Queen of the Magnetland (The Elemental Phases Book 5) (13 page)

And
that was all it took.

He’d
instantly loosened his grasp and softened his tone.  “I’m sorry.  I…”  He’d
floundered for something to say.  Anything.  “I’ve… just thought of something
pleasant to tell you, about the past two years.”

“You
did?”  She’d relaxed again and her slight expression of wariness faded.  “Thank
God.  Tell me quickly.  I was beginning to think nothing had happened since
I’ve been gone, except mold growing on things and people getting tossed in
jail.”

The
woman was either a consummate actor or his mind had turned this imaginary Mara
into an idiot. 
His
Mara would’ve been smarter.  She wouldn’t have
believed him so quickly.  Not when he was so obviously close to the edge. 
Anyone
would’ve known not to trust him.

He
was insane, for God’s sake.

“I…” 
Chason had closed his eyes against a groan as she turned her hand in his and
absently rubbed her thumb against his pulse point. 
Focus
.  “Job.”  It
was the first “news” Chason could think of.  “He found his Match.”

“He
did?!”  That had thrilled her.  “That’s wonderful!  Who is it?  Is it Nia?  He’s
always favored the Water House.”

“No,
Nia Phazed with his nephew.”

“Job
has a nephew?!”

“Yeah,
Cross.  Well, there’s Kingu, too, but he’s Job’s nephew through his Match. 
Cross is his biological nephew.  He’s the last Shadow Phase alive.”

“There’s
only one Shadow Phase left?!  Won’t that end the world?”

“It
did.”

“The
world ended?!”

“Temporarily. 
Don’t worry.  Cross stopped it.  And Nia’s pregnant, now, so there could be two
Shadow Phases soon.”

“Nia’s
pregnant?!”

“Unfortunately. 
Cross isn’t nearly good enough for her.  I tell myself it could be worse,
though.  It could be Ty having the baby.”

“Ty
and Parald Phazed?!”

“No,
I told you I beheaded him.  It turns out Parald wasn’t her Match.  She Phazed
with Gion.”

“Ty
and
Gion, of the Air House
are a Match?!”

“Cape
wearing bastard is really,
really
not good enough for her.  I should have
just killed him that time he was in the Home Depot with the Quintessence.”

“The
Quintessence is real?!”

“Of
course.  She’s Job’s Match.”

“Wow…
This is all very, very confusing.”  The woman who looked like Mara had shaken
her head, looking dazed.  “If that’s what the Water House did while I was away,
I’m afraid to even ask what the Fire Phases have been up to.”

Yet,
Chason had still spent the next hour telling her everything he could think of
about the years she’d supposedly “missed.”

At
least, the parts that had nothing to do with him and the vengeance seeking army
he’d raised.  He’d found he didn’t want to talk about the Reprisal.  He hadn’t
been sure how she’d react.

So,
he’d told her about human Matches, and trying to adjust to a world with nearly
no people, and how the Banished Phases were back and living in the Cloud
Kingdom, and how fucking
Gion
now had a seat on the Council.

Chason
hadn’t bothered to protest when the woman edged over onto his side of bed.  There’d
been no real
harm
in it, after all.  His body had stayed on top of the
blankets, poised on the far edge of the mattress.

Undeterred,
she’d maneuvered as close to him as possible without being pressed up against
his side.  Then, she’d settled down to listen like she’d really been interested. 
He couldn’t have moved any farther without tumbling off the edge and she couldn’t
have been any closer to him without actually touching.

Both
of them had pretended not to notice.

Right
around the part of the story where the barriers collapsed, the woman had fallen
asleep, her hand still grasping his.  Chason had grown quiet, just lying beside
her and listening to the silence.  For the first time in two years, there was
nothing but soothing, perfect stillness in his mind.

Peace.

She’d
done that for him.

Chason
had gingerly reached over to smooth back the purple streak at her temple, his
jaw clenching at the feel of her hair sliding through his fingers.  The woman’s
energy was different than Mara’s, yet so familiar.  It felt like the same pure,
beautiful power, except it was… deeper.  It felt like he could’ve touched so
much
more
of it.  If their powers would just shift a tiny bit, he sensed
everything would lock into place and be
more
.

Better.

The
thoughts had seemed disloyal somehow.

Chason
had dropped him hand away and forced himself to let go of the woman.  Getting
out of bed, he’d headed over to investigate the wall calendar.  Well, two years
before
it had been a wall calendar.

Mara
had given it to him as a gift on their final Gaianisha Day together.  She’d
intended it to be a place for Chason to keep track of his never ending appointments
and obligations, since Magnet Phases didn’t do well with electronic organizers. 
The wall calendar was big, with a built in section made of crisscrossed leather
straps for holding papers and business cards.  For the first few months after
he got it, Chason had used it for his intended purpose.

But,
after the Fall it became a shrine.

The
calendar pages had stopped turning when Mara died and notes now covered every
bit of the surface, piled three deep in places.

His
Match had always jotted things down in her little spiral bound book or left
reminders about upcoming social obligations on his desk.  It was such a
Mara
thing to do.  In the months after her death, he’d become obsessed with
collecting every scrap of paper she’d ever touched.  At the time he’d received
them, he’d barely even noticed what a wonderful, precious gift they were.  He’d
read them and set them aside, always thinking there would be more.

He’d
been so blind.

After
she died, he’d dedicated himself to tracking down whatever remained of the
careless notes and preserving them forever.  Word puzzles and shopping lists
and scribblings in lost languages and random song lyrics she’d liked.  Every single
note that survived was now displayed on his wall like the archeological relics
of another time.

Only
he suddenly had a new one for the collection.

