Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

 

Luckily for everyone on the team, the expedition went off without a hitch.  They visited two different eras and four different churches over the few hours they were there, and Irin even learned a little bit in the down time.  Jared, as a credit to him, managed to teach her more about church architecture in thirty minutes than any class she had ever taken.  She had a feeling it was probably because he dumbed it way down and tossed in a lot of jokes, but she appreciated it nonetheless. 

 

Once they’d returned, she was explaining some of her work with Chris’ students as they headed to the elevator.

 

 “I’ve got a proposition for you,” he said as he pressed the button for the fourth floor and she reached out for the third. 

 

She turned to him with an eyebrow raised.  “You’re propositioning me?” she joked.

 

His eyes widened in surprise as his cheeks reddened.  “Oh, no, nothing like that!  I was just going to say I think you owe me for explaining all that architecture stuff to you.”  She raised both eyebrows to indicate that sentence didn’t sound much better.  “Ack!” he exclaimed, becoming flustered, “I mean you should help me with what you do.  I’d like to get better at my sword work,” he finally clarified. 

 

She had a hand to her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter, but a few snickers still managed to escape.  “I see,” was all she managed to say without bursting into guffaws. 

 

“You knew what I meant,” he muttered, his cheeks still flushed. 

 

It took the short ride down to the fourth floor before she felt she could answer without laughing too much.  She put a hand on the elevator door to hold it open as he stepped out.  “Yeah, alright, come by my room in a few hours, and we’ll figure something out,” she told him.

 

“Sounds like a plan,” he replied, walking backwards down the hall from the elevator.  “Which room are you in?”

 

“327,” she called as she removed her hand and the doors began to close.  The last thing she saw before they shut all the way was him giving her a two finger salute and turning to head down the hallway. 

 

She made her way to her room and changed into some comfy clothes because the number one item on her afternoon agenda was a nap.  She snuggled down under the covers and didn’t remember much after her head hit the pillow.

 

She slept quite deeply, and it felt like only minutes had passed when she felt the faint tingling in the back of her mind telling her she might want to wake up.  Having a mental war with herself, she stubbornly refused to listen and tried to ignore it.  The feeling, instead of disappearing, only got stronger until the point where she could no longer stand it. 

 

Opening one bleary eye, she looked at her clock to see a little over two hours had passed.  She lied there, slowly trying to figure out if she had to get up for anything soon, when a faint rustling broke her concentration, and she froze.  She knew there was no way Nikki was off her shift yet, so the only person making noise in her room should have been her. 

 

She waited a few tense seconds to see if she might have imagined it, but then the same sound whispered faintly through her ears again.  Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head toward the bookshelf in the back right corner of their room, taking care not to make any noise as she did so.  What she saw caused her eyes to open in shock, her breath catching in her throat.  There was a man in her room!  She had no idea how he could have gotten in there, and a quick glance at is black hair and pale skin immediately told her it was no one she knew, and that made him dangerous. 

 

Quietly and carefully she stretched her arm across her bed and toward the utility belt she always left on her end table.  If only she could reach her weapon!  In a twist of bad luck, instead of latching onto the weapon, her fingers brushed the belt ever so slightly, but it was enough to move the buckle a few millimeters �" millimeters that emitted a faint hiss as the metal moved along wood. 

 

In the split second it took her to realize he’d heard her, she dove for her weapon while he whipped around to face her.  She took aim and was about to pull the trigger when she took in his face and felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.  Those eyes!  He stared at her in shock, his hand halfway outstretched as if to halt her.  A tense second passed as they stared at each other in disbelief. 

 

“You!” she exclaimed in accusation, recognizing him immediately.  It was the same man with the blue, blue eyes who had haunted her for the past three weeks, making her life miserable.  The rogue Weaver was in her room!  “How did you get in here?” she demanded before she remembered he didn’t speak English.  What now? she wondered.  Somehow the stranger who had the entire Company on alert had gotten into the building that should be the most protected against him, and on top of all that, he was in her bedroom of all places!  For lack of any better ideas and because she really was curious, she asked, “What are you doing here?” in an incredulous tone. 

