Out of This World Read online

  Kellan was ahead of me. He’d pulled out the Blackberry and was crawling into the clearing, his face tight with the pain of the gunshot wound and, undoubtedly, fury with me.

  Now, Rach. Now or never. Trying to be careful with his shoulder, I jumped on him, and with the element of surprise on my side, took him down to the ground and grabbed the Blackberry from him.

  While he groaned and ate dirt, I sprinted up and into the clearing myself.

  “Rach, no!” he yelled after me, and snagged my ankle so that I got only one foot inside before the huge CRACK sounded, and with it, screams.

  Marilee?

  Serena?

  Actually, maybe it was me, because it hurt like hell, but only for a second, because as before, everything faded to black.

  At least I alone got into the clearing, I thought with relief.

  Kel was safe…

  Chapter 25

  I woke up to the feel of something wet dripping on my face, and every single inch of my body screaming with agony. I gasped with it, tensing.

  “Jesus, Rach. Talk to me.”

  At the sound of Kel’s voice, low and rough with urgency, I felt my heart tighten. I didn’t have to look at him to remember everything about him: how his eyes could see through to my soul, how his skin smelled, how yummy he always tasted, how he sounded when he was buried inside me and so turned on—

  “Rach.”

  I opened my eyes. I was cradled against his chest. He was a little sweaty and a whole lot wild with worry.

  And shot! God, let’s not forget he was wearing a bullet, one he’d taken because I’d brought him here. “I’m fine. It’s you—”

  “Shh.” He just shook his head, and held me. “Give me a minute.”

  I needed one, too. Already the pain was fading, and I ran my hands over him, wanting to cry when he sucked in a pained breath. “Oh, Kel.”

  “It’s not bad.”

  A lie.

  I was smoking again, which reminded me. The abilities.

  The swap.

  I stared up at the sky.

  Just blue. Plain blue.

  I focused on the tree above us. Just a trunk with branches and pine needles, still dripping from the deluge of rain I barely even remembered.

  I couldn’t see through the tree trunk, or into the individual water droplets. In fact, I could see through exactly nothing.

  I was back to normal, though even the word “normal” seemed, well, abnormal.

  I looked at Kel. It was just him, beautiful, passionate, wonderful Kel. I looked at his bloody shirt, but I couldn’t see through it. Still, somehow I knew his heart was beating steady as a drum. “I’m not in a coma, right? Or…dead?”

  His eyes flashed with emotion, and his arms tightened on me. “Neither, though I might kill you myself for that little stunt.”

  Stunt? Stunt?

  “I mean, what the hell were you thinking, pushing me aside and leaping headfirst into that bolt of lightning?” he demanded.

  “I was thinking of you.”

  He just kept staring at me as if he couldn’t believe I was all in one piece and unhurt. “You might have gotten yourself killed.”

  “But she didn’t,” Serena pointed out, peeking over Kel’s shoulder at me. William nodded with her. “No one did, except the bad guys.”

  “Right,” Kel said, so much of his soul and gut and heart in his gaze, I could scarcely breathe. “And you’re alive,” he whispered. “Alive is damn good.” He hauled me against him again, then sucked in harshly.

  “The bullet exited,” Marilee said, looking down at him. “Painful, I’m sure, but you’re not still sporting steel, so that’s a relief.”

  “Wait.” I blinked, looked at all of us. Me, Kel, Axel, Marilee, Serena and William. “Where are Curly and Moe?”

  Serena and William looked at Marilee.

  Marilee looked at Kel.

  Kel looked at Axel.

  Axel spread his hands out in front of him. “They won’t be bothering anyone anymore.”

  “Because…?”

  “Let’s just say, I’m more handy with this thing than I let on.” Axel lifted the Blackberry. “I sent them to another plane.”

  “It was very impressive,” Serena said.

  I looked at Kellan, who was…squinting. “Your eyes,” I said very softly. “Why can’t you see?”

  “Because he threw himself in front of you,” Marilee said.

  “Marilee,” Kel said in soft warning. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what? Sing like a canary?” She shook her head. “And he took that lightning bolt right in the chest—”

  “Damn it, Marilee.”

  “Shut up, Kellan. Rachel, I’m telling you, it’s a miracle he’s alive. It was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do.”

  I couldn’t tear my eyes off Kellan as it all sank in. He’d been the one to take the direct hit, not me. Which meant…I looked at William and Serena, who looked…normal. Their odd glow hadn’t returned. I looked at Axel, who’d been able to handle Moe and Curly. At Marilee, who’d taken one look at Kel’s dark shirt and been able to tell the bullet had exited.

  “You two!” They had the glow! “You got the abilities in the swap!”

  Marilee smiled grimly. “Accidentally, I assure you. When we saw Kellan leap forward, we went after him and got in the way.”

  “So you got your abilities back!”

  “Well, not ours.” Axel looked at Serena and William, who smiled serenely, still happy without their abilities.

  Axel hugged Marilee. “And we’ll owe all of you for this forever.”

  Marilee sniffed, and buried her face in Axel’s chest. “God, it’s good to be back, to be going back.”

  “You’re going back?” I asked.

  Looking thrilled, they both nodded. “But no worries about Hideaway.” Axel said. “William and Serena want to run it, and trust me when I say this; You’ll be better off with them doing so.”

  Serena and William stood arm in arm, looking ecstatic.

  “You do?” I asked. “You really want to stay here?”

  “So much,” William said.

  I was happy for them, but…I turned to Kellan, who was clearly hurting like hell and looking worse for wear. “I wanted to step in front of you, damn it.” I fisted his shirt in my hands and hauled him nose-to-nose with me. “I wanted to prove how much I love you.” I let out a huff of air. “Damn it.”

  “You already said that.” He was staring at me, his gorgeous eyes blinking as slowly as an owl’s, trying helplessly to focus in.

  I sighed, and reached into his breast pocket for his glasses. Opening them, I stuck them on his nose. “There.”

  He pushed them up higher. “Thanks. But back to that other thing.”

  “Which? Where you stole my thunder?”

  “No, the other part. The I-love-you part.”

  “Oh, Kel, I do. I love you so much. But for once, I wanted to put my heart on the line. I wanted to be the one to risk something.”

  “But you did,” he said, sounding a little awed. “You risked a hell of a something. You risked everything.”

  “It doesn’t count when you beat me to the punch.”

  “Oh, it counts,” he said very softly, and hauled me back onto his lap, burying his head in my hair, breathing me in, then pulling back again to look into my eyes. “So it’s true then?”

  “All of it,” I promised, cupping his face, never more sure of anything in my life. “I love you. You. Just as you are right now.”

  “Without the strength.”

  “Yes, without the strength. Look,” I said with a choked-up smile, “I couldn’t have afforded replacing all those doors you’d have kept breaking anyway.”

  “I’m blind as a bat,” he warned.

  “I love your squint.” I gently pushed his glasses farther up his nose. “And they have this newfangled contraption called contact lenses.”

  He let out a half-laugh, half-groan. “I’m serious, Rac