I was sitting on my couch, freshly showered and in blissfully clean clothes, when there was banging on the front door, and I heard an aged voice hollering, "Livvy?"
Betty.
"In here!" I called out, too tired to even think of getting up to answer the door.
"Liv?" Betty came into the living room and looked at me, her hand over her heart. "I swear to god, if I survive this, I'm going to kill you. I am too old for this, Livvy."
She made her way over to the couch and sat next to me, pulled me into a hug, then pinched my cheek, kinda hard.
"Ow!"
"That's what you get for scaring the hell out of me." She leaned back on the couch, hand over her heart. "I need a drink."
"What happened?"
She turned her eyes to me. "Ginny Boyle told us that you were there when Peach got attacked, and then I called and called and called and all I got was voice mail."
"Oh, yeah, sorry," I said. "I turned my phone into a bat."
"So, I came here last night to check on you, and you weren't here." She picked up my cell phone, which was still charging on the coffee table where I'd left it two nights ago. "I left you a thousand messages. Where were you?" Before I could answer, she said, "Oh, god, Stacy!" She flipped open her phone, hit a number for speed-dial and then said, "Stacy, I've got her. Yes, she's ... fine." She eyed me warily as she said it; I guessed I didn't look quite fine. "Okay, come by in the morning, and you can yell at her then." She tucked her phone in her pocket and sat next to me, grabbing my hands in hers. "Honey, you look awful. Do I smell bacon?"
"Oh. Yeah. Um..." I hesitated for a minute, wondering how to explain why Cain was in my kitchen cooking for me, but I was too tired to explain, so I just said, "Cain's making eggs."
Betty froze and her voice went low. "Cain?"
"He's okay," I said. "Davina tried to steal my magic last night. He saved my life."
Betty opened her mouth, then closed it, then looked at me, her face all confusion, but I had to give her credit - she didn't argue, and she didn't say I told you so. "And now he's making you eggs?"
"Everything's in the wash," Tobias said, stepping into the living room. "I set it to cold, like you said. Hey, Betty."
He sat down in the floral love seat across from the couch, and Betty raised a brow at me.
"One man cooking for you, another doing your laundry." Betty smiled at me. "How do I get your job?"
I managed a half-smile, and Tobias cleared his throat stiffly. Betty looked from me to him, then back to me. Her expression softened as she picked up on the not-too-subtle tension between me and Tobias; her response was to squeeze my hand gently.
"Now eat this slowly," Cain said, coming around the corner into the living room, a plate in his hand. "Little bites. If you hurl, I'm not cleaning it up."
Cain paused for a moment when he saw Betty, then walked over to stand across the coffee table from me. Betty stiffened, making it clear she was not happy about Cain's presence in my house. Cain, either not noticing or not caring, handed me the plate and a fork and repeated himself, as though I was a third-grader. "Little bites."
"Betty ... this is Cain." I said, motioning toward Cain with my fork. "He's a conjurer, a..." I hesitated, choosing my words carefully, "... friend of Holly's. Cain, this is Betty. She's my boss. Also, she makes magical pastries."
Cain gave a brief nod, and Betty shifted closer to me on the couch. I poked at the food on my plate and my stomach protested, so I turned to Betty.
"How's Peach doing?"
"They let her go from the hospital this morning," she said. "She had a minor concussion, but other than a few bruises, she's okay. Nick's with her next door. Neither one of them can remember what happened." Betty looked at me pointedly. "I'm assuming you know."
I sighed and put the fork down. "Millie. Walnuts. Only it wasn't just Millie. She was surfing Davina's power."
"She'll tell you about it later," Cain said, picking up the fork and putting it back in my hand. "Right now, she needs to eat, and then she needs to rest."
Betty shot an annoyed look at Cain, and turned her attention back to me. "So, I take it Tobias knows ... everything?"
I nodded. "He's Magical security. Holly sent him to watch over me, a year and a half ago."
Betty straightened in surprise and looked at Tobias. "ASF or RIAS?"
"ASF," he said.
"What's that?" I said.
"Allied Strategical Forces," Tobias said. "Name of the firm."
"Better than RIAS," Betty said. "You can't trust those bastards. They get ahold of you, no one will ever hear from you again."
"RIAS?" I asked. "What's RIAS?"
Tobias looked at me. "Regional Initiative Action Services."
"Oh." I thought for a beat. "So, Magicals are as fond of bullshit acronyms as everyone else, then?"
Betty looked at me. "We're Magical, but we're still human."
"But Tobias is with the good group, the ... whatsit?"