 

A small smile touched his lips, but he didn’t move other than to open his mouth.  “I came to see you,” he spoke in a smooth Celtic lilt. 

 

Irin choked on her surprise and lost her grip on her weapon, hearing the soft thump as it landed on her comforter.  “You �" you �"” she spluttered, unable to wrap her head around the fact he had just spoken to her.  His soft smile dropped as he observed her flustered state.  “You speak English!” she finally cried in accusation. 

 

Seeing that she hadn’t immediately picked her weapon back up off the bed, he allowed his arm to drop and adopted a more casual stance.  “I do,” he replied simply.

 

“Then why didn’t you say something the last time we met?” she demanded.

 

“I did not speak English then,” he said simply, and she shook her head at the absurdity of it all.  

 

“You…what?” was all she could manage in reply. 

 

“I did not speak English the last time we met,” he clarified, speaking slowly in smooth, rich tones. 

 

“You’re telling me you learned English in the last two weeks?”

 

His small smile returned.  “I have something of a…gift with languages, if you will.”

 

She stared at him hard for a little bit, taking in his open facial expression.  “Holy crap, you’re not shitting me, are you?” she wondered in amazement. 

 

His eyebrows drew together in uncertainty.  “Admittedly, I am still very new to this language, but I am fairly certain I am not ‘shitting you,’” he said slowly, and she could hear the implied quotation marks.

 

“You really did learn English in the last two weeks?”  He nodded, never breaking eye contact with her.  “Who are you?”

 

“I told you last time,” he replied, uncertainty still evident in his voice. 

 

Suddenly his one word from the last time they’d met washed over her, and she understood.  “Rhys!  Your name is Rhys!” she exclaimed, glad to have at least that lingering question answered.  He grinned in affirmation, pleased she had remembered.  “But what are you doing here?”

 

“You asked me to come with you,” he stated simply, his bright blue eyes still looking truthfully into hers. 

 

He had her there.  She had asked him; she just hadn’t expected it to be like this.  However, he still hadn’t answered her most important question.  “How did you get in here?” 

 

“I �"” he began, but he was interrupted by loud knocking on her door, causing both of them to jump. 

 

“S**t,” she cursed, realizing how compromising this encounter really was.  “You can’t be here!” she whispered, looking at Rhys frantically. 

 

“But �"”

 

“No,” she cut him off, “you really can’t be here!” she whispered emphatically. 

 

“There is much I would like to discuss with you,” he persisted, not understanding her reaction. 

 

“We can’t, not here.  You have no idea what will happen if they find you here.”  Her eyes pleaded with him just to believe her. 

 

Finally his face relaxed out of its confused expression.  “I understand,” he said simply.  She expected him to jump in her closet or bathroom or something and wait for a chance to sneak out.  Instead, he lifted his hands in front of him, and she had barely realized what he was going to do before she glimpsed the white tendrils contracting when he brought his hands together forcefully, and light engulfed her room. 

 

She fought her surprised cry as she threw an arm in front of her eyes to protect them.  When she lowered it, she stood there, breathing heavily as her face drained of color.  This building was supposed to be impenetrable to Weaves and rifts, and he’d just Woven out as easily as he’d moved from one time to the next every other time she’d seen him.  Oh, crap. 

 

Irin wasn’t left to her thoughts for long as the knocking resumed, more tentative this time.  “Hey, Irin, are you in there?” Jared’s voice called out. 

 

She licked her lips, trying to find her voice.  “Yeah, just a minute,” she finally called back.  Moving shakily, she got off her bed and slipped on her socks and tennis shoes, never once taking her eyes off the spot where Rhys had disappeared.  She was somewhat toying with the idea she’d imagined the whole thing, as awful a thought as that was, when she spotted a book laying on the table in front of the bookshelf.  She knew exactly where that book was this morning, and that wasn’t it.  He’d been looking at her books, and she suddenly knew how real his appearance, and disappearance, had been. 

