Katie Chandler - Damsel under Stress Part 24

"It's a gargoyle, and it's talking," Marcia said.

"Yes, it is, just like the other gargoyles back there, and can we talk about it later?" I replied, patting her on the arm.

The train station was deserted except for a few security guards who didn't seem to see us. Rocky and Rollo's car was still sitting in front of the station. "I'll get Katie home," Owen said. "She should probably stay with me until she gets her immunity back."

The others piled into the car. I heard Marcia ask, "Hey, how are the gargoyles going to drive?" as Owen turned me away and summoned a cab. I was not looking forward to the conversation I knew would be in my future.

I fell asleep on Owen's shoulder between the station and his house. He nudged me awake, then helped me out of the cab. He walked me up the steps and then guided me up the indoor stairs to his part of the town house. Loony met both of us at the door, and this time she rubbed against my ankles instead of hissing at me.

"Looks like I'm fully me again," I commented as I listened to her purring at my feet. "I just wish I felt more like myself."

"I think both of us could use a stiff drink."

"Oh, very good idea."

"As you know, I'm not much of a drinker, but I do have a medicinal bottle around." He winked. "Even Gloria approves of that."

I wished I could smile at his joke, but I didn't feel like joking at the moment. I wasn't sure what freaked me out more, nearly being magically burned at the stake, Marcia being in the middle of it all, Owen letting the bad guys go to save me, Owen having nearly blown up Grand Central in an attempt to catch the bad guys, or Owen having actually yelled at me, which was possibly a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Whatever it was, I felt deeply unsettled, like my universe had gone out of whack and I didn't know how to set it right.

In contrast to my dark mood, Owen was in bubbly overdrive. He practically bounced as I followed him back to the kitchen and watched him rummage in cabinets. He pulled a bottle out of the back of one cabinet. "I doubt you'd want to drink this straight, but I'm sure we could put it in something. Hot or cold?"

I blinked out of a stupor. "Huh?"

"Do you want a hot drink or a cold drink?"

You'd think that after almost being burned I wouldn't want anything hot for a while, but I realized I was s.h.i.+vering like I'd never be warm again. "Hot, please."

"Okay, then how about that hot toddy like I made when you fell through the ice?"

"Sounds good." While he made drinks, I sat wearily at the kitchen table. Loony jumped up into my lap and I stroked her fur automatically, letting her purring hypnotize me. I barely noticed when Owen put a drink in front of me. Loony put a paw on my hand and meowed to get my attention, and I blinked back to reality to see the drink.

Owen sat across from me and took a few sips of his own drink before saying, "The boss said we don't have to go to the office tomorrow. I think he wants to make sure your immunity returns, and we could all use some rest."

"So I guess you have to put up with me one more day."

"I wouldn't say I'm having to put up with you. I don't mind at all." He looked down into his drink and turned a rosy shade of pink. "I actually like having you around. You're good company."

"I take that to mean you're not mad at me anymore."

"I wasn't really mad. Just disappointed. I wish you'd trusted me enough to tell me what was going on. I thought I'd shown you before, the first time you lost your immunity, that I can deal with a lot."

"And you're going to have to get used to the fact that I'm stubbornly independent. If I think I can deal with it myself, I will. I don't like always having to run to others for help." I allowed myself a smile. "But I will admit that when it comes to magical things I don't know much about, I should probably try to get over that. And don't I get credit for going to you the moment I realized I was doing magic, even though I thought you were angry with me at the time?"

"We'll call it even," he said with a smile that lit up his eyes and warmed my heart. We were going to be okay, I was sure, in spite of a few little misgivings in the back of my mind that refused to give up.

"That's good, because it's entirely possible you'll be stuck with me for a while. When my 'business trip' ends we'll see if my roommates let me back in."

"I don't think you'll have any problems. Marcia should understand."

"If she doesn't hate me for getting her mixed up in all this." I hesitated, then added, "I am going to tell my roommates the truth, all of it. Will you back me up?"

He nodded. "Yes, especially after what happened tonight. They need to know, for their own safety as well as their acceptance of you."

"Okay, then. Tomorrow evening when they're home from work. You can take me home, and then we'll tell them the whole story." I drained my cup, then said, "But for now, I'm going to take a shower, then sleep until I can't sleep anymore."

I trudged up the stairs, took a long, hot shower, then put on my pajamas. Loony was waiting for me on the bed, and I was grateful for her presence. I didn't want to be alone, but I wasn't sure I wanted to be with Owen. It was dawning on me that I really must have meant something to him. He hadn't thought twice about letting his enemies escape because his sole priority had been saving me. It's the kind of thing it's fun to dream about when you put yourself in the place of a heroine in a book or movie, but in reality, it was unsettling.

