Queen of the Magnetland (The Elemental Phases Book 5) (29 page)

She
ran a hand over her mussed hair.  “I’m sorry, too.  You should go back to
work.  I shouldn’t have disturbed you.”

The
other Chason wanted to stay with her, but he didn’t know how.  “Seeing you is
never a disturbance, Mara.  Especially not when it means I get to see so
much
of you…”  He trailed off and cleared his throat.

She
glanced up at him through her lashes and Real-Chason could see that she was
amused by that.  Despite how he’d royally screwed everything up
again
,
she still gave the other him a smile that he completely missed.

Real-Chason
was so helplessly in love with this woman, he almost felt like he should just
renounce her and set her free of his own ineptitude.  She deserved so much
better.

Memory-Chason
was already heading for the stairs, too embarrassed by his lapse in Phazing
etiquette to even meet her eyes.  “You should rest.”  He called as he left.  “I
wasn’t tender enough and I’m sure I scared you.  I’m sorry.  Next time, I’ll be
myself, again.”

For
that Chason, there wouldn’t be a next time.  This was the last time they’d
Phaze before the Fall.

Mara
sighed as the front door slammed shut.  “What was I thinking?”  She looked up
at the ceiling, like it might have the answers.  “Now, he probably thinks I’m a
harlot.”

Chason
would have laughed at the absurdity of that statement, except she looked so
miserable.  A
harlot?
  Mara was suddenly giving his former self a run
for his money in the idiocy department, it seemed.  “That was all
his
fault, not yours.  You’ve done nothing wrong… Well, except for keeping your
powers from me, but we’ll be fixing that.”

Mara
sniffed and shook her head, still talking to herself.  “Why can’t you just
leave it alone?  Why do you always have to push him for more?  What do you
think is going to happen?  That you’re going to just wake-up one day and be
different people?”

Chason
leaned his shoulder against the wall beside her, his eyes thoughtful.

Yes.

That
was
exactly
what happened, actually.

How
lucky for the current Mara that her thoughtful, considerate Match had died in
the Fall.  How lucky for both of them he’d woken-up as a ruthless, greedy
son-of-a-bitch who planned use every inch of her body in ways designed to make
her scream.

From that
instant, too, she melted in quietly amongst us, and was no longer a foreign
element.

Nathaniel
Hawthorne- “The Blithedale Romance”

“How’s
Chason?”  Mara demanded as soon as the doctor came out of the operating room. 
She’d been sitting there what seemed like hours, nervously writing Chason’s
name over and over in her notebook.

All
she wanted to do was see him.

“I
removed the bullet.”  Freya, of the Cold House was a neat and tidy woman with a
habit of sticking pencils in her hair.  Two of them poked out of the practical
blonde bun on the back of her head as she flipped through the notes on her
clipboard.  “I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  The bullet looks like
some kind of polymer and it acts like poison to our systems.  It burned my hand
when I was examining it.  Just
touching
it hurt.  I can only image how
painful it must have been for Chason to have it lodged four centimeters from…”

“Thank
you, Freya.”  Job said, interrupting her endless stream of words.  “How is
Chason doing?”

“He’s
still unconscious.  With the bullet out, I think he should wake-up soon.  His
body will heal the wound itself.”  She looked at Job.  “But, if we hadn’t
gotten that bullet out when we did, whatever that plastic is would’ve killed
him.  The weapon that did this is a terrible invention.”

Job
nodded, looking tired.

Mara
released a long breath, just thankful Chason had pulled through.  There had
been so much blood…

She
huddled in her bathrobe, doing her best to stay warm.  Someone had given her doctor’s
scrubs to wear, but they did nothing to stop her shivering.  Most of Mara’s
internal chill was from thinking about how close she’d come to losing Chason. 
But part of it was because of the arctic temperature of her surroundings.

The
Cold Palace was a huge icy fortress on the edge of a black sea.  Freya had an
office in the Agora, too, but she saw her most serious cases in her frigid homeland. 
She had a full hospital set up in the west wing of the Palace and it was considered
a sanctuary.  Even Banished Phases occasionally showed up and Freya treated
them.  Her patients were protected under Council law, although most of them
were happy to get well and quickly leave.

The
entire palace was created from gigantic blocks of ice that glowed from within
with an eerie light.  Its thin turrets dripped with icicles and frozen
crystals.  Outside blizzards raged, covering the Cold Kingdom in an endless
blanket of snow.  The only relief from the relentless white was the frosty blue
icebergs bobbing in the dark ocean and the forbidding gray mountains in the
distance.

Mara
shoved her hands deeper into her pockets and just wanted to be with her Match. 
“May I see him?”

