pleased to hear that." He gestured me toward a chair, and then sat in the chair next to me. "I believe you handled the situation admirably, from determining the problem to helping find the solution. You even helped salvage the operation by capturing our prisoner."

"I was highly motivated. I'm just worried that Owen was willing to let them go."

His expression darkened. "Yes, that is a concern. He cares for you, and that can be dangerous under these circ.u.mstances if he puts his personal desires ahead of the greater good. I'm also worried about his loss of control. That isn't like him, from what I've seen."

It was exactly what I'd been thinking, but I didn't like hearing it confirmed. I had to take a couple of deep breaths before I could bring myself to say, "I think I might be in the way. Whatever I bring to the table in terms of magical immunity might be outweighed by the fact that the bad guys now know that Owen will choose to save me instead of choosing to stop them." I took another deep breath, hoping to get rid of the tremor that had taken over my voice, and threw out the idea that had been stewing in my head all morning. "Maybe I should take myself out of the picture for a while."

"That might be the best option," he replied somberly.

My breath caught in my throat. I hadn't really wanted him to take me up on the offer. I'd hoped he'd say it wasn't necessary, that he had a plan for dealing with the situation, and then I could stay, guilt-free. He wasn't supposed to agree with me. "If you think it's best," I hedged.

"I'm primarily concerned for your safety. Mr. Palmer can take care of himself, and I have full confidence that he will eventually prevail. But now that our enemies can be sure where you stand in his priorities, that makes you even more of a target in the future."

"Okay, then. I guess I could go back to Texas for a while, at least until things settle down here. My parents will be glad to see me."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure things will ever truly settle down. Not around here. I do hate to see you go, for I've found your input quite valuable, but you're right, it would be best for you to be away. Kim is handling your tasks well enough that I believe I can get by without you." And there she'd done it. She had my job. It was almost enough to make me change my mind and stay, regardless of the consequences.

But this was for the greater good, I reminded myself. It wasn't about how valuable I was. It was about beating the bad guys, once and for all. Maybe when that happened, I could come back. I'd managed to get from Texas to New York once before, when I hadn't known what I'd be facing in the city, and with nothing to draw me there other than my college roommates. I stood up. "It's been a pleasure working here-well, other than the various times I've been enchanted or attacked. Good luck fighting the bad guys, and all that. Uh, do I need to hand in a formal resignation?"

"That won't be necessary." He stood and gave me a formal nod. "Thank you for your contributions." I was glad he left it at that, without any long good-bye speech. I wouldn't have been able to hold off the tears much longer, and it's never a good idea to cry in front of your boss-or ex-boss. Lucky for me, Trix was on the phone when I left, so I just waved at her as I pa.s.sed. I could send her an e-mail later, I knew.

But I didn't think I could brush off Owen that easily. I needed to let him know what was going on. No, what I had to do was end things definitively. What were we going to do, maintain a long-distance relationship between New York and Texas? While the idea of him pining for me and us keeping in touch via phone and the occasional weekend visit was fun to contemplate in a pink-tinged, romantic way, it sort of defeated the purpose of me removing myself from the potentially problematic situation. If we were still together in any way, I might still be in danger, and I'd still be a distraction.

I mustered up every ounce of resolve I possessed, even borrowing on future reserves of resolve, and marched straight to Owen's lab, mentally rehearsing what I'd say as I walked. Then some of my resolve wavered when the only person there was Jake, who was poring over an old book with a magnifying gla.s.s. "Is he in?" I asked.

"Meeting with Mr. Lansing," he said without looking up. "He just left. It could be awhile."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks. I can't stay that long, but I'll leave him a note." I hated to admit how relieved I was. I knew that telling Owen in person was the right thing to do, but I wasn't sure I could have gone through with it when I was actually looking at him. Just imagining the hurt I was sure I'd see in his gorgeous blue eyes was enough to almost make me turn around and tell Merlin I'd changed my mind. Leaving a note was probably the best way to handle things so I could be clear about what I was doing and still maintain my resolve.

I went into his office, found a blank piece of paper in the mess on the desk, and wrote him a terse note about how I didn't see a way things could work out between us with everything else that was going on. "You have a job to do," I wrote, borrowing from the ending of his favorite movie so that maybe he'd understand what I was trying to do. "What you've got to do, I can't be any part of-not without getting in the way." I hesitated over giving him my contact information back home, then decided not to. If he wanted to track me down, he knew enough people who'd know how to reach me, and leaving the info would make it look like I was hinting for him to track me down. I ended the note with an exhortation to beat the bad guys, wished him the best of luck, then signed it, threw it in an empty envelope I found on the floor under his desk, and sealed it before I could change my mind. I wrote his name on the outside of the envelope and left it in his chair, where I was sure he'd see it.

Then I went over to the cubicle he'd built for me and gathered my few office belongings. I left my laptop on my desk and filled my computer bag with my desk calendar, coffee mug, and the other little things I'd kept on my desk. "I'll tell him you stopped by," Jake said as I pa.s.sed him on my way out.

"Thanks. And let him know there's a note on his chair."

And then I walked out of the building one last time, my head held high. To be totally honest, I couldn't help but feel a little proud of myself for going through with my n.o.ble sacrifice in the name of the greater good. The world was a crazier place than most people realized, and in the grand scheme of things, my problems didn't add up to much. I could practically hear the stirring music swell on the soundtrack as I let myself disappear into the fog of the crowds on the sidewalk.

After all, we'd always have Manhattan.

SHANNA SWENDSON is the author of Enchanted, Inc. and Once Upon Stilettos. She's also contributed essays to books on such pop-culture topics as Pride and Prejudice, Desperate Housewives, and Battlestar Galactica. When she's not writing or watching television and movies so she can write about them, she enjoys cooking, traveling, singing, and looking for new hobbies to make her author bio longer and more interesting. She lives in Texas, but loves to play Southern belle in New York as often as possible. For more information on Shanna and her books, visit her website at www.shannaswendson.com.

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