78. Betrayal

Levitation. It had been one of the first spells that Drake had mastered. It was simple and surprisingly useful. Not to mention that it was impressive. His master had been trying to impress him then and it had worked. During his first stage appearance Drake had used it to wonderful results.

He found himself doing it casually when he wasn't paying attention. For instance, he had just looked up to find the remote control, two books, and a vase hovering around him. Drake hadn't been staring off into space or anything. He'd been making notes and putting several pictures on his corkboard.

The corkboard was his own invention, or at least his own idea. He'd actually first seen it on a cop show. Bianca had told him to keep a secret notebook of everything he saw. It was only later that he'd started copying pictures and putting them on a corkboard. People were connected by color-coded strings of yarn, along with notes under them. There were a few maps there as well, just to clear everything up.

"Down," he muttered, waving his hand at the objects.

They went down immediately, but gently. Ashley would be pissed if he broke that vase, however ugly it was. It was Ming dynasty, although she thought it was Heian. Not only was that the wrong time period, it was the wrong country. He had some knowledge of these things after buying so many useless antiques just because they were expensive. Drake had to lament the stupidity of dealers these days.

Sighing he pinned up the last picture and headed to the living room. He was starting to wish that he had a normal job, one that didn't involve the threat of getting killed on a daily business. He was trying not to let it show but the stress was also driving him just a little bit crazy. Just a little bit.

Tiredly he flopped down onto the living room sofa. He wished he could get away with it, pull a dangerous stunt and then report back. It would be very climactic and he'd be sure to make it as 007-ish as possible. Bianca had told him that there was no reason to blow his cover just yet. If something important came up then he would blow it and run with as much information as possible.

From what he heard the plan after that was for him to officially enter the New York Merlinian circle. He wasn't on the books yet, so he had to just pray that if any foreign Merlinian tried to take him on he'd be able to deal with them. Still, the day when he would be officially accepted into team goodie looked like it would be far off indeed.

Not to mention that those who knew about him didn't exactly like him. Jack looked at him with out and out distaste whenever he came into the building. Bianca trusted him as far as she could throw him, which he supposed wasn't that far. She gave him important missions but disliked the idea of him getting too near to her precious New York sorcerers. He hadn't forgotten the look she'd given him when she'd introduced him to Ashley.

Craig hadn't liked him either, and not just because he'd sucker-punched him. There had always been a level of distrust and disdain. He had dealt with that as though it didn't matter. It was a survival tactic, something he'd learned when he was very young. Drake didn't even want to ponder what Balthazar and the Boy Wonder would do if they found out he was still alive. He imagined that it wouldn't be pleasant.

That was probably why he liked rooming with Ashley so much. She had been nervous around him, true enough. Now things were different. She left the spare keys to the car on the table sometimes. Ashley didn't know that he couldn't drive, but she didn't know that. So it still felt like it was a gesture of trust.

She…he wasn't sure how to put this…relaxed around him. Ashley didn't automatically set up defenses when he came into the room like he was about to go postal. Like he was someone she'd known for a while who just happened to be rooming with her. She would talk to him like he wasn't a former Morganian, a friend.

Ashley even unloaded about what was happening at school sometimes, events in her life. When she'd gotten into her choice college, NYU of course, she'd gone screaming about it to him. They'd ordered take-out that night and she'd talked excitedly about moving into dorms etc, etc, etc.

This was probably why he had become attached to her. Not just attached to her…fond of her in a way. The word fond made him squirm a little because it wasn't accurate. He was sure that she thought of him as a friend. An asshole friend, but a friend nonetheless. Slowly he had been working on changing that perception of him. Her birthday was only in a few months and then he'd feel completely comfortable with the relationship. It surprised him that he cared about something like that, but he had some decency left.

The door started to unlock and he sat up a little straighter. Realizing how weird it would look if he was just sitting on the couch looking stiffly nonchalant he summoned the remote control. He switched the T.V on just as Ashley walked into the door and slung her backpack down on the ground.

