Page 3 of Light and Shadow
He steps back, and his bright blue eyes are wide. “I’m real enough.”
“Leave me alone. I’m a normal girl with a normal life. I don’t do drugs, and I generally only drink on weekends. I can’t recall being in a situation where someone could have slipped me something, but clearly, that’s what must have happened. I’m going home and lying down until this passes.” I get in my car and start the engine.
Before I can pull away, Aaran gets in the passenger side. “I’m not a phantom or dream, Harper. You’re not mad.” For the first time, he sounds sympathetic rather than commanding.
“Sane people don’t see holes open in the wall, then have hot men step out of them. Maybe it’s been so long since I’ve had sexthat I conjured you for a quick thrill.” I shake my head and pull out of the parking lot. To get on Route 1, I drive down an access road behind the mall. Then I get on Quaker Bridge Road and take the ramp. Traffic is miserable in both directions, but I get off at the next exit, make the jug handle, and turn left to cross Route 1. Then I take back roads to my condo.
“Will you give me a chance to explain?” It would be easier to ignore him if his voice wasn’t like a meadow in springtime.
I’m turning into a poet, for the love of all. “What’s to explain? You stepped out of a wall, demanded I come to help you, and now you want me to go to Canada.”
I stop in my parking space, turn off the car, and get out.
Unsurprisingly, he follows with his sword in hand.
As I climb the stairs, I try to find the moment when my mind must have snapped. Did the DMVliterallydrive me over the edge? “I don’t suppose I can get you to just go away?”
“I’m sorry you’re upset. Maybe there were better ways to go about this, but the magic only works for so long. I came through and hoped you’d just go back with me. I suppose that was a naive notion. My mother told me this world has no knowledge of magic. I can’t leave you. We need your help.” He stands very close as I open the door.
Not bothering to lock him out, I drop my keys in the dish on the half table and toe off my shoes.
Stepping out of his boots, he watches me like people watch a cornered dog. “Your home is nice. This living off the ground and attached to others is odd, but I can see the ease of it. No fields to plow or gardens to tend.” He looks out the window at the lake.
It’s a nice area just outside Princeton. My neighbors are all lawyers and professionals. “My father died and left me a lot of money. Now my mother is quite ill. I’m not going anywhere.”
His eyes are warm with emotion when he turns. “I’m sorry, Harper.”
“I have a decent job doing logistics, and it’s close to home.” I have no idea why I’m telling him any of this. Maybe if I talk, he’ll either make sense or disappear.
I flop onto my soft gray sectional. “I took the afternoon off to get my license renewed. It expired two weeks ago. I could have sent all the information in and done it by mail, but I’m a procrastinator and let it lapse.”
“What’s the penalty if you’re caught driving without thislicense?” He rolls the word as if it’s a foreign language, and sits on the ottoman at the far end of the couch.
I shrug. “I’d probably get a ticket and have to pay a fine. Maybe, if I made eyes at a cute officer, I’d get off with a warning and a command to take care of it immediately.”
The way he smiles is too sexy. “I’m sure you’re lovely enough to avoid a fine.”
“Why me, what’s in Canada, how did you make that vortex, and what help do you need? Start with, why me?” If he’s not going to leave, I may as well play along with my delusion.
His eyes shine as if lit from the inside. “It’s a very long story, and you might not understand.” He shakes his head, and the tips of his ears peek out.
“If I’mnotcrazy, then you’re not human?” I get up and cross the large living space to an open kitchen. I grab half a bottle of wine from the fridge and pull the cork. “Do they drink wine where you’re from?”
“Indeed, on occasion.” There’s that smile again.
Damn him.
Taking two stemless glasses from the cabinet, I keep waiting for him to dissolve into thin air, but he’s still on my couch, and his sword is leaning against my front door frame when I return with the wine-filled glasses. “Either tell your long story or get out.”
The silence is thick with whatever decision he’s making. With a nod, he takes the glass. “Try to keep your mind open, Harper. This is going to sound stranger than what you already saw.”
Easing down, I sit carefully so that I don’t spill my wine. I drink half of it. “Give me the abridged version. I don’t have any more wine in the house.”
He sips and smiles at the white wine. He takes a long swallow and puts his glass on the coffee table. “I’m not human. You have that right. I’m elven. My world has been tied to yours since the beginning of time. Long ago, our peoples mingled, but that was a time nearly forgotten.”
Should I throw him out or keep listening? I keep a baseball bat in the coat closet near the door. I could force him to leave.
“While it’s never been one of my gifts, some elves can read the thoughts of others. Oddly, I know you’re considering bashing me over the head with a bat, whatever that is. It doesn’t sound as if I would like it.” He looks amused rather than angry.
