And he’d kill her, if she couldn’t kill him first.
Ty closed her eyes and started reciting the humans’ twelve steps in her head. It was the only thing that helped her to calm down when she was this close to a panic attack. Over and over, she ran through the list and then tacked on the serenity prayer for good measure.
The strength to change the things I can
.
Ty’s eyes popped open.
She couldn’t cut her hand off, but she could break it. Smash the bones, until the plastic cuff fit over her wrist. Ty was a scientist. She knew what the inside of her hand looked like and where to start hitting to get the job done.
She glanced around, spotting a loose stone in the wall a few feet away. The plastic restraints were cemented in place. They wouldn’t budge. But the mortar around that stone looked decayed. She could pry it free and then use it to smash her hand.
Absolute determination lit her eyes. Ty pulled off her glasses and snapped off the left leg. Moving as far as the plastic chain would allow, she stretched out her free arm and began chiseling at the damaged mortar around the loose brick with the metal leg of her glasses.
She’d only gotten in a half-dozen or so good jabs, when Ty heard the commotion outside the closed door of her cell. It was solid, opaque plastic. She couldn’t see through it, but she heard bodies slamming together and voices rise in surprise.
Flight or fight reflexes kicked in and Ty jumped to her feet. The chain held her in place and she automatically tugged against it.
Parald.
He’d come.
He was here for her.
Panic rushed at Ty from all sides, strangling her, pulling her down into her memories. It was autopilot, more than forethought, that made her twirl the leg of her glasses around in her palm. Sinking the metal into Parald’s empty, gray eyes seemed like a real good idea. Just stabbing it right through to his brain and improving the world by taking Parald out of it.
Keys jangled in the lock and the edges of Ty’s vision swirled with black. For a heartbeat of time, Ty couldn’t hear anything but the thudding of her pulse. The door swung open in slow-motion…
And Ty saw the cape.
Gion.
Relief poured through her.
Safe.
Gion had always terrified her before.
Always
. He was too big. Too strong. Too cold and controlled. He worked for Parald. Gion could destroy her. He was her enemy.
That was all empirical fact as Ty was concerned.
Ty’s instincts must have been damaged by the trauma of this experience, though, because all she felt now was an amazing amount of relief that he’d come. It left Ty dizzy and off balance. Gion stood there, silhouetted in the doorway… and Ty knew she was safe.
“Do you have any idea how much trouble you are?” Gion demanded. “It’s a fulltime job just cleaning up after you.” He looked more like a Hollywood movie villain than a hero. Dressed in solid black, his dark hair swept back from his face, Gion could’ve been cast as a modern day vampire. Ty saw salvation in his savagely beautiful scowl. “I have no idea how you convinced so many people that you’re a genius, Tritone. I’ve certainly yet to see evidence of it.”
Ty didn’t even blink at his angry words. In her entire life, she’d never been so glad to see anyone. “Gion. Thank God, it’s you.”
Gion hadn’t been expecting that. Ty saw the surprise register on his face. Ty very rarely spoke to him, mostly because he scared the hell out of her. Obviously, he hadn’t anticipated a warm welcome.
His icy blue gaze flicked down to her manacled wrist and his jaw tightened. “It’s time to go.” He prowled closer. His sword gleamed in the light as he approached her, blood dripping from the blade.
Who had he killed?
Ty bit down on her lower lip, reminding herself that Gion scared her. The Water energy reacted like Gion was her savior, but he also towered over her, invincible, with a really sharp weapon. Ty was shackled to a wall. He could do absolutely anything to her and she’d be helpless to stop him.
No matter how loud her instincts screamed at her to leap into her arms, logic told Ty that this could be bad. What if he wanted to take her to Parald? “Go where?” Ty forced herself to step back from Gion. Her hand twisted ineffectually, trying to free herself from the chain.
Gion stopped moving forward. He quickly looked over at the doorway. Setting his sword aside, he crouched down slightly as if he wanted to seem less menacing. “Go
home
. I’m going to get you out of here.”
“You’ll really help me?” She asked softly.
“It’s become my hobby, actually.” His eyes slid over her body, cataloging every inch of her. “Are you alright?”
Ty nodded. She didn’t feel dirty when Gion looked at her. Not like she did when Parald used to touch her with her gaze. But, that wasn’t very comforting. In fact, it showed her overall state of mental imbalance. Ty edged further back from him.
Gion sighed. “I know that you have no reason to believe this, but I’m not your enemy. If I wanted to harm you, I could have done it by now.”
That was true.
And he
had
helped Tessie and Job.
“You might not like me very much, but I guarantee I’m a better bet than Parald. I
will
let you go home.” He pitched his voice low and deadly serious.
“You will?”
“
Yes
. Now, I’m going to help you, with or without your cooperation. But, it’ll be easier and faster if you just let me get you free.” He held out a palm. “Please.”
The Water energy grabbed for him. Ty couldn’t explain it, but it drove her forward so she could reach for his hand. Gion’s elegant finger’s found hers, holding tight.
“Good.” He sounded startled, as if he couldn’t believe that she’d approached him willingly. His skin sent electric charges through her body. Ty felt her powers reaching for his.
How did he do that? How could he affect her like that?
Gion didn’t seem to notice the energy spiking. “Are you sure that you’re okay?” He asked, again.
Ty nodded. “Yes.”
“Alright then.” Gion focused on a large ring of keys. “We don’t have much time.” He looked at the manacle on her wrist. “Do you know which one of these fits?”
Ty shook her head.
“Wonderful.” Gion glanced over his shoulder and sighed impatiently. “Okay.” He began running through the massive selection one key at a time, trying each one in the cuff’s lock. “Just hang one.”
“Do I have a choice?”
