Page 30 of Her Magic Light

I nodded. That sounded amazing. Even as her words started to make sense, some of my anxiety lifted. It was as though I’d given up some of my personal responsibility for myself, just for this moment, just while my world righted itself.

The office door burst open, banging against the wall behind it so hard it should have left a dent in the drywall.

Coop sprang into the room, his glasses in his hand, his blue eyes unexpectedly wide. “What’s going on?” As he spoke, the alarms fell silent until the only ringing was in my ears, the residual sound the alarms left behind.

I glanced at Locke. He hadn’t moved from his position next to me. His legs were bent, and he fidgeted like he was awkward in his own skin. He ran his finger around the inside of his collar. Why did I make them all so nervous?

“Nearly had a security incident.” He avoided looking at me, though. “Prevented it by following procedure.” He cleared his throat but said nothing further as he studied the baseboard on the other side of the room.

Coop swept a glance over me then Lexi before placing his glasses in their usual position on his face and lounging against the doorframe. “I see.”

I couldn’t see where he was looking when he next spoke. He didn’t move his head at all, but he could have moved his eyes beneath the mirrored surface of his shades.

“She done with being checked in?”

“Uh…” Sylvia spoke from somewhere behind the desk. Fabric rustled, and I took a quick peek in her direction as she stood, leaning on the surface like she needed additional support. Her face was pale. “Uhh…” she said again.

“Yeah, she’s done.” Locke shook his head as he ground out his sentence. Still, he refused to look at me.

“Okay.” Coop didn’t move, but he was no longer speaking to Locke. “You can come with me.”

I tensed, and Lexi smoothed her hand over my upper arm.

“It’s okay.” Her voice was almost musical, and she seemed to never stop moving, running her hands over me to soothe me like I was her own personal worry stone.

“I’ve got this.” Coop straightened and stood at ease, but he didn’t say anything else.

I still couldn’t see where he was looking, but Isensedhis gaze like a warm prickle on my skin.

Lexi handed me the sunglasses she’d taken from Locke. “I believe you’re required to wear these.”

I sucked in a breath—more a strangled sob—but nodded. Yes, it appeared I was, and I couldn’t get out of it. So, I put them on and straightened my shoulders as I stepped out from Lexi’s embrace.

“You got this,” she whispered as she gave my shoulder a last squeeze.

That touch pressed strength into me, and I stood without any doubt. Iwouldbe okay. Coop nodded and walked out of the door, and I followed him without question. I was too tired for questions now.

I followed him down corridors that all looked the same. Perhaps they were designed to confuse—there was no way I’d find my way back to the waiting room or the office. Nothing was marked with signs. This whole place was like a giant hospital but nothing was labeled. Designed to confuse.

I stopped counting left turns when I began to suspect Coop was walking me in circles for his own amusement, but his footsteps never faltered, and his expression was never anything but grim, verging on grumpy.

He stopped in front of another metal wall and rested his hand about half way up. Yet another hidden door slid open, revealing an elevator. They loved all their secret passageway stuff.

“What? Are we going back to the car? Are you taking me home?” Perhaps this whole nightmare was finally over. Maybe the weird questions had revealed the mistaken identity. “I’m not the person you thought, right?”

Coop turned his head toward me, and this time his sigh sounded different. It sounded almost like pity. Or understanding. Empathy, maybe. Something I wasn’t used to from him, anyway. Something unexpected. So unexpected, tears gathered behind my eyes again, and I blinked them away, glad once more of the sunglasses everyone kept forcing me to wear.

I stumbled as I stepped into the elevator, and Coop caught me, his hand on my elbow to steady me, and as always, his touch calmed me. He withdrew it quickly as if I’d burned him, and curled his fingers into a fist by his side.

Part of me wanted to take that closed hand and make it hold mine, but I formed my own fist instead, ignoring the ridiculous urge to be closer to this man. He was one of my captors, and I didn’t need to be falling for a kidnapper.

The ride in the elevator was longer this time. “Where are we going?” It felt like I only had a finite number of sentences and questions today. I kept saying the same things.

I stared at Coop, watching his jaw twitch, expecting his answer to beclassifiedlike he’d said so many times in the car.

“Your room,” he said instead, and I froze.

“My what?”

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