Part 37 (2/2)
”Motionless picture,” Tony grunted.
”Oh, my G.o.d, he's got a copy of The Princess Diaries. One and Two!”
”Maybe I should just close this up before he comes home and finds you dissing Julie Andrews.” Setting the backpack on the floor, he wiped damp palms on his thighs and pointed a finger to start the first rune. A horrible groan came from the far wall. ”What the h.e.l.l was that?”
”The elevator.”
”Is it... ?”
”Him?” Her gesture made it clear she meant the usual occupant of the apartment. ”How should I know? Just wiz.”
”Wiz?”
”Wiz!”
The first rune went through the wall of DVDs with no problem. So did the second. The third got stuck.
”Stuck?” Leah moved away from her listening post by the door and glared at him. ”It can't get stuck if you've done it right.” ”It's right.”
”Are you sure? Check the cheat sheet.”
”I didn't bring it.”
”Oh, for...” She came farther into the apartment, and hauled up her track jacket and the s.h.i.+rt under it. ”Check the original, then.”
Tony gave the rune another ineffective shove and dropped to his knees, thumbs hooked behind the waistband of Leah's track pants to pull them low enough to see the rune. Head c.o.c.ked to one side, squinting a little, he moved so close he could feel the air between them warm.
The apartment door opened.
Tony glanced up to see a young man blinking at them blearily, keys dangling from one hand. When he finally managed to take in the tableau, he grinned and flashed a double thumbs-up. ”Dude!”
”Ignore him,” Leah snapped, tapping the tat with one scarlet-tipped finger. ”Check the rune.”
”Wait a minute.” He was sounding less bleary by the word. ”Why are you in my...”
”Got it.”
”... apartment?”
Tony stood as Leah turned, dimples flas.h.i.+ng an offer no straight boy could refuse. He tugged the center of the glowing blue line farther out from the center of the pattern then pushed. With a sizzle and a faint smell of burning plastic, the rune slipped the rest of the way through.
One more.
Half finished with the fourth rune, refusing to be distracted by what was happening on the sofa, Tony felt the hair lift off his body- his entire body, not just the back of his neck. Man, never going to get used to that. Turning, he got an eyeful of Ryne Cyratane and had barely made the very short trip from appreciation to apprehension when a spray of red-and-purple sparks arced out into the room.
They were coming from the shelves of DVDs.
c.r.a.p!
Tony finished off the fourth rune so fast he nearly sprained his wrist. Left hand flat against it, he shoved it after the others.
And stumbled forward unable to lift his hand.
A heartbeat later, he was wrist-deep in the DVDs.
”Leah!”
”Busy.”
”I don't care!” Yanking back only threatened to dislocate his elbow. ”Le-!”
Hands closed on his shoulders, fingers digging in painfully tight. Next thing he knew he was flying. A short flight and a bad landing.
Lying in a crumpled heap on the ruin of a cheap coffee table, Tony checked to make sure his arm had actually come with him. ”Time to go.”
”Ow. Ow! OW!” Protests didn't seem to matter. Leah hauled him to his feet and hustled him toward the door. Seemed like everything worked. Not quite to the original specs, but he was up and moving. He snagged his laptop case as they pa.s.sed. ”What about... ?”
”He got a great memory and a broken coffee table,” Leah snapped, dragging him out into the hall and shutting the door. ”I think he came out even. Come on. If we get into the elevator before he gets his pants back on, he'll never know what we looked like.”
”What if we have to wait for the elevator?”
They didn't.
She shoved him in, charged in after him, hit the b.u.t.ton to close the door, hit the b.u.t.ton for the first floor, and sagged against the stainless steel wall. ”What did you do?”
”Me?”
”That spot wasn't close enough to blow like that.”
”It was plenty close.”
”Not close enough. I'd have felt it!”
They glared at each other for a moment.
”Okay.” Tony flexed the fingers of his left hand. The scar felt hot. ”Let me think about this for a minute.”
”Don't strain anything,” she muttered, adjusting her clothes.
”Nice. I think we hit a metaphysical overload.”
”A what?”
”Between that weak spot being so close, you and your tat, me and my...” He waved the scar. ”... power, then the whole distracting with s.e.x invoking your Demonlord, I think we reached a point where things started to happen.”
”That actually makes a certain logical sense.”
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