Chapter 3

Dirk stepped out of the shower. If had felt good to wash off all the road grime. He dressed in his sleep clothes and stepped out into the cheap motel room they were staying in for the time being. Todd was sound asleep on one of the two beds. The pill he took before sleeping was supposed to reduce his chances of having an attack the next day. It also knocked him out so hard that Dirk and Farah had no fear of accidently waking him.

Farah was sitting on the floor with a large map set out in front of her.

"What are you doing?" asked Dirk, making no effort to lower his voice.

"Charting our path." She looked up at him. "I don't suppose the Universe would like to weigh in on our plans?"

Dirk wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not, but it really didn't matter. He hadn't felt the pull since he'd told them to go North.

"No." he admitted. "But it hasn't failed us yet!"

"It got us captured." Said Farah.

"Yes, but they healed Todd's stab wound and let us go! I believe that qualifies it to have firmly gone in our favor."

"I suppose that is one way of looking at it." Said Farah. She looked back down at the map and Dirk stepped out their door and into the parking lot.

It was too cold to be outside with wet hair, but still he stood in the golden sunlight of the early morning. The time when most people were waking, but they were just finishing traveling and getting settled to wherever they were going to rest. The crisp air and bright light made Dirk feel alive. He had missed so many glorious mornings when he'd been locked away those four months. He could have burst from joy when Todd and Farah rescued him. It was hard not to just hug them every hour and sob repeated thank you's into their ears. It took so much restraint to just be "clingy" as Todd called him. But how could he not be? They were the air to a life that otherwise felt underwater. Todd had once jokingly asked if Dirk was going to take his and Farah's hands and skip with them through a field of wildflowers. Todd and Farah had laughed. Dirk tried to as well, but it really sounded like a delightful idea.

He thought about the two people he cared about most, and about how they had risked everything to save him. Todd had very nearly died. They were running from Blackwing now only because of their involvement with him. No one had ever stuck with him before. Certainly not this long. Certainly not after he brought so much pain and baggage along with him. Todd had accused Dirk of ruining his life. Dirk knew it was true, even if Todd took it back later. Farah could certainly blame him. Neither of them would be on Blackwing's radar without their involvement with him. Why did he bring pain to the people he most wanted to make happy?

Part of him wondered if he should just run off. Leave them a farewell note and go off on his own. Of course, he wouldn't last long. He knew that. And then they'd launch another rescue. And maybe instead of almost dying, someone would actually die…

No. We are safer together.

And deep down, he was thankful for that. He'd been so alone for so long. He felt guilty admitting it, but he was happier fleeing with his friends than living quietly alone.

"What now?" he asked to no one in particular. But he felt no response. Just the chilly breeze and the warm sunbeams. He took a final deep breath of fresh morning air, and then went back inside.

"We should wait." He said simply. "At least a day or two."

"Why?" asked Farah.

"I… I don't know." He admitted.

"Then why should we wait?"

"Look," said Dirk "I'm no expert. I don't even really understand how my… whatever… works. But unless someone else had a brilliant plan, I think we should stay here. Rest a bit. Sleep in a real bed and shower in hot water. We have no reason to believe Blackwing is on to us yet. It would do us good to rest and recoup."

Dirk could practically see the wheels turning in Farah's head. She was calculating. Estimating. Weighing variables and options.

"Fine." She said as she rolled up the map. "We wait."

"Great!" Dirk exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. "Want to watch a show with me?" he asked as he gestured to the old-fashioned box tv in the room.

She looked like she was about to say no, when her face softened. She shrugged and said "Sure. Why not?"

They sat down on the bed with sleeping Todd between them as they watched a cooking show that Dirk found fascinating. Farah eventually drifted off, with her hand on Todd's chest to always make sure he was still breathing. Dirk was awake a bit longer and then fell asleep himself. The three of them slept like a litter of puppies, and Dirk had never felt so at home.