While it was nice to know that Owen would do anything to keep me safe, I wasn't crazy about the feeling that I was in his way. He had to beat Idris and whoever was running this show. There was no doubt about it. I'd read enough magical history lately to know that when someone tried to use magic to gain real earthly power, things got really bad. They had to be stopped, and could Owen do that if his first concern was for me? In this case, being cherished that much was nicer in theory than reality. If anyone was harmed by their activities from now on, I wouldn't be able to help but feel responsible.

As tired as I was, it took me a good hour to fall into a deep sleep. I was sure I had nightmares, but they were too vague to recall when I woke. When I finally dragged myself out of bed, I felt weary. I sat on the side of the bed for a while before I could summon the energy to get up and get dressed. I found Owen lying sprawled on the sofa, a book in his hand and Loony draped across his chest.

"What time is it?" I asked.

He looked up from his book. "A little after two. I haven't been up long, myself, and I'd have probably slept longer, but a certain cat couldn't stand me being in bed one minute more." He put aside his book, then s.h.i.+fted Loony from his chest to his lap as he sat up. "Are you hungry for breakfast or lunch?"

My impulse was to say I wasn't hungry at all, but then my stomach growled. "Breakfast food would be good right now."

"Breakfast food I can do. That's my specialty." He moved Loony from his lap to the sofa, then stood up. "I've already made coffee if you want some."

I wasn't sure coffee would clear my head, but I was willing to give it a shot, so I went back to the kitchen with him. He poured the coffee for me and doctored it up with milk and sugar the way I liked it. "Are you okay?" he asked as he handed me the mug. "You don't look so good."

"Gee, thanks a lot," I muttered, then when he flushed bright red I hurried to add, "I'm sorry. I know what you meant. And I'm not feeling great."

"You've been through a lot."

I sat at the kitchen table. "Yeah, that week in a hammock or on the front porch is sounding better and better. But we have work to do, what with the bad guys on the loose and all."

He expertly cracked eggs, then beat them with more vigor than was probably necessary. "I'll take care of that. Idris and I are due for a good showdown one of these days."

"Is that something you've seen or just something you'd like to happen?"

"A little of both."

It was a showdown that I couldn't help but think would go more smoothly without me in the picture.

That evening I repacked my bag, and then Owen walked me over to my apartment. It was still a little early to expect Gemma and Marcia to be home, which was fine with me. I thought things might go better if I were already there instead of walking in on them. I was relieved and a bit surprised not to find my belongings sitting in the hallway. My keys still fit in the locks, and when I opened the front door the place looked pretty much the same way it always had.

"They haven't kicked you out," Owen said.

"Not yet."

"They won't."

"You've seen that, too, I suppose?"

"No. But you and your friends have been through a lot together. I don't think they'll give up on you so easily. Look at Rod and me. We're still speaking after all these years and some worse stuff than you know about."

"Really?"

"Remind me to tell you sometime."

Marcia was the first one home. She looked startled when she saw us there, and then she hugged me. "Are you okay?"

"I've felt better. I'm tired. I've been through a lot, but I'll be fine. How are you holding up?"

"I'm confused, but I presume you're here to explain?" She frowned. "It did really happen, didn't it? That wasn't all just a dream?"

"It was real." I paused, then asked, "Do you know if Gemma will be home anytime soon?"

"She didn't say anything about being out late. Why?"

"We need to tell her, too, and I only want to go through it once, so let's wait for Gemma, okay?"

All three of us jumped when the key turned in the lock and Gemma entered, with Philip right behind her. He was still pale, but looked like he was recovering from the night before. I was glad to see him. He'd be good for backing up my story as a neutral third party. "You're back," Gemma said. She sounded chilly, so Marcia must not have told her the full story yet.

"Get yourself a gla.s.s of wine," Marcia said. "Katie has something to talk to us about."

She went to the kitchen and got some wine, offered some to Philip, who declined, then joined Marcia at the table. Philip sat next to her. "Okay, what is it?" she asked.

Twenty-Two.

I glanced at Owen, then faced my roommates and took a deep breath. "I have something to tell you. It's going to sound crazy at first, but it's absolutely true, and by the time I'm done, it'll explain a lot."

"Including New Year's Eve?" Gemma asked.

"Including New Year's Eve, but it goes back further than that." I had to pause then and think. As many times as I'd imagined how I'd tell my friends about everything going on with me, I hadn't ever come to a conclusion of the best way to go about it. Should I tell it like a story as it happened to me, or just launch into the part about magic being real?

I decided to fall somewhere in the middle. "The company I work for is a little unusual," I began. "It's not quite as boring as I let on. In fact, it's really rather interesting, but most of what goes on there is top secret." Philip's eyes went wide, and I could tell he'd figured out what I was going to tell them. He frowned, but Owen gave him a rea.s.suring nod. "The product this company sells is magic, more or less."