Job
and Freya exchanged a look.

“Why
don’t we have Freya check you out first?”  Job recommended.  “Just to make
sure.”

“To
make sure of
what?
”  It took everything in Mara to keep her composure. 
“That I’m really me?”

“Well,
Mara
was
dead the last time we saw her.”  Freya was obviously trying not
to stare at her and failing at it.  “I only know of one person who contracted
the Fall and recovered. 
One
.  And it wasn’t you.  Then you show up,
claiming to be Mara, and claiming to be cured, and claiming that Vandal, of the
Light House shot Chason, even though he’s supposed to be dead,
too
.  How
is it possible that…?”

“If
she is who she says she is, I imagine Kay’s necklace held her in stasis.” 
Kingu interjected as if it was all very logical.  He was sitting next to Mara
and seemed to be the only one who accepted her story at face value.  “Tessie
destroyed all remnants of the Fall a few months ago.  So, if this woman was in
a mystical coma, when the Fall vanished from the universe, it also vanished
from her body.  Once she was awakened, she’d be healed.”  He made a considering
face.  “All in all, a very impressive plan from Zakkery and this Time Phase.”

“Daphne.” 
Mara supplied.  “She was extremely powerful. 
Is
extremely powerful.  I
don’t think the time jump killed her.”

If
the gun that shot Chason was really from the future, Daphne was also the most
likely suspect for the person who’d supplied it to Vandal.

Mara
closed her eyes briefly, struggling to control her anger.  “I want to see Chason.”

Job
put his hands behind his back military “at rest” style.  “Kingu, how hard would
it be to carry out this plan to resurrect the
real
Mara?  It seems close
to impossible.”

“Well,
it would be simple for the necklace to create the stasis.  Even a moderately intelligent
Phase could manage that, in a monkey-with-a-typewriter way.  But the
thinking
of it all is very advanced for your species.  It would take time to line up
all the pieces.  And why would Zakkery wish to save this girl?”  He looked at
Mara.  “Aside from the fact you seem quite pleasant for an Elemental.”

“Thank
you.”  Mara told him politely.  Years of practice had her reigning in her
impatience.  “And congratulations on your child.”  She’d been too distracted to
tell him that earlier.  “A baby is always such a blessing and Hope will be a
wonderful
mother.”

Kingu
nodded in agreement.  He was a very sweet man under the red eyes and monstrous
features.  “We have already decorated the nursery in pythons.”

“That’s
so bold.”  Mara said sincerely.  “You know, I’ve always admired the Fire
House’s sense of style.  I’ll be making some decorating changes myself, now
that I’m
back
.”  She sent Job a meaningful look.

“Kingu
has a point.  Assuming that everything you’re saying is true, Chason must have
done
something
to convince this Daphne and Zakkery to help you.”  Job
shook his head.  “I very much doubt they planned all this as a hobby.  We don’t
know if you’re really Mara, but I’m positive that Chason would’ve done anything
they wanted once he saw you.”

Mara
hesitated and bit her lower lip, worried that she might have cost Chason too
much.  “Chason gave Zakkery a square box, covered in writing.”

Job
closed his eyes.  “The Justice Tablet.”  He sighed.  “Of course.”

“Justice
Tablet?”  Mara blinked.  “Are you talking about the
Tablets of Fate?
 
Job, those are just a fairytale!”

The
nine Tablets were supposed control Compassion and Love and Valor and Happiness
and some other things that Mara didn’t remember at the moment.  No one believed
they actually
existed
, though.  Not unless you counted the weirdoes who
wrote about aliens building the pyramids, anyway.  The Tablets were a just a
silly legend.

Job
pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Believe me, they’re all too real.”

It
was lucky that Mara had given up on hiding her emotions, because she couldn’t
quite suppress her skeptical scoff.  It was like suddenly being told that
they’d found the lost continent of Atlantis while she was in her coma.

“Of
course, the Magnet King would trade that box for her.”  Kingu said
dismissively.  “No price is too high for your Match.  That’s what led me to
give Zakkery the necklace in the first place.”

“The
Justice Tablet can destroy the world.”  Job reminded him.

“Zakkery
has no intention of destroying the world.  Where would he buy cigarettes if it
was gone?”  Kingu rolled his eyes.  He’d seen countless millennia pass and
clearly planned to see countless more.  “The world is far studier than it
seems, Job.  Be happy that Mara is back.  Rising from the dead is rare among
your kind.”

“If
she
is
Mara.”

“No
one believes me.”  Mara looked at Kingu, who was fast becoming her new best
friend.  “Did you mean it when you said earlier you’d always know your Match? 
Do you think her family would, too?  People who’d been around her since the day
she was
born?
”  Another glare at Job, who apparently believed in
children’s stories about those silly Tablets, but not in her.