"ASF," Tobias said.
Betty let out a huff of disgust. "To say they're good is a bit of an overstatement. They're better than RIAS, but that's a pretty low bar." She looked at Tobias. "No offense."
"Trust me, none taken." Tobias stood up and looked at Cain. "I'm gonna take watch out front."
Cain nodded, and Tobias left without looking at me or Betty. I watched him go until the front door shut behind him, and it took a moment before I realized someone was saying my name.
"Olivia."
I pulled myself out of my distraction and looked up at Cain, who motioned toward my plate. "Eat."
"Right." I took a few bites, chewing slowly and swallowing carefully, until the thought of taking another bite made my stomach turn in protest. I handed the plate back to Cain; it looked as though I'd barely touched it.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I can't..."
"It's okay." He took the plate back, and Betty said, "So, Cain, you were friends with Liv's sister?"
There was ice in her voice when she said his name, but I was too tired to defend him, not that he needed me to; I got the sense that if Cain was comfortable with anything, it was hostility.
"Yeah," he said simply.
"So..." Betty put effort into covering her distrust with sympathy. "Can you tell us what happened there? And what it all has to do with Liv?"
After a moment of assessment, Cain finally sat in the chair across from us and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees.
"Davina's got one MO; come to town, pretend to be a friend, take what she wants, and step over the bodies on her way out."
Betty reached out and took my hand, but kept her eyes on Cain. "Well, you stopped her. She didn't kill Liv."
Cain shook his head. "Davina's no quitter. She's gonna keep coming at Liv until she gets what she wants."
"So ... what are we gonna do?" I asked, my voice sounding feeble even to my own ears.
Cain looked at me and said, "Right now? You're gonna sleep and heal up. I got a plan, but I need you strong to make it work."
"What's the plan?" Betty asked.
Cain picked up my picked-over plate of eggs, and stood up. "We'll talk about it tomorrow." And then he walked back into the kitchen.
As soon as he was gone, Betty spoke, her voice low and panicked. "Liv? What the hell is going on? Wasn't he trying to kill you twenty minutes ago?"
"No," I said. "That was Davina. It was always Davina. Cain was trying to stop her, not hurt me. And then, after the attack with Peach, I just wanted the magic gone, so I called Davina and..." I let out a bitter laugh. "God, I was so stupid. I offered her my magic. It was exactly what she wanted. She set that whole Millie attack up just to get me desperate enough to turn to her, and I fell for it."
My entire body started shaking then, little racking spasms of fear I was too weakened to control. Betty rubbed my back and said, "Everything is going to be okay. But Cain's right. You need to rest. Get a little sleep, and you'll be able to deal with everything else."
I nodded, although I wasn't sure I believed her.
Betty got up off the couch and looked down at me. "I'm going to go upstairs and prepare the guest rooms. I'm staying, and I assume" - she nodded in the direction of the kitchen - "he's staying, too?"
"He's the man with the plan, and that's more than I've got so ... yeah," I said.
"And Tobias...?" she said softly.
I shrugged. "I don't know. But there are four guest rooms upstairs, and there's clean bedding in the closet at the end of the hall, next to the bathroom. Thank you."
Betty nodded and headed upstairs. I had a few moments of silence, and then the front door opened, and Tobias walked in.
"All quiet on the western front?"
He nodded, but didn't say anything.
"You look like hell," I said, not really meaning to be so blunt about it, but unable to edit myself.
He rubbed at his face, and I could hear the scratch of the scruff under his hand. "That sounds about right. I haven't slept in two days."
"Up the stairs, second door on the right. Room's yours, if you want to stay here tonight."
He eyed me for a second, then said, "The couch is fine."
"God, I'm not making a pass," I said, feeling a stab of annoyance. "You made yourself clear on that. I'm just saying, this house is lousy with guest bedrooms, and I'm offering you one."
"I know," he said. "It's just that someone should be down here on the couch, keeping an eye out."
"I'm staying on the couch," a voice said from behind me. I turned and saw Cain standing in the entryway between the hall and the living room. He, however, wasn't looking at me; he was looking at Tobias.
"She needs sleep," he said. "You want to help her to her room, or should I?"
"Oh, please," I said, pushing myself up off the couch. "I'm not an invalid, I don't need - whoa."
I put my hand to my head as the world got wobbly, and Tobias was there in a moment, one arm around my waist. I didn't have enough pride left to fuel an argument, so I let him lead me upstairs, and I almost wept with gratitude when we got to my room and I saw my bed.
