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Kate felt a hand running through her hair and knew instantly that it was Isaac. “Morning,” she mumbled as she pushed her body closer to his warmth.
Isaac kissed the side of her face softly. “Hey, beautiful. That is the best sound I’ve ever heard. I’m so happy you’re awake.”
“Did you let me sleep in?” Kate turned over to face him and pushed up on her elbow.
They weren’t in his bedroom or hers. The room’s walls looked like a light color in the semi-darkness. The only light came from two lanterns against the wall opposite them.
Using Isaac as leverage, Kate pulled herself into a sitting position. What she’d first thought was a bed was only a mattress on the floor, and Isaac was leaning against the wall.
“Where are we?”
His eyes scanned her face, and he seemed hesitant before he spoke. “Do you remember being in my shop?”
She felt her face heat as shame consumed her. Oh my God. She’d yelled at him, accusing him of some awful things. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered as she looked into his eyes. Her insecurities had made her speak the way she had. The fact their friends-with-benefits arrangement might be turning into so much more didn’t give her the right to take out her anxiety on Isaac.
He cupped his large hand around the back of her neck and drew her to him. When he kissed her like there wouldn’t be a tomorrow, she responded from somewhere deep in her soul, shoving her anxiety aside. They were both breathing heavily when he pulled back.
“It’s okay. We can talk about all that stuff later. Can you remember what happened after we argued?”
Thinking back, she remembered she was going to walk out. Then the memories came flooding back with the force of a tsunami. “The building shook… Oh my God! Maverick came. First Ben and Sam and then Maverick and there were explosions in the other buildings.”
Isaac nodded and dropped his hand from her neck, waiting as she ran through her memories again.
“He admitted to killing my father. Then he said he was going to kill me, but he was going to add a twist to it?” She posed her words as a question, not sure she could trust her memory.
“That’s right. Do you remember anything else?”
Kate searched her memories again, willing herself to remember. “Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “What happened? And you never did answer my other question—where are we?”
“We’re in a room.”
“Ha ha, funny guy. I figured that out for myself.”
Kate waited for Isaac to smile and give her the punch line, but his expression remained serious. “Where is this room?” she asked quietly.
“I don’t know.” Isaac ran his hands through his hair and leaned his head back against the wall. “Maverick hit you with something. Not like a blast of magic because you weren’t injured. Well… you were unconscious. His blast opened up a hole in the wall.”
“Like onto the street?” She tried to picture where he could have pushed them so they would end up in a room and she came up blank.
“A hole in the wall, but not to the outside.” He shook his head. “Yes, to the outside… I think… but not onto the street. It was like a black hole opened up in the wall, but not like the night sky. It was pitch black.”
“I remember Jo and Simon explaining how a hole opened up in the library wall and the book they needed was floating there.” When she’d heard the story, she had pictured something like out of a fairytale, with lights and colors and maybe even vines surrounding the book. It had seemed beautiful and magical. But not magical in the way they had magic. Magical like a Disney story.
He nodded. “I remember. Rowena and Connor said they had a similar experience when they found the key and the magic box.”
“Connor said his magic didn’t work there.” She glanced around the room, taking stock of what was there, before looking back at Isaac. “Was all this stuff here?”
Isaac held out his hand and conjured a bottle of water. “No, I conjured it. Our magic works here.”
Kate jumped to her knees, adrenaline wiping away her lethargy. “Then we can flash out of here.”
“Maybe.”
“What do you mean ‘maybe’? Why didn’t you already flash for help?”
Isaac grasped her hand, and she dropped down, her butt touching her heels. “I couldn’t leave you, Kate. If I could have flashed, I didn’t know if I’d be able to come back for you. I don’t think we’re…”
“Where? In Blue Mountain? Or Colorado?” she prompted, needing to know what he thought.