"Like magic tricks?" Gemma asked."No. Real magic. Spells and stuff like that. For people with real magic powers."Gemma laughed. "Good one, Katie. But there's no such thing.""Uh, yes, there is," Marcia said.Gemma whirled on her. "You know about this?""It has something to do with where I've been, but let them tell the story. I only know parts of it."A vase of flowers appeared in the middle of the table, and Gemma jumped back. "Magic does exist,"

Owen said softly before making the vase disappear. He waved his hand, whispering some words, and Marcia's red wine turned to white, complete with beads of condensation dripping down the outside of the cool gla.s.s. Another wave, and the wine returned to red.

Gemma shook her head. "Nice tricks, but..." She shook her head again, unable to even form a question.

"It is real," Philip put in. "I can vouch for their truth."

She turned to him, openmouthed. "What, you're mixed up in this, too?"

"I am like he is." He gestured toward Owen. "However, at an entirely different level. I don't have his degree of power."

"How do you fit into that?" Marcia asked me.

"I'm immune to magic. Well, I normally am, but I'm not at the moment and that's a very long story. Remember back when we first met Rod and he was recruiting me? It was because they'd discovered I have this magic immunity, where nothing they do works on me. I don't see the illusions they use to hide magic from everyone else. That's a useful ability in their company."

They looked dazed. I couldn't be sure that they bought it or even understood it fully, but I forced myself to go on. "Meanwhile there's a bad guy using magic the wrong way, and our company is trying to stop him. Owen's in the thick of it. I got mixed up in it, and that's brought me to the attention of the bad guys. A lot of the strange stuff that's been going on with me in the past few months has been because of that."

"Including New Year's Eve?" Gemma asked.

"Especially New Year's Eve," I confirmed. "It's a really complicated explanation, but the simple version is that I was possessed by one of the bad guys, and all the stuff I said and did was really her. I just got rid of her last night."

"But I thought you were immune to magic."

Owen stepped forward. "We had to remove her immunity temporarily to check on something. They took advantage of the vulnerability."

"And all that stuff last night?" Marcia asked.

"I'm afraid that was because of me," Philip said. "One of their enemies is my enemy, as well, a descendant of the man who enchanted me to take over my family's business." I noticed that he left out the nature of the enchantment, but that was his secret to tell Gemma when he was ready for that level of sharing. "If I regained the business, they lost funding for their schemes. They seem to have known I had feelings for one of Katie's roommates, but when they took one of you hostage, they got the wrong one."

"We've spent the last couple of days trying to find a way to get Marcia back and get rid of our enemies," I wrapped up the story as simply as I could.

"You beat the bad guys, I take it?"

Owen and I looked at each other. "Not exactly," I said. "We haven't yet had the ultimate showdown, but we've managed to head off each of their evil schemes before it gets out of control. They're still out there, and that's why I wanted to tell you guys the truth. It may get even hairier in the future, and you need to know what's going on."

"Why haven't you told us before now?" Gemma asked.

"We're not supposed to let outsiders know," Owen said. "We could only tell you now because of what Marcia saw last night. If knowledge of the existence of magic and the fact that there are people with fantastic powers walking among you got out among the general public, the result would be chaos. The rule is to protect you as much as it is to protect us. If we're forbidden from showing our power, that makes it harder for us to use it against you. The problem with our current enemies is that they're not abiding by the rules. We're worried they might try to use their magic to gain real power."

Gemma nodded, glanced at Marcia, then said, "Okay, we're in. What do you need us to do?"

I'd been expecting to have to go into hours of explanation, lots of demonstrations, and even then face skepticism. This was almost too easy. "You mean, you believe me, really? You're not just humoring me to keep me calm while you go off and call the funny farm to reserve me a room?"

"I was there," Marcia said with a shrug. "It makes more sense than most of the stories you've told to cover it up."

"What do we need to do to help fight this bad guy?" Gemma asked. "Or is there something we need to do to protect ourselves? Hang garlic from the doorways? Wear crosses?"

Owen had to fight to keep a straight face. While he got himself under control, I said, "This isn't Buffy, and we're not dealing with vampires." I turned to Owen. "There aren't vampires, are there?"

"Not in this country, and they're not like in the movies."

"Okay, no vampires to worry about at the moment, so stakes, crosses, and garlic won't do you much good."

"Your apartment is warded against magical attack," Owen said. "No one can get in here using magical means or use magic to get anything else in here."

Philip nodded. "I thought I'd sensed a barrier here."

"Mostly, I just need you to keep alert," I said, "and give me the benefit of the doubt when things get weird. I seem to have made myself a favorite target of the bad guy. If anyone approaches you and claims to be my friend, a.s.sume they aren't unless you've met them with me, and even then, it's entirely possible that there are illusions at work."

"We'll need pa.s.swords," Marcia said. "Or questions to make sure everyone's who they say they are, something about you that n.o.body else would know. So if someone claiming to be you doesn't know your childhood pet's name, we'll know it isn't really you."

"That's actually a good idea," Owen said, nodding. "Other than that, though, it's best that you stay out of this as much as possible. You're especially vulnerable since you are susceptible to magic being used on you, yet you don't have any power of your own."