A Disease of Magic

Unless I came up with an extremely good excuse, there was no way I could put off this date with Alex more than I already had. Even though my body ached from all the physical fitness tests yesterday, I’d promised to meet with him to explain everything.

Well. Not everything everything.

But with Alex significantly high in the Organization’s crew, and technically still my boyfriend, I had to make sure he believed me. Because if he doubted me, it could spread quickly. And then it would ruin the entire point of me working with Farley Tech.

So, despite the early morning hour and the whole-body stiffness, I rolled out of bed and got myself ready to meet Alex for breakfast. I put on one of my new gold ear cuffs, a welcome-to-the-company-gift from Andrew Farley that all employees received, and voiced a message to Alex, confirming that I was still coming. Leo had looked at the cuffs to make sure they hadn’t been tampered with, and he’d assured me that they weren’t programmed to listen in and spy on me. I didn’t completely trust that assessment, so hadn’t worn them up until now.

It had been over a week, close to fifteen days, since I had last seen Alex. We had continued messaging each other, but it was different seeing him in person when he walked into my favorite coffee shop five minutes late.

I rose, a conflicted feeling curling in my chest, and walked forward to wrap him in a hug. After half a moment’s hesitation, he hugged me back, squeezing once.

He pulled back first and searched my face, still holding onto my arms.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly in a low voice that wouldn’t carry.

“Yes,” I answered honestly. I gave his forearms a squeeze. “Let’s get coffee and I’ll tell you everything.”

We stood in line silently, but Alex was a calm, steady presence that I didn’t know I needed. I reached out between us to take his hand, and this time he didn’t hesitate in reacting, lacing his fingers with mine.

After ordering and taking our coffees to a semi-secluded corner, I took a breath and didn’t wait to begin explaining.

“I’m really sorry I vanished on you. And Hubert Industries.” I looked down, playing with the bottom hem of my raincoat I’d had to wear this morning. “There was a problem. Turned out to not be as severe as they worried, but they took me in to keep me under observation for a while.”

“What happened?” The worry in his eyes seemed genuine, and it only made me feel bad for the lie that was about to come out of my mouth.

“There was an issue with my bio-screen. I don’t know if it had something to do with all the gamma, Leo’s meddling, or what, but they were worried it would short-circuit and electrocute me or something. I don’t know. I didn’t really care to find out. It was mostly a false alarm, but they said they want to keep an eye on it regularly.”

“Is that why you resigned?”

I nodded. “Yeah. They offered me a job. Which, no offense, pays more anyways, but also means that they can keep a close watch on my bio-screen so I don’t have to make special trips or anything. Plus they know I’m friends—” I tried not to choke on the word “—with Leo, so they’ve all been treating me well.”

“So, that’s it? They offer you more money, and you jump ship?”

I recoiled, pulling away from Alex’s warmth on the two-seater.

“It’s not that simple,” I hissed. I wanted to cross my arms as a means of defense, but forced my shoulders to stay back, my posture open. “The way they swooped in made me worry that I could actually get hurt if they weren’t checking on my screen. And…” I sighed, lowering my voice. “I didn’t want them to look too hard and find out that my screen is recording gamma, too. I wasn’t sure what they know, what we were okay with them knowing. There wasn’t much time to make a decision, so I went with my gut.”

Alex placed an arm around my shoulders and pulled me back into his side. I fit comfortably there, and relaxed a bit at the physical reassurance that he didn’t hate me.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I get it, I do. But I can’t help but feel that they stole you from us. I don’t like it.”

“I’m not leaving the group,” I promised, then frowned. “Unless they decide to kick me out.”

“I don’t think they will. You were backed into a corner.”

I don’t answer, instead choosing the stare out the window at the overcast sky, the beginnings of another drizzle slowly appearing on the sidewalk. A gust of wind grabbed a stray paper wrapper of some sort, sending it tumbling down the street where the cars quietly zipped past.

It didn’t feel like my city anymore. And maybe that was because so much had happened, so much had changed, in the last month.

“There’s more to it than that,” I belatedly tacked on. “I may have bargained that to work for them, they had to help me develop my app.”

Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Did it work?”

“Yeah. They’re working on it. I’ll be a part of the process.”

He nodded slowly. “That made a huge difference to you, didn’t it?”

“It was never about the money. Though that’s been nice, too. I was able to move out of Leo’s apartment.”

“Really?” His tone was a bit suggestive, and I felt a flush crawl up my neck and into my cheeks.

“Another benefit I bargained for. I didn’t want to live with him anymore, but Leo knows a lot about the bio-screens. Obviously.” I waved a hand in the air dismissively. We both benefitted from the mods Leo had made; my screen, and Alex’s eye lenses. “So I’m now his neighbor, instead of his roommate. Just in case it acts up, or something happens. He’s close enough to help, but no so close as to drive me crazy anymore.”

Alex let out a low whistle. “Had to be expensive.”

I shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe. Though they’re probably garnishing my wages for it. Not that I mind. Leo was getting to be a bit insufferable about some things. I was already considering moving out anyways. I’d only moved in because both of our LaShoul’s was getting worse. Seemed wise to stick together, you know? But now we don’t need to.”

“Well, you’ll have to give me the grand tour some time,” Alex said.

I glanced at him, then quickly looked away. Before I could overthink it, I said, “I’m free right now if you are.”

When the door shut behind us, Lucie came careening out of the kitchen and disappeared into the office. It was really just my own personal library, but it’s where all my books would end up, and I was happier thinking of it as a library versus an office.

“Crap,” I muttered, remembering the dinner plate I’d stuck in the sink last night without rinsing it off. Lucie was obsessed with cheese, and there had been some melted to my plate. I’d bet anything she had been licking the plate in the sink. But really, it wasn’t the worst offense she had ever committed, and I was grateful that she was adjusting better to this new apartment than she had moving into Leo’s.

“Wow.” Alex toed off his shoes, kicking them onto the mat, and looked around.

“I know. It’s a very similar set-up to Leo’s, except there’s no guest suite like where I was staying, but the design is completely different. I don’t know who lived here last, but they did a fantastic job.”

“I’ll say. Leo’s place feels…sterile. This is homey.”

Alex helped himself, walking over to the sectional and flopping down on it.

“Did the furniture come with it?”

“Yeah, fully furnished. Do you want anything to snack on? Water?”

“No, thanks.”

I helped myself to a protein bar, grabbing a second for Alex in case he changed his mind. When I walked over to sit next to him, he reached out and grabbed me, pulling me down awkwardly on top of him.

“Woah,” I muttered, unsure what was happening. Alex straightened himself a bit and pulled my back against his chest. His hands found my shoulders and began massaging. I melted back into him, shifting slightly in his lap.

“Oh, my god,” I all but moaned. Embarrassing. But it felt too good that I didn’t care.

Alex chuckled low in my ear, a puff of breath sending a shiver down my spine.

“I figured you’ve probably been stressed out,” he offered in way of explanation. “At least, I would be if I was told a device permanently attached to my arm could explode, then have to quit one job, start another, and move, all within, what, about a week and a half?”

“That about sums it up.”

“But it just so happens that with my extra strength, I can easily work these knots out.” He did just that, his hands moving higher up to my neck, carefully but forcefully rubbing the tightness out.

“Ugh, I love you for doing that,” I said without thinking. Alex laughed before I registered what came out of my mouth.

I rushed to explain, “Oh, shit, not like that!”

“Don’t worry. I didn’t take it that way. I’ve been told my hands are magic.”

I felt the flush creep up my neck as my brain immediately went inappropriate with his statement. To counter, I said, “I mean, they kind of are. Literally.”

Alex paused in his ministrations. “You know, they are literally magic. Huh.”

“Speaking of which.” I extracted myself from his hold, wanting to focus without the distraction. “Now that we’re not in public, I wanted to ask you a few things.”

Alex leaned back, spreading one arm out along the back of the couch. The other wrapped around my back, his hand resting on my hip to loosely hold me on his lap.

“Have you ever heard of anyone’s ability…evolving?”

