“Where do you want me to put your stuff?” Robert yelled from the entry way.
I threw a square plastic tray into Chef Mike and punched in two minutes and thirty seconds.
“Sorry about that. Here, I’ll take it,” I said, reaching for my bag. He handed it over and I walked into the living room to set everything down by my desk. “Are you hungry?”
“No, I ate before Annabel dropped me off at Caltome. Thank you though,” he answered and followed me into the living room
“Ok, well I’m gonna eat real quick and then I’ll get out of your way.”
“You’re not in my way.” Robert sat down on the couch.
“Still, I'm going to head to bed after I eat. It’s been a long day.” I wasn’t tired, though. I would probably just read for a while, but I wanted to give him his privacy.
“Yes it has.” He gave me a small smile.
I ate the microwaved meatloaf and mashed potatoes alone in the kitchen to give us both some much needed space. I didn’t know what was bothering Robert and felt bad that I didn’t know how to cheer him up. I couldn’t help but think I was the reason for his melancholy attitude.
When I was finished eating I walked back out to the living room to say goodnight. Robert was still sitting on the couch but his head was bent over his lap. I tiptoed over to him and noticed he had a journal open on his lap. He didn’t hear my approach, or if he did he was ignoring me, so I took a moment to drink him in. I knew I shouldn’t, knew that letting even a piece of him in wasn’t a good idea, but I couldn’t help myself. There was this need somewhere deep inside me that ached to be close to him.
As I moved closer, I watched as his fingers traced the tiny handwritten words scrawled across the page.
“I’ve read this journal a million times,” he said with a thoughtful sounding voice, like his mind was a million miles away.
I guess he did know I was there. I walked around the couch and sat down next to him. He took a deep breath and sat back, relaxing into the cushions.
“But it was just words until we found you,” he noted. Robert angled his body so we were facing each other and a melancholy smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
His eyes pulled me in. I hadn’t seen him this unguarded since he saved me. He wore every emotion written on his face: anger, sadness, awe. The control he always seemed to have shattered before me for the first time since that night.
“There was a part of me that never thought we’d find you,” he said, placing his arm across the back of the couch and turning to face me. “That maybe they had already found you.”
Without consciously telling my body to move, I shifted on the couch, bringing my leg up under me so I was facing him. My heart started to beat a little faster. His eyes never left mine and I felt a mix of emotions radiate off him.
“And then when we did find you, I almost lost you.” He shook his head and looked back at the journal in his lap.
This must be what’s been bothering him, I thought.
“But you saved me. Without you, I wouldn’t be here,” I said. I leaned a little closer to him and placed my hand on his chest. He was so warm and my fingers itched to pull him closer.
“I shouldn’t have needed to save you. I should have been keeping you out of harm’s way in the first place,” Robert lamented.
I started to pull my hand back but he caught it in his and kept it pressed against his chest. The steady beat of his heart pounded under my fingers and I wanted to comfort him.
“Maybe you were meant to save me,” I said, shifting my shoulders with insecurity as the words left my lips. He was the one who believed in fate and prophecies, after all. His crazy talk must have really been getting to me.
“But at what cost? Destroying your life?” He looked up at me and his thumb made little circles on the back of my hand, sending chills up my arm. “It’d be different if you were brought up with Magic, but you weren’t and now…” He trailed off.
“You didn’t destroy my life, you saved it,” I said, trying to ease his pain and frustration. “You. Saved. Me.” I leaned my body a little closer to him. I wanted him to see how much that meant to me, no matter how I might feel about everything else.
His eyes dropped from mine and his heart beat a little faster, making mine leap into my throat. The space between us was almost nonexistent. I could feel his breath on my face and the warmth of his body engulfing me. Something inside me stirred, pushing me closer to him.
“Robert,” I breathed.
His eyes met mine and he placed his hand on my cheek. Any walls I still had in place shattered as we studied each other. I didn’t care about not letting him in anymore. I didn’t care about the prophecy or the Promised Ones. In this moment, he was all that mattered to me.
Robert stared deep into my eyes and said, “Violet, I wish there was a way I could make this-” The sound of glass breaking had him on his feet in a split second.
“Follow me,” he said, reaching for my hand, “Stay close.” Startled, I did as he asked without question.
We slowly made our way in the direction the crash had come from. I could feel my pulse echo throughout my entire body as I crept behind Robert. Ever since the night I was attacked, I had been waiting for someone to come back and finish the job. The only comfort I had now was that I wasn’t alone this time.
As Robert reached for my bedroom door, he glanced back at me and motioned for me to wait in the hall. The door opened without a sound and Robert slipped into my bedroom. The darkness swallowed him whole and suddenly. Only the hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen and my own ragged breathing broke the sudden silence in the house.
Chapter 10
Unable to sit in the hall and wait for something to happen, I took the few steps into my room, hoping to find nothing but Robert. The moment my foot crossed the threshold something pushed me face first to the floor. The air in the room felt charged, like a summer storm, ready and waiting to unleash its fury. The thickness of the air made me feel deaf, and as I hit the floor I heard not a sound. Panic flared through me like wildfire. Something Magical was happening in here, I could feel it deep in my bones. I tried to scurry away on my hands and knees deeper into the room but someone caught my ankle and pulled me backwards. I tried to scream but no sound reached my ears. The room remained silent. I could feel my vocal cords vibrating and I could hear my screams in my head, but my ears didn’t pick up a single trace of noise. Kicking wildly, I pulled free as electricity moved all around me like floating rivers. I scurried away as a bolt of light struck the ground next to my head, momentarily stopping me in my tracks.
The assailant grabbed my leg again and dragged me toward the door. I flailed and my arm struck the nightstand and brought the whole thing down on top of me. The corner of the stand caught the side of my head and a bolt of pain shot through my body. Stunned by the blow, I stopped struggling and my attacker effortlessly pulled me into the hall.
“Robert,” I screamed. This time my voice rang out and I prayed Robert wasn’t still in my bedroom where sound ceased to exist.
“He can’t hear you,” a blonde woman said as she dragged me down the hall.
“Yes actually, I can, Lila,” Robert replied, his voice laced with venom.
The woman let go of my leg and turned her full attention to Robert. I pulled myself back down the hall away from both of them and watched as Robert lunged at the woman he called Lila.
They both fell to the floor and she was able to get the better of him, rolling on top of him. She pinned Robert to the floor with her knees and raised her hand over him in a way that sent a shiver of terror through me. In a split second, I realized she wasn’t going to punch Robert, she was going to use Magic.