"How'd the Alchemy room go today luv?" he asked casually.

Ashley shrugged as she locked the door behind her.

"Not bad. Becky helped out today so it went faster than we expected," she said, "No homework so it wasn't like there was a rush to get home."

"I'm here ain't I?" he said, winking.

She opened her mouth as though to snark back like she usually did, but she stopped. He frowned a little, unsure of this new development. Then again, it had been a long day for her, so it probably wasn't anything important. Drake had just decided on this when Ashley noticed what he was watching.

"Didn't know you were into Dora the Explorer," she said, raising her eyebrows.

He felt the heat flooding to his face. Quickly he flipped the channel.

"Just channel surfin'."

"Uh-huh," said Ashley, sitting down next to him on the couch.

Drake was suddenly very aware of three things. The first thing was that she was actually sitting fairly close to him. The second was that his arms had gone across the back of the couch, and Ashley was sitting within him. Thirdly her shirt was sleeveless and his fingertips were centimeters away from her bare skin.

Alright, that was two things. However, his thinking was a little muddled at the moment. He gulped as inconspicuously as he could.

"I bet you need Dora to help explain the letters of the alphabet," she said.

"Oi!" Drake said indignantly, "That's taking it a little too far don't you think darlin'?"

"No I don't."

"You are so paying for that," he said, removing one of his arms and tugging her red hair.

"Hey, hands off the hair," she said, punching him in the chest.

"Nope," he said, wrapping his fingers around more strands and pulling it tighter.

Ashley shoved him again, this time harder. He went backwards but held onto her hair. She was pulled down with him and she yelped a little. Drake had time to take a breath in before she landed on his chest and the air was forced out of his lungs. He groaned loudly and let go of her hair.

"You weigh a lot more than you look," he said.

"Yeah? Well you…you…" started Ashley.

Drake supposed that it was about then that she noticed the position that they were in. He noticed it when she went silent. He swallowed again before letting go of her hair and having it instead twine with her hair. He let his other hand rest on her shoulder. Electric sparks went through his hand, not caused at all by the magical powers they both shared.

Her breath quickened, he could feel that because of their proximity. She breathed out and leaned downwards. Drake was seized by the feeling that he shouldn't be doing this. She was still seventeen, she was still Bianca's apprentice, there were a dozen other reasons, but his face was already tilting upwards. He didn't really have any say in this and he'd find the time to care about all of those reasons later. One little kiss couldn't hurt…

Seconds from contact Ashley suddenly pulled away and sat up. He noticed that she was shaking and biting her lip. Feeling embarrassed and awkward he sat up as well. She turned back to him like she was trying to decide something. When she got up he did so well. He cleared his throat, feeling the need to explain things.

"Luv-" he started.

"Don't call me that, don't you ever call me that again!" she said, her fist clenching though her back was still turned to him.

He shifted on his feet. Perhaps thinking that he was moving towards her she snapped;

"And don't you touch me!"

She turned around, her eyes narrowed.

.

.

.

Ashley was starting to wonder if she'd done the right thing. Becky's advice had been good, she was certain of that. She had resolved to follow it by the time she got home. Then she had started teasing him and then fallen…and she'd let him all but hold her. Yeah, she was good at this whole resolution thing.

Now that she had taken control of the situation she felt wrong. She shouldn't have turned around. She should've stormed off and just left him there. Yet, she had turned. Ashley had expected him to be smirking or rolling his eyes. She would've been able to corroborate that with what Becky had told her if he head.

Instead he was looking at her with a hurt expression in his eyes. The hurt crystalized into betrayal which stayed there resolutely.

"I wasn't going to," he said, his voice icy, "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

He laughed bitterly.

"I'd ask you to trust me when I say that, but it's obvious you don't," he said coldly, "So I won't bother."

Without another word he stalked past her, his hands shoved in his pockets. She stood, frozen, as his footsteps echoed down the hallway. After a while she heard a door slam down the hallway, she supposed to his room. Ashley wrapped her arms around herself and she felt a few tears prick her eyes.