Chapter Two: What Am I Getting Myself Into?

I reached out to touch Link's palm, tracing the Triforce symbol with my long fingernail, then twisted to look him in the eye.

"How did you get this?" I asked warily. Link smiled at me and tilted his head.

"Born with it," he said, then turned my question back at me. "And you?"

"Same," I replied, then inhaled sharply when he traced my left hand, the one with the wolf symbol, with the pad of his thumb.

"What about this one?" Link asked softly.

"I've had it all my life." I said, simultaneously pulling my hand away from Link. Suddenly, a cold breeze blew through the mountains, making me shiver. Link frowned at the gathering storm clouds.

"It's going to start raining," he observed. I needed to get away from this man and the effect he was having me.

"Which means I had better get home," I said quickly, turning away from Link and striding quickly to Magic, my horse.

"No, wait!" Link said, lunging forward to grab my arm. He accidentally applied pressure to a bruise from earlier this morning, causing me to hiss softly in pain. Link frowned, gently pulling me back to him to examine my bruise. He ran a gentle finger over it, then looked back up at me.

"How did you get this?" He asked me quietly. I looked down, avoiding his mesmerizing gaze.

"My father," I whispered, then looked up in time to see Link's horrified look.

"You can't go back there," Link said, tucking his finger under my chin and tilting my head up. I was forced to connect my violet gaze with his cerulean gaze. I saw concern flashing through his eyes.

"Come to my house with me," Link offered.

"Excuse me? Do you even have your own house? You look barely out of high school!" I protested.

"My family was rich. I have my own house." Link said, smiling amusedly. "And I'm twenty."

"Your family was rice?Was? Past tense?" I asked. Link rubbed the back of his neck.

"They were killed in a plane crash. I inherited the house," he explained.

"Oh, Link," I gasped. "I'm so sorry." Link shook his head.

"We're not talking about this, ok? Maybe later. Just tell me what you think about living with me," Link said, putting us back on track. I thought about it for a few minutes.

"Ok," I resented. "Say I agree to this terrible idea. Where would I sleep? I mean…" I gestured vaguely to the space between us. "It's not like we're married or something." Link blushed lightly and rubbed the back of his neck again.

"Yeah… Well, I lied. It's a mansion, not a house." Link said, avoiding my gaze. "If it made you feel any better, I could put you in a whole different wing then me." I crossed my arms across my chest and grinned.

"Ok, that's good. And I'd need to get some clothes and stuff from my house," I consented. Link threw his hands up in the air exasperatedly.

"Fine! Whatever it takes," he said, then smiled warmly at me. I blushed slightly.

"Good," I nodded. "Can you ride?" I motioned to Magic.

"'Course," Link said. "Let's go." We walked over to Magic and I jumped up first, then extended my hand to Link. He grasped my slender hand in his rough one and my heart skipped a beat when he touched me. Snap out of it, Raven. I reached deep inside my mind for some magic I knew was there, utilizing it to hoist Link up behind me. I felt him settle behind me, then his arms tentatively slid around my waist for balance. I tried to ignore the warmth that was seeping from his arms through my shirt, and the fact that I could feel his breath on my neck, instead trying to focus on getting a fast canter out of Magic. He managed it, and we were off.

The trip went in an awkward silence and soon, thankfully, my house came into view. I pointed at it.

"Almost… There," I said breathlessly; cantering used a lot of breath that I didn't have.

"What's the… Plan?" Link asked in the same manner as me. I tucked my hips back, cueing Magic for a trot.

"You stay out here with Magic," I said through Magic's bouncy trot.

"What about you?" Link asked, and before I could stop myself, I imagined concern flashing through his beautiful eyes. Goddesses, Raven. You gotta stop thinking like that.

"I'm going in to get a bag of clothes and… Stuff," I said, dismounting when we came within walking distance of my house. Link dismounted facing me.

"Expound on this 'stuff'," he said teasingly and I shrugged in reply.

"Private stuff," I added 'private' in order to be specific. Link nodded, "Ah." He decided not to press matters. I walked up to my house, und er my window, contemplating how to get back in. Suddenly I felt a tingling on my arm where Link was now touching me, drawing a line down to my palm.

"Use what you have," Link whispered softly in my ear. I nodded, looking more confident then I felt, then dug deep into my mind, searching for the silvery glow that I recognized as my magic. As I reached for the glow, a foreign presence attacked me, a dark cloudy shape that was growling and snarling. It's paws were furry and lethally clawed, and move importantly about to rip me to shreds! Horrified and shaky, I ejected myself from my mind, and gasped.

"What? What happened?" A concerned Link asked.

"I'll tell you later," I said, more calmly then I felt. I held my left hand up and realized my mark was glowing with magic. On impulse, I reached forward and grabbed what seemed to be just air. For a second, nothing happened, and I swear Link was looking at me like I was crazy. Some strange instinct told me this was the right thing to do, though. So I waited.

A couple seconds later, a blinding flash came from my hand, and when I recovered enough of my sight, I realized a long, silvery rope was stretching from my open window to the ground, and I was holding it. I looked over at Link and gave him a grin. He shrugged and grinned back.

"Good job. My car's just over there," Link said, gesturing to the road. "I'll be waiting for you there." I was already halfway up the rope when the words registered.

"Wait a second! Your CAR?! Have you been stalking me?" I yelled at his disappearing back. Link looked over his shoulder and shook his head.

"Nope. Just a hunch," he called back. I rolled my eyes and continued to climb the rope. I swung my long legs over my windowsill and quickly took inventory of my things. Deciding quickly, I grabbed a big backpack and stuffed a few changes of clothes, some personal items and my laptop. Then I select a thick book off of my shelf. History of Hyrule, it read, and I stuffed it in my bag. I scanned my room again. Anything else? My purse! I grabbed it off my night stand, put the back pack on and shimmied down the rope. I walked a few feet away, then turned back to look at the rope, a curious thought blooming in my mind. I squinted, concentrating hard, reaching out with my magic. The rope untied itself, coiled up and flew into my outstretched hand of its own accord. Cool. I slung it over my shoulder and jogged over to Link's dark green truck. I opened the door and literally climbed into it—trucks are so ridiculously tall! I tossed my back pack into the back row, then buckled myself in. Link nodded at me and pushed the key into the ignition before asking, "Got everything?" I nodded and settled back into my seat as we pulled away.

As I watched my home slip over the horizon I wondered—just what exactly am I getting my self into?

A/N: Second chapter! Whoo-whoo! So far so good.

Its going to be hard to update this book every few days because I am writing another LoZ book called Secrets in Her Heart, so expect a longer wait for chapters. Also, I apologize for any spelling and/or punctuation errors. :P

Please review! It will keep this story going!