“Yes.” 
Kingu’s answer was unequivocal.  “I would always know Hope.”

“I
had to convince you that Hope even
was
your Match, nephew.”

Mara
and Kingu ignored Job’s complaint.

“And
yet no one here knows me.”  Mara told Kingu.”  Don’t you think that’s sad?”

“Chason
nearly died today.”  Job insisted.  “He’s mentally fragile, lying in a hospital
bed, and impossible things seem to be happening.  If you’re Mara, you know why
I’m being cautious with him.  The last thing you said to me was to look after
your Match and that’s what I’ve spent two years trying to do.”

That
was true.

Damn
it.

“I
think you should renounce the Magnet King and come to the Fire Kingdom until
the other Elementals see the truth.”  King recommended.  “We enjoy mysterious
and possibly dangerous visitors in my homeland.”

“That’s
very kind, but this is
my
life and I’m not giving it up.  I’m not leaving
my Match, ever again.  No matter who I have to go through to get to him.”

Kingu
nodded as if he approved of her plan.  “We all must fight for what’s ours.  In
any case, you have no further need for the necklace, Mara.  Would you mind if I
had it back?  It’s for my daughter.”

It
was so nice to have someone call her by name.  “Of course.  I’m not sure how to
undo the clasp, though.”

“It’s
magically attached.  Only beings from my bloodline can remove it.”  Kingu made
a turnaround gesture with his finger and she obligingly swiveled her head for
him.

“Is
that safe?”  Job demanded.  “Will taking it off hurt her?”

“She
no longer has the Fall.  The pendant has done its work and she is healed.” 
Kingu removed the necklace and placed it in his pocket.  “Thank you, Mara.”

“Thank
you,
Kingu.  You’re the one who gave the necklace to Zakkery.  If not
for you, I’d be dead right now.”  She extended a palm to him in the human
gesture of friendship.  It wasn’t something an Elemental would typically do,
but it seemed appropriate.  “I own you more than I can repay.”

Kingu
looked surprised for a beat, like no one had ever tried to shake his hand
before.  Then he slowly clasped her fingers.  “It becomes clear to me why the
Magnet Phase was so desperate to have you back.”  He glanced over at Job.  “You
really think this woman is an imposter?  I had thought you were brighter than
that, uncle.”

“I
want her to be Mara more than anyone here.”  Job insisted.  “I just want to be
sure
before I let her near Chason.  The boy is emotionally unstable on his best
days.  He hasn’t made a good choice in years and now he’s nearly died.  The
woman herself said that he doesn’t even believe she
is
Mara.”

Mara
had had enough.

“I’m
going to see Chason.”  This time, Mara didn’t phrase it as a question.  “I’ll
cooperate and be pleasant and submit to whatever tests you’d like, but I will see
Chason
first
.”

Job
blinked at her tone.  The old Mara never would’ve fought him like this.

Freya
shook her head.  “I don’t think that…”

“It
only matters what
I
think.”  Mara got to her feet, shoving her notebook
into the pocket of her hospital scrubs.  “I’m the Queen of the Magnetland and
no one will keep me from my Match.”

She
swept passed them without bothering to wait for a reply.

“Let
her go.”  Kingu advised when Job moved to follow her.  “You know who she is,
Job.  You are just in denial about it, because your kind refuses to accept that
weird shit happens sometimes.  Elementals are always searching for answers that
they will never understand even if they get them.  It’s the arrogance of your
species.”

Job
shot his nephew a put upon look.  As a primordial god and a new Fire Phase,
Kingu really wasn’t the most modest of men, so lectures on arrogance were more
than a little ironic.

“It’s
not arrogance!”  Freya yelped.  “Scientific explanations are always there if we
just…”

Mara
tuned out the argument.  She marched down the icy hallway and through the door
at the end.  She immediately spotted her Match lying unconscious on a bed in
front of her.  He looked so pale.  His torso was wrapped in bandages and he was
wearing nothing but a pair of green hospital pants.

She
had never seen him look so physically vulnerable.

“Chason.” 
She hurried over to the side of the mattress.  The machine next to him made
steady
beeping
sounds in time with his heart.  His Magnet powers interfered
with the reading and caused static-y feedback to appear on the little screen.

Mara
had a sudden understanding of what he must have gone through when she was dying
of the Fall.

Looking
at his still form, she’d never felt more helpless in her life.  Chason always
seemed so confident and sure.  Seeing him like this terrified her.  If anything
happened to Chason, her entire future would be gone.