"Luck," Max said, and impulsively she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. She pulled back before he had time to sink into it as they both had earlier.
Gio looked startled for a moment, then smiled. It was a charming, devil-may-care grin, and abruptly she felt as if she was seeing a glimpse of the real Gio, the one who wasn't worn down from months of being on the run: flirty, confident, playful.
"Do you say goodbye to all your clients like that?" he asked teasingly.
Only the ones my jaguar claims are my fated mate.
"Only the ones who kissed me first," she said, stepping back with a smile.
Gio concentrated. She was intrigued to see that he didn't shift all the way this time. Instead, he seemed to be changing as he slid into the ground: first his legs, turning partway to stone before they vanished from sight, then the rest of him. His head only became a lion's before it slipped below the ground, which was somehow eerier and more disturbing than when he had done it the first time.
Max was left alone in the desert
She glanced around, intensely aware that it would just figure if the magicians picked this moment to show up.
Gio didn't return—and didn't return. After a few minutes, Max went into the hut. She got the tranq pistol, strapped her regular gun to her hip, and retrieved the other gear she had carried on their earlier hike: steel cable, wire cutters, narcotic antagonist pack. Thus armed, she went back to the rock, where Gio continued to fail to appear. Worry nibbled at her. Maybe they had attacked himthere. It was hard not to be aware that she had no other way of getting in touch with him.
Suddenly the rock rippled at her feet. Max danced back. On purpose, she had not been standing too close to where he'd gone under, which gave her the disconcerting sense that he was homing in on her as a target somehow.
Gio's emergence from the rock was smoother and less traumatic-looking this time. He came out a strange mix of lion and human, because he still had his hands clasped in front of him. With a few fits and starts, he was human again, looking pale but triumphant as he knelt on the rock.
Carefully he opened his hands. The butterfly stretched its wings, seemingly unharmed for its ordeal. Gio gave his palm a little flick, and it fluttered off into the desert sunshine.
"You did it!" Max said. She brandished the tranq rifle victoriously. "Er—did you do it? Where did you go?"
"I did it." Gio smiled. "Right bang on. It looked exactly like your picture, and you're right, there's no sign of anyone around. Getting back here was a lot easier than usual."
"Well, that sounds like you're getting the hang of it. The butterfly seemed fine." Max adjusted the strap of the tranq rifle over her shoulder. "Okay, my turn. Let's give it a whirl."
Gio's smile faded. "Are you sure? You saw what happened before."
"I did," Max said firmly. "You went in twice, and you came back twice." When Gio still hesitated, she went on, "You know what I do for a living means putting myself into danger for my clients. It would be the same if someone was shooting at you. I'd step into the line of fire in a heartbeat if that was the job. Let's do this."
Gio looked at her for a long moment. Then he said, "You should value yourself more."
Max stared at him, too surprised to answer.How dare you?!was uppermost in her mind, but there was also a vast, gaping shock, and at the root of it was,How did you know?
Before she could recover, he took her upper arms in his strong hands and pulled her to him. She was shocked all over again when she found herself held against his broad chest. She was once again aware of how warm he was, as if the medallion he had told her about was a banked fire inside him.
"I think it'll be easier if I hold you close," he said. She couldn't see his face, and his voice was slightly muffled; he was speaking against the top of her head. "So it's like we're one. I'm going to do it now. Hold your breath."
Max nodded. She felt Gio's chest expand as he inhaled.
And then—
There was a sudden loss of equilibrium. She jerked in alarm; the feeling was like dropping suddenly in a roller coaster, going weightless with no ability to tell where her body was located in space. But sensation didn't come back. It was completely dark. She could feel nothing beyond her own body, and she wasn't entirely sure she could even feel that. The only thing that still seemed real was her awareness of Gio's arms around her, and even that was a muffled sensation, as if a thick blanket lay between them.
Now she understood exactly what Gio was talking about when he mentioned how disoriented he had become underground. She had thought there would be—but she didn't knowwhatshe had thought there would be. Dirt? Worms? Gravity? He had mentioned time being different, and now she understood what he meant. She couldn't tell how long they had been down here. Her lungs should have been aching from holding her breath, but she had only the vaguest sense of her body at all.
Hold tight to Gio,she told herself, and tried to follow her own advice.He won't leave you here.
Then, with a shock akin to bursting out of the water after a deep dive, there was light and air again. Max let out her breath in an explosive huff. She had been holding Gio loosely when they went into the stone, but now she was clinging to him. Somehow that made it easier to bear. Ithadbeen real; she had told herself to hold tight to Gio, and she had. Her breath came in sharp gasps. She managed not to whimper.
She realized that Gio was stroking her hair.
"It's okay," he said. He sounded out of breath too. "You did it. We did it."
Max blew out one more heavy breath. She pushed away from him, freeing herself of the tangle of his arms even though she wanted, overwhelmingly, to stay. The sunlight seemed overly bright reflecting off his hair. He was looking at her with concern.