The air was icy cold, and the wind was cutting through the thickest of fabrics. Amanda wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

"How much longer?" she asked through chattering teeth.

"Almost done." Said Vogel. He placed the crystal in position on the rock. "You sure about this? It's gonna take a lot."

"Absolutely." Said Amanda with more conviction than she felt. Their previous attempts had not been very successful, and it took days to find a new, compatible location and build up enough power to try again.

"Ready." Said Vogel.

Amanda pulled off her glove and dragged the jagged knife across the palm of her hand. That did it. Icicles burst up from the ground and tore through her flesh. She barely had a moment to register the pararibulitis attack before she felt Vogel pulling the powerful energy out of her body and channeling it into the crystal. It was disorienting and exhausting as she tried to focus and search. She was beginning to think it was another dead end, and then she saw it. A vague silhouette.

"There you are." She breathed as she tried to gain any tiny bit of information she could before the energy faded and she was back to standing next to Vogel in a field. The heat from the energy had melted the snow in a circle around them.

Vogel was practically dancing with excitement. "Did it work? Did you find them?"

"I did. I'm not sure where, but now that we found them once, we can call to them."

"Now what?" he asked.

Amanda wrapped her bloody hand and grinned. "Time for phase two."

Todd was trying hard not to smile as he watched Dirk get on Farah's last nerve.

"Dirk," Farah said in a slow and deliberate voice "there is no reason to leave the motel in broad daylight to buy doughnuts."

"But doughnuts are just what we need! Doughnuts are both delicious and inspiring! We need at least two dozen. And sprinkles!"

"This is an unnecessary risk." She said firmly.

"This is a very necessary risk!" he cried. "It will lift everyone's spirit! I'll pick them up and be back in a jiff!"

"Absolutely not." She said "Look, I've been willing to follow your wild leads and going where the wind is taking you or whatever it is that happens when you… whatever… but this is different! I'm in charge of keeping us safe and alive and going out to buy fried sugar where anyone can see you isn't within the realm of acceptable risk!"

"The doughnut shop is right across the street. I'll take cash, buy them. And come right back. What could possibly happen?"

Both Todd and Farah stared at him.

"Ok," he said "so a lot could happen. But we'll go mad just waiting! I need to do this! Please?" He made a facial expression that could best be described as "pitiful puppy".

Farah looked at Todd.

"I agree with you." He said "But, good luck stopping him without a tranq gun."

Farah sighed loudly and handed Dirk some cash. "There and back. Quickly. And try to be a little discreet."

Dirk let out a delighted squeal and practically skipped out the door. Farah shook her head.

"Are we going to regret this?" she asked.

"Probably." Said Todd "But knowing Dirk, if we stop him he'll just get something riskier in his head and do that instead."

Todd sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to him. Farah sat down and looked at her watch. "It's 4:47 pm. Not even dinner time and he's out looking for a sugar high."

"That's Dirk." Said Todd. He looked down and realized that Farah's hand was almost touching his. That realization made him unreasonably nervous. He cautiously slid his hand over the small distance between them so that his hand was on hers. She didn't pull away.

"We… uh… we really haven't been… alone in a while." He said.

"That's true." She said. "Not since…" she trailed off before she said "…Dirk interrupted our almost second kiss."

"Is… is this still what you want?" he asked as he looked down at their hands.

"Yes." She said as she turned her hand over so that their fingers could interlace. "Do you?"

Todd wasn't sure, but he thought he was detecting some uncertainty in her voice as she asked. As if she were a little afraid he would somehow say no.

"Yes." He replied. "I really do."

He looked up into her brown eyes and suddenly he was an eighth-grade boy again and had absolutely no idea how to act around the girl he liked.

Why is this so difficult? He thought as he tried not to sweat. The awkwardness was tangible.

"This is silly." He said "We're grownups who have been in grown up relationships. This shouldn't be so weird."

"True. But nothing about our relationship has been typical." She said.

"Are you referring to meeting during a hostage exchange or when we rescued your soul swapped client whose father was killed by a kittenshark?"