Gion looked at her sharply. That was the closest she’d ever come to joking with him. Something that was almost a smile curved the edge of his mouth. Only Gion wasn’t a Phase who smiled at anything, except maybe the torture of children and small animals. “You look different without your glasses.” He told her quietly.
“They broke.” Ty held up the piece of metal that she’d palmed. “I needed something sharp. I was thinking of stabbing Parald in the eye.”
“Resourceful.” Gion arched a brow. “Just don’t stab
me
.”
“I’m trying not to.”
Another reluctant smile. “I was trapped down here once. I would have welcomed a vision problem to provide me with some makeshift weapons. You’re a lucky girl.”
Was he kidding with her? Ty wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Why were you trapped in the dungeons…?”
More shouts sounded from outside cutting him off.
Gion swore. “That was fast. Typical that they choose today to become competent.” He tossed the keys to the ground and reached for the sword, again. “Just pull the chain as taunt as you can, Tritone. Put all your weight into it.” Gion switched his hold on Ty, so he could haul her backwards against him. Ty faced the wall, her back to his front.
Gion wrapped his wrist around the plastic chain, adding his massive strength to the effort, and raised his black sword. “I’m going to cut you free, alright?” He changed positions, so he could aim the sword at the spot where the chain connected to the wall. “Do not move.”
Ty tilted her head back. Her turquoise gaze flicked up to his face uncertainly.
Gion stared back at her. “I won’t hurt you.” He murmured. “Trust me. Just once.”
Ty hesitated for a beat and then nodded. She pressed her cheek against his shirtfront, waiting. It was nuts, but she did trust him. Ty believed that Gion, of the Air House --professional bad guy extraordinaire-- would help her, even though there was nothing in it for him.
He had a point. Her IQ tests had obviously been faulty.
Ty squeezed her eyes shut as the blade swung out. She felt the impact of the sword against the chain. The blade clanged against the wall as he hacked through the plastic. The chain pulled down and then abruptly released. Ty stumbled backwards, fully against Gion, suddenly liberated. He caught her, holding her steady.
“Thank you.” Ty breathed.
“You’re not home free, yet. You’re not strong enough to jump with so much plastic on you.” Gion switched the sword around, so it pressed against her wrist. His other hand gripped hers, holding her still as he angled the tip of blade between the hard plastic and the delicate skin of her inner wrist. Gion positioned Ty just how he wanted her. His hand dwarfed hers, his fingers sliding between hers, pressing them apart as he tiled her wrist back. It made her feel oddly vulnerable.
The heat of Gion’s skin contrasted with the cool metal of the sword and Ty reflexively tried to pull free.
Gion’s grip tightened on her hand. “Stay still. I’m not going to cut you.”
“I know.” She wasn’t afraid that he’d slit her wrist. She just felt unnerved standing so close to him. Gion swamped her senses. Ty concentrated on his classically beautiful profile instead of the sharpened steel pressing into her flesh.
Gion sent her a sideways look. “You’re distracting me.”
“I am? How? I’m being still.”
“Yeah, but you’re staring at me. I can’t concentrate when you’re staring at me.”
“Sorry.” Ty dropped her eyes to his chest. “Better?”
“Not really.” Gion ripped the sword upward, the blade tearing through the plastic. The manacle fell from Ty’s wrist and she was free.
He’d rescued her. He’d actually done it.
Gion moved away from her. He let out a breath that Ty realized hadn’t noticed he’d been holding. “And you’re welcome.” He added rather belatedly.
Ty looked down at her wrist and then back up at Gion. “Why?” It was the only thing she could think to say. “Why are you helping me?”
“You’re the only thing I’ve ever...” Gion trailed off and shook his head. “You just need to go. Jump back to the Water Kingdom
now
and you don’t step foot outside of it again unless that idiot Brokk is with you.”
An enraged scream echoed through the palace.
Parald.
Ty cringed, her fingers grabbing the edge of Gion’s cape. She hadn’t been so close to her ex-Match since before the Fall. Just hearing his voice terrified her, triggering her panic. Ty’s body unconsciously slid closer to Gion’s massive frame, seeking his protection as memories battered against her.
Parald grabbing at her. Hitting her because she wouldn’t submit. Trapped. Just like after the Fall. The mob and their fevered eyes. The roar of the fountain. Screaming. Fires in the distance. Dying. Blood. Too weak. Always too weak.
Oxygen couldn’t reach Ty’s lungs. She couldn’t breathe.
Panic attack.
Panic attack.
Panic attack.
“No.” Gion’s free hand came up and seized Ty’s chin. “No, angel. Stay with me.” He held her still, forcing Ty to meet his ice blue eyes. “Parald won’t get near you. I swear it. Stay right here with me.”
It wasn’t so much Gion’s words that snapped Ty out of the beginnings of her attack. It was his hand. Gion’s thumb slid over and brushed the turquoise streak at her temple, wrapping the curl around his finger. He gently tugged it and all the nerve endings in her lower body jolted in response.
Ty jerked back into the present. The colored marker in Elementals’ hair was always sensitive to touch. Phases didn’t just…
stroke
other people’s highlight. Not outside some kind of sexual context. No man had
ever
touched Ty’s that way. The sensual punch of it actually shocked Ty out of her panic.
Heat and energy slammed through her and Ty felt a new kind of anxiety. What was Gion doing to her? How could he make her feel like this? Ty’s own power shifted, tuning so it glided across his. Her energy felt right and strong…
And that just wasn’t possible.
There was just
no way
that this could happen outside a Match and Parald was her Match. These sensations with Gion weren’t natural. It couldn’t be. Gion had to be manipulating her with his limitless powers. Had to be deliberately maneuvering her. Why?