Enchantments ch 20
"How was what?" bunny asked. She was trying to play off her embarrassment. "You know your kiss with Reid" teased Xandria. Bunny sighed and her eyes practically rolled back in her head when she said "dreamy" Xandria giggled and listened raptly as Bunny recounted her night.
The rest of the school week went by normally, so Xandria let the night at Nicky's drift to the back of her mind. Reid's ascension was this week and the boys were on edge. Reid was more of an asshole than before. He virtually ignored bunny for about a week. Which upset bunny enough to put her in tears for several nights.
Xandria had made up her mind to confront Reid tonight about his treatment of Bunny. Unfortunately no one could find him. Caleb and the others were noticeably worried about their friend. They had good reason to be; tonight was Reid's ascension. And he was nowhere to be found.
When he didn't answer their phone calls or show up at the manor house. They decided to go looking for him. Xandria sensed their concern and walked off into the woods. Taking to the air after she was clear of the school. Those on the ground would see only a hawk soaring overhead. The boys went towards town, Xandria went towards the cliffs.
She soared high above listening with another set of senses for the echo from her ward. She was soaring back over the beaches near the marble head cliffs. When she heard a scream. She dove for it, recognizing the source instantly.
She found Reid laying on his back his body thrashing with magic induced convulsions. He screamed a second time when one of the convulsions lifted him off the ground and bent him backward. He was crying and begging some unseen force to let him just die. She felt his fear from there like it was a living thing.
Xandria carefully approached his thrashing form. Magical lightning was dancing around the boy. She definitely didn't want to get hit with it but Reid was in real trouble here. She heard his cell phone ring and found it lying on a rock. She picked it up and answered it. Grateful Tyler had shown her how the things worked. Caleb was on the other line. "Xandria? Where's Reid?" he asked
"He's having a bad time of it," said Xandria. What she was going to say next was interrupted by Reid screaming. "Xandria where are you?" Caleb yelled into the phone. "About a mile from the lighthouse at the bottom of some cliffs, by the ocean" said Xandria. Then she hung up, dropped the phone and threw caution to the wind.
If Reid's state was any indication, he was very close to dying. She wasn't about to let that happen no matter the personal risk. She slipped between the dancing energy bolts and kneeled in the sand next to his head.
He was sobbing into the sand unashamed of his weakness. His face covered with scratches and sand. He was obviously in a lot of pain but he recognized her when she kneeled next to him. "Xandria run!" he gasped out hoarsely as another wave of power engulfed him
She ignored that advice and wrapped her own power around him. Trying to calm the waves of energy that threatened to literally tear the boy apart. She caught a hold of the slender thread of energy that was Reid's life force and feed it energy of her own.
He was still whimpering and wrapped by waves of pain. She was forcing those waves to subside. Making the power integrate itself more calmly and hopefully without damage. It took every training exercise she had to keep him from expiring and herself from joining him.
She resisted the urge to scream herself when the power danced across her skin and left burns in its wake. She managed to calm it enough so he stopped thrashing and screaming. He opened blood shot and tear-streaked eyes to stare at her. "I thought I told you to run," he croaked out. "You should know by now how well I listen," she teased back.
"Please listen to me, go before I kill you by accident" said Reid. She shook her head no and cradled his head on her lap.
"I'm not leaving you, you'll die if I do," she stated in a matter of fact voice. "I know," he whispered. "Please Xandria let me go in peace, I don't want to hurt you," he whispered. His tone was pleading and he sounded so much like a little boy trying to be brave. Xandria's heart wanted to break. "No" she stated
"You are a friend and I'm not leaving you like this" she stated. She was resting her hand on his forehead. "Please there's nothing you can do," he said softly. She brushed the damp hair from his eyes. Meeting his fear filled gaze she said softly. "You have no idea what I'm capable of, now trust me you will not die tonight," she stated in her most commanding voice. He started to say something else and another wave of energy hit him.
It blocked what he was going to say and sent him back into agony. Only now he felt he wasn't alone anymore. He closed his eyes and tried his best to focus on her energy. Clinging to it like the lifeline that it was. The thread of energy responded to his touch and sent him a wave of strength.
It felt like the ocean was washing away the pain and leaving its strength in its wake. Like for one second he was totally connected to the earth and the sky. For the first time since he met her he fully understood the depth of the power this girl held. He was in awe of this girl now. He felt the waves of power in him stabilize and dissipate. The pain subsided and he could think clearly. He was gasping for breath still and everything ached but he was alive.
Which was more than he hoped for earlier in the evening. He had come to this place to die. It was a place he went to think, away from the guys. It was His alone spot that no one knew about. How Xandria had found him he didn't know but he thanked whatever forces led her here. He looked up at the girl holding him on her lap. She was scratched up and bleeding. Burns adorned her arms and legs. Her hair was singed and she was covered in sand and some of his blood.
She still looked beautiful to his eyes. A new set of tears escaped from his eyes when he realized what she had gone through to save him. " Xandria, I'm so sorry" he whispered. "Its all right" she said softly. She brushed the tears away from his eyes. "Your safe now" she whispered. And put her arms around him, and leaned down to kiss his forehead.
Caleb and the others found them like that. Reid lying in her lap, sound asleep. Exhaustion finally claimed him. The beach surrounding them was filled with craters and energy blasted pieces of melted rock. The boys approached slowly, quietly. Reluctant to disturb the scene. "Xandria?" whispered Caleb.
She looked up at the boys; they had calmly and quietly surrounded her and Reid. Caleb looked at Reid's sleeping form and whispered, "thank you" to Xandria. She smiled at him in response.
Slowly they stood up and Xandria lifted Reid in her arms. The boys used their powers to basically jump back to the top of the cliff. Xandria spread her wings and rose into the air. Carrying a sleeping Reid to the top of the cliff. She helped them situate him in the back of Tyler's truck.
No one spoke on the way back to the dorms. Words at this point were unnecessary. Xandria was one of them as far as they were concerned. After tonight she always would be. Caleb followed them back to the dorm and helped Pogue and Tyler get Reid back to his room. Tyler kissed her forehead before joining them to help Reid up the stairs. Xandria watched them go for a few seconds and then slowly followed. Her legs and everything else were now sore.
She must have taken longer than she thought to climb the stairs because she met Caleb on the way up. He had already gotten Reid to his room and was heading for his car. He stopped her on the way up the stairs. "Are you all right?" he asked. He sounded concerned to her. "Yeah just a little sore" she said. "Here let me help you" he said and scooped her up into his arms. He carried her up the stairs and set her down by her door.
She couldn't seem to get her hands to work to unlock the door so Caleb did it for her. He half carried her into the room.
Bunny was thankfully asleep and Caleb had no qualms about deepening it. He helped her to sit on the bed and closed the door before turning on the lights. He gasped in shock. Xandria was torn up. She looked like she had gone twenty rounds with a bunch of elementals and lost badly."Oh my god, why didn't you say anything?" said Caleb.
He kneeled beside her "hold still" he said quietly and closed his eyes.
He didn't have much practice with healing but it was enough to make the worst of it vanish. He realized when he was done that she was leaning on his shoulder and she was sleeping so he helped her to lie back. "Thank you Xandria, I'll never forget this, none of us will," he whispered to her. She had already closed her eyes. He helped her to slip off her shoes and outer garments. Then stopped when he realized that he was basically stripping his best friend's girlfriend. He left the under garments on and slid her legs under the blankets. Pulled them up to her chin, but to be honest he did look at her when he did so. Then he walked out of the room. Headed for his car and drove home. His heart was weary from today's emotional strain and he longed for sleep himself.