"Well, there's that. And then there's our having exactly one passionate kiss and then suddenly being forced to go on the run… with Dirk."

"I'm sorry." Said Todd "Are you insinuating that our friend/detective/adopted manchild has somehow put a damper on the romance in our lives?"

Farah laughed. A real laugh where the joy in her smile reached all the way to her eyes. Todd leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She kissed him back.

Their first kiss had surprised him so much that he almost didn't get a chance to savor it. This time he could really feel the soft warmth of her lips and breathe in her scent. She reached out with her free hand and placed it behind his head, gently pulling him into their kiss.

Todd didn't realize he was leaning back until he felt the bed supporting him. Farah started kissing his neck and had he had his hands on her waist. Then his right hand was yanked away in a manner that made him cry out in pain.

Farah pulled back and Todd looked over and saw his wrist was being held against the bed by a thorn covered vine. Blood started to ooze from his wrist as similar vines burst up from the bed and began to wrap around his body.

He screamed.

Farah leapt off him and dove for his pills. A vine began to wrap around his neck.

"Hurry!" he cried.

Farah had a pill in her hand and tried to pull him to a sit up position. That caused the thorns to cut into his flesh and made him cry out. Farah immediately released him and put the pill in his mouth, which he swallowed dry.

Todd closed his eyes and prayed it would kick in quickly as he felt the vine tighten around his neck.

Farah was sitting on a chair next to the bed, staring intently at Todd. She'd witnessed enough of his attacks to have an idea of what to look for. He was holding perfectly still, but there was tension in his body. That meant he was not paralyzed, but it was painful to move. Most likely there was something sharp pressed against his body. He wasn't still screaming, which was a good sign. His eyes were closed, so he was attempting to stay still and calm, though the tears that were silently falling meant that he was still in a great deal of pain. But the most worrying sign of all was his breathing. It was clear that he was struggling to get enough air. She had the syringe ready, in case she had to inject him with something stronger, but they had agreed not to use it unless he stopped breathing completely.

She felt helpless. She hated that feeling. Sometimes she could help him during his attacks. When he was freezing or electrocuted, he said that someone touching him actually made it feel like the other body was absorbing some of it, and it gave him a little relief. She would hold him tightly until the attack passed. At least then she was doing something. But now she couldn't even touch him. She just sat there, silently staring at him and watching his lips slowly turn blue.

She tried desperately to will him into taking in more air.

Breathe. Her mind pleaded. Please breathe.

He gasped. His eyes opened, and his face flushed from the sudden rush of oxygen to his brain. He was very still. But his chest was rising and falling much more freely.

"Can you move?" she asked.

"Almost." He said in a quiet voice.

After a moment, she saw him shift his weight slightly. He moved his hands first. Slowly lifting them and checking for resistance. As he started to sit up, Farah put her arm around him and helped him up. He was always exhausted and a little disoriented after an attack. She sat next to him on the bed and started to embrace him, but he pulled away.

That wasn't the response she was expecting. He hadn't pulled away since very early on in their time together. Once, during a particularly horrific attack, she'd held him while he sobbed. When it finally passed, he'd practically melted into her. After that, he had always accepted her attempts to comfort him. At least until now.

"I'm sorry." He said without looking at her.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for." She said.

He was sitting rigid and wouldn't look towards her.

"You do know you have nothing to be embarrassed about, right?" she said.

Todd let out a humorless laugh. "Right."

"It's a condition. You can't control it. I'm not upset at you, if that's what you think. I just want to help." She reached for his hand and he pulled it away. He awkwardly pushed himself up to standing. He had to put his hand on the tv stand to keep from losing his balance.

"I'm tired." He said. "I'm going to get ready for bed."

"Oh. Ok. If that's what you want."

He nodded and walked towards the bathroom. He had to steady himself twice before he made it in. He'd almost had the door shut behind him when Dirk burst in.

"I've found Amanda!" he cried.