His eyebrows came together. “Evolving?” he repeated. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Did I even know what I meant? Truly? “Leo seems to think that there’s more to my ability than just teleporting things, based on his observations and whatever. So I was wondering if you’d ever heard of someone’s ability…growing? That might be a better word. Like, they practice, and it gets better? Levels up?”

“Ah, gotcha. Um…maybe?” Alex pursed his lips in thought. He began idly tracing shapes with his fingertips, and I held back a shiver. “I mean, I know that I’ve grown my ability. I’m definitely better than I was when I first started. But I think you mean more along the lines of changing? Versus strengthening?”

“Yeah. To be honest, I’m not sure that I’m convinced. Leo said that I don’t atomize an object when I teleport it, but that I bend the space it occupies instead. And that…” I took a deep breath. “This sounds crazy. But he thinks that I’ll be able to create portals.”

A pause. Then, “Portals.”

It was a question; he’d heard me clearly.

“That’s crazy, right?” I asked, hoping he’d agree with me.

Another pause. “It’s an interesting theory. I could see, logically, how it’s possible. I can’t say that I know if it will work or not.”

Lucie darted out of the office and into living room where we sat, screeching to a stop when she spotted Alex. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard him talking in here, so why she was acting surprised at his presence was beyond me. She poofed herself up as she slowly took two steps back. After a brief pause where she swished her tail side to side, she turned and scrambled away. Her paws were moving too fast to get any traction, but she eventually escaped back down the hallway.

I sighed and shook my head.

“Your cat is…” Alex trailed off. I looked back at him and rolled my eyes as he tried to contain his smile. He let it out then, his body shaking as he laughed.

“She’s something,” I answered fondly.

“Have you ever tried this portal thing?”

I tensed. I hadn’t. I’d been too terrified to try without supervision.

“No,” I answered. I didn’t offer an explanation.

“You could try now,” Alex suggested. “If things go sideways, I can get Leo over here or Dr. Goodwin, or someone.”

Blood tickled the tip of my tongue, and only then did I realize I had bitten it. I swallowed the metallic taste and shook my head.

“I…” On one hand, I didn’t want to be irresponsible and cause any harm. But on the other, larger hand, I was terrified of burning myself out if I tried. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Leo’s dad was saying that I need to be physically healthy too, so that my body can handle the added stress of my ability better.”

“And you believe him?” Alex interrupted before I could finish.

I shrugged, finally slipping off Alex’s lap and into the space next to him. The accusing tone of his question didn’t sit right with me.

“No, not completely. But, at the same time, it logically makes sense. And if I’m going to try something new like that, I’d rather be as prepared as possible.”

Alex nodded slowly.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Alex sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Of course.”

“Did I fuck up my chances as higher clearance levels by resigning?” It was a genuine worry, though maybe not for the reasons Alex would assume. In part, I still wanted information to be shared with people. And the other part had to do with the legally binding contract I had.

“Well, it didn’t help anything,” Alex admitted. “But I don’t know that I’d go so far as to say you ruined anything, either. Maybe you’ll just stay where you are for a little longer. It’s harder to show how valuable you are if you aren’t around, you know?”

The breath I was holding came out in a rush. “Yeah. I get that. But you know I don’t mean anything by it, right?”

Alex stood and held out his hands. I took them and he pulled me to my feet.

“Look, I can’t say that I agree with your decisions here, because obviously I’m a little biased. But if they’re working on your app idea, and giving you better benefits and all that, this apartment included, I can’t say that I wouldn’t have made the same decision you did.”

It wasn’t exactly reassuring. He admitted outright to disagreeing with me. Which meant I would just have to work harder. Because if Alex didn’t like my choice, even after I had the chance to explain it to him, then others, Dr. Goodwin included, definitely didn’t, either.

“Fair,” I answered on a sigh. “I’ll just have to work harder to show that I’m in this with you all.”

Alex smiled, a gleam in his eyes. “I can think of a few things to help you with that. If you’re interested.”

The relief I felt was a balm, the stress slowly beginning to ooze out of my body at his statement. He was offering to help me. There was no way that I was going to say no.

“Mmm, color me intrigued. What do you have in mind?”