"I love this bed," I said as I plopped face-first into my bedding. I turned my head to the side, indulging in the soft girliness of the down under my face. "I shouldn't have mocked that guy who married his pillow. I'm having serious romantic feelings for this duvet."
Tobias chuckled as he pulled back the covers and maneuvered me into them.
"Sleep well," he said, and he might have said more, but I was passed out before I could hear anything else.
It was a little after dawn when my eyes fluttered open. The light in my room was dim, but I could see the shape of Tobias, slumped on the floor with his back against the door, his head hanging down as he slept. I could hear his breath, just the slightest hint of a snore, and I sat up to watch him.
His hands were clasped lightly over his stomach, which rose and fell with his breath. His lips turned up slightly at the corners, and I realized that despite all the incredible tragedy he'd experienced in his life, a smile was his default expression. I felt a sudden overwhelming swell of love for him, and then was distracted as my hands began to tingle.
Not now, I thought, and shook them out, then closed my eyes and calmed my heart. When I opened them again, Tobias's head was up, and he was watching me.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said. "You slept by my door all night?"
He cleared his throat and shifted up so he wasn't quite so slumped, then said, "Yeah."
I smiled. "Did I mention I have four guest bedrooms in this place?"
He tapped one knuckle gently against the door. "You underestimate how comfortable this door is."
I scooched to one side of the bed, making space for him. "Come up here. If you're not going to leave my side, at least don't be an idiot. You can't protect me if you've got a spasm in your back."
I patted the empty space next to me. He hesitated for a moment, then pushed himself up and lay down on top of the covers, leaning back into the pillows and letting out a slow sigh.
"You're right," he said, a small smile forming on his face. "This is a great bed."
I lay down next to him, suddenly wide awake, and stared at the ceiling. I listened for his breathing to deepen and morph into the light snore I'd heard before, but after a few minutes went by and that didn't happen, I turned my head to look at him, and found him watching me.
"I don't care what Edward did in the Twilight books, watching a girl sleep is just creepy."
He smiled. "You weren't sleeping."
"Don't think you're going to breeze by on a technicality, Shoop. You go all Cullen on me, I'm staking you through the heart."
He laughed. "Good."
I was quiet for a while, and then I said, "I'm sorry about all this. I know it sucks."
"It's okay," he said.
"It's not." I turned in bed to face him, pushing up on one elbow. "I hate this. I hate having to deal with the magic at all, but to have some crazy woman want to kill me? That's too much. And now you're pulled into it, and Cain - I don't care if he's good, he still creeps me out." I let out a heavy sigh. "And then there's Millie."
"What about Millie?"
"Davina did something to her," I said. "She created this monster where Millie used to be. Millie was sweet and quiet and thoughtful and smart, and now she's just ... evil. It's like Davina ate her soul or something. Can she do that?"
Tobias opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it.
I couldn't have that. "Go ahead. Say it."
He met my eye. "Davina gave her a makeover, and she loaned her some power. Everything else that Millie's doing ... I don't know. I think it's just ... Millie."
"What? What the hell are you talking about? Have you met Millie? She would never hurt anyone."
"Except, she did," he said. "She seduced Nick. She attacked Peach, physically. Twice. Magic walnuts or a baseball bat, the choice to attack is what matters. Millie's been repressed and angry for a long time. She was a stick of dynamite just waiting to be lit."
I shook my head. "You barely even know her. I know her."
He yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, but that's the thing. You never really know anyone. You see what they want to show you, and if you're lucky, they show you most of the truth. My point is, there's only so much of this that you can blame on Davina. Millie made a lot of her own choices here."
"You're not making me feel better."
"I'm not trying to make you feel better," he said. "I'm trying to tell you the truth."
I flopped back into my pillow. "Yeah, your truth. And it's a stupid truth. It stinks."
He closed his eyes. "Fair enough."
"Little flies are zooming around it, it stinks so bad."
He opened one eye and looked at me. "You done yet?"
"Somewhere out there, there's a dead fish thinking, 'Well, at least I don't stink as bad as Tobias's truth.'"
He closed his eye again. "I'll take that as a no."
"Jack Nicholson called. He said even he can't handle the stink."
He laughed. "I must be really tired, because that one struck me as funny."
"It's not that you're tired. It's that I'm funny. I'm a woman of many talents."
"Yeah. You are."
I looked at him then, and our eyes locked for a while. Then he held out his arm, and I curled up into him, resting my head on his chest and letting the reassuring ta-dum of his heartbeat lull me back to sleep.