 

“Hey, you,” Jared greeted her with a grin when she pulled the door open a few seconds later.  His smile faltered, though, when he saw her face.  “Are you alright?” he asked in concern.

 

She gave herself a little shake.  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied in false cheeriness, and he immediately picked up on it. 

 

“Are you sure?  You look a little pale.”

 

“Oh, it’s nothing.  I just woke up from a nap is all,” she responded dismissively. 

 

“Ok,” he replied slowly, but she could tell she hadn’t come close to convincing him.  She was very grateful he was letting it go anyway.

 

“Come on, let’s head down to the gym,” she suggested quickly and led him back down the hall to the elevator. 

-.-

Jace walked into the gym to find it slightly more crowded than usual.  As he scanned the open floor setup, he spotted the reason over at the far end of the floor.  It looked like the fourth or fifth years were taking up most of the swordsmanship rings trying to perfect some advanced moves.  Jace chuckled to himself, realizing Chris had probably told them that Irin was coming back tomorrow or the next day to work with them and see how far they’d gotten on the sequences she’d shown them.  Apparently someone forgot to tell them that it’s impossible to cram for a physical final.  Looking away from their frantic practicing, he panned the room in search of his brother.  It didn’t take long to spot him over on the floor mats stretching, and he headed over to meet him. 

 

“Hey, man,” Lance called when he lifted his head and saw his brother coming his way. 

 

“How’s it going?”  Jace dropped his gym bag at the edge of the mat and sat down. 

 

“It’s going, definitely glad to be getting back into the swing of things,” Lance retorted, leaning over his outstretched leg to loosen his hamstring.

 

“Yeah, no joke,” Jace replied distractedly as he began stretching as well.  A minute or two passed by in silence as they loosened up.  “Please tell me you called her back a few days ago,” he said, broaching the complicated subject of “mom.” 

 

“No, not yet, why?”

 

“Because I’ve got a missed call and voicemail from her on my phone, and there’s a 50/50 chance she’s checking to see if you’re dead or not,” Jace explained as if it were obvious. 

 

Lance let out a small groan.  “You’d think she’d learn not to worry about us so much, seeing as we’re twenty years old and have been living on our own at ‘boarding school’ for years now,” he complained, even going so far as to make air quotes with his fingers. 

 

“Yeah, well, it’s probably never going to matter how far away or old we are.  She’s going to be our mom for life,” Jace said resignedly.

 

“Fantastic,” Lance rolled his eyes sarcastically, “where are they now?”

 

“Last I remember they were in Moscow, but they might have moved to St. Petersburg by now.”

 

 “So, that’s what, eleven hours ahead?”  Lance did some quick mental math.  “That’d make it the middle of the night there right now.  Think she can last if I wait until later tonight to call?”  He was only half joking. 

 

“I’m sure that’ll be fine,” Jace chuckled.  “Just make sure you get back to her before she plans another one of her surprise visits.”

 

Lance shuddered at the memory.  He, Jace and Irin had been doing training and missions around the clock for days and were barely fitting in meals and a few hours of sleep a night, let alone taking time to call their parents back.  They’d told her in advance that they had a hell week coming up and wouldn’t be able to get back to her, but Mrs. Cavaleri was a professional worrier and had gotten it into her head that her babies were in dire trouble.  She booked a ticket on the next flight to the city and didn’t tell them she was coming until she landed.  It had been hell trying to coordinate a visit with the Outside Affairs office on that short of notice.  “Don’t worry about it.  I’ll make sure to call her tonight,” he promised. 

 

“Good, now come on.  You owe me a rematch,” he declared, standing and offering him a hand up. 

 

Lance grabbed it and stood as well.  “You already know how this is going to end.” 

 

“We’ll see about that,” Jace challenged as they squared off.  A few seconds later they were locked in an intense wrestling match on the mat. 

