We burst out above the chasm that I assume used to be a normal-looking fault line. This gaping hole in the earth would make the Grand Canyon jealous.
“Good news, you can still portal,” I say. “But bad news, there’s no way you can fix this. Maybe we should’ve listened to my mom.”
Xolotl lights within a dozen yards of the edge of the canyon, and then he sets me on my feet. “Hold on to my shirt as tightly as you can. Things may get a little bumpy.”
I grab his face with both hands, and I pull him close. “No,” I say. “Please don’t. You could hurt yourself. It’s too big.”
He kisses me then, his mouth covering mine hungrily. His hands wrap around my waist, and he pulls me closer, forcing me to lean against him, my hands pressed against his hard, sculpted pecs.
I sigh in satisfaction. I wish we could do this forever.
Then a huge creaking noise coming from the chasm pulls us apart. “What are you planning? And how can you promise it won’t be too much for you?”
“I used to be powered up by death,” he says. “Now I’m not sure where my magic is coming from.” He frowns. “But I can feel my energy level, and I won’t deplete it too far.”
“Do you think they gave you just enough magic to repair things?”
He shakes his head. “You persist in thinking that natural disasters and war are the worst thing that can happen, but they change humans, and the whole reason we come here is to learn and grow. To become more. Trials and troubles refine us.”
“Then why are you even doing this? Just let the state fall into the ocean and we can all learn from it.” I point. “I concede. Let’s go back.”
He brushes a hand over my hair. “I’m doing this because it distresses you that you were involved with it.” He releases me, lifts into the air, and I’m forced to watch as he reaches out with both light and dark energy.
I can see both.
I never could before.
“It’s because I’m bonded to the part of you that you work hard to grow now,” he yells. “Your light energy.” He’s smiling when he turns back.
I’m biting my nails as I watch. Large amounts of magic migrate outward, and suddenly, the creaking and grinding noises amplify, the sides of the chasm drawing together again. The sound’s like the growling of worn-out gears, but magnified a thousandfold and spread out over the entire miles in either direction around us.
It’s nearly done when Xolotl drops to the ground, clearly exhausted. He collapses, but he keeps channeling magic. With one last groan, the two sides of the earth rejoin, and he finally closes his eyes. I cradle his head in my lap. “You did it.”
“I’ll recover, too,” he says softly. “Just give me a bit. Now I regain energy from living things, too.”
But judging from the sound of the screaming jets overhead, we may not have any time. Sure enough, no more than five minutes pass before I hear the sound of military jeeps, followed closely by the rumbling of tanks. Jets shriek overhead again, and I realize the other problem my new boyfriend created has found us.
Xolotl struggles to his feet.
“You need to recover,” I say. “Just wait.”
“He can’t see me looking like that,” he says. “The people I choose, I choose for a reason. General Barrera’s an expert at seizing opportunities when they present themselves.”
“What would he gain by killing you?”
“Right now he thinks he’s doing all this for me, but if I’m weak, he’ll quickly decide to do it for himself instead.”
Duh.
“Xolotl.” General Barrera pops out from one of the jeeps. “It is you. You’ve repaired the chasm.”
My boyfriend stands and inclines his head an inch toward his insane general. “I decided it was interfering with your efforts here, giving humans an excuse to run.”
“I liked it,” General Barrera says. “I wish you’d checked with me, but what you just did is nothing short of miraculous. Had you given me a heads up, I could have done more with it, but even so, I got some great footage we can use to bring troops to our cause.”
“Not that you need troops,” the soldier next to Barrera says. “Not with Xolotl on our side.”
“Leading us, you mean,” General Barrera says. “Though if I might say, you look a little. . .tired.” He steps closer. “Have you been sleeping well?”