The
woman who looked like Mara had just
handed
it to him.  As if it wasn’t
something akin to a miracle to watch new words created in that familiar
notepad.  The notepad
he’d
never been able to find after Mara’s death,
but that the woman had located within seconds.

Chason
had examined every curve of every word she wrote against the museum of Mara’s
notes and they were identical.  He’d known that they would be.

He’d
instantly recognized that the woman had mastered Mara’s looping feminine
penmanship.  He would have known that writing blindfolded, just from the
familiar sound of the pen moving across the page.  The way she ended sentences
with a flourish and crowned her ‘I’s with an emphatic dot.  It was all so
Mara
.

Only
this note hadn’t come from his Match.

Chason
had wound up sitting on the floor, his back against the connecting door, trying
to figure it all out.  He folded the note into an even smaller origami wad, his
mind racing.  The words still weren’t vanishing off the page, much like the
woman herself wasn’t vanishing into the ether.

And,
if she was a living, breathing person, then she was an imposter.

She’d
somehow copied his Match right down to her handwriting, though.  The shape of
her ears, texture of her skin, the way she said his name…  All of it –every
detail-- was
so
Mara
.  It fogged his mind to be around her.  Or
un
fogged
it.  He wasn’t sure which.

He
wasn’t sure of anything, anymore.

She’d
even known the last words Mara ever said to him.  How?  Chason had never
discussed that moment with anyone.  Not even a Reflection Phase could have
disguised themselves as a perfect Mara clone, complete with all her memories.

So,
who was she? 
What
was she?

He
should have asked Zakkery more questions.  The Smoke Phase wasn’t doing this
alone.  Someone else was in play.  Probably the Banished Light Phase Chason had
been searching for.  But why would anyone want this woman returned to him? 
What were they trying to achieve?

Maybe
Gaia just heard his prayers
.

Chason
gave his head an aggravated shake.  No. 
She’d
turned out to be the
biggest lie of all.  He didn’t believe in God or Gaia or some guardian angel Time
Phase sent to
Christmas Carol
Chason back into the fold by saving his
Match.  A
person
had brought this woman into his life, no doubt for some
malicious and soul crushing reason.

But,
it wouldn’t work.  Because, Chason might be teetering on the edge of madness…
but he wasn’t stupid.  He saw the truth about this fake “reality.”  Whoever the
imposter was she wasn’t
Mara
.  And that was all that really mattered.

He
couldn’t let himself…

The
door to his room creaked open, a gigantic figure silhouetted in the threshold. 
Chason’s head snapped around, ready to brutally kill anyone who threatened the
woman.

“Chason.” 
Raiden’s neon green eyes found him in the dim room.  “You’re still alive?  So
not everything has changed, yet.”

Chason
ignored the unorthodox greeting.  With Raiden, you just had to accept the
weird.  “Do you see her?”  He asked quietly.  “Do you see her lying there or am
I imagining it?”

Raiden’s
brow creased into a frown, his gaze swinging over to the mattress and landing
on the Mara imposter’s sleeping form tucked under the blankets.  “You have a
woman?”  He sounded as shocked as Raiden was capable of sounding, his ruined
voice rasping over the words.  “Where did she come from?”

“I
traded Zakkery, of the Smoke House for the Justice Box.”

A
long pause.  “You gave a Banished Phase one of the Tablets of Fate?  In
exchange for a woman?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I
wanted her.”  Chason said simply.

Raiden
digested that.  It was impossible to tell what he was thinking behind his
implacable mask.  After a beat, he turned and started towards the bed.

Chason’s
body tensed, not liking Raiden getting close to the sleeping woman.  What if he
tried to take her?  The abyss of insanity swirled to life again, rebelling
against the idea of another man being so close to her, especially when she was
vulnerable.

He
quickly got to his feet and moved to the other side of the mattress.  He
reached out to put a possessive hand on the woman’s arm, eyeing Raiden
warningly.  “Mine.”  The word was a line in the sand.

Raiden
watched him for a beat, the same way somebody would watch a tiger if they
stumbled across one stalking them in the wild.

“Yours.” 
He agreed softly.  “I will not harm her.  You have my word.”  He crouched down
beside the bed, moving slowly as if he was afraid any sudden movements might
set Chason off.  “Who is she that…?”  He stopped short as he got a clear view
of her face.  Raiden had never met Mara, but everyone in the realm knew what
she looked like.  She was one of the most famous Phases ‘alive.’  “Oh, Gaia.”

“Do
you see her, too?”  Chason demanded.

“Yes.” 
Raiden whispered transfixed.

So
she wasn’t just in his mind, then.  “She looks like Mara.”

“I
know.  I saw your Match returned to you, but I didn’t expect…”  He trailed off
and shook his head.  “Who is she?”

Chason
swallowed.  “She says she’s Mara.”

Raiden’s
eyes catalogued her features for a long moment and then dropped down to the
ugly pendant she wore.  “Interesting.”  He was a man used to the odd and even
he seemed baffled.  “I need to touch her.”  He shifted his hand, keeping it palm
up so Chason would see he wasn’t a threat.  “It will be quick.”

Chason’s
fingers still tightened on the woman’s arm, every instinct in body screaming at
him to pull her away from Raiden.  Matches didn’t like other people touching
their Match.  It was basic biology and, whoever this woman was, his energy was
telling him that she was
his
.

She
made a small noise in her sleep and shifted under the increased pressure of his
grip.  Mara had always been a deep sleeper.  “Chason.”  She murmured.

Chason
flinched, his whole body jolting at the sensual sound.  Purple eyes slashed
over to Raiden, wanting to slaughter the man just for hearing it.

Raiden
stopped moving, his face cautious.  “It was your name.”  He said quietly.  “No
one else’s.  Be calm.”

“It
will
always
be my name.”