 

Irin and Jared walked in just as Lance flipped Jace over on the mat, emitting a loud thud, and she was feeling much closer to her normal self than five minutes prior.  “Yep, they’re at it again,” she muttered, shaking her head at their antics.  The twins were so evenly matched that, in these challenges, they often resorted to tricks and cheating in an effort to gain some kind of upper hand.  The only saving grace was that they were both good sports about it and no one tended to get hurt. 

 

“What?” Jared asked, having not understood her. 

 

She motioned to the two going at it on the mat.  “They’re wrestling again.  They insist on rematches at least once a week, but there’s never a conclusive winner until someone starts cheating, and even then they sometimes keep going until someone breaks them up or they get bored,” she explained as she led him toward the mat. 

 

“I see,” he said slowly, but his tone indicated he wasn’t quite sure of the situation.  “And who are they exactly?”

 

Rather than answering right away, she just laughed and proceeded to drop her bag on the mat not five feet from where they were going at it.  The noise of the impact didn’t even faze them as they struggled against each other’s holds. 

 

“Alright, alright, break it up you two!” Irin yelled, clapping her hands to get their attention. 

 

“Aw, Irin, you’re no fun,” Jace responded, but his voice was muffled as he tried to get free of Lance’s grip. 

 

“Whatever, you guys both know this is never going to end, so come on.”  They both groaned. 

 

For a minute neither of them moved, and then, as if they had planned it, they both let go and moved apart, getting to their feet.  Jace walked over and clapped her on the shoulder.  “You’re such a party pooper.  I had him that time!”  Lance’s eloquent response was to chuck his gym towel and hit him in the face, causing a large round of laughter to go up amongst their little group. 

 

“You guys are crazy,” Irin said fondly, and Lance reached out to ruffle her hair. 

 

“You love us anyway,” he grinned.  “Anyway, who’s this guy?” he asked, indicating Jared with his thumb. 

 

She reached up and smacked him on the back of the head for his poor manners.  “This is Jared, and Jared, these are my brothers Jace and Lance,” she introduced, indicating who was who. 

 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jace said politely, offering his hand. 

Jared clasped it a second late, still overwhelmed by the very tall and very identical men standing before him.  “You too,” he managed to say.  His eyes kept skipping back and forth between the brothers and their sister as well. 

 

Lance lifted a hand in greeting and offered, “Hey there.”

 

“Hey,” Jared returned with a nod in his direction. 

 

“Jared was part of the expedition team I went with today, and we also were third years together,” Irin was explaining. 

 

“That’s cool,” Jace said sincerely, walking over to his bag to get his water bottle. 

 

“Are you going to try to get in some sword practice in the ring?” Lance asked as he picked his towel up off the floor where it had landed earlier. 

 

“That’s the plan.  Apparently Jared and I are trading architecture lessons for swordsmanship lessons,” she joked. 

 

“Have fun with that,” Lance quipped, his expression indicating he thought the trade was very one sided and not to her benefit. 

 

“Just an FYI,” Jace said, walking over and slinging and arm over her shoulders, “you might freak out the fourth years when you head over to the rings.  Apparently they heard you’re coming back soon, so they’re over there frantically trying to master the moves you showed them a couple of weeks ago.”  He turned her around to look across the floor. 

 

She chuckled when she saw what he was talking about.  “Oh, look at them trying to cram for a physical exam,” she cooed like a proud parent.  “I just can’t wait to rip them a new one tomorrow,” she continued, placing a hand over her heart for added effect. 

 

“Maybe you should go easy on them since they’re at least trying?” Jace asked skeptically. 

 

The siblings pretended to think about it for a second before they all chorused, “Nah!” 

 

“Well, you have fun torturing small children,” Lance teased as he and Jace picked up their bags. 

 

“Yeah, we’ll catch you at dinner later, right?” Jace confirmed.

 

“Yep, see you there!” she replied with a small wave, and her brothers headed across the floor and out the door.  Then she turned to face Jared.  “Let’s go see what you’ve